Mood Over Sauve Island

Been a long time since I've painted...too long!  Thought I'd warm my brushes up with a small 6"x8" tonight.  This is from a photo I took on Sauve Island weekend before last.  My wife and daughters had never been out there so we made a day of it.  Picnic, fresh strawberries, hiking around checking out the wildlife and then finishing off on a beach.  Just an all around great day.  Despite the imposing clouds we only got a short, light rain at the end.  Hope you like!

6"x8" Oil on Raymar Panel

The Yellow Rose of....well....Portland

Today, my family spent the day waiting for my sister-in-law "Auntie Koin", as the girls call her, to come out of surgery.  She was diagnosed with cancer very recently and so they went in to remove it.  We're happy to say it was very localized and hadn't spread to the lymph nodes so that was very good news!

So while we were waiting, I was reading an article in the Feb/Mar 2009 issue of International Artist magazine on one of my favorite artists, E.J. Paprocki.  His impressionist style just appears so vibrant to me! So tonight when we got home I decided to try this style of painting out.  I attempted to let some of the underpainting show through to create that vibrancy that draws me to these types of paintings.  Not sure if I pulled it off, but it certainly has a looser feel than my last rose.  I actually wanted the underpainting to be a bit more on the lavender side and the rose to be a bit more yellow, but at least it looks like a rose ;-)

6 x 8 RayMar panel

Stop to Paint the Roses

Ahh...back to painting!  Received a sample pack of 6x8 RayMar panels this week.  The pack has four different types of panels: smooth cotton canvas, medium cotton canvas, single primed linen and double primed linen.  Tonights effort was on the medium cotton canvas...love it!  This is just from a picture I took up at the Portland Rose Gardens this past summer.  Went with a slightly different red than what is usually on my palette.  Most the pinks are created using Permanent Rose.  The darker reds in the background are Perylene Red...I really dig that red.  Anyhow, hope you enjoy.

6 x 8 RayMar panel

Ranch on Wood River - Final

I've been neglecting my painting lately.  But given I'm home the next couple days taking care of my wife after surgery (which went very well), I think I'll "reapply" myself.  So tonight I finished up the Ranch on Wood River painting.  Mainly some touch-ups in the foreground and barn, but I also added in some more clouds behind the tall pine tree.  

Shooting these pictures at night is really tough, especially when you don't have proper lighting.  The foreground isn't quite as bright as what you see here.  

Reach for the Sky...

So finished another painting tonight based off a photograph taken by an old high school friend named Thyra.  With her permission, I've grabbed several photos off her FB to use as inspirations for paintings.  She's an amazing photographer! Just want to say thanks, Thyra, for letting me paint from a few of your photo's!!

I have no idea where this is, but the orange rock contrasting against the blue sky and grayish-blue bushes in the foreground just really caught my eye.  I added a few clouds for some interest in the sky.  Spent a few nights on this one and decided to call it done tonight. It really doesn't do the photo justice, but I think I did alright capturing the colors. Thanks again, Thyra!!

Backyard Maple - Plein Air

Took my wife in to Dr. appointment (everything's okay) this morning, brought her home, tucked her in to catch up on some sleep and did a quick plein air in my backyard while she slept.  This was fast and dirty, but I kinda' like it!

6"x 8" canvas board

Plein Air Evening

Wow!  This evening was absolutely perfect for painting outdoors.  Grabbed my easel and collapseable bucket and headed outside. This is the same setup I'll be using at Thomas Kitts Plein Air workshop coming up Aug. 15.    This view is from my backyard toward one of our favorite neighbors, Dennis and Mary.  What caught my eye was the white fence framed by those two large trees and the old rusty burn barrel.

I started out with plenty of light, but by the time I got to the details the light was pretty low.  Can you guess how the painting looked when I came inside and put it under the lights....yep, a bit on the light side.  I tried using a few things I've learned from the Richard Schmid November DVD I've been watching.  The collapseable bucket worked great for hauling various items outside and then doubled nicely has my paper towel trash can.  Thanks Kevin MacPherson for that tip!

So here's tonights effort.

6"x8" canvas board

Follow the Dirt Road

Another painting tonight.  It sure can be a struggle deciding how to simplify sometimes.  Probably tried to capture too much detail tonight, but enjoyed my paint time!  This one is done with a limited palette: viridian, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow pale, and titanium white.  Oh, and the underpainting was burnt sienna with a little alkyd medium.  The actual painting looks so much better than these picks :-(
8"x10" canvas.

Villa - Finished

Well, I'm bachin' it tonight.  Wife and kids are out of town so I'm staying up insanely late...painting.  Did my first value study.  Who would've thought painting with black and white could be so hard.  I'm sure it was just the subject I picked. Yeah, that's it I'm sure.  That one I'll keep to myself ;-)

Tomorrow I plan to get outside and do some plein air around our property.  But for now... 

I think I'm done with this Villa, at least until I find something else to change...no...I'm done....I think.  Yes, done.  Painted from a magazine.  Tossed in a picture of my makeshift picture holder. You like?  Okay, posting the pictures and off to bed.  8"x10" canvas board.

And my picture holder...

Our Barn - Finished

Few tweaks to finish up the barn tonight.  Pictures are horrible, but the painting turned out nice.  I replaced my Thalo Green with Viridian.  Must say I'm enjoying the greens I'm getting with Viridian.  Saw some amazing photo's on a friend's facebook and got permission to paint from the photo's so I've got some good material to work from at night.  Can't wait!!

Chipping Sparrow study

So the object tonight was NOT to produce a "masterpiece", but rather limit my time to force myself to look for the shapes and simplify the shapes.  Per Kevin MacPhersons book "Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color", I was only planning to paint 30 minutes, but I didn't get the canvas completely covered so I went over by about 15 minutes.  I was painting at night so this was based off a photograph from Birds and Blooms. 

Anyhow, I'll be doing lot's more of these small quick studies in preparation for the Thomas Jefferson Kitt's workshop in August.  He got my registration today and the class minimum is eight people...so come on, painters!! 

So here's tonights 45 minute effort.  6"x8" canvas board.

Worked two paintings tonight

Worked on the reflections in the water and some highlights tonight. I think I'm gonna' call this one done!

Also, did some more work on the painting of our barn.  Still gotta' do something about that roof and I'll probably do more touch up on grasses around the barn, post and treeline.  It's late and I don't have many lights on in the living room so this picture sucks or maybe it's the camera, or maybe it's just the photographer ;-)

And finally...I'm so excited! I'm signing up for my first workshop.  The workshop is put on by an amazing Plein Air artist, Thomas Jefferson Kitts.  The workshop is five days of Plein Air instruction in mid August. You can read more about here.

So I'm gonna' try and bust it on some small 6"x8" Plein Air paintings around the place over the next two months so I can be ready to get the most out of this workshop!  Can't wait!

Northwest Canyon - more WIP

More work on my canyon painting tonight.  Was only gonna' paint an hour...that was 2 hours ago :-)
This one's proving to be pretty tough given it's low-key value scheme, but a rewarding challenge!

Coldwater Lake Study

Did a quick little study tonight.  From a photo I took of Coldwater Lake up near Mount St. Helens. Hmmm, I think it needs more depth. Oil on 8x10 canvas board.

Clackamas River Bend

Been painting pretty regularly this week.  I set up a Yann Tierson "radio station" on Pandora.  Incredible music to paint to.  After a while I began to realize that my brush strokes were truly guided by the tempo and mood of the music.  So what music do you paint to?! Would love to hear what music folks find most inspirational with brush in hand.

So here is tonight's painting effort.  I set this painting aside a few months ago and finally decided to pick it up and continue.  This is from a photo I took while hiking with my family and some friends high up on the Clackamas River.  I had to climb up this little hill and push the trees and bushes aside to snap this picture.  Hidden behind the dense forest was this brightly lit bend in the river...twas a nicely hidden treasure!!

First Painting of 2011 - Inspired by Dennis Sheehan

Wow!  It's been way too long since I picked up a brush.  This evening I stumbled across some amazing YouTube videos of a painter named Dennis Sheehan with some of the most beautiful music playing in the background.  However, no where on his YouTube channel did he mention the music being played.  So then I remembered a free iPhone app called Shazam.  I quickly downloaded to my iPhone, ran Shazam while the song was playing on my computer and in less than a minute it identified the song title and musician, Yann Tierson.

Watching Mr. Sheehan paint was inspirational to say the least.  His brush just dances across the canvas, very loosely.  Soooo, with kids in bed, Pandora loaded up with a Yann Tierson stream, I tried to paint loosely like I watched Sheehan do.  Being Mr. Perfectionist myself...that was a very hard exercise, but man, how rewarding!!!!  Here's the result.  Canvas board 8"x10".

Old Barn - Finished

So I've been painting for almost 2 years now (off and on) and realized I really haven't completed any of the oil paintings I've started.  I've completed a few oil pastels, but no oil paintings.  So today I finished up a little one I'd been working on...the Old Barn.  I received some great critique up on WetCanvas.com and heeded that advice, removing part of the fence that passed in front of the barn.  My final struggle was how to paint grass.  I'm pretty happy with how the grass ended up, but certainly much more to learn there.  One take away in doing the foreground grasses...it really helps to paint the grass in the foreground with a loaded brush!  So I'm calling this one done...hope you like it!  Canvas board 8"x10"

Drawing from my sketchbook

Was just going through my sketchbook and realized I hadn't posted this drawing I did awhile back.  Did this while passing the time at a garage sale.  Twas' a fun little sketch!!

Been awhile...

Been awhile since I posted any new paintings.  Finally, finished this one I've been working on for awhile...or maybe it's not finished yet...I'm not happy with the upper left corner and the paper's not taking much more OP.   Not sure about the top part of the leaf on the left side either...it has sunlight coming across it, but I don't I conveyed that very well.  Well, all part of learning!!

Pristine Rose - Final

Okay, I'm going to call this one done.  Darkened the background with some deep blues and a little black.  I like the results!!  I'll probably post one more picture once I get this one matted and framed, but that'll be awhile.  I haven't actually framed any of my work yet, so that'll be fun. 

Now it's back to my oils again.  I'm going to try and finish up the Reflections at Flatford Bridge study.  I've gotta' figure out how refine the bridge so that it...well...looks like a bridge.