Mr. Heron Goes Wading
8x8" palette knife oil painting on gesso board

I haven't been posting much on this blog lately because I am generally not much for words, but I have learned from people's blogs in the past so maybe I can say something useful.  I started this one by triple toning the board with burnt sienna, burnt umber and red oxide acrylics. This makes the edges more interesting when not painted all the way to the end. I have seen some paintings I really like that are done this way. Curt Butler is a great example. Of course I didn't leave as much edge showing as I had initially intended, but I am working toward that the more I paint. The heron was relatively easy to paint. I lightly drew him in by touching the side of the blade to the board to get his outline, then I painted his darkest areas and the darkest areas of the background. I wasn't sure how I was going to do the background. The reference photo  did not show the water being so wind-swept, but the masses of reflected trees created a vertical jumble. I thought keeping the background lines more horizontal would accentuate the height of the heron and the length of his legs, so in the end I like the verticality of the heron and the reeds. I used cerulean blue, ultramarine, yellow ochre, and cad yellow pale and cad red.

Who doesn't like squirrels...well at least pictures or paintings of them? Sometimes they aren't so cute when they are feasting on the expensive bird seed you use in feeders, but they are fascinating creatures. Blue acrylic underpainting with a hint of cad red light. Painting done with viridian, cobalt blue, indian red and cad yellow deep.  Every color has at least a bit of every other color listed. Have been using a resource I found for developing websites with an appealing color harmony http://paletton.com/#uid=3040f0kcEh378qRaqlIh2cXmpaN, so I thought, why not use it for paintings as well. Since I like to premix colors generally, it has been very easy to use. ​

Across the Valley, 5x7 palette knife oil painting on gesso board

This is my final version after I wiped off previous attempts 3 times trying to not get detailed. The reference photo  had incredible depth in the mountain range, which was difficult to paint because some of the mountains in the back rose above the ones in the front at certain points, and at certain points were behind. This was just difficult to capture on such a small painting, but i am happy with the depth and textures and atmosphere, and although the mountains were more detailed than intended, i am pleased with the result.

Elsie and A River Runs To It.

These paintings are based on a reference photo taken from paintmyphoto.ning.org. Elise was completed today and A River Runs Through It was done last Sunday.  I have typically been working with gesso board, but larger paintings can get heavy because of the board, so I have been doing anything 12x12 or larger on canvas. I recently came across two great painters whose styles are similar that I like very much. They are Claire McCall (http://www.clairemccallartist.com/) and Curt Butler (http://www.butlerstudio.org/) These paints were inspired by their style (though admittedly they are not up to their level, but I am still studying and learning).  Both paintings had a cadmium red ochre acrylic underpainting. On the marsh painting, I intended for more to show through, but I love the effect it has for Elsie. Elsie is on 12x12 canvas and A River Runs To It is 12x24 on canvas.

Afternoon of Plein Air

Today I went to Glendale Mill near Spartanburg SC with a friend for some plein air painting. It was the first fantastic day weekend of the year, and the conditions were perfect. I have limited experience with Plein Air, and it is safe to say that everything I had done last year was a failure for several reasons. There seems to be a big learning curve when going outdoors versus a studio, and last year I had been only using a brush. As I continue to strive for more impressionistic paintings, using a knife has been HUGE. Having to work in an uncontrolled environment under time constraints is also a challenge. These are today's works, the smaller painting being a zoom of a piece of the larger painting. I am also including pictures of the paintings in the environment. I have to admit, painting woods, rock and ground cover is a challenge. Something that would be a hard to do realistically for the experienced painter. I am pleased with the results today, and while there is room for improvement, today's experience makes me excited for rest of the year.

Not Exposing Knife Edges on Young Buck

Above are the included reference photo from the reference library at www.wetcanvas.com  It requires registration but is a very well organized image library. The middle painting is one I did a few days ago. It is an 8x8 on gesso board done with a brush. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially since I don't usually paint with brushes. The bottom image was done today strictly with a palette knife. I like the knife on best of course. There is something about the textured paintings that I really like. One of the great things in my opinion about using palette knives is it is easier to layer color and get a more impressionistic look than what I can get with brushes. I am inspired by Sally Shisler and what she can do with knives, and I admire her creativity. In studying her work recently, I have seen that my past paintings have shown a lot of pointed edges from the knife, and this is something I don't typically see in her work. Today I focused on not exposing that sharp edge.

I loved this reference photo from Morguefile because it offered a chance to work on simplification of background, offered a great contrast to get the effect of light, and the 2 hints of red on the dormer and in the light to compliment the strong greens. Continuing to work on my knife technique. After using brushes for a few days, I have to admit one of the great thing about using a palette knife is the clean up.