Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Braddock Marsh, Autumn

This 8x10 oil was painted a few weeks ago, on a beautiful sunny fall day. I went to Braddock Bay park and set up at the end of a short walkway that extends out into the marsh. I've always had trouble painting marsh grass in the fall...never able to get the color right. I first tried painting a different view (to the left of this one), and actually painted it twice...quite unsuccessfully. I was getting tired, but when I looked to the north the dried marsh grasses glowing in the sun called to me. The colors were extremely intense this day - the water an incredible dark blue, the grasses glowing orange/yellow, all contrasted by the dull greens and yellows of the distant tree line.

I quickly put in the sky, water, and trees...then realized I still had 75% of the canvas left, and it was all marsh grass! Thinking about past failures, I decided to try two things differently - using a palette knife, and pushing the colors in the grass. I really like the result.


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Fall Morning, Backlit

This 6x8 oil was painted in October, just as fall colors were coming to peak. The location is somewhere in Wyoming county. It was a mild morning, with enough moisture to create a nice haze in the distance. This haze was especially pronounced looking toward the southeast, into the morning light. The combination of the distant blue merging almost imperceptibly into the more colorful mid-range hills, and the back/rim lit nearby trees, was too much to resist.

There's a good chance I'm going to try to work this up to a larger painting, so any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.


Sunday, November 1, 2009

Durfee Road Study, re-post

I managed to get a better image of the painting "Durfee Road Study", and am posting it here. It looks better on my laptop monitor - better captures the light and contrasts. However, there are some problems with the scan...in particular, in the painting there is a slight touch of yellow in the sky...but the scan over-emphasizes this a lot. Also, the painting has a warmer tone than the scan. I almost wonder if it's even worth trying to post images of paintings, it's so hard to get a faithful reproduction. This painting was sold at the recent Artist Row show, but I have it back temporarily for varnishing.