Monday, April 30, 2012

Angela with her Shopping Bag 8"x 10"

Angela posed again.  I wanted to try putting a face in.  I guess the composition is a little weaker than the first attempt.  It was a fun but exhausting weekend.  Glad I'm retired and can rest today.

Tall Trees 9"x 12'

You can see this stand of fir trees looking east from Tamarack Center where we had our workshop. Unfortunately there is a housing development nestled into the area to their right.  I tried to leave the houses out but wasn't able to imagine what the bases of the trees would look like.  I think it has potential.  I'd like to lighten it and work on the sky more so I won't scrape it off.

Woman Seated in a Garden 6"x 8"

Jerry's wife Angela came and sat for us in the afternoon.  Several people liked this one but I scraped it off.  I think that light spot on the left next to the tree is a real composition flaw.  I think if it were a little darker that would solve the problem.

Figures on a Boat 8"x 10"

Our plein air group had a work shop with Jerry Ross this weekend.  It was lots of fun.  If you don't know his work, he advocates stopping before the painting reaches what would be traditionally a finished state.  This maintains the original freshness and vigor of the sketch.  This was my first try from a photo he had taken in Italy.  I love this one.  The placement of the figures, their silhouettes against the sea and sky.  But I can't bring myself to think of it as a painting that can be framed and hung on a wall.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Delta Ponds Late April 6"x 8"


I spent a lot of time on this.  I like the composition and some things work but there are lots of things I'd like to improve

Fadeley Farm 6"x 8"


Our group got invited to a private farm south of Creswell last Saturday.  Beautiful sunny day.  I used my old Easy L easel.  I've had a lot of trouble with paintings coming out dark and this one did too.  I think maybe it's because the palette had medium grey paper under the plexiglass.  I had been using one of James Coulter's palette boxes with very light grey paper lately.  I scraped this painting off and have replaced the paper but I think I may put even lighter color paper in and see if I do better.  Something I'm working on.

Fisher Unit Late April 6 x 8"


This is my favorite of the 4 I'm going to post today.  I'm happy with the bare trees.  I probably should have put the middle trees a little to the right so it wasn't dot..dot..dot, but gosh, I don't think that fast.  Also need some sky holes to make those trees airier.
The good weather came on quite suddenly and I've been too worn out to post til now.  A little blustery today, but not bad.

End of Shore Lane 6"x8"

The Plein Air group was scheduled to paint at the Eugene Yacht Club but I couldn't figure out a composition so I went to the little park at the end of Shore Lane which is very close.  Although I wish I had done better (what else is new?)  There were a couple things that worked that I want to remember.  I've been trying to figure out how to do bare trees.  Here I used raw sienna mixed with the blue sky color and it came out pretty close.  Some sky holes would help too.  I love the sky color in the middle and it was mostly veridian and white, a little ultramarine.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Happy Little Hellebores 6"x 6"

These little guys don't seem to mind the continual rainy weather we are having at all.  They are better sports than I am.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Apricot Tulip 6"x 6"

This was my second attempt yesterday.  I really loved the way the different facets of the jar cought the color.  I think I'll try painting this jar and another for a while to see if I can work on simplifying glass.

Purple Anenome 6"x 6"

My attempt here was to try to simplify the areas I paint.  To just o go for the main impression in the glass and the light and dark of the flower.  I thought it was a dismal failure so I wiped it off.  Now it doesn't seem so bad.  Glad I took a photo.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Broccoli 6"x 6"

This was kind of fun.  A little bit like painting trees--which seems impossible given our weather so far this year.