Friday 30 October 2015

really limited! - 12x9"



I did this yesterday at the boat landing down the street..........as I mentioned before I am using a very limited selection of colors. I used ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow and cadmium red (plus white) for this painting. Until last week I have sort of considered that a warm and cool of a red, blue and yellow plus white and earth tones (primarily burnt sienna) was a limited palette - boy, do I feel dumb right now. I am also surprised that I was able to paint this scene effectively with only what I used............another huge surprise was that I used very little white paint. I have to thank James Gurney's challenge on his blog for getting me to really try this.........he had a challenge to paint a graveyard scene using only three colors - in the spirit of Halloween. Though I didn't actually enter it, I did begin a painting for it and stuck to the rules.............unfortunately I didn't hear about the challenge until a few days before the deadline and couldn't finish the painting in time because it was raining so hard that my paint wouldn't stick to the panel and my palette was completely impossible. Despite all that, when I realized what was happening with my colors, I felt this huge sense of excitement and liberation! I will write more about this in the future because I am just blown away by how simple this is.

Thursday 29 October 2015

Frogmore nocturne - 24x12" - nealy finished


Wow is it difficult to photograph dark paintings! I will attempt to do a better job when I have completed this one......it's definitely too dark in this photo. Frogmore is actually a place near where I live and home of a locally famous dish named "Frogmore Stew" - a shrimp, smoked sausage and corn delight! This is the last traffic light on the sole road (rte. 21) that leads to my home on the way to Hunting Island and the Atlantic Ocean.

I've been doing a lot of plein air and will have a few to post soon where I am experimenting with a limited palette - something I have never really tried before. I have always used a relatively limited one but this one I've been trying is super sparse and I cannot recommend it enough. More later.

Thursday 22 October 2015

field trip??? - 10x10" study


Just a quick study less than a mile from my house. It sort of looks like fall - kinda sorta. The field is full of yellow wildflowers that appear to be related to asters........it was pretty hard to get a view without standing in the middle of the road so I had to squeeze myself into a spot between two very prickly trees. I think I'll have to take a real field trip inland soon to paint.......I'm missing hills and buildings (that aren't trailers or McMansions).

Thursday 15 October 2015

Hustler Shrimp (nearly completed) - 24x18"


I am pretty close to completion with this painting.......will have to let it sit for a bit because the paint is so thick on the water that I find myself covered in paint from the easel and the edges every time I try to do the remaining detail work that needs to be done. I went for a walk on Hunting Island State Park beach this afternoon and was stunned to see that an entire section of the road that leads to the parking area had washed away. The recent storms really did some damage and my favorite spot to park and paint is now sand and downed trees.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

dry enough!


We have some good weather coming up and, except for the damn fire ants, it should be really wonderful painting outside. Those ants seem to swarm the entire ground after heavy rains so it's not easy to spot them like it is when they are in their dry weather mounds.......I suppose I could stop wearing sandals but I have this terrible fear that they will get IN my shoes and that will be worse. So, yesterday (after what seemed like an eternity), I found a nice field to paint - the picture (12x9") is pretty typical for a quick study.......just a chance to work outside and learn......I don't post most of them because they seem too boring. Had to make a run for it at the end because of the ants - I really hate them!



Friday 9 October 2015

Hustler Shrimp (beginnings) - 24x18"


It's been rough around here for the past few weeks.......12 days of rain and lots of flooding. We didn't get it too badly but there were still a few tense moments as I watched my land turn into a pond! I even made a movie of the scene because there were so many frogs and they were all singing/croaking or whatever you call it. Plein air was out of the question but I did manage to work in the studio - I have several paintings going at once and this is the newest one. I've been into shrimp boats lately and this one is Hustler Shrimp - they are one of my favorite vendors at the Farmer's Market.