"Perfect Evening"

Keeping with the theme of working with oil paint, this sunset landscape really pushed my color choices. As with the smaller studies, I learned a lot during the course of this project.
 

"Perfect Evening" 10x20 oil

"Clear Creek Brown"

"Clear Creek Brown" 10x10 acrylic

It's been a few weeks since I've finished a painting, so it was time to get my butt in gear! I'm happy to add this one to the "done" list.

"Plunge Pool"

"Plunge Pool" 14x11 acrylic

As a painter, the things that excite me, both in the studio and in the field, don't register much significance to my non-artist friends. It's nothing new when, after talking with me, someone wanders away muttering, "I always knew Bortz was nuts." I can't really disagree, but I'm quite happy in my little bubble of insanity.
In this painting, "Plunge Pool", I've achieved a couple of things that, in the past, have largely eluded me. I've been doing some experiments trying to get the natural green tones in my work to be more lifelike. I hit on some mixtures that seem to work well in most situations. Surprisingly enough, there is not a drop of "out of the tube" green paint in this piece. It was all worked out with subtle shifts in mixtures of various yellows and blues.
More importantly, there is an impressionistic quality to this piece not really noticeable in my previous work. Not that I haven't tried. Up to this point, most of my efforts toward this effect have come up miserably short. I like painting with bigger brushes. I'm just not very good at it. Smearing and blending big blobs of paint to get a desired look without a bunch of tiny brush strokes intrigues me. I smile every time I pull it off.
There are usually parts of a painting that are my favorites. This piece had several! I like the way the mossy boulders emerge from the background at the top of composition. It's out of character for me not to render a painting right out to the edges of the board. But here, the lack of detail in that area seems to work, allowing the viewers eye to take in the tumbling water without being distracted by unnecessary detail.

Even in the foreground of the painting, I've managed to paint the stream gravel with more of a suggestive technique rather than detailing every tiny stone. This makes me happy.
Is this a new direction for my art? Perhaps. I think there is a balance between "loose and painterly" and "photographic detail" that I'm constantly searching for. I may have found it with this painting. Now the challenge will be to do it again, prooving to myself this was no accident.

Water

"Timeless River" (detail) work in progress

I often think about the abstract qualities of water in my paintings. So much so, there was a time I considered doing nothing but close-up studies of ripples, waves, and reflections. It would certainly make for an interesting collection of work and endless possibilities to explore the relationships between color and shape.
I've been struggling a bit as of late. The last couple of weeks have seen very little in terms of production, but I'm working through it. Yesterday was a great day at the easel and it may signal the end of my relatively short (for me) dry spell. Working on a riverscape always seems to help.

"Conewago Rush"




"Conewago Rush" 16x8 acrylic

 Inspired by a recent fishing trip, I've attempted to capture the essence of the crystal clear water in the "narrows" section of Conewago Creek. The fish were wild and frisky. The scenery was breathtaking. It was a day spent in fly fishing paradise.

A Day in Paradise



Tumbling water on the Conewago



Somehow the planets aligned last week and I was offered a slice of paradise for a day. Conewago Creek is a spectacular little trout fishery throughout most of its upper reaches, but the fabled "Narrows" may be some of the most outstanding water on the planet. Leased and maintained by the Conewago Trout Fishermen group, this area is off limits to the public. My hope was to wrangle permission to photograph the area for painting reference, but when the invitation was extended to stay and fish as well, I just couldn't pass it up.



A small wild rainbow in the gin clear stream



Both the scenery and trout surpassed my expectations. The stream banks are lined with rhododendron, hemlock, and boulders the size of a truck. The water itself weaves and tumbles along this stretch creating pockets and plunge pools everywhere you look. The trout are feisty and wild... and some are quite big!



More painting inspiration!

 It was only a couple of short days ago, but the whole experience seems more like a dream than reality... a dream I won't soon forget!

"Meander"

"Meander" 9.5 x 19 acrylic

Moving water fascinates me. I'm absolutely drawn to it and can't seem to help myself. The hypnotic sound of cold water tumbling over logs and rocks puts my mind at ease. And I love the wild things that live in and around the streams. Life is good when I'm in these places and I'm certain it's the reason I paint them so much.

Work in Progress: Streamscape



Currently on the easel

 One of the advantages to spending so much time on trout streams is the water itself make such interesting subject matter. This is a small section of a 9.5 x 19 panel I'm currently working on. It's an exciting piece and I'm having fun with it.

Small Progress, Big Painting

As I move forward on this large 20x30 painting, I celebrate the little victories. Above, I've included an image of a 8x12 section of the painting I've been working on for the past couple of days. I'm happy to see the brush forming along the water's edge and the accompanying reflections. I'm also pleased with my handling of all those tiny little twigs and the way they read better as contiguous large forms of color rather than thousands of singular brush strokes. As larger paintings go, this one is coming together rather quickly... especially considering the complex forms involved. There's still much to be done, but for now... I am happy :)

"Pine Run" 6x8 acrylic

I've been on a bit of a roll lately. This little landscape study came together nicely and takes me back to that overcast afternoon of trout fishing. There's nothing quite like being on a stream in October when the leaves are changing. I'll be starting another new painting this afternoon. I need to keep working while things are going so well!

Water and Rocks

Most of my recent works have been relatively small pieces. My mindset lately has kept me away from the easel and I’ve really been dragging my feet getting a new painting started. I’ve been filling page after page of my sketchbooks with pencil drawings, but have had no desire to paint. Wednesday, I made myself put some paint down. Now that I’ve got the ball rolling, I’m completely energized. This is a fairly large painting and will take a considerable amount of time to finish. I don’t think I’ll post “daily” progress on this one, but will attempt to do so periodically. The photo I’ve posted here is a small portion of the larger work.

To this point, I’ve washed the base colors on the primed board, roughed in the layout with a white charcoal pencil, and began the detail work over the base colors. This painting will be quite complicated and there are several challenges I’ve not tackled in the past, so it will be an adventure. My reference material is good, to that will be a big help.

Working in relatively small squares allows me to concentrate on each small detail without being distracted by the entirety of the painting. Hopefully, I’ve worked out all the compositional elements and how they relate to each other in my preliminary sketches. Of course, paintings sometimes take on a life of their own and don’t go according to plan. Those are the times when I feel my artistic metal is really being tested. Stay tuned…