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.

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.

4/6/11

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

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.

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 .