Pond Painting

Pond Painting

This last month I was inspired watching the British tv show “Landscape Artist of the Year” and decided to try something plein air myself.  It’s technically  not quite plein art as I am sitting inside behind my studio doors and painting through the glass, but it is a real landscape not a photo.  I just prefer to think of myself as well climatized.  LOL

This is about 90% finished after 3 sessions.  I like it well enough, but am not quite happy with the water yet.  I need to let it sit and percolate before I work on it again.  I think the water should be a bit more horizontal looking and something slightly more defined in the foreground.

After doing this, I am utterly in awe of some of the work I saw done in just four hours for the tv show.  It’s on Ovation tv and if you get the chance to see any of the episodes, it is well worth watching.  There is also a “Portrait Artist of the Year” and I find those episodes equally amazing.  I can’t work that fast, ever.  Or that well.

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Finished Landscape Painting

The finished landscape

I finished the latest Boise landscape earlier this month. This piece was painted over a rather extended period of time – most unusual for me as I tend to work in spurts and not drag things out.  We had our 3 week trip to Boise for our grandson’s 2nd birthday and the birth of our next one smack in the middle of the painting sessions, so I got quite the “distance” to evaluate where it was going.

In the end, I didn’t change too much during the second split session.  I glazed over the upper part to soften it and blur out some of the details, which I though I overdid.  I am enjoying taking a break from the line work with these paintings, but I think I may head back to the inks pretty soon.

 

 

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.

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.