October 29, 2008

Great Falls, VA -- another day

Along this stream above Great Falls, yellow leaves were everywhere.  In my quest to break out of some patterns I'd gotten too comfortable with, I painted on a vertical canvas and put the emphasis on the color yellow.  I have more work -- maybe a lot of work -- to go on this and I'm hoping to get back into it later this week.

October 27, 2008

Great Falls, Va -- Above the falls

The reflection of the log in the water first caught my eye -- the colors on this very chilly fall morning were what rooted me to this spot.  Several ducks floated in and out of this little channel above Great Falls and I added a few to the scene.

My goal, based on looking at my recent work, was to paint without a horizon line.  No vistas. Look at something close to me.  I was only partly successful -- I ended up putting the water's edge not so far from where I've been placing my horizon line.

October 22, 2008

Kayak at Swain's Lock, reason for an art blog


It was a really cold morning to paint!

One great reason to blog art is painfully evident by the work I've been doing at Swain's Lock.  It's a place with the Potomac river, the C&O Canal, woods, long vistas..... and apparently, one very static horizon line.  This is not something I'd been thinking about, but here it is, right in front of me -- a horizon set 2/3 of the way up the rectangle.  

Time for a fresh approach.

October 15, 2008

Swain's Lock, Again
















Returning to Swain's Lock, I finished the painting started on Monday, adding red and trying to emphasize the distance in the painting.  It was a brighter day and I worked in more pure color to make the painting less gray.    I also had an old canvas of a painting I'd worked on near the spot where we were painting today, so I did a quick painting of the river with just a pair of  trees in the foreground.

October 13, 2008

Swain's Lock, Missing Red

I had about an hour and fifteen minutes to paint today and no time to adjust the colors on my palette.  So when I was asked "what color is missing?" I immediately answered "red."  I need to go back later this week and see where the red fits in.

This painting started with a black and white underpainting, which I slapped onto the board in about 20 minutes.  The morning was very gray,  a bit misty, even.  On the moments when the sun broke through, I had a completely different take on the scene.  

October 7, 2008

Bethesda in Black & White.. and Color


Yesterday I added color to the Black & White painting from 2 weeks ago and started another black & white painting.  I found the addition of color to the first one forced me to keep deep grays that I usually wouldn't have in my work.  I liked the result, which is why I started on the second painting in black & white.  The woman squatting with her dog was there for all of 2 minutes; her friend, seated on the planter edge next to her probably sat down for less than a minute.  I waited, painted other quick sketches of others on the trail, but no one sat down to give me a chance to refine the posture of the person seated on the ledge.  I'll be going back -- maybe bring my own model! -- to see if I can finish the underpainting and then put some color in another day.