Sunday 29 November 2015

speed is needed!


I didn't crop this because it's not done yet and I sort of liked the way it looked with the surroundings in the background. I love the quality and angle of the light this time of year but it does make it really important to work as quickly as you can. I began a different 24x12" painting at the same location yesterday and returned hoping to finish that one but shrimp boats have this pesky way of moving around and the scene was completely blocked by a new (huge) arrival this morning. Luckily the Eddings Point landing has lots of parking and plenty of good views so I just turned around and started another painting. I've been painting outside mostly in the past couple of months - partly because I really like it and partly because I have to have cataract surgery on both eyes and am finding artificial light kind of impossible. I am an odd mixture of excited and terrified to have this surgery but I have heard nothing but good things so the excitement seems to be winning at the moment. This painting is 16x12" and close to being done - I just ran out of time.

Wednesday 25 November 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!


This 24x12" plein air took me three sessions of an hour each so far - I'm pretty sure I will have some refining to do but it's mostly complete. Because the days are so short now, there's a very small window of time before the light and composition change drastically. I do love the light this time of year and it startled me to realize just how much it had changed between Monday and today - I was fortunate that the weather stayed just about the same. I hope y'all have a wonderful holiday.

Thursday 19 November 2015

notan-ish - 18x18"



The concept of the "notan"system has always appealed to me but I have not really experimented with it until this picture. Notan is basically a system of dividing the picture area into interesting shapes of light and dark. I usually take walks at Hunting Island State Beach which is not only a couple of miles from my house but has been experiencing severe erosion - especially since our autumn of violent storms. Areas of the beach that were seemingly flat (or gradual elevation) have now become kind of rugged and the ocean seems to be carving the beach away from the coast and creating much more dramatic edges between the beach per se and the sandy land behind it. As I walk, I invariably look at things around me and the cliff-like dunes that are forming inspire me even though they sadden me. For some reason when I decided to draw this on the canvas I thought of notan and kept that in mind. I liked the composition so much I decided to post it before going any further!

Tuesday 17 November 2015

holding hands - 12x16"


Every time I spend a week or so only painting outside I get excited about painting back in the studio so I started this one a couple of days ago. It was a little strange to go back to my usual palette after using only three colors while painting outside. I also broke down and ordered some new brushes from Rosemary and Company of England - I hadn't bought any new brushes for a couple of years (I have a million of them in the studio) and my favorites were getting a bit rough. Wow, are these new brushed AWESOME and I plan on getting a bunch more since they are absolutely wonderful. I ordered an assortment and haven't tried them all yet but the  "Ivory" short flats are great. 

Friday 6 November 2015

gloom for weeks! - 14x11" - plein air


The weather here has been quite wretched for what seems like months but is probably more like weeks. Yesterday the gloom lifted a bit and the landscape seemed more saturated than grey so I went out painting. I have been trying all week actually but Monday and Tuesday were full on rain and Wednesday I did a painting that I wiped down. This site isn't far from my house and the colors were pretty fresh and intense - I had planned to paint the field of cows that were grazing when I began but they all left as soon as I got ready to incorporate them! I didn't even try today and worked on stuff at home.....the sun came out for all of ten minutes. Because there are so many dirt roads and I have a Prius I have been reluctant to travel afar.......I think I'll work in the studio tomorrow.

Monday 2 November 2015

the other side of the beach - 24x12" - plein air


This painting took two sessions of about two and a half hours each. Luckily the conditions were pretty much the same for two days. I'm still using and enjoying the very limited palette. The title refers to the location of this site...........the State Beach is off to the left of the painting about a mile or so and the road to the beach runs through a slice of deep semitropical forest between the beach and this area of marsh that edges the Harbor River.