3 Week Drought is over....ahh thats so much better

Been 3 weeks since I have been able to spend sometime in the studio and get to work on this piece again. 
Got up early and went out to the studio, started to work the water in the green pond up.  Added the darks to the water and worked in the weeds and reflections in the water, wanted the bright color in the reflection but wanted it subdued, so it would not take attention away from the main interest the trees in the middle ground.   Worked the green Alder trees in the right area.   Will let it tack up over night and then bring in the foreground trees and bushes.  Keeping in mind not to take away from the main area of interest.  I am getting real excited to see this painting finished it has come together really well - so far.  

Knik River - A Begining

Started a New Painting on Sunday - Sunday as I watched the football games in my studio I sketched out 5 paintings onto panels for painting.  Took most of the day to get them right.  I knew I wanted to start one and get a wash of color onto the panel.  Was a hard decision which one to start I like all the compositions.   But I decided since it was a Sunday and the image I was using was from a picture I tool Last Sunday. I would go ahead and work on this peaceful scene.  The view is towards the Chugach Mountains and Knik River in the distance.  this big flood plane area is a favorite for 4 wheelers, motocross bikes.  It was a nice hot fall day, I loved all the colors and how green the little pond was in the foreground.  The calm water shows the reflected colors of the trees so well.   I included the picture for you to see where I am taking the scene from.  This is just the start of the painting.  I just wanted to get a wash in for a reminder for me of the colors.  I intend to get the other paintings started also with washes then will work them up.  Not sure which will capture my desire as the artist, sometimes you are surprised which ones you can't leave alone.  Feels great to be painting again!!!

Oil Painters Are Interesting People

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Most of my Artist Friends are very interesting people. Most know how to enjoy life, look for the beauty in life.   As we paint we know the light changes and every thing will look different in 2 hours.  This helps you see the world as a constantly changing and amazing thing.  One of the most pleasurable things is I look and think how that looks now, and what might it look like when the light changes how will the shadows change what will the composition appear like.  In other words sometimes we see the world through a child's eyes, everything is new and exciting.  Or maybe it's just the fumes from the paint thinner?

Below is a painting I have on the easel, It is about half way finished.  No detail work is done yet.  I have the lower half to work up and add more stuff to.  I am thinking about possibly cutting the top quarter of the painting off totally.  What do you think?   Give me your thoughts please.

 

Kenai Painting Step 5

Kenai Painting Step 5 - block in base of foreground

Okay I laid in the underwater foreground, basically pushing paint around until I got what I wanted. I will TONE it down later. Letting it dry so I can paint over it, will bring in the shadows of the tall trees on the left and then add all the sky colors over top of the water. I will end up painting out a lot of what I did today, but I wanted to put it in, so I could have it there when i paint over it and not worry about going back and trying to add the dead fall under the water. So far this has been a fun painting. After the water is done I will be adding some foreground foliage, no sure how much yet.

Final Stage of Mountain Lake?

Mountain Lake - I went back to this painting this morning and added some white with a touch or cadnium orange to the sky and distant water, added more life to the scene. Also started to bring the reflected light over top of the rocks. Decided not to do to much to it, looks pretty good as is. I did also go back to the treeline and brought some dappled light through the top of the treeline. A nice 2 day painting.

Painting Rocks Underwater

Technique of Painting Rocks Underwater - Last week I gave a demo to our Friday painting group, this week Don Kolstad gave a painting Rocks Underwater demo. I was so intrigued by his simple technique that I had to give it a try. This is a little 8"x10" I started today. I will let the oil paint dry some tonight and then continue and bring the reflected light overtop of rocks in the forground to simulate water overtop of the rocks. Thought it would be interesting to put this first unfinished image and then follow up with a finished image. Thanks Don, great demo and I will use this technique in the future.

Stage 6 Homer Bluff Painting

Homer Bluff - Stage 6. - Pretty much done now, will let it dry and take another look in a week. Have to get some more paintings going. Since last point, I reworked the ocean, Homer Spit, and added the close foreground. Went back over and tweeked a number of small areas. The size is 18X36 inches. All comments, critiques and suggestions welcome.

Homer Bluff Painting Step 2 & 2.5

HOMER BLUFF OIL PAINTING STEPS 2 & 2.5
After letting the painting sit for a few days I realized I had the Values totally wrong in the sky and far mountain range across the bay. So went back and repainted every thing I had already done. Much happier with the outcome now. Proceed to start to block in the near ground Alder bushes and the shadow colors for them. Again I am not doing any detail at these stages yet. I then blocked in the snow on the near bluff, added the base colors for the fir trees. Have a long way to go , but it is starting to look like a painting now.

STAGE 6 - WOLVES OF HOMER

Stage 6 of Homer Wolves - After letting it sit for 10 days, I went back and softened the edges on the two wolves in front. Softened the edges of the top of the trees on the ridgeline, and changed the color of the far left ridgeline trees to push it back some and make it less harsh. Now to let it dry and varnish. May make prints of this one.

Homer Bluff Painting Step By Step

Homer Bluff Painting 18 X 36 inches Oil on Canvas
This is a 18X 36 painting based on two pictures I took last March when I had a Art Show there. the first photo demonstrates how I put the two phots together for the reference. The second photo I have created a pencil sketch of the photo onto the
Canvas. The third photo, I have put a undercoating of Napho Red Acrylic paint overtop of my sketch, let it dry, then blocked in the far background, stay very loose at this stage.

Stage 5

Stage 5 - More or less done ( I think ). I will let it sit and in a week take another look at the painting. I am always open to critiques and suggestions. Need a title also.

Stage 4 - 2/3rds done

Painting Progress Stage 4 - I would say I am about 2/3rds done now. I have the water where I want it to be. The Background trees behind the waterfall are done. I will add more shadows to the water in the waterfall. I need to add some highlight to the rocks on the sun side of the upper right corner of the painting. Have to add some Aldersl on the upper Left Rocks, then work in the Big Fir Tree. Will save the bottom left corner for last. After that is in I will evaluate what I have and consider any last minute changes and touch ups. If you want to see the prior versions as this painting progressed see the past posts to this blog.

My working Title for this piece is "Reading in Solitude", that may change also. Again all comments and critiques are welcome.