More Small Stuff

These two tiny 4x6 studies ended up being huge successes. Not only did they end up being relatively pleasing to look at, I really learned a lot pushing the paint around on them.
The play between warm light and cool shadow has always been a bit of a mystery to me. It's great when I can make it work, but I'm not always as successful as I'd like. In the heron study, I'm particularly happy with the way the warm and cool hues work together making the harsh lighting seem almost "squint your eyes" bright.

Blending acrylic paint is not exactly the easiest thing I've ever done, but with the help of an "open" medium, it gives me a bit more time to manipulate the edges before the paint sets. It might not seem like much, but it's a big deal when trying to soften objects in the background or lose edges here and there.
Let's hope I can translate all this fun stuff into some larger works!

"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.

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.
 

"A Whiff of Danger" 9x12 acrylic

"Emerald Reflection"

"Emerald Reflection" 8x6 acrylic

As I climb the trail of my career as an artist, I find it interesting to occasionally step back and assess my progress toward becoming a better painter. Of course the trail is not well marked and there are often wrong turns and dead ends, but every once in a while I stumble upon something that works.
My work is leaning a bit toward an impressionistic style while trying to maintain a certain level of believable realism. I certainly don't paint as "photographic" as I used to (check some of my blog posts from a few years ago) and I'm enjoying the additional freedom that comes along with smearing around larger blobs of paint. I'm not saying I'll be splashing paint on a 40x60 canvas with a 2" brush anytime soon, but I feel like this is real progress.
I've also noticed the paint on my finished work is much thicker than it used to be (this is quite evident when sanding down the high spots on a clunker that needs to be painted over!). This thicker paint is allowing my colors to be more juicy and vibrant. It also keeps me from using those tiny brushes I'm so used to!
I love painting small landscape studies like the one above. They allow me to try new things without having all the time and material of a large painting invested.
It's slow progress... but progress nonetheless.

"Chipper"

"Chipper" 7x5 acrylic

With a larger project in mind, I wanted to paint this small 7x5 study of a chipping sparrow on a rhododendron. It took a while for me to figure out the mixtures for the pinks in the sun-drenched blossoms, but I'm very happy with the results.

"Pasture Reclaimed"

"Pasture Reclaimed" 9x12 acrylic

Last painting for the History Meets the Arts show in Gettysburg finally finished. Now on to framing, packing, and other less entertaining chores.

History Meets the Arts 2014

I will have about 20 framed originals at this show... many making their first public appearance. It would be great to see you there!

"Cruiser - Brown Trout"

"Cruiser - Brown Trout" 10x20 acrylic

I recently shot some very interesting underwater reference photos. My trout paintings will benefit from such cool images. Guess it's time to go fishing again :)