Friday 29 March 2013

little shack in the moss - plein air study - 14x11"

 
 I am determined to learn how to paint the complexity of the Lowcountry woods.........they are completely different than New England's. The foliage seems to twine together more complexly and there are many spots where light shines through in very diffuse ways.........to top it all off, spanish moss hangs from most limbs and creates its own pattern over everything else. Today, the woods (right at the edge of a tidal stream) were everything all at once - warm and cool, dim and bright. For some reason I decided to save and post this one.

Sunday 24 March 2013

this and that

 


A little bit of everything today! "Winter Marsh (top)" won the Founder's Award at the Beaufort Art Association's spring show. I have been busy painting outside recently (and wiping them off) and doing my taxes and painting inside as well. I have made a little progress on the girl in the wave after wiping her face down numerous times - I am still happy with the concept. It remains cold and stormy here but the azaleas are blooming everywhere so I had to brave the weather today and try and paint them. Thought I would finish this today but a band of severe thunderstorms hit and I had to get in the house.....with a metal easel the lightening was a tad close.

Monday 18 March 2013

today's beginning & demo - 16x16"

 
I began this painting during the demo today............am trying to keep it as loose and warm as I can since that has what has been bothering me about some of my figurative stuff recently. I was all excited about getting to paint on the roof of the venue where the show is being held so had planned on doing a plein air......unfortunately it was borderline raining, the view was about as bad as it could be (lots of cut off buildings) and a low grey sky that didn't become interesting till about 4 or so....glad I went prepared with something else to do.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Best in Show & marsh study on paper - 10x8"

 
 
I know I said I wouldn't post the "kids" again but I was totally excited that I won the "Best of Show" award in the juried portion of the Beaufort Art Association's Spring show so I had to post it again. I was also attending a plein air workshop with Bill Davidson (in Beaufort) much of last week so I painted outside much of the week and was way too happy and busy to log on to the computer. The study (done on a brown card stock sold by Guerilla Painter) is the only thing I will probably show from the workshop. It's funny but I think I learned more in this workshop than I have in any other I've taken (not like I take lots of workshops or anything) and I was really happy since I concentrated exclusively on learning rather than finished paintings. Davidson is a very down to earth, funny and clear instructor and has a way of demonstrating that distills his process beautifully......I stongly recommend his workshop.  I, myself, will be demonstrating at the Spring Show tomorrow from 1:30 - 5 pm so anyone who is local can swing by the Old Bay Market Loft and say hi.

Thursday 7 March 2013

broken dock - 14" square

 
Well, I got trying a yellow underpainting out of my system............I have been fighting it every minute that I can see even a bit of it! My impression that I could leave a little of it showing and that would add a certain warmth was incorrect. You can see only small patches of it left and that is only because I haven't completely covered those areas yet and even those portions are driving me nuts. I just wanted to get a photo before the light faded completely.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

experimentation! 14"square

 
 
 
I had to put the top painting aside again after making a bunch of progress (with the values) because it was simply too wet to finish up. I have been trying to experiment with the way I begin a painting for  some time and (for some reason) have wanted to use a yellow wash on the white canvas. I tried it once but used pure cadmium lemon yellow which bled into everything I put on top of it...........today I decided to try Graham's Azo Green which can go pretty yellow when diluted. Couldn't take a photo outside due to it being rainy and windy so it looks a little yellower than it is but it's still pretty yellow. Now that I am involved a bit I am beginning to like it but the first few strokes put me totally on edge....we shall see.