Summer Memories

On this frigid snow-covered morning I've decided to go back in time to a summer plein air painting. This is one that I worked on for 2 or 3 sessions - after the first outing I wasn't happy with the lower part of the composition, so I adjusted that at home - then went back to finish the painting on site. It was done early in the morning, the atmosphere was humid and I was looking toward the east...so everything had that beautiful morning glow, with the wonderful subtle blue/violet in the distant tree line and a nice rosey glow to the lower part of the sky. The sparkles on the water in and amongst the vegetation were also an attraction.

I like the overall mood in the piece (which probably doesn't convey well in the jpeg - it looks a little harsh on my monitor compared to the subtlety in the painting, especially the lower part of the sky). I'm thinking I might try to create a larger studio painting based on this, but will have to modify the composition and figure out how to vary the greens some more. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Oil on canvas board, 8x12.


Also, I recently found an artist whose work I really like, and wanted to post a link to his blog. His name is Qiang Huang. He primarily paints still life's, often very simple ones with only a couple of objects - but I love his use of contrast and color, and his descriptive brushwork. Check out his work!