Landcape practice

Ok, I guess I've got to get out more! I'm painting landscapes from photos and the weather is starting to get nice, no excuses. Well, lots of excuses, no good reasons.

Arizona Weather, oil, long and narrow

Well, that was pure laziness, I didn't get up and go measure it. It's about that high, and longer horizontally.
Anyway, working from a photo in an old Arizona Highways. Remember those? When I was a kid I never saw the point, we were in Arizona all the time. When I close my eyes I can remember the smell of rain on the way. (I am rather please with the cacti.)

Winter, acrylic

Nope, now it's too purple. The trees look like little soldiers, but sometimes they do and you have to give them variety. Next.

Glen/Loch 8X10 oil

This has been in the works for several days. The right side will get more texture in the grass and make the ledges more irregular. Etc. It's a loch in Scotland, and it was just too beautiful to not paint it.

The Road to Helms Deep, 8X10 oil

Todays work.
This is from a photo taken either by Forrest or Sara. They both take great pictures and it wasn't labelled. They live in NZ now and they climb everything that goes up. They also take spectacular photos.
The spot in the middle ground was on my camera, not the picture. It's still all pretty near medium value and light value, the darker values will give it more punch. The little green bits in the foreground are actually full grown trees! The scale on this one is amazing.

Here's what I've been up to... (a rather colorless post)

Still enjoying pen and ink work. Here is another ball to keep in the air, you really have to keep practicing to get better and maintain what you've gained. At this rate I may just lose weight for lack of time to eat, not that I need to or anything. Hmm how long does it take to get rid of X pounds. (Ahm not tell'in) OK, here they are:

Yes, sketching at the table again. This is some crusty shepherd's bread. Sorry, it's all gone now, but it was preserved for posterity on this paper. Shadows were confusing because it was under a 6-lite chandelier.
And a few other things sitting around:

This is a copper vessel of some kind, it followed me home from a thrift store. It is reprousse with a brass plinth, bail, and handle. Did I capture that softening quality of all the dust on it?


This was an idea from Virtual Paint Out, which I haven't done in a long time. This was in Sardenia on highway SS125. It's a beautiful drive and the road is beautifully maintained. I was also trying some of my new Pitt artist pens, this one was Medium, and quite wide. It does make you simplify:

And last, but not least, the tools of the trade. One of these is a semi functioning quill. Well, it was until I used it. It takes a really sharp pen knife and a practiced hand to sharpen these things. The smallest feather is one I found somewhere, and the other large one is courtesy of Ike, my friend Peg's gander.

The ink well is from Old Sturbridge Village, the potter there makes them and a lot of other useful period items. I found the cork in with a bunch of corks I got I don't know where. Honest, nobody stole it out of my lunch! It keeps the ink from drying out or spilling to readily.

Almost Spring, but I liked yesterday better!

It's so much easier to scan or take photos of watercolors. (I'm whining again, huh?) This is an 8X10 acrylic of a photo my nephew took of the Paine Massif in Patagonia. Looks a bit fuzzy, doesn't it? He does his tourism vertically, hence the earlier painting of Kilimanjaro. This was a different challenge from painting California, there certainly weren't any bushes or trees.

The plein air season is on it's way. It's such a wonderful way to paint, competing with the constantly changing light, the wind, dust, but it's a very vital way to paint and I need practice. Watercolors are an excellent way to go, but they dry out so fast. Acrylics dry out very fast too, and can't be re-wet, but a wet palette can really help ameliorate that. Perhaps oils may be the ticket. Evidence of my inexperience.

Once again breakfast became a still life, this time in acrylic.

Spring in Northern California

These are watercolors, the poppies were this Spring, the daisies were from a previous spring when I was taking a local watercolor class with Ron Pratt in Castro Valley. The daisies were definitely an exercise in using masque. Sometimes I avoid using masque, I'm pretty sure it's pure laziness, because other times it seems to solve all my problems. Go figger.