A Pastel Painter

A Still Life

2012-01-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

Dusty Bottles 9x9

Here's something a little different, a still life with dusty bottles. We have a lot of interestingly shaped bottles, of all colors that we have gathered over the years. I picked these three, because I liked the way the dust had settled on them. I placed them on some scrap wood from an old pie safe inside a cardboard box with a single light source. You can probably tell that dusting is not a priority around here.

I got really wrapped up in the placement of the bottles, spacing, height, reflections and what to include and not include. I completely didn't notice how the light source was affecting the painting surface. Dark shadows from my hand made it difficult to see exactly where the pastel was making contact on the paper and was a real challenge especially when it came to dealing with the edges.

Another Close Up

2012-01-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Forest Floor, 8 x 10

Another attempt at a very close up view. It's busier than I had planned, but there are some aspects of this that I do consider successful.

It's the little successes that keep me painting!

By the way, the green plant is called Creeping Cedar. It is only about 3-4 inches tall and is considered an endangered plant in Virginia. I consider myself lucky, because it grows quite abundantly in my woods and the adjacent woods. I also consider myself fortunate to be able to paint something that may not be around in years to come.

Close Up

2012-01-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

I found this really ugly tree or tree(s) one day while wondering around my usual haunts looking for subject matter.
Upon closer inspection, it was loaded with color and texture, and I liked the idea of cool light and warm shadows as a change of pace.

I added this detail because it gives you a better idea of what the real thing actually looks like. If you click on the image it will appear even larger.

The last image is a detail from another picture I'm working on. It is of moss growing on a dead tree.

I think you can tell a lot about someones techniques and thought processes by looking close up.

Last One for 2011

2011-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

A view of the Totopotomoy Creek on a cloudy and windy day.

This on was started on location, but I came home and cut 2 inches off the bottom and totally re-did just about everything two or three times. It's a lot of time to spend on 64 square inches, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

Playing Around with Violet

2011-12-07T06:22:00.001-08:00

This is probably my favorite of the five fog paintings. I didn't post one of them, because it refuses to cooperate, so it's in time-out.

I've been gradually adding more violet into the mix, primarily red-violet, because it goes so well with the oranges and greens. I gray it down a lot, but it still helps keep the scene much warmer than grayed down shades of blue. That, and the addition of the dirt helped to break-up the darkness of the foreground, and tie the foreground to the background.

I paint trees a lot, so I'm adding a couple of detail images to illustrate some things, I think, help me when painting trees.

First, all that dust that falls into the easel tray when you're painting makes for wonderful grays, don't throw it out, make use of it. These trees were painted or started with gray-green easel dust. Add a little distilled water and you can easily make your own. It's not difficult to change the tint, tone or hue by adding purer sticks to the mix.

Second, if you want a particular tree or trees to stand out, add a surprise color and drag it over top. In the detail below you can see I used the same red as the leaves. It adds interest, warms the tree trunks but remains subtle because of the similar value.

Third, notice there are more hard edges in the top detail, compared to the bottom detail. Hard edges attract attention and bring things forward in visual space. The lost and found edges make things more interesting. I used the same method for the sparse leaves, to make some come forward and some recede.

This second detail, best shows point number four. The bottoms of the trunks are darker and more saturated, basically warmer, and have more clearly defined edges. As I go up, I make them cooler, lighter and less defined. This adds weight to the bottoms of the trunks and helps reduce, somewhat, the vertical linear pattern.

And lastly, most trees are loaded with smaller thinner branches near the tops. I lay down a heavy sky and then very lightly drag the base tree color over top in various directions. Then I take a small round paint brush to remove most of that layer into a branch pattern and tap it with my finger to smear edges and reduce the contrast here and there.

That's, pretty much, all I know so far.

I always enjoy painting river birch trees, probably most people consider them kind of ugly, I find them very interesting for both texture and color. If you aren't familiar with river birch, I took a couple of happy snaps today so you could see what they really look like.

They don't mind having wet feet, so you find these mostly in swampy areas. They tend to grow in clumps of two or three, are tall and skinny and are loaded with hundreds of droopy branches.

And finally...

...it's gotten all gray and dull around here, so more violet -- but, I think it added a lot.

I like these light, feathery grasses, but what really grabbed me were the little tiny twigs with over-sized leaves of brilliant reds, oranges and purples.

A Set of Three

2011-11-19T13:58:00.001-08:00

I go down to the creek several times a year to paint, or at least take some reference photos. Mostly I go there because it's within walking distance, and if nothing grabs me, I haven't blown the whole day driving around.

Recently we had some very dense fog, which put a whole new twist on things. Everything seemed so much more interesting. There was all the color of fall, but it was so much more subtle and soft in the distance, while anything close up was extremely saturated.

Lately, I've been doing all my painting on white with a value underpainting done in either burnt umber or burnt sienna. I did each of these on a different color toned stock, warm gray on the first, gray blue on the second and then tan, with no underpainting. I wanted to see if perhaps one color would have any special advantages for a situation like this. That, and I'm running low on paper.

I can't say that I saw any benefit of one color tone over the other, for achieving the look of fog, but the warm gray was much easier to choose which pastel to use. The blue tone made every color seem to turn yellow or orange-ish. The tan made everything look green.

That was a good lesson for me, in how much light reflects off the surface and how it affects the colors laid on top. Also, I find it much easier to already have value patterns established in a single color, and then match the color to the value.

Turning Redtips

2011-11-11T08:47:00.001-08:00

Turning Redtips, 14 x 11

I didn't have to go far for this one, this view is right across the street from me. These redtips are just starting to turn, but it won't be long before they will be completely red. I think they are most interesting to paint when they have a combination of red and green.

When you add in the late afternoon light just catching the tops of the shrubs, and the electrified colors of the trees in the background, it was perfect timing.

Fall Color on the James

2011-11-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

Shallow Inlet, 12 x 9

This painting is from one of my favorite spots along the James River, I never come away feeling there was nothing interesting to paint. One of the advantages to this particular area is that you aren't limited to only painting from the bank. There are lots of these inlets with interesting rock formations, washed up tree trunks and calm shallow water. Or, since there are so many large rocks which are close together, you can rock-hop out past the inlets to the main portion of the river where the rapids are.

Of course it didn't hurt that there was more than just green.

Where did October Go?

2011-10-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

The James, Mid-October 12 x 6

Another month has flown by with not a whole lot of painting. Home projects are still getting most of my attention.

However, I do have a couple for show and tell.

Fall color was just starting to show up when I did the painting of the river. It was a bit hazy, but the weather has been wonderful around here for the past couple of weeks, temps in the 70s. Peak fall color should be here soon.

The Path Around, 12x12

I had been working on this painting, for what seems like forever.
The background to the left of the beech trees must have been
changed 10 times.

Just in case you're interested, I took some happy-snaps of the work in progress. I didn't bother to manipulate these following images, they are simply to illustrate the steps. So, the color is off and they are way too contrasty, but you'll get the idea.

I still like to start with pencil. I use this step for location of objects, spacing etc. I don't spend but a minute or two, I keep it very simple.

I've found the monotone value step to be very helpful. I like to exaggerate the lights and darks to help me focus on what the painting is intended to be about, otherwise I tend to keep adding things to the design that aren't needed. Again, this is done quickly and just to establish the value patterns. Typically I will spray this step with workable fixative. On a few occasions, I have forgotten and had this burnt umber mix in with the greens. Actually, it worked pretty well, kind of harmonizing all the colors laid on top.

The local color block-in stays real close to the value study and gives me an idea of color and temperature.

As I proceeded things started to go wrong. The background color started looking pretty weird and the little tree seemed disjointed and lonely. It also wasn't clear whether the color scheme was predominately warm or cool.

So, as I mentioned earlier, it went through numerous versions until I settled on the final version.

Now it has a definite warm dominance. The small tree was moved to became part of the larger group of trees, and blue/green/gray background color was neutralized to attract less attention. The hard part was trying to simplify the patterns of leaves and background and highlights so that it wasn't excessively spotty and distracting. Stringing the highlights together helped, and bringing the values of the shaded leaves and the background color closer together made a big difference.

James River Landing

2011-09-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a month since my last post, so I figure it's time to show something new. I've been busy, just not painting a whole lot. More on that later.

The past two Thursdays I've met up with Gina, a local pastelist, at her favorite spot on the James River. Jane also came yesterday, so now I have two painting buddies -- yeah! The top image is from yesterday. I wandered down the trail a bit and found this Sycamore leaning out over the river catching a little sun.

This one rougher than usual, because I'm trying to work faster and be more aggressive in applying the pastel. I've lost several paintings this year to over thinking and over working.

The next two are from the previous Thursday. It was overcast and threatening to rain, but after four days of pouring rain, it was great to get outside.

This bottom one is the second from that day. I turned the easel to look down-river and liked the arching branches and their reflection.

I haven't been painting a lot, because I've been replacing the front porch steps. I was just going to replace the handrails, but then I thought I might as well replace the tread boards too. Then the posts were looking kind of ratty and the stringers got kind of torn up taking the treads off so.... it all came down.

This is after pouring new concrete pads, hanging the stringers and setting two posts.

Here's pretty much where I am now.

Cloud Formations

2011-08-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

Clouds Over Corolla, 12in x 12in.

This was just a portion of an enormous cloud bank, with the sun setting off to the left. We don't get a chance to see sunsets like this at our house, because we are surrounded by 50-60ft trees. This was a real treat to watch.

Clouds offer a great opportunity to use some really expressive strokes. I think the combination of scumbled strokes for edges and blending with chunks of pipe insulation for most of the mass seems to works pretty well for me. It definitely helped with creating volume, as the rougher edges tend to come forward visually.

I've tried using pipe insulation before, but didn't really like the effect.

I will say that using the insulation is much better than blending with a finger, it has a smoother transition and there is none of the oils from skin to dull the color.

Sunday Morning Rain, 8-1/2in x 9-1/2in.

This is a farm just down the road a little bit. There are some very small indications of buildings in there, which require a great deal of imagination. What I was really interested in was the overcast sky and the colors of the field, and trying to get some of the color from both sections into the other. As well as, some blending and some scumbling in both top and bottom.

Outer Banks Beach House

2011-07-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

We recently went on vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We had beautiful weather, the water temperature was perfect, waves were great, fishing was the best in years, had a great house. I even managed to take my gear along to get some painting done. All was ideal, until I got a virus and spent most of the week sleeping it off. I managed to get one painting in before I got sick. It's of a foggy sunrise, but it still needs a lot of work. I had to do it from memory, because I forgot how fast the sunrise changes an entire scene, and I didn't get set up in time.

This painting is from a photo reference I shot from our third floor deck on the last night. The sunset was exceptional. This is the south-eastern view, facing the Atlantic. The real drama was to the north and west. I hope to work-up something with those photo references eventually.

I'm a bit of a disappointment with this one. It died somewhere about two-thirds of the way through. I'm not really sure what's bothering me, but I think it's the house. It's too stiff, too hard edged and too busy. It doesn't fit in to the painting much like it doesn't really belong in the actual landscape. I don't think this is a good example of "form follows function", but it makes for a nice place to vacation, even when you're sick.

Perhaps the lesson is, that this is an occasion where I needed to work around the imperfections and unify the painting to make it work for me -- in reality I didn't get the "form to follow function", because as a painter you can paint whatever you want to see.

Square Format

2011-07-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've worked with a square format, and it is a challenge to balance items within the composition. These are Beech trees growing along a path in a nearby park. I find the exposed pattern of roots very interesting to paint. I hope to start another one tomorrow that will be basically the opposite view and backlit.

If you work at a slower pace, like me, you may find this helpful for location work. This is a photo of my Heilman box (medium size) arranged. This is rare so I had to take a picture of it. I arrange by value using 5 of the 6 compartments. This leaves the last compartment for the colors I'm using for the painting I'm currently working on. If you have to return the next day or choose to finish in the studio, your colors are readily available, no time wasted searching. In the past, I've been able to hold enough sticks for 3 - 6x8 consecutive field paintings without having to re-sort.

Slow Start for the Summer

2011-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Finally got a couple of days to do some painting. I started this Friday, well I got the pencil sketch done and then the light changed. With all the full size leaves the light and shadow patterns change rapidly. With that in mind, I moved on and sketched-out three more pictures for the following days.

It should save some time, and I won't have to hunt for subject matter for the next few days.

I'm also considering nocturnes, and I hope to get in a trial run this weekend. After dark may be the only time I can work until school starts again.

I made a few changes to this picture from the last post. I didn't like the blob of mint green weeds on the right, which I placed exactly in the middle of the right edge and it was really distracting me. I lowered it slightly, and brought it down around the corner some. I'm hoping this makes it more subordinate. I also lightened the highlights in the sun struck water, and lightened a couple of the background trees.

Hot and Humid

2011-06-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

If you prefer to view this blog without the black background, here's how. With a browser such as Internet explorer, you click on the "view" menu and click on "no page style". If you are like me and use safari, it's a little more complicated. I could open my blog through Google Reader, which takes the page style away, but it seems that this only worked for blogs that I follow or subscribe to. When I did searches for blogs I don't subscribe to, they couldn't be found. So I guess you have to subscribe?

These are PAs from last week. I would guess that the average temp was 98 degrees.

Above is the creek near my house, we hadn't had any rain for weeks so the creek was only about 3 inches deep in most spots, makes crossing much easier and the shallow water allows you to see the bottom for added interest.

This creek and woods are ideal for me, it's within walking distance, you have shade and I think they are more interesting when the sun is higher in the sky, and often late morning to midday is the only time I can paint.

This is behind the far end of Kersey Creek Dam. There isn't enough water to go over the dam, it just goes around. I blew the composition, but I think there are some interesting things going on with the weathered boards and water stained concrete.

Some lillys that I lined the driveway with. The poplar that is behind the lillys is very close to the gravel, so it catches a lot of reflected light and makes it really stand out against the shadows.

This day was a scorcher, 99 degrees. When it's this hot and humid, it's almost like painting fog. Everything is soft edged and low contrast. It mostly eliminates the cool side of the palette, so I was left with using grayed greens and dull yellows to make things recede and still remain warm.

Last Weeks P.A.s

2011-05-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

These are three of the four from last week. I only had an hour on the fourth, and can't seem to get back out to finish it, maybe tomorrow.

First is an herb box my son and I made. The real reason we made it was so we could play with the new nail gun. It's probably got about 15,000 nails in it, so the wood will rot far before it falls apart. The box has cilantro, nasturtiums, some paddle leaf plant in the middle and basil -- except for the cilantro and basil, its mostly just for looks.

Second, is the neighbor's driveway. They always have more interesting light -- the grass is always greener.

The people who lived there previously, planted about 100 Leyland Cyprus (pine trees). I guess for privacy, but they planted them so close together that most are dead now. He was a tad strange -- liked to collect Nazi memorabilia -- his wife was just as sweet as she could be -- odd combination.

As its been awhile since I've painted outside, I ran into a few problems with setups. I can say it's not a good idea to setup on an uphill grade. The back leg can't get low enough so when I placed my pastel box in the tray it fell immediately in my lap. I decided that I would put the pastels on the ground and place the ones I was using in the tray -- good exercise, bend and lift and repeat -- however, the sun reflecting in an aluminum tray makes it quite difficult to discern colors of sticks -- not good.

Painting number three -- I crossed the creek out back for some dappled light. I like the combination of reflected and translucent light. This is a cluster of Tulip Poplars, probably 40-50ft tall. They can grow in clusters of 3-4 out of the same base, and they grow fast and straight. Their bark is fairly thin and not deeply grooved until much later in their life span. Around here, they get these green moss like patches on the lower parts and only keep the upper-most branches. In April/May they have a flower, kind of a tea cup, made of yellow and orange that fits in the palm of your hand. They aren't that pretty, but it kind of reminds you of a tulip flower.

The spot I chose for this was under a beech tree with branches hanging over my shoulder. I broke off the branches to get them out of the way, and of course, overtime I backed up to look, each time I got stabbed in the neck -- I'm thinking pay back. Not to mention the mosquitoes that fly in your ears, or the flies that love to bite shins, or the temperature of 95 degrees.

I wouldn't trade any of it, I love painting outside!

Ruby Red

2011-05-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last one from Bryan Park.....?
This particular spot backs up to where I-95 merges with I-64. I replaced the chain link fence and the entrance ramps with an open field.

I think I've learned a thing or two from spending so much time on these azaleas.

Mainly, suggestion rather than description works best. However, suggestion is much more difficult for me.

Second, I need an under painting. I stopped doing them when I started working plein air three years ago. I figured there wasn't enough time, but if the values and patterns are established early and I stick to them, time isn't really an issue. It is so much easier for me to judge color value and temperature against a single color under painting.

Small Mark, Big Change

2011-05-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

I started this with an underpainting using a Rembrandt burnt sienna. I switched to a harder and darker stick so I could get darker values with less build-up. It worked, but the reddish-orange color was awful. I laid some gray-greens on top, brushed some away, and it had this really nice warm glow to it. It took this picture in a completely different direction than I had intended.
The subtle highlights on the the lavender azalea came about while experimenting for a more saturated color mixture. It wasn't more saturated but it ended up giving the bush a nice rim-lighting effect.

Both of these things were happy accidents.

However, it wasn't until I added the little tiny bit of path just to the left of the azalea flowers that the space opened up visually for me. Cover that spot up with a finger tip, and see if you don't get stuck right where the path, tree trunk and azalea meet.

Sometimes the smallest marks make the biggest difference.

Bryan Park

2011-04-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

These two are from last week. I checked the weather (rain late in the day) and then went down to Bryan Park to get some work done on location. So naturally, it started to rain as soon as I got there. It was sporadic enough to take some reference shots though. The front moving in from the north made the light very interesting, dark blue-grey to the north and bright and warm to the east. It made for some really intense color.

The photos I took were absolutely terrible even though I bracketed each shot. So I had to rely on memory and let the painting

go where it wanted.

I'm actually pleased with the way the light turned out on both.

That's very rare.

It may be due to trying a different approach. I started both with a notan on white stock, making sure to have only 4 values. I also left many large areas untouched after the first pass of color. The best example of this is the ground plane of the first painting. I laid down 2 or 3 cooler neutrals and then dragged some warm green over the top and stopped there. No fussing! It's flat and comes forward in space, no further information is required.

A Quiz

2011-04-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a little quiz.

What does the sample below represent? I took the color out to make the quiz more difficult.

Here's the same sample, but with color. Got it figured out yet?

You probably do, but this is more for me, because I'm the one with the problem.

Here is the sample placed with the context of the painting.

The answer is background tree foliage.

The point to this quiz, is to demonstrate that even though I know trees are made of numerous branches with countless individual leaves, it requires very little information (detail) for the brain to figure out what any portion of an image is, when placed within the context of recognizable objects. A few random branches, and subtle value and color shifts, and that's all that is needed.

This is what I've been struggling with for the past few weeks. When there is a portion of my painting that is not quite right and I go to fix it, analytically my brain says draw what you know -- add lots of detail. And subconsciously I do, which only perpetuates the problem. In reality, the problem relates to incorrect value or color temperature.

So, this is what I'll call done. I had to finish, get it in a frame and downtown by 4:30.

A Garden Hose and an Evil Twin

2011-03-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Two pictures are all I have to show for the last 4-5 weeks.

Everything else had an unfortunate run-in with a ruthless art critic -- my evil twin brother Don.
Wielding a garden hose, using language mother would not be proud of, he severely censured me for even having to look at such amateurish mediocrity.

It was... brutal.

The painting above escaped the wrath of the hose due to better, more simplified patterns of light and shade. Also, much like the reflections of trees in the water, the postures between the geese and the couple walking in the background were mirrored.

It was close call for the azaleas, which received a last minute pardon. A substantial crop and changing the trees behind the azaleas and at the far right from dogwoods to generic earned it a last minute reprieve.

Of course, I don't really have an evil twin. I have a split personality disorder.

Actually I don't have that either, but it's more amusing than whining about the possible reasons things went wrong in March.

I'm optimistic that April will prove to be more successful -- I hid the garden hose from you know who.

Under the Red Maple

2011-03-01T16:10:00.000-08:00

A scene from the Japanese Garden at Maymont Park, another reference from last spring. Last spring was hot and very dry. A dry spring in the south translates to pollen so thick, it'll choke you. So thick that when the breeze kicks up, lime green clouds float through the air.

I took pictures of this tree was not for the beautiful red foliage, but rather for the reflected color in the tree trunk, however, I really hesitated to work on this because the reference is so cluttered and busy. The grass, leaves and water were all basically the same value. The tree trunk and the footbridge blended together, and little rocks with harsh shadows and highlights scattered throughout. Not to mention the infinite branches and leaves. So this was an exercise in learning to eliminate, play-up and play-down objects to get them to work for me.

Reaching Out

2011-02-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

The brief taste of warm weather ended my desire to paint winter scenes. It's still gray and bleak here, and I needed some green, so I went back to my references from last spring. This image caught my interest because of the gesture and texture of the tree in the middle ground. Several branches have been removed, and yet it still flourishes, reaching out for the sun. I wonder how many springs this tree been through?

These views through objects, allow me to explore different textures of the objects up close, and still have the feeling of depth by putting a secondary feature (the dogwood) in a prominent location.

I ended up with a total of 30 different sticks, much more than what I would've liked. The reason for the higher total came from creating variety within the greens and also a difference between the greens of the tree and grass. 14 of the 30 sticks were variations of green. This stems from reading Michael Chesley Johnson's recent post about creating contrast with temperature rather than value. I found this valuable, especially when dealing with foliage and grasses. Too much value contrast within these larger shapes makes things spotty and distracting.

Last of the Snow

2011-02-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

Another view of the nearby creek. This was fun playing with the highlights and shadows. I got a little more selective with the amount of branches I included. There was such a mass of branches and vines that it almost completely blocked the view of the highlighted trees in the background. As I see it now, I will change the angle of one of the highlighted tree branches at the top so it's no so repetitive.

This will likely be the last of the snow paintings for this winter. Temperature in the sixties today and seventies tomorrow. It'll be fun to get back outside and enjoy the sun.

This sunset was an experiment with letting more of the tonal wash show through in hopes of getting more color unification. If I will be using a lot of blue, I like to tone my stock with a salmon color. I think it makes the blues more vibrant. The drawback, if it is one, is that the painting is pretty grainy when viewed up close due to the light strokes. This really isn't an issue when viewing from a normal distance. I do think letting the tonal wash show through helps unify. I'm not sure it will work when I want to describe variations of texture.

It looks more like this when you aren't right up close. Also, I scan my paintings rather than photograph. They fit on my scanner, and color matching to the original goes much faster.

I gave myself a big pat on the back for actually doing thumbnails for all three paintings in this post. I worked out the composition, color choices and lighting in advance. Doing this was especially helpful for this one, as it took three tries to get the color scheme I was looking for.

I take reclaimed stock and cut it into smaller pieces so I can get several boxes on the sheet. Size varies, but roughly 2x3 inch boxes.

This one I'll call Evening Rush Hour. Yep, traffic gets pretty heavy out by the courthouse.

This is the first time I've tried showing any motion, so it was interesting. Being a landscape painter, I blurred the cars so you can focus on the trees and sky, hopefully relegating the cars to interesting props.

One last thing, I made a point of limiting myself to 9-15 colors for these paintings. The reasoning behind this was for better color unification. It forces you to layer or drag colors over each other to create a third color or value. This way you end up using the same colors within all the blocks or shapes of the entire painting. For instance, the dark green of the pine tree on the left is used in the dark parts of the road, dragged through the brown trees and is in the far background. There is a little hint of green on the upper clouds, but I covered most of it because it was just too dark.

A Few More of Snow

2011-01-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Part of painting snow for an entire month, was to see how far

I could push the color from one picture to another.

Yet, still have each of them be believable.

Still have a few more to go. Hopefully the next post won't take a month.

How Much to Simplify?

2011-01-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

How much to simplify? I ask this question, of myself, a lot.

How much is too much information and when is it just enough.

I feel like I need to not only represent what caught my eye in a particular scene, but also describe a certain amount of local characteristics that make the picture specific to my area and me.

What caught my eye, for this picture, was the warm backlight.

I have identified the foreground cluster of River Birch, which are specific to this area.

I've also alluded to the thick masses of trees, vines and broken branches that are so common here.

This is the information which makes the picture more specific to me and visually more interesting.

I've included one of the reference photos to give you an idea of what it really looks like.

Snow & 2011 Objectives

2011-01-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

The two things I want to concentrate on this year are simplification and value structure. They are what I struggle with the most.

I think the two are related. To simplify would be less complex with fewer parts or features. Value structure being the organized pattern of 3 or 4 values that form simplified, but interesting, abstract shapes which are generally linked together to give the impression of recognizable objects.

When I look at paintings I like, these two traits are easily identified. When converted to black and white, little if anything is lost. Perhaps the best test is converting the black and white gray scale to 4 graphic values of black and white. Most often in paintings I don't like, this is the step where things completely fall apart. Objects are not recognizable, and values are scattered about without organization.

This is a 4 value graphic version of a painting I recently finished. I think I did a decent job on this one. It's easy to identify the value masses.

The gray scale reveals further definition, snow, trees, a creek etc. It is perhaps still too complex. I'll leave that issue for another time.

The following picture was done in December, and was a real disappointment.

I got too wrapped up in describing the tree on the right and the mood of the scene.

Can you recognize anything here? The values are spotty and disjointed, and no focal point.

So I got to thinking, maybe a crop and some computer magic would help. Maybe, a nocturne would be better. Yep, looks better already.

Definitely has a focal point now. With some work, this might be kind of cool.

Try, try again!

2010-12-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

If nothing else, I'm definitely as stubborn as the day is long.

First example, I've already done a version of this which wasn't too bad. The first version just didn't look old enough -- these little buildings (I like to think of them as guardhouses) are probably circa early 1800s. So, I try again -- this is a little better. Big step, (no, major step for me) I didn't make the lines of the guardhouse parallel to the edge of the picture. In fact, I altered most of the perspective to try and enhance the feeling of age. Imperfect lines look older. You'll find bowed lines, jagged lines and incorrect perspective throughout. There's more peeling paint, more crooked shingles and less mortar joints. It's better, but....

Second example, I scanned this picture around 8:30am. I didn't finish messin' around with it until

10pm -- subtract shoveling the driveway, making and eating dinner.

When you paint, you group values, masses and repeat colors. When you scan or photograph the picture, it's rarely a perfect match -- you need to alter values or change color temperatures to areas that will better represent what you've just finished painting. Problem is, you've harmonized the picture using several of the same colors and values, when you go to manipulate one section, the computer grabs all of the same color or value throughout. You can't isolate just the section you want without a whole lot of effort. Arrgh, computers are definitely a love hate relationship!!!

Third example, I know certain color combinations and compositional arrangements are standard and very pleasing. I refuse to rely on standards, as much as possible. What's the point of having a job where there are no "rules", and then following all the known formulas. I never, purposefully, use the same colors in similar paintings. I will, most often, look for unusual ways of guiding your eye through the composition. The typical choice for this picture would have been to follow the brick path through the guardhouse into the courtyard. You know you want to go in there, right? I chose to block you're view (it is a guardhouse) make you come down from the top left, follow the shingle line to the sun-struck leaves, down the highlights of the shrub, follow the sunlight on the grass to the bare spots, across the bottom and then follow the bare spots to the walkway and into the guardhouse. Whether that works or not, I'm not sure, but at least it's different.

TomCat Alley

2010-12-04T10:47:00.000-08:00

This is a view down the neighbor's driveway. The driveway was completely covered with leaves, and was just giving me fits, so I started laying blue down on top because it's a gravel driveway. Then I added a figure blowing leaves off the driveway, at the time, the picture seemed to need something to focus on. Rather than enhance the scene, the figure became overly dominant, taking all the attention away from the sun washed woods in the background. I decided to brush the figure out, and play up the streaks of light that fall across the drive and the highlights on the tree trunks and green foliage.

I'm Stalling

2010-12-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

I can't decide whether to leave or remove a figure I've added to the painting I'm currently working on.

So I'll post a couple that I'm finished playing with.

I'm pleased with the end result on this one. Not because it's such a great painting, but because I showed restraint. Every time I started picking at something, I stopped and walked away. To finish I wanted to clean up the sky, remove the fingers on the edge of the left tree mass and gray down the background woods. I also decided to slightly lighten the shadow side of the left tree mass, reduce some of the saturation of color to the light struck side and added some faint sky holes. I did this to place more emphasis on the middle trees, which is my focal point.

The funny thing is, making these adjustments and finishing touches probably took three times longer than the time spent painting on location.

I might be happier, if this one hadn't taken so long to finish. I was constantly having to alter lines of perspective. The reflections of the far bridge's supports were also troublesome. I'd put rocks in, and then take them out or move them over. I finally decided to cover most of the left and leave most of the right one. I added a mass of middle ground rocks to attach the reflection with the right RR bridge support to get some eye movement going.

I couldn't use as many sharp edges as I wanted, they were flattening out the space too much by bringing those edges forward visually. I thought that with all the linear perspective, I could get away with a lot more hard edges. I ended up using more value and temperature contrast to get the edges that I was looking for.
After uploading this one, I think I will need to darken the upper grid hole on the left, it still is attracting too much attention.

Photo reference

2010-11-20T09:10:00.001-08:00

There are all sorts of problems associated with working solely from reference photos. But if the weather is bad or I can't find anything of interest at a location, I go through my reference photos for something that will keep me working. Plus I want to work a little larger this fall and winter.

Below is a photo taken of two bridges that cross the James River. This is cropped down from a horizontal photo.

I think the view of a bridge looking from underneath another bridge is interesting.

But, as usual, I don't focus on one spot for very long. I also like the warm reflected light and the saturated blues reflected in the steel work and water.

I also see this repetition of shape. It's inverted and a bit of a stretch, but it stuck out to me.

Naturally, there are problems to solve. The high contrast created within the grid work and the reflections of the distant bridge pillars create unwanted distractions due to everything being in similar focus. (One of the major drawbacks of photo references.)

So I take the file into photoshop, make a duplicate layer and use the gaussian blur filter. I duplicate the background layer a second time and add a layer mask. Using the airbrush tool, I simulate how the eye quickly focuses on something you find interesting while everything else becomes blurred shapes. You do this by removing (erasing) the blurred layer, which reveals the original photo beneath.

Notice how the annoying grid pattern and pillar reflections become less of a problem because you can only focus on the distant bridge area. However, I view this as a quick read and a trap. You get stuck there in that focal point, see what is there and stop. Nothing else is defined enough to grab your interest.

So, how do I get you to explore the rest of the picture, without everything competing with the focal point. My plan is to lead your eye through the painting with a series of connected hard edges with high contrast. It seems to me, that when the entire image is blurred and only one small area is in focus, that's where the eye goes. If I give you additional hard edges that are connected, the eye should want to follow them. This should allow the viewer to explore these other areas and enjoy the warm and cool color contrasts and get a feel for the different textures and enhance the feeling of space.

Some More Fall Color

2010-11-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get as much painting in as I can before all the color is gone.

This last one was from Friday afternoon. It is not finished, but it shows you at what point I like to stop painting on location. This gives me enough information to complete the picture, without any reference for adding needless details. This does show me that I need to refine the woods to the left somewhat, getting rid of the pattern of fingers. I think I will alter the cut trees in the center for greater gesture. Also I think I will grey down the low background trees to add a better sense of space.

My quote for the post: A bored looking model makes a boring painting Making a bored looking model look interesting makes a good painting.

2010-11-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

Here's some of the things I learned over the past two weeks.

1st: Just because you have 300+ pastels on hand, doesn't mean you have to use them all in one picture. I've noticed that several artist, whose work I admire, use very few pastels, or a limited palette. Yet, they still produce wonderful paintings with a full range of values. More important, their paintings have unified color. I've caught myself reaching for a new color every time I have a problem. Now I am making a conscious effort to choose a value from what I've already selected -- it doesn't have to be the exact color, it just needs to be the right value and temperature.

Lemon/Lime Splash

2nd: Never throw out a bad painting (I have a lot) there is probably some portion worth saving. I spent 2 or 3 days cropping failed paintings. Now I have several small images I like, which I can enlarge into good paintings, hopefully, when the weather is bad.

3rd: Lying is good. I don't mean lying to be devious or deceitful, more like lying as in stretching the truth. If you need to stretch the truth in a painting to make it more interesting or better compositionally -- do it. No one really cares if it's an exact match to reality.

A lot of lying (stretching the truth) going on here

More improvisation

Cropped down with a whole lot of reworking. A sketch or two would have saved a lot of teeth gnashing

4th: If you find a nearby location with several painting possibilities, only paint one. Sketch another or take photos of the others. Work out the composition(s) first and then return to paint. This saves having to crop out stuff that doesn't work.

The following are a couple of quickies on a rainy day, painted while standing in the garage

About 20 ft up

Hickory tree

And lastly, two more small cutouts from a larger painting. Talk about your everyday subject matter, weeds in a ditch in front of a spent soybean field.

5th: This is the most important lesson I've learned. An artist can make everyday scenes into wonderful paintings. An average artist makes everyday scenes into (I'll translate my latest critique) not exciting, but technically correct. Ouch! I'm working on that.

A Pail of Begonias

2010-10-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

I started this is one way back in June. It sat for 4 months while I did other stuff.

It 's based on a color scheme of red, blue and green, and even though I use the same colors throughout the picture, I keep feeling I end up with disjointed, separate color shapes. Blue pail, red/violet pot, red flowers and green foliage. I would really like to see more common color throughout all objects for more unification. I just haven't figured out my method for accomplishing that.

Two things: I do like the tree stumps, and I hate symmetrical objects -- I find them very difficult to draw.

So, I'm not sure if I like this one or not, but I'll call it done (for now) -- I'm definitely ready to move back outside. Peak of fall color should fall within the next two weeks.

October

2010-10-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

This is sunrise from behind the courthouse complex in Hanover. Typically during the day, the skies are postcard blue and no clouds to speak of. I've found that if it is cloudy the night before, the following morning is usually quite dramatic -- if I get moving early enough. Plus I can get in and out before everyone starts work and before the kids go off to school.

The goldenrod is gone now, but it was a great year for it -- that is if you're not allergic to it. In the woods around my house, it had grown to 5-6ft tall. I thought this was interesting because of the addition of the clearing in the back right, just beyond the creek.

This leads to my latest analysis. It is said that a good painting has a star (focal point) and everything else is like the supporting cast. I like this analogy. Problem is, I've always preferred movies with a sidekick, the guy or gal who really makes the star shine and makes the show much more interesting. I've always felt that if you want to hold someone's interest in a painting, you need more than one spot to capture their attention. But in representational painting you have to deal with how the human eye actually views a scene. The eye focuses on one thing while everything this else becomes blurred masses. I'm a scanner. I don't focus on one thing for very long, and I think that is why I tend to have multiple areas of interest. I think, if it is handled correctly, this may be a more accurate representation, at least for me. That is what I'm trying to explore, within the realm of representational painting.

So, if you go back and look at the first painting, the sky is the obvious focal point. The point of highest contrast and most saturated color. But, I added a fair amount of detail in the foreground trees. Clumps of branches and leaves, definition of tree trunks and variation of greens and multiple sky holes. Hopefully you can see this, the reproduction is pretty dark. I think that if I handled this area the same as the middle ground trees, a simple mass, the painting would suffer both in interest and lack for the feeling of space. The trees become the sidekick for added interest. Does this fight for attention, or add interest and depth?

In painting number 2, the goldenrod is the focal point, high contrast and saturation of color. The clearing in the background is the sidekick or secondary focal point.

The following painting shows a field loaded with Queen Anne's Lace, which creates a line of high contrast along the shadow line of the woods. However, during the peak blooming time of QAL, the leaves are typically starting to turn. So, I focused on the field of white, but I also wanted to show the start of fall color being caught by the diagonal rays of sun light.

This last image is a bit different. I've always heard that painting familiar landmarks is a good way to sell paintings. I'm not so sure about that, but I am a bit of a history buff, and I do respect good masonry. I spent a good deal of time going 'round and 'round this old jail and courtyard. It seemed as though, including all the building (the warm yellow stone is the old Hanover jail) looked too much like a postcard picture. I decided to crop in and focus on the brick, stone and sunlight. I think I did a decent job in capturing the light, but failed in defining the age of the buildings and wall. I'm not sure how I would have accomplished that without adding a whole lot of detail -- the very thing I'm trying to get away from.

Anyways, ask yourself the next time you are out -- not painting -- but just looking at your surroundings. Do you just focus on one thing for a long length of time and then walk away? Or do you constantly adjust your focus due to a flicker of light, flash of movement or alternate area of contrast? I'd be interested in finding out, whether I'm just weird or others view this way as well?

Shakin' Off the Rust

2010-09-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is a review of the past week's work. After not painting for two months, I was definitely apprehensive about getting started. My plan was to keep things small (6x8) simple and use familiar subject matter and locations. I wasn't worried so much about forgetting how to draw -- perspective, modeling etc. Rather, I was worried about forgetting the principles that make a huge difference between interesting and boring. Principles like a dominant value, dominant temperature and good composition with strong interesting shapes. These simple, but extremely important principles are so easily ignored when you're confronted with starting a painting.

So, I'll show the works from the past week and analyze a couple, one from Monday and one from Saturday.

Monday's effort. I went out with the intention of not wandering around for the perfect spot, just paint something to get started. Unfortunately, it was a late start which left me with nothing but high-key subjects. I struggle with high-key, a lot.

Tuesday, same meadow different spot. I thought the sky was going to have some clouds, there was, just not where I was. So I chopped off the top and added make believe structures.

This is Saturday, the second painting. Time to analyze.

As you can see from Monday, there is no clear dominant value or clear simple shapes. There really isn't a dominant temperature either. It's mostly cooler greens, but the intensity of the yellow goldenrod seems to balance the larger amount of cool greens.

Saturday's, and the bench below from Friday, are much easier to understand visually even as a value cutout. They both have larger simplified blocks of value with subtle variations within. Both have dominant dark values that are connected and flow through the image. Both have a dominant temperature with variations used within as accents.

Wednesday, love this old barn. It's the third or fourth time I've painted it.

Saturday's first painting. This is just to the right of the barn, and to the left of Saturday #2. By the end of the week, I was only spending 30-45 minutes on location. The time being spent on identifying and indicating the light patterns, values and basic colors of the scene. Then I would pack up and finish them at home. This seems to be a more effective process for me. I did not take any reference photos, so all I had was memory and a block-in with limited detail. It helps reduce my habit of adding endless detail hoping that it will make the painting better, when all it really does is ruin it. So with nothing to reference for detail, I'm forced to look at how I can strengthen the painting through composition, value and color/temperature.

Soooo... whatcha been doin?

2010-09-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

As for myself, I haven't done any painting for two months. What I was doing went as follows: refinished and hung two doors, replaced 38 ft. of porch overhang, replaced another six ft. on the back of the house, also replaced trim around bay window, replaced siding on three dormers plus all the painting, caulking and re-hanging the gutters. I know now that it gets very hot on my roof in July and August. I also know I don't like 40ft. ladders, they're kind of heavy. I had planned to work on the house during the day and paint for a few hours at night. After the first day of climbing a ladder numerous times, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

Now I'm done.

Now, I can't get motivated to paint. I've had the same half finished painting on my easel for two months. I go over and pick up a stick, make a mark or two and then walk away. However, I do have a very tidy studio, fresh oil and filters in my car etc, etc.

So until I get my motivation back, I'll post some earlier work.

This is an 8x12 study for a commission, I sent for approval. As it turned out, they liked the study, as is, and purchased it. Now I need to find something else for the commission, seems like that should be motivating?

This is the last piece I painted while in New Mexico. One of those images I just never got around to preparing for the web.

This was from a day after we had gotten about 8-9 inches of snow. Kind of an unusual thing for here, and we had two or three of those this past winter.

I was practicing painting in high-key, something I always struggle with. I like this just because I loosened up some. In case you can't tell, it's a cow with her calf facing the opposite direction.

June, Inside & Out

2010-06-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

This is a studio painting from a reference photo trip I took with my daughter. After soccer practice we decided to take a road trip. The sun was setting, the weather perfect, and the colors were great!

The second image was done on location, in about an hour from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. I've done these buildings before, (Behind the Courthouse) because I love that red tin roof against the foliage.

Another studio painting from a study I did on location. I changed the crop to make it about the sky. I need a lot of work on skies!

Lastly, flowers from the garden done on the spot. Spent roughly an hour, mostly swatting flies.

The Begonias in the metal pale will be the focus of a larger painting, although I may still include the clay pot and tree stump. I have no idea what the plant is in the foreground, we keep throwing the labels away.

Notes to Myself

2010-06-04T06:12:00.001-07:00

I snuck one more painting in before the end of May. I like the way the trees and foliage turned out, so I thought I would analyze those areas to see what makes it work for me. By the way this is the same gazebo from the previous post, from a different vantage point.

First detail is the middleground trees to the left. I did a color scale and a second color scale desaturated into grays. I adjusted the width of the sections to correspond to the amounts used of each value/color. It is a pretty short range with middle and dark very close in value. The largest amount of color is the grayed/green, with more limited use of warmer greens making the trees recede but still give the illusion of branches coming forward with sun-struck leaves. The lightest green shows that best. It, for the most part, was scumbled lightly over the other values of green which breaks up the color and resembles the space between leaves. It also helps to drag the greens right on top of the trunks and branches to create more depth. The trunks and branches were handled much the same as the lightest green. Kind of a drag and lift while adjusting the amount of pressure applied, to reflect the twists, bends and direction the branches head in. The sky holes are a saturated blue, very similar in value to the lightest green and applied lightly to break up and smear the blue to give it a green cast.

Below is a detail of the trees on the right. Different shades of green and lighter overall. But, again has the short value range with a dominant value and temperature.

I was, unknowingly, using a conte crayon for these trees. but it worked really well. I used a very light touch and it picked up the green giving it a dark green/grey look, until you add more force. It also holds an edge much better for the thinner branches.

I think I see a pattern here? A very similar value range appears in the tulip leaves also. In truth, I don't recall making a conscious effort to keep repeating this type of value pattern, but only to concentrate on limiting the amount of distinct shapes within a larger shape. This limited value range and dominant color and temperature seems to help unify the overall shape and still have enough modeling to create a sense of volume. The repetition of the pattern seems to help unify the overall picture.

I thought this last detail was really interesting. I sampled all the different colors used for the tulip flowers. I didn't use pure white, but they sure look white. It's interesting to see how different the colors look on white, than when there are surrounded by the various greens used. So much brighter and saturated on white. Its just the value difference that makes them pop and the yellows to appear saturated.

I don't know how many times I've caught myself saying, "if I could only find this certain color, it would be perfect". I look and look and try numerous sticks that just don't work. Problem is the sticks which are usually in my Heilman box are surrounded by other sticks of various colors. It makes that certain stick look quite different that when you put it on the painting and its surrounded by completely different colors. The yellow tulips are a perfect example. I kept picking up these really saturated yellows and they just screamed wrong! I finally gave in and chose two values of pretty dull, dingy yellow. These ended up looking much closer to the real thing and stayed back in space like they needed to. I've also found that it also helps to choose two sticks of the same value and overlay them to make a new color that comes closer to what I had intended.

Early May

2010-05-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't done any painting since early May, and these were the last two I worked on. I've been spending all my time working on the house, and it appears most of my summer will be spent that way. Postings will be sparse for awhile.

I've included some close-ups, that hopefully will show the amount of layering and scumbling I use. "It looks just like a photograph", is something I hear a lot. It's really quite maddening! However, apparently I need a sense "of realism", because I've never been able loosen up drastically. I love it when others simplify things down to simple shapes of dominant color, and still maintain a sense of realism. It is a very distinctive method of application, and most often I can identify their work immediately. But, that is their method, mine is different. I think that is good. It would be rather boring to have everyone use the same techniques.

Perhaps with the following close-ups, you will be able to see that there is really only an illusion of a lot of detail. A trick on the mind, created out of numerous strokes of value and color. There is very limited use of hard edges or linear work, to define space, shape or apply emphasis, but rather it most often accomplished value, temperature/saturation, color and shape.

To me the following images show what I see while I'm working on a picture. However, I constantly move back about 4-6ft. to check and see how it works from a more typical viewing distance. In reality, things are only simply modeled, with just enough (for me) information to describe differences in items and textures. I have hardly indicated every leaf, mortar joint or branch from the actual scene. There is a lot of subtle value and color shifts within objects, which is why I believe people think they see so much detail.

These images better illustrate the subtle shifts. If they are not subtle, the painting will get very busy and distracting. If you scroll back to the top image and squint, most of the shifts disappear into large blocks of value.

I love stone work. I think pastel is the ideal medium for painting a lot of things, but there is nothing better to describe stone texture. Two other things that grabbed my interest were one, the area of blueish green behind the large tree branches and to the left of the vase. I played this up dramatically. It really helps add a sense of depth and helps alleviate the large mass of green. Second, there was very warm reflected light bouncing off the stone pedestals and rail. The stone is actually a very cold blue/grey. I used this reflected light as an overall color scheme to warm the stone up and to keep a dominant color temperature.

This gazebo overlooks the James River. The gazebo and the path leading to it were surrounded by yellow and white tulips. The landscapers do a wonderful job with their plantings. I also really liked this huge rock formation in the foreground. I had to tone the rock down drastically, and make it much closer in value to the grass. I also ended up cropping much of it out. It was competing too much with the gazebo for importance.

Again, the close-up shows the same value and color shift technique, which gives the illusion of grass, stone, wood and foliage. It's just a lot of marks, that when viewed at a distance, trick the brain into believing it sees recognizable things.

Spring in Virginia

2010-04-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's hard to beat Virginia in the spring, the color is fantastic. Azaleas, dogwoods etc., produce a spectrum of color. It's too bad it doesn't last all summer. I decided to visit Bryan park, just north of the city of Richmond. It's the first time I've actually driven into the park. I could see the azaleas from the highway, so I felt obligated to check it out. Sure glad I did.

I did some research on the park. Here's the info I found most interesting. In 1952, 17 acres of the park became the section called the Azalea Loop. They planted 45,000 azaleas, yes thousand, in 50 different varieties. At the park's peak, as many as 400,000 visitors would pass through the loop to view the spring show. It appears to me that the park is not in the shape that it once was. I believe most of the upkeep is now done by volunteers, due to budget cuts. The park also has a bit of a bad reputation nowadays. But, I will certainly be back next spring, its a show I don't want to miss!

Azalea Loop. My favorite color of azalea along with this lilac colored tree that I'm not sure what it's name is. I think the light on this painting, is perhaps, the best I've done.

I've temporarily named this one Vermilion & Carmine. It seemed that Sennelier Chinese Vermilion in combination with a Rembrandt Carmine 318,7 came as close to matching this line of azaleas as I could find. I had an awful time with the sky and leaves on this one. Just couldn't keep the blue saturated and clean, kept turning green on me.

Curbside Appeal is my temporary title for this one. I like to add neutral grays whenever possible. The curb and road were just the ticket here. I had to crop this one down some, the dogwood blossoms were everywhere, and I couldn't simplify the top enough to make it work.

I actually started this painting with the curb and road, and then worked my upward. The curb, road and azalea were basically done in 10 minutes. The rest took me two days, and yet I consider the bottom half the best part. So that tells me I over-think too much. I end up thinking my self in circles -- value, color/temperature, and patterns. I chase my tail around in circles like a dog. Never catching the tail, and overworking the picture. It seems it would be better turning off my brain, turning up the tunes and just reacting to what I see. It's a lot more fun that way, anyways!

Spring break

2010-04-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

This was all I managed to get done last week, although I did a lot of work. Taxes being one, along with some framing for an upcoming show. Also, I spent one day gathering reference photos for those emergency days/weeks when the schedule doesn't allow me to stray to far from home. Got some wonderful spring color shots with dogwood, azaleas and redbuds all blooming at the same time.

The above painting is from a location on the James River. A nice little shady spot off the hiking trail. The sun, peaking through the tree canopy, created a nice hot spot in the splashing water, and created a nice contrast between the moving water and the moss covered rocks in the shade.

I'm not sure whether this is successful or not. I do like the eye movement created by the Z pattern. I think there is a good feeling of depth, which is heavily influenced by gradations. Dark to light, saturated color to greyed color, warm to cool and definition to mere indication. I'm definitely going to consider gradations more as a tool for creating a greater sense of space. The water and rocks are working for me, and have some nice texture shifts. However, I'm not sure the translation from light into shade works without the indication of the tree canopy. I cropped out the sky and canopy, which were high contrast, because they conflicted with the splashing water and dark rocks in the foreground, which is the focal point.

Although it may not work as a whole, I did learn a different way of emphasizing space. Although I've read about aerial perspective and color shifts of warm to cool etc., for years, when I started to see it more as a graduated scale, a value scale or a color scale. Something like a pantone screen tint book or a 4-color process book. This seemed to make more sense to me. Too many years in graphics!

New images

2010-04-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

I'm adding these revised images in hopes that they will be an improvement over yesterdays post. If you have an opinion as to which versions look better please let me know.

Back Outside

2010-04-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

I finally made it back outside to paint. The weather couldn't be better, and the best part is the bugs aren't out in force yet!! The first picture is from Thursday the 1st. I went to a spot with some wide open space, but it was a little too wide open and not very captivating. I moved down the fence line some and found this little tree loaded with yellow buds or flowers, couldn't tell exactly from that distance, but it looked springy and that's what I was after anyways. The second painting is from Friday. Second day out and already I can't seem to find anything that is even remotely interesting. I went to three different locations and didn't like anything. After 2 hrs. of running around I forced myself to paint the first thing I saw with some contrast (12 noon, not ideal) and some color. I ended up liking the end result.

So I finally get back outside, I end up with two pictures I'm OK with, and then the real work begins. I want to post them, oh the agony!!! I carted everything outside to shoot on the north side of the house in the shade. I looked at the files and they had way too much cyan. So I re-shot them with various calibrations of red added. Still too blue, except a reddish blue. Well, now I'm ticked, time to scan them. After various attempts, still too blue but I played with them for what seemed like forever to get to this point. I hope they look halfway decent.

Hopefully there will be some more to post in a week

A Portrait Commission

2010-03-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

This is a cropped enlargement of about 1200% of a snapshot from around 1962-63. Not the best reference to work from, but it was all I had, the others were not helpful. Plus this is the one the customer preferred.

I though it best to do a fairly tight pencil rendering, just to see if I could glean enough information to produce a reasonable likeness. I don't see any reason to take this step any further, because later it will be completely covered up. I felt like this was successful enough to continue even though I had little or no information concerning her right eye, the right side of her nose, and couldn't tell how hair was falling. Usually if I stare at something long enough, I can start to see the information I need. Or maybe its just my imagination and what I know, combined to put the values and shapes together to make it believable. Doesn't really matter as long as it works.

This is the final. It's kind of the opposite of my previous post. Usually I layer and layer and get the pastel as thick as possible. In this case, I put the pastel on and then wiped it off with brushes, paper towel or a kneaded eraser plus a lot of finger blending to create the different values. It's was done with four colors, although I really wanted to do it in full color. The full color versions ended up in the trash, just can't fake good skin tones, I have to able to see them.

Although it's not what I wanted to do, and a difficult reference, this has a good feel to me. It's a decent likeness, the color is warm with a nostalgic feel. I also like the graininess of the exposed sanded paper, it's a nice change of pace from my normal process.

Final Step

2010-03-27T18:17:00.001-07:00

I'm posting the first three steps again, just for progression's sake, but you can refer to the earlier post for information concerning steps 1-3.

This is the finished painting. You can tell that I like to make adjustments during the painting process. I don't do thumbnails very often. I prefer to alter as I go based on what's happening at the moment. I moved the hanging holly branches from the left to the right and back to the left. As well as the angle of the snow covered dead tree trunks which lay on the middle ground. The changes are all based on what's working well or what becomes interesting during the process. You can see the coloring process as well. Step two, the block-in, starts with cool colors and exaggerated values. Followed by a warmer layer in step 3, and the final layer tones down the values and color to something that is closer to reality, especially in the foreground snow. I wanted interesting color patterns in this area with subtle value changes, due to the top half of the painting being so busy.

That's it for snow this year. It's too nice not to work outside, and I've got major spring fever!

The Colors of Snow

2010-03-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

This first image is just after a fresh snow. It's pretty cool the way the snow completely covers the branches of the small trees in the background. Although the day was overcast and dreary, the neutral color scheme was a nice change from my earlier bright and sunny work.

This is pretty much right before the sun sets. I think its interesting the way the sun bends around the tree branches and illuminates everything with just a touch of warmth.

This is step 1 of my work in progress. 7h pencil on wash of burnt sienna and ultra marine blue. I let the wash sit for awhile and the pigments had started to separate, but I like the effect.

This is step 2. Just feeling around for a color scheme and basic value patterns. I like to layer colors so, I used purplish blue grey in different values to help neutralize the reddish blues and greenish blues that will go on top.

Step 3. I've settled on color palette and have started to cut into holly leaves to cover with snow. I also made several adjustments to the layout to allow better eye movement from top to bottom. I've also greyed down the blues and lowered contrast for more of an overcast day look.
I'll try and post more in the next few days.

I have really enjoyed painting snow this year. The variety of light and reflections casts a completely different look on familiar places. I have tried to cover as many lighting situations as possible, and still have a few more to go. At least I'm hoping to get a few more done before spring fever kicks in. It's supposed to be mid-60s by next Monday!

Closeur

2010-01-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

I had intended to finish this and frame it. It seemed like the pefect gift for someone who truly appreciated the smell of peonies. I thought I had more time, I was wrong. I will miss you Nanny!

January

2010-01-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

These are all images from early January. We had gotten about 8-10 inches of snow. I was concentrating on the shadow patterns and simultaneous contrast. Hopefully you can see the blues, greenish blues and reddish blues, in variations, in the shadow patterns. Pictures 3 & 4 are variations, or closer crops of picture 2. All are done on wallis paper with a peach colored toned wash, which was allowed to show through, although I'm not sure you will be able to see.

Good News

2009-12-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

I just recently found out two of my paintings were accepted into the IAPS Brea Gallery Exhibition. The exhibition opens near the end of January. "Just Off the Trail" and "A View of Richmond" are scenes from James River Park on the south side of the River. The bad news is the frame shop I always use is closing down for two weeks during the holidays. My pictures need to be framed during that time and shipped shortly thereafter. Time for plan B!

Storage

2009-12-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

Since this weeks location paintings are total trash, I thought I would post my storage system. In the past, at workshops I've taken, people have expressed an interest in where I purchased my boxes. To which I have to chuckle, so this is my "non" patent-pending storage system. I don't have flat files, so I use this method based on wooden versions I've seen used by artist who travel to locations and work for several days at a time. My version is made of two layer corrigated cardboard, measuring about 1/4" thick. I use 1 inch exterior house insulation (the pink stuff) cut with grooves 1/4" wide 5/8" deep and 5/8" apart. This allows for 19 -- 1/8" - 12x16" masonite panels. I've also used 1/8" and 3/16" foamcore panels. 19 masonite panels can get a little heavy, the reason I use double thick cardboard. I get the cardboard from a restaurant supply company, which sells 7' x 3' prep tables and I use those boxes. I also use a variation of this for shipping individual paintings. The difference is the painting is wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap and incased on all sides with the insulation, a combination of 1" and 2". Good bump protection and water-proof. Sure beats paying $50.00 or more, for an archival cardboard box with foam. It's just not in my genetic code to spend that kind of money for a "box".

A Break in the Rain

2009-12-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

The rain let up on Tuesday. After dropping my daughter off at a Girl Scout meeting, I heading to the Courthouse park for a little location work. I only had 45 minutes to work, as the sun was setting fast. You know it's time to quit when you can't distinguish the colors of the pastels any longer. I'm pretty happy with this little 8x6". The scene itself was pretty boring, my vantage point put everything in exact parallel horizontal lines, left to right. I shifted plane angles to to relieve the monotony, and added a whole lot of color.

A Still Life for a Change

2009-12-03T06:31:00.000-08:00

This was another way to beat the rain. I haven't done a still life in "forever"! Actually, I was cleaning the kitchen and moved the blue bench to sweep. It ended up in front of the liquor/cook book cabinet. The cabinet that is so filled with, uhhh..... cook books, that the door won't close! The little vase was something my wife put together. I really liked the way the cool overcast light illuminated the geranium leaves and highlighted the vase. This is roughly 10x8". I cropped it a little in my virtual frame shop. I've read where some artist will place the painting in a frame to help decide if it is done. Since I don't have any frames laying around, I made some in photoshop. I now have about 5-6 variations of mat and frame colors to choose from. Makes it look finished, and doesn't cost a thing. Then I can place the painting in one of my many boxes and start something new. Perhaps I'll do a blog on my, non-patent pending, box design. I've got it down to a science now.

Rainy Days

2009-12-03T06:13:00.000-08:00

Officially, this November goes in the record books as the one with the highest total of rainfall. Rain is good, however I would have been happier if I had gotten some fertilizer down like I planned. Rain is not so good for outdoor painting, especially with pastel. As a way around this dilemma, I opened the garage door and painted this hickory under cover. Overcast light can really brings out the intensity of colors, and the wet bark of the trees added good contrast. I've been re-reading Edgar Payne's "Composition of Outdoor Painting," trying to sort out my compositional/focal issues. So I thought I would try a cross-type arrangement. The idea being the intersection of the blue line (road) and the yellow leaves, indicate that the hickory tree is the focal point.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

Since it's Thanksgiving eve, I would like to thank those involved with the PSNM 18th Annual Pastel Painting Exhibition. They work hard and put together a terrific show, showcasing wonderful pastel paintings. I consider myself fortunate to have been included the past two years. This year I got two paintings included in the show, the first is River Birch, and the second, March Snow, was honored with the Pastel Society of America Award. The award includes a check and a gift cerificate for a set of Terry Ludwig's pastels. If you haven't tried them, they are wonderful! Soft like Sennelier and Unison, but the rectangle shape is great for any linear work you might have. I highly recommend trying them. If you would like to see the exhibition, go to http://www.pastelsnm.org/

November

2009-11-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

I sort-of got burned out on the fair, didn't take that long, and needed to get back outside and work before all the fall color was gone. It had been awhile since I had dealt with the elements, but it sure was nice to get some fresh air and sunshine. The first day, I had to work off the rust, I got a late start and felt rushed, but overall it's not too bad. Actually, I've severely edited this scene with the pines, the foreground was blocked by heavy machinery and orange erosion plastic is strung all along the tree line. I guess the county is adding more sewer line -- whoopee!! I choose to ignore progress, I prefer the way it used to look. The first image is from the second day, I was feeling much more comfortable again. I think it shows. It's a pretty steep incline to the top of the hill, but the bright morning light against the deep shade really got my attention. I'm real happy with the way the beech trees turned out. They have a very smooth bark with a warm grey-green color, and lots of very light splotches all over the trunk. In the fall, the leaves are a very interesting copper color, prior to turning a very pale beige. The third day there was about a 15 degree drop in temperature, and I only lasted about 45 minutes before my concentration was shot. Too cold and too many leaves landing on my pastel box. I was also trying, once again, to wear my reading magnifiers and work outside. That does not work at all! I will probably finish that one tomorrow, I got enough in that short time to complete in the studio.

October

2009-11-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

Most of October was spent working on the house. Had to replace and install some new appliances and, with the help of my dad, primed over the living room. I'm still waiting for the boss to pick-out the colors, but I'm not really rushing that decision.

I started a series of paintings from our visit to the state fair of Virginia. I took my camera to the fair hoping for something interesting, and got way more than I expected. It turned out to be a great opportunity to work on multiple figures interlaced within a colorful setting. It's also been very challenging to deal with basically neutral figures as a center of interest and have them stand out against such intense and saturated colors of the food vendors and rides. The first, titled Waiting Patiently?, worked pretty well. I had to tone a lot of the color in background down, so the main figure would not fight with the sign, but I think it works pretty well. The main figure reminded me a lot of myself, kind of the family pack mule who's had enough for one day. I'm working on a second, but it's turned into quite a mess value wise, it will be awhile before I finish that one. Hopefully there will be 6-8 pieces to this series.

Back to the meadow

2009-10-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

I couldn't go through the fall without spending some time in the meadow near my house. Although there running a sewer line through there, which really ticks me off, I can still work from the near side at the woods edge. I hate to see the expansion when it comes at the expense of all the wildlife that lives in this area. But, the golden rod persist regardless. This painting is of an overcast day. I'm generally not fond of cloudy days, but the richness of color can be quite striking. I wanted to really play up the juxtaposition of warm and cool colors, along with the brilliant yellow of the golden rod. At first, I wasn't too pleased with the results. I let is sit for a few days, and then looked again and thought... yep that's what I wanted to show. It simple, wild and colorful.

I'm going to work on some figurative work for awhile. We spent the day at the Virginia State Fair. I wasn't too thrilled to go, but took the camera just for kicks. I ended up having a pretty good time, got some great pics including all the over-the-top colors of the vendors and lots of interesting characters. These should be quite a challenge. I've already gone through seven versions of one reference photo, using bits and pieces from four different photos and several exposures to get to one composition. This will require a great bit of generalization to simplify down to a good painting, rather than another meaningless rendering, or pretty picture. But, that's my goal. I'll work on these state fair pictures until the leaves make a substantial change, and then head back to the river. These two subjects should keep me busy for 2-3 months.

September on the James

2009-10-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

Most of September was spent working on pictures focusing on the James River. There is an extensive park which runs on both the north and south sides of the river. There are extensive trails for hiking, biking and just playing in the water, which make it a popular location during the warm months from spring through fall. The first painting above is from the south side of the river. I find the rock formations and many small islands quite interesting. What caught my eye was the one tree that was highlighted by the sun, but also by the warm and cool foliage on the far side of the river. It was as if everything was lined up just right in linear rows, cool and warm.

The second painting, came from a bit farther down the park trail. Basically it's from right under a walking bridge which you can walk right out onto these huge rocks when the river is low. This painting is looking towards the city of Richmond and includes the Lee Bridge. I was focusing on the warm yellowish light created by the early morning haze, and how it warmed the color of the background office buildings, as well as, the rock formations in the foreground. I also like the repetition of angled lines.

I did several more paintings from this area, some of which are on my website.

Reworked #2

2009-08-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Spring Colors is my second attempt at fixing a problem painting. The original attempt is picture number two. I was quite pleased with the colors, especially the blue sky peeking through in the background. I thought it really captured the cool spring sky. But I was bothered by the crop, which led my eye right to dead center of the picture and the white flowers, and I wasn't real happy with the two white oaks to the right -- they were getting too much attention.

This August, I decided that I would add an additional inch of paper to the left, to eliminate the flowering crab being cropped off. The weight of the paper made it difficult to get a good clean beveled cut when cutting through two sheets, so there is a bit of a line that shows if you look really close. Even so, I still like the cropping much better. My changes involved, not only the tree, but adding more color to the light flowers, lightening some of the shadows, darkening the road and cropping a little off the right. After I lightened the trunks of the white oaks, I still wanted them to have less emphasis, so I cropped closer to the far right tree trunk and added a few more leaves in front.

I'm much happier with the finished painting now (picture #1), it has much more emphasis on the flowering crab and cool blue sky.

Reworked

2009-08-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Five Vases was done in the studio in December. I liked the stone and vases, but was having a real problem with the grass -- at least I thought. As I mentioned in my first post, the kids are home for summer break, so I tend to stay close to home. I thought this would be a good time to revisit some problem paintings, and this was the first. When I was originally working on the painting, I remember my usual struggle with large areas of basically nothing (foreground grass). Although its good to have an area of little detail as a foil for rest of the painting, it's always a battle for me get just enough information in and have it read as grass or weeds or whatever. Thank goodness for Wallis paper, because I re-painted the grass about five times, completely brushing out the area and starting from scratch. The second image shows what I originally settled for.

When I got the picture back out in August, I realized that I not only didn't like the foreground grass, there was a bigger problem with my eye starting at top left and then following the dark shadow below the stonework off the right side of the picture. I decided to re-do the grass area (this took an additional 5-6 tries) until I decided to add a tree shadow and lightened the shadow under the stonework. Then I felt my eye going back to the left and up the stairs -- it was the movement I was looking for. I also decided to vary the greens in the pines in the middle behind the stonework. I grayed them down, to make them recede, and warmed-up the evergreen at the far right, which added much more variety and a better sense of depth.

Along with some other minor changes, I think this is a much better painting -- at least for now!

Simplified Values

2009-08-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

While the kids are home for summer break, I'm staying close to home and finding stuff to paint around the house. We recently powerwashed and sealed the deck boards, and it turned out pretty good. I was out drinking a cup of coffee one morning and thought that the porch would be a good challenge to paint. The shadow patterns and intense reds of the geraniums really caught my attention.

Lately I have been really concentrating on simplified values, I think that is my biggest weakness. So, to address this problem, I reloaded my pastel box (six sections) with primarily values of 20, 40, 60 and 80% pastels. Since I am not overly organized, I only separate by value. Whites and the darkest darks are on either end, and only fill have of their sections. The intention is to create a picture of 4 values made of basically 15%-85%. I add the lightest highlights and the darkest darks at the very end in limited amounts. This tends to boost contrast and apply emphasis, but since its a small amount, it doesn't really disturb the overall four value picture.

I have been practicing this method since last winter. I have been taking reference photos and manipulating them in photoshop to help me see the simpified value patterns. The idea is to teach myself to see this way when I'm out on location, you learn to group values to simplify and strengthen your painting. To do this, you open a file in photoshop and change it to grayscale. You may have to reduce the image size, depending on how many pixels were use to generate the digital file. Once the file is grayscale, you can either posterize to four values, or use the cutout filter. Set the cutout filter number of levels to 4, edge simplicity to 4 and edge fidelity to 2. The image will then look something like the first image.

Once the file is converted, I typically change the whites to 15% and the darks to 85%, so I'm less likely to have the urge to use the lights and darks.

I hope this helps someone else, I think its done a lot for the way I look at a scene.

Let me know, comments are welcome.