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| "Summer's Last Breath" 12x16 oil |
Showing posts with label aspens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aspens. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Friday, November 11, 2016
Friday, March 27, 2015
"Tall Aspens"
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| "Tall Aspens" 36x18 oil |
Time to start something new....
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
"Splendor"
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| "Splendor" 6x6 oil on cradled panel |
Friday, November 7, 2014
"Touch of Autumn"
This is the largest painting I've attempted in quite some time!
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| "Touch of Autumn" 20x40 oil |
Monday, July 7, 2014
"A Whiff of Danger"
In keeping with my theme of working toward a more impressionistic style of painting, I began work on a landscape inspired by a trip some years ago to the Tetons in Wyoming. The underpainting was put together quickly with a 1/2" flat brush and relatively thin paint. Once this stage of the painting was complete, I had reservations about going any further. I really liked the freshness of the painting at this point (and it was VERY impressionistic!). That being said, I also know when I feel this way about the underpainting, the finished piece usually turns out to be something special... so I pushed forward.
As I began to work through the next stage of the piece adjusting edges and refining shapes with thicker chunks of paint, I kept feeling like the piece needed a wildlife element. At first I thought something small. Perhaps a magpie or two? But the more I thought about it, the painting was asking for elk... and not just one.
Such a large compositional adjustment at this stage of the painting poses more than a few challenges. My wildlife pieces are mostly designed around the animals themselves, not the other way around. So adding the elk this late in the game was a big risk. Most often, major elements added as an afterthought end up looking like just that... an afterthought.
Finally settling on three elk, I didn't want them to be static. There needed to be some movement and tension. Once I worked out the positioning, another problem became apparent. To keep the spacing and scale of the elk in step with the setting, the lead cow's nose was uncomfortably close the edge of the painting. After pondering this for the better part of the weekend, I resolved the issue by letting the values of her face blend closely with the background foliage.
Finally, the cow stopping to look back before bolting for the next county brings the mood of the piece together as I intended.
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| Block-in underpainting |
As I began to work through the next stage of the piece adjusting edges and refining shapes with thicker chunks of paint, I kept feeling like the piece needed a wildlife element. At first I thought something small. Perhaps a magpie or two? But the more I thought about it, the painting was asking for elk... and not just one.
Such a large compositional adjustment at this stage of the painting poses more than a few challenges. My wildlife pieces are mostly designed around the animals themselves, not the other way around. So adding the elk this late in the game was a big risk. Most often, major elements added as an afterthought end up looking like just that... an afterthought.
Finally settling on three elk, I didn't want them to be static. There needed to be some movement and tension. Once I worked out the positioning, another problem became apparent. To keep the spacing and scale of the elk in step with the setting, the lead cow's nose was uncomfortably close the edge of the painting. After pondering this for the better part of the weekend, I resolved the issue by letting the values of her face blend closely with the background foliage.
Finally, the cow stopping to look back before bolting for the next county brings the mood of the piece together as I intended.
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| "A Whiff of Danger" 9x12 acrylic |
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Quick Studies
I knocked out a couple of quick 6x4 studies this week. These little paintings are fast and fun... and I always learn something when I try to work with such economy.
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| "Aspen Study" 6x4 acrylic |
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| "Large Marge" 6x4 acrylic |
Sunday, August 30, 2009
"Three Aspens"
I never seem to paint enough watercolors. They're popular with collectors and always look amazing at shows. I'm just a lot more comfortable working in acrylics... for that matter, oils too.Aspens make great subjects for paintings. I always find the markings and contrast irresistible. I completed this small piece this morning and it was really a lot of fun. "Three Aspens" is 8 3/8 x 5 1/8.
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