Sky High [acrylic on canvas, 16”x16”]

Clouds are a lot of fun to paint so I’m not sure why I don’t do more of them.  This is a a peaceful little foothills scene.  Enjoy!

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Sky High start (acrylic on canvas, 16”x16”)

I started this painting today just to keep my brushes wet.  Having that simple goal – keep your brushes wet – seems to work for me.  There are days that I find it hard to focus and the discipline of wetting my brushes and diving in is great.  If that starts me, usually I get interested and inspired and challenged and I’m off to the races.

I began this painting with a violet watery under painting.  This loose paint runs and bleeds and blossoms as it dries and it glows through the later stages.  Ciao!

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Flowers… still in progress

I’m definitely fighting with this painting and I don’t think I’m winning at this point.  It’s definitely helpful to see these thumbnail size photos because it forces me to get back to the basics.  I’ll have to see if I can pull this together over the next few days.  Oh, and I actually did use my carving tools to excavate some line into this painting…  you’d have to double-click to see the lines on the table space and highlights on the leaves.  

Meanwhile…  I received my boxes from Curry’s yesterday!!!  I’m like a little kid at Christmas when I get a new box of art supplies.  The new and fun items are larger canvasses – one is 2’x3’.  Yikes, that one is intimidating!  It should be fun to attempt a larger painting though.  Ciao!

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Work in progress… flowers in vase

I’ve been working on this one off and on for a few days now.  I’m keeping the colors almost analogous, but the flowers want a bit of that orange in them.  This surface has a lot of molding paste texture in the background.  My next step is going to be excavating some of the texture with my Speedball lino cutter.  This will be my first attempt at this so wish me luck!  I’m in an experimental mood – why not? 

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I Don’t Think She Likes Me (acrylic, 11”x15”)

How wonderful it is to putter on a happy subject when I’m feeling down.  That’s what I did today and presto chango – the happiness of the subject & the bright colors lifted my spirits.  It might be temporary but it all helps, right?  

For those of you that are interested, the photo below was the state of the painting after the first painting session a few days ago.  I kept only the three main sunflowers and noted that the two smaller ones seem a bit in awe of the “big girl”.  They appear to be leaning towards each other and whispering.  So, now you know the crazy things that are running around inside my head, haha!  I quite enjoyed working the background transparently, then translucently and finally, in the upper right corner, opaquely. 

Thanks for viewing & have a great week!

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Camping at Three Sisters [acrylic on canvas, 12”x18”]

The last time I posted this painting was July 16th and it’s been waiting patiently on my list of “to do’s” since.  Today I puttered with it a bit and I’m liking it better for a summer painting.  As you can see from the “before” photo below, the mountains were pretty cold looking for summer.  When the sun is further north these mountains get quite a bit more warmth on them. 

I made it down to Wallace Gallery for a quick look at Brent Laycock’s landscapes exhibit and was amazed by the gorgeous color and  variety in Brent’s work.  Cheers!

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Elbow Falls [11”x15”, acrylic]

This is my painting Elbow Falls after the most recent tweaks.  I’m still playing with transparent/translucent/opaque acrylics.  Since the post on Nov 17 I have made the sky a brighter opaque orange & added some lights back into the rock face.  I’m really liking this one now – it is a great painting subject.  I look forward to a plein air session there next summer.  Cheers!

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