Idaho Landscape

Base coat

First layer of color

All four of my previous Idaho landscapes went to their new home in Boise, Idaho, in August, so I decided I had to paint some more to list in my etsy store. These are the first two layers of a recent work.  It is up in the foothills looking down onto some of the numerous trails that are there.

We do hiking and photo taking every time when we are in town visiting family, but don’t ask me where the view is from.  We have looked up and down from so many places that I can’t keep it all straight in my head.  Heaven forbid I keep notes as I photograph LOL but if someone really needs to know, I am sure my son can tell me.

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Plant acrylic

Underlayment and pencil-up

Mostly painted

Since I couldn’t get to the watercolor board for my next piece (it was in my flat file cabinet and blocked by the panels of a dry sauna my husband bought but not yet assembled), I had to use what I already had out and available in the studio.  Between the cold weather and unseasonable snows, I am tired of waiting for spring.  I decided to make some of my own green with the acrylics.  It’s only a little painting at 10×8, so it didn’t take long and I’m pretty happy with it.

And an April Fool’s Day joke from Mother Nature  –  1-3 inches of snow predicted for this evening.  Fortunately it has been warm enough that it will mostly stick on the grass and melt off of the roads.  Next up on the table is a pen/watercolor of the Central Fire Station in Boise Idaho.  (I did finally get into the flat files for the board.  My husband will soon be in sauna heaven.)

Second of the set

Initial sitting

Almost done

Here is the second painting with the same theme and coloring.  The color palette for the last two is much cooler than the first two.  Maybe because I made the sky a deeper blue in these.

They have set for a couple of weeks due to our family vacation back in Boise, so I will be looking at both with fresh eyes before I varnish them.

Change of pace painting

Idaho foothills

Mostly done

After the intricate detail of the last few pieces, I decided to go back and paint something with a looser style.  So it’s back to the Boise foothills for a bit.  I did a fairly dark underpainting before I started with this one. I was tired of fighting the lighter colors underneath and decided to try it this way.  All in all, not too bad, but the tree still needs work.  I am doing a companion piece to this, so we’ll see what happens.

Something new

Preliminary

Final

After the eight fall home commissions were finished, I decided that I needed a change of pace.  I went back to my Idaho photos and selected one of the landscapes for an acrylic painting.  Right off the bat you can see this one has a lot fewer red tones in it than the first one.  Since I took the photos in August, the lusher spring foliage and flowers were long gone. However, there were a few daisy like yellow flowers still blooming and of course the evergreens and sage added a nice pop of color.

I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out.  Maybe I am finally re-learning about how I should use the acrylics.  There is finally an acrylic class in our art center this spring so I will have to check it out.  I could use the technique pointers.

Mushroom Painting

mushrooms

Because I was gone quite a bit in September and October, I ended up doing only one small painting of some mushrooms as well as the Jayden portrait.  I went back to the kitchen for a little 7×5 after the larger Idaho landscape.  I have a matching canvas to this one, but it will probably have to wait for the Christmas rush to be over before I get to it, as well as some more Idaho landscapes.  On the day I was coming home from Boise, I was contacted for a 5 house commission and am currently working on that.  Hooray for that.

Boise foothills finished

Boise foothills landscape

After about 4 sessions of painting, I am pretty well finished with the Boise painting. I’ll check again in a week or so and see what changes I think it needs, but I pretty happy with it so far.  At 16″x12″, this is the largest acrylic painting I have done in a very long time.  I tried to keep the style loose and concentrate on color rather than specific details.  For me, the heavy bodied paint works against minute brush strokes, even though I use a paint drying retardant and it thins it somewhat.  I’ll be ready to try my other big canvas with another Boise landscape soon.