Wednesday, April 27, 2011

4/27/11

Today I painted from a photograph I took while I was at the park of roses. This bench really attracted me, perhaps because of how it is framed by the dark shapes of the pine tree. I thought about this picture daily for at least a week and finally gave in to paint it.Also, I decided to not smear and blend any color with my hand. Color mixing is all by pastel stick.

4/25/11

Today I worked on my shelves underpainting again. Today I went bold with the alizarin crimson and linseed oil. Basically I coated the shelves and floor with them. It is thick like honey and amazing to paint with. I let it ooze and drip in some spots. I also began to play around with the ceiling by adding some swirls into the wet paint. I plan on doing some stylized branches (like art noveau) that transition into three dimensional branches coming out of the walls. Dont worry, many more surprises to come. 

4/22/11

Did a close up of my umbrella bonsai today. I just wired her and gave her a serious hair cut on Wednesday. Also in a book I am reading I am supposed to pay attention to small beautiful things this week so I thought about my trees cool trunk. I left the leaves off (I didn't cut them all off) so that I would focus on the trunk.

4/20/11

I decided to paint last minute tonight and was at a loss for something interesting. I have lots of photos but couldn't find one that would hold my spastic attention. So I grabbed a piece of foliage out of a vase of beautiful flowers (from Emily) and painted it. Keeping is ridiculously simple here but I like it anyway.

4/18/11

Today I worked on a conceptual piece that I started the other day. This is still the under painting. I am working on building textures and deep shadows before I add light to it. Right now it is a room full of shelves... much more content to come later. This canvas is super huge 40 x 40 which makes things really fun.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

4/17/11

Painted plein air today with Carol and Bridgett at the park of roses. It was really windy out there today but I am so glad that I braved it and made a painting. I could not help but fall in love with this tree. It had such an amazing color of foliage against super dark branches. Made me melt when I saw it.

4/14/11

Painted this today after work. It is of a co-workers pond at their farm. It is a beautiful location that I hope to revisit. I really liked the trees in the foreground how they branch apart into three.
The strangest thing though, these giant fish were beaching themselves in the marshy grass and swimming half in the water and half out. They kept making crazy flopping and gasping noises. I think they were spawning or something. Crazy fish to keep me company!

4/13/11

Today I painted this magnolia from a photograph. The painting is large as usual (20 x 24) so I had lots of room to get my fingers in there and really work the pastels freely.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

4/12/11

The sun poked its head out very briefly in Columbus today so I grabbed my camera and darted outside to find something to paint. My daffodils are in bloom and caught my eye but as I was photographing the flowers I looked underneath and saw this great composition and variety in the greens of the plant.

4/9/11

Today there was an OPAS paintout in Athens Ohio. The day was totally gray but with the beautiful cherry blossoms blooming, who could resist? The blossoms seemed to radiate their own light. I really had fun trying to capture the subtle shadows and texture within the blossoms.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

4/6/11

Painted a barn from Pickaway county tonight. I challenged myself to keep it loose and uncomplicated.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

4/3/11

Today I painted a red barn from a photograph that I took earlier in the day. There was absolutely no light when I took the photograph, only what I call gloom and doom weather. But I was interested in painting this anyways. I also experimented with a new paper that I just discovered from Arches that feels like 100% cotton. The paper is receptive to the pastels but is bright white. I think I will try staining it for future use.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The day after day 90

 I painted this first plein air of the day of the Cuyahoga river in Kent, Ohio. The sun was perfect when I first selected the location. But, as usual, when I got my gear there the sun totally disappeared and it started snowing. I worked through it and painted anyways. Gloom and doom I say, gloom and doom weather.
This is my second plein air of the day. I visited a neighbors farm and was fascinated with their bee hives. It was really neat to get close to the hives because the bees are still hibernating. These structures were really interesting to paint. So glad that I made two paintings today.

Day 90

 My day 90 started off with painting plein air in blue hen falls int he Cuyahoga valley. This park and whole area is very overlooked by most artists and has some amazing hidden treasures. It had snowed the night before so when I was painting the snow was bombing me from above. I had to call it quits with this one because of all the snow and I only completed my under painting.
I painted this view plein air as a nocturne in downtown Kent, Ohio. This was my first nocturne and I really enjoyed it. I ran out of time with this one again and may finish it later .