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

Ford Work Horse

Finally, got in a little painting this afternoon.  Awhile back I asked permission to a few wonderful photos from a friend of mine who's a terrific photographer, Thyra.  I've been eyeing this old Ford C-700 for quite a while and finally set out to painting it.  I've never tried to paint a vehicle before, but I must say....this was tons of fun (pun intended)!!  I do think I need to correct that "lazy eye" lookin' headlight :-)

Still have some more detail to go.  6" x 8" 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

Last night and tonight - WIP

Worked on my San Xavier painting last night and Backward Glance painting (pony) tonight.  Still lot's of work to do on the San Xavier painting, but I think I've pushed the pony painting about as far as it'll go.  So two enjoyable evenings in one post!

San Xavier del Bac Mission - WIP

Just got back from visiting my dad and stepmom down in Tucson.  Met my sister and her husband down there also.  We had a wonderful four days with lot's of site seeing and just enjoying the company of family.  One of the places we visited was San Xavier del Bac Mission.  While wandering around the mission my dad spotted a very cool view of one of the small buildings between two walls, one newly stuccoed and one rather dilapidated.  He has an excellent eye for good compositions.  So tonight I started a painting of this photo.  So far not much to see but the underpainting.

It'll be fun to see where this one goes.  9"x12" Ray Mar panel.

Another Wood River Painting

Haven't painted in quite some time.  Actually, I've been doing some drawing, but not paintings.  So tonight I pulled out a small canvas board and did this one.  Can't say I'm particularly pleased with it, but what do you expect when you haven't painted for awhile, right?!  9x12 on canvas board.

Backward Glance II - WIP

Okay, so I decided the last painting I did of this pony looked more like one of those funky horse-like creatures in the movie Avatar.  So I'm taking another crack at it and at the same time zooming in on the pony so he takes up more of the canvas.  I'm liking it much better!  Still some work to do, but here's a sequence of shots.  I didn't start with a wash like I usually do.

 

Backward Glance - Study

Tonights effort.  This is just a 9"x12" study for what I hope will be a larger painting, maybe 16"x20".  This is based on a photo taken by a friend of mine, Thyra.  I've already done a painting based on another photo she took...what can I say, she's a terrific photographer and was gracious enough to let me use some of her photos as inspiration!

I'll definitely do another study that fills up more of the canvas with this horse before launching into the larger piece.  Never done painted a horse before, but I'd sure like do more...just my favorite animal!  We have two horses for my girls and neither is big enough for me to ride, but I don't care...I just enjoy looking out my window and seein' them in my pasture.  Hmmm, I should just go get some pictures of my own horses - now there's a thought.   9"x12" canvas board.

Paintin' with my daughter, Rachel!!

Had a wonderful afternoon painting with my youngest daughter, Rachel.  We started out just painting a purple sphere and then decided to make it a grape...and in the end decided it looked more like a plum.  So a plum it is!!  9"x12" canvas board....with none of that cheap student grade paint...no, this was artist quality all the way, baby ;-)  Oh, and colors chosen by Miss Rachel!

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!!

Back from Disneyland...

Well, we just got back from the "happiest place on earth" and I'm inclined to believe it.  We had the most wonderful time at Disneyland!  We were there 5 days and did and saw just about everything there is.  We also have very tired feet so it was nice to kick back today before we're all back to work and school.  As fun as Disneyland was, I did miss painting so I put in a little brush time tonight...

Ranch on Wood River

Started a new painting tonight based on some photo's I took while down visiting my dad and stepmom. They have the most wonderful cabin in Rocky Point, OR, I nice little town along the north shore of Klamath Lake.  I grew up in southern Oregon and it was nice to get back there for a long weekend.  You can take boy out of southern Oregon countryside, but you can't take the southern Oregon countryside out of this boy.  I miss it!

So anyhow...here's a start from a picture I took along the Wood River...

9"x12" oil on canvas board

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 5

Whew!  Last day of the workshop.  What a great week it's been.  Awesome teaching, wonderful folks to paint with and a lot of hard work.  This morning we painted Vista House and the gorge from Portland Women's Forum.  So here's a few pics from today...

So here's my setup...not a bad view, eh?!
(the Gorge that is)

My easel at the finish line.

...and the finished painting.

We sort of took over this little section
of the park.

Thomas did a little drawing at the end of the workshop
and gave away three of his demos...I won Monday's
demo...yea!!

Over lunch Thomas talked about varnishing and
demoed some varnishes, including this painting
I did some time ago.  The darks had sunk in, but
the varnish REALLY brought them back to life!

So in another post I'll talk about some of the take-away's for me from this workshop, but I'll this workshop was worth every penny!  Thomas is a terrific instructor and really hones in on the areas your struggling with with clear instruction on how to deal with the problems you're having in your painting.  I'd recommend a Thomas Kitts workshop and I'm hoping to take another one in the future.

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 4

Another good day painting!  Started off on Portland's eastside water front.  Thomas did a 3 hour demo...lot's of good teaching.  He picked a tough subject so it was interesting watching him solve a host of problems.  We were down on the dock and it was pretty cold in the morning.

Thomas working out a very loose sketch.

From there we headed to the Gamblin paint factory.  That was a blast!!  I was surprised at the size of the factory. The put out a lot of paint for 20 or so employees.  It was cool seeing the raw pigments which come in from all around the world.  They didn't allow us to take pictures in that area, but we were allowed pictures in the rest of the factory.

Fresh batches of newly mixed paint.  This is right after
mixing with the oil.

I got such a kick at watching them fill the paint tubes.  

Mmmmm.....Ultramarine Blue anyone!

Finally, we finished up the day at Sellwood Riverfront park.  This was a free paint.  Got some more great instruction from Thomas.  He gave me some good tips on establishing the value relationships between various parts of the painting.  I started out painting a scene that was lit by the sun which was slightly behind me, but by the time I was finished the sun well in front of me.  Painting in such bright light resulted in a very dark painting, especially when compared to a painting a did the day before in the shade which turned out much lighter.

My location at Sellwood Riverfront park.
Started off in the shade, ended in the sun - hot!

After I came in out of the sun I discovered the
intense light made me paint this way too dark.

  
Tomorrow, the location is Women's Forum up in the Gorge.  We'll also do some critiquing from this weeks efforts.

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 3

What a fun AND educational day today!  We were back on Sauvie Island today.  Thomas started us off on this I high bluff with a 360° view of this nature reserve.  For the morning exercise he had us divide our canvas into four boxes.  Then he had us all face south and started a timer.  We had 15 minutes to paint what we saw in front of us using one box, then when his timer went off we had to rotate our easels 90° and paint what was in front of us and so on around 360°.  Didn't have much time to think, which of course was the point...less thinking about the mechanics of painting and just focusing on painting the SHAPES we saw.

My setup, ready to go!

After the exercise we lined up our easels and the group critiqued
set of painting.  A VERY valuable exercise!

After this exercise we picked which one of our four small paintings we liked and then had about 45 minutes to paint a larger version of that painting.

Then off for a lunch time lecture at Bybee Park and more painting in the afternoon.  Ahhh, this time with plenty of shade.  I chose to paint this the old farmhouse on this park land.

View from my easel.

The three (really six) paintings from today.  Thomas demoed
some finishing touches on my painting of the house.

That's it for another day of truly excellent teaching (thanks Thomas!) and alot of hard work!  Tomorrow, eastside of the river downtown, a tour of the Gamblin paint factory and more painting out at Sellwood Park.  Nite!

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 2

Man, today nature kicked my butt and reminded me I've got ALOT to learn.  We painted at Luscher Farm City Park in Lake Oswego.  Thomas started off with a drawing demo, teaching us alot about how to setup the correct proportions between various subjects in the painting, site-size method.  He then had us painting in a tight group so we could overhear as he went around and gave some one-on-one instruction to each person.  Many valuable lessons learned.

I tried tackling a portion of a large barn, a couple of outbuildings and some trees.  My perfectionism got the best of me as I spent too much time "drawing" and not enough time actually laying in paint to capture the shape. My morning painting was disappointing.

He turned us loose in the afternoon to paint where ever we wanted.  I still wanted to practice painting a structure so I tackled a white house near the barn.  Once again I got my artistic butt handed to me on a canvas!  I left my camera in the car so I didn't get any pictures on sight, but I've snapped a picture of the two paintings I did.

Tomorrow, back out to Sauvie Island. I'm learning alot, but I must say this plein air painting ain't for the faint of heart!  Geesh!

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 1

Whew!  What a day!  Tiring, but in a good way.  Joined up with a gang of about eight folks out on Sauvie Island.  Started the morning off at Bybee park (I think that's what the place was called).  Thomas went over materials and some color basics.  Thomas answered a lot of great questions and picked up a few new terms I hadn't heard before like "sinking-in".  Good discussion on the usage of various mediums.

Then off to the wildlife refuge at the west end of the island for a painting demo by Thomas.  He demoed while we ate lunch.  He did a fantastic job explaining his decision making processes as he painted, he pointed out trouble spots and what to do about them, the importance of transition colors, and much more.  He was up-staged a couple of times by a couple of Blue Herons duking it out in the background ;-)

Finally, he turned us loose to paint.  It was interesting to see the group spread out and the various things that caught each individual's eye.  I found a composition I liked and painted for about 3 hours.  While we painted Thomas went around and spent some good quality one-on-one time with each of us.  That was probably my favorite part and where I learned the most.  So here's a few pics before bed.  Headin' out to a Luscher Farm City Park for tomorrow's workshop!

Thomas Kitts Demo

My setup on location

Just a few of my fellow painters

Homemade Wet Canvas Carrier

Well, in preparation for Thomas Kitts Plein Air workshop coming up next week my project for this evening was to build my own wet canvas carrier.  My little canvas carrier can carry 5 panels at a time up to 12"x16".  Or two canvas 3/4" canvas 12"x16".  Not bad for one evenings work!  All I need to do is put a handle on it tomorrow and I'm all set!!  Here's a few picks.

Still needs a handle...and some stain!

Use these small grooves when doing 1/4" panels.

These two large grooves are for 3/4" canvas.

Testing it out with some 9"x12" pa