Winter Demo for SCAN

Making a demo painting is never easy for me, but the lovely folks at SCAN are always so welcoming! (SCAN regularly provides art demos for their membership.) I thank them for their kindness and support!

   Today I joined them for an afternoon and painted my version of a winter scene using watercolor. The scene could be along any road in CT, but I made a little sketch that included some thoughts from other paintings and included taming down my palette. Someone did comment that my other paintings seem to have "all the colors"! 

   Watercolor sometimes has its own way of doing things, so my little preliminary sketch was simply a starting point. I wanted the painting to show the coolness of winter and intended to include more blues, but it went blue and mauve . . . and that's OK. I wanted the sky to have a little color action, but not take away from the foreground. I wanted to show that trees have diversity while telephone poles don't so much . . . and that's OK. On the way into Newtown I drove by a big yellowy-brown barn, a departure from the common red barn, so . . . I got that in and it helped give the painting a mood.  I wanted to explain and demo simple perspective and things I can make happen along the painting way to achieve that . . . and I did that. I wanted to talk about why it's worth spending a few extra dollars and owning a few special brushes and what they do . . . and I did that.  And, I wanted to encourage other artists to paint outside and understand some of the benefits that come from that . . . and I included that, too!

  Looking back at the painting, there's room for improvement, but it's a decent demo! 

Making the Most of "Blizzard Day"!

It's a snowy windy terribly stormy day! I am home. The birds outside are delighted that the feeders are filled, and they are providing ample entertainment. While some chili cooks on the stove, I am trying to finish up a few paintings that have sat around the house. This is version two of two paintings begun last spring. They began outside on location. My first painting of this scene helped make the plan for the second painting and both help me see the potential for another visit to this site. I can see how much tighter this version is and it possibly has a bit too much color. But, I am happy with the trees. They have some character, and I think the feeling of that beautiful spring day looks wonderful. (Remember, it is snowing outside and windy and cold)

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year!!! Looking at my blog and realizing I spent a lot of time in 2012 with my sketchbook. That's a good thing, but doesn't fulfill what I thought I was doing with this blog. I went painting (oils) today in CT in the fog. It was so-o-o-o foggy. Unbelievable!! Had a great time making grays. Pink grays, ochre-grays and some zippy periwinkle-grays!! Getting ready for some foggy morning paintings in Maine!! Here in CT, this morning sky was foggy pink and the snow shadows were aquamarine! It's so great to be an artist and enjoy (visually) the wonderful things nature shows me.
    Took a little time this morning and thought about some studio work. I haven't painted a self-portrait in many years. I spent a little time learning how and where to set up my camera tripod and set the timer on my new "point and shoot" camera. The camera has some other features that will be nice to experiment with.
   This morning the camera and I focused on ways to use the foggy white/grays of the day. It turns out morning foggy light is very different than noon foggy light. While the morning sky had a lot of pink, the noontime sky went bright at the top and purplish near the ground. I painted a house that was yellow ochre with white trim and fir trees against that sky, and some vivid green grass showing through the snow, and split rail fence. While the interlocking shapes of the foreground against the sky work well (light against dark and dark against light), the composition is static. I think my brushwork is quite nice, but its not enough to convince me this painting is successful. In a day or two, I will reassess. The beauty of oil painting is an  artist can stand back and look at her painting, and then go in and make changes.