garden pond with fingernail marks

Here is the end result of my previous post about the process: Garden Pond, 6x6 inches, oil on hardboard.

This little painting is in my gallery on Daily Paintworks. They have a great image magnifier tool there and using that tool, you can see the foreground detail of marks I make with a fingernail of my gloved hand. This is a technique I use often in my pastel paintings and I just can't resist putting my fingers in my oils too. Sold

garden pond in progress

Your personal process of painting may be something you have developed over the years, learned in a workshop or adopted from another artist's post online. Today I'm working on a 6x6 landscape of the pond in my flower garden. The steps of my work in oil on black gessoed hardboard are shown below.

 I print my reference photo in color and in grayscale. The X on the photo and on the blank panel helps me loosely layout the composition in medium-value green oil paint.

 The black of the panel is my darkest value. The initial composition in medium green is my middle value. Now I add the lightest values.

I continue to develop forms of the pond and trees by adding additional values of color. Click images to enlarge.

...and having perhaps the better claim

I'm framing work for my upcoming show with Sandy Byers at Cole Gallery, Edmonds, WA.  This oil, The Better Claim, is another from my meadow series; the title inspired by Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. "…and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear…"

two temperatures

Arboretum Winter Afternoon  |  oil  |   10x8 inches

Two more paintings of a scene from my Arboretum series of reference photos. This finished painting will be going to Cole Gallery, Edmonds, WA  next month. 

Arboretum Winter Afternoon  |  pastel  |   7.75x7.5 inches

This is the color study for the oil painting above. I kept this study beside my easel as I painted the oil. In the end, I glazed the oil with Indian Yellow and that warmed up the colors. Though not painted in colors thought of as cool (such as blue) the color study is cool when compared to the oil. Sold on the DPW Auction.

sweet hush

Today's oil painting is "Sweet Hush," 12 x 10 inches. Below the finished painting is the white foundation on black gessoed hardboard panel.

an all-day job

At least once each year I clean and reorganize all my pastels. This year the job was made much easier (though it still took most of the day) by using the Cherry Pastel Cleaner and grits instead of the corn meal I've used for years. I love this thing!

first snow on rose ground

We have freezing fog here in the Seattle area but east of the mountains where my brother-in-law lives there is plenty of snow. He kindly shared some photos so I have a chance to paint snow.  I think this is the first snow I have ever painted and I find it to be similar to painting fluffy grass but the colors are more subtle (and difficult to photograph). "First Snow" is 12 x 12 inches, pastel on 4-ply archival mat board with a  rose-colored gesso/pumice coating.

Woodland Stream 8x6 inches

I worked intermittently on this 8 x 6 inch oil for a few weeks. It finally came together and is currently on the auction at Daily Paintworks. Years ago I painted this scene in a much higher key in colored pencil as a gift for a friend. Sold

a one brush day

Today I painted all afternoon with only one brush as I worked on seven 8x10 inch oils. I love this brush! Princeton Art & Brush Co., 6200B, Angular Bright, Size 8. I've been using it for about seven years - probably time to replace it.

wild one

For several days I've been looking at "Arboretum Winter Color" hanging on the wall above my desk (a good time to look at it is when I'm on the phone). I don't see anything I want to change and am enjoying all I love about it, remembering the wild areas of the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle.

This piece is 25 x 25 inches and when painting that large in pastel, I work from the top down with no jumping around until the details at the very end. I kept the reference photo (in color and in grayscale) as well as the little color study (sold on Daily Paintworks) beside my easel. Now I'm anxious to see this one framed.

today it's yesteryear

Ever since I came across that word...'yesteryear'... a couple days ago, I've thought about it as a title for a painting. So today's painting is Yesteryear, 18 x 12 inches, pastel on Wallis paper. This is along the Oregon Coast in early September a few years ago (as in yesteryear). Love those fluffy grasses!

Thanks to everyone who visited my Studio Sales link. Lots of visitors per the stats. I'll try to find something to offer there around the first of each month then move the previous month's paintings that haven't sold to Etsy for sale.

winter marsh - finally!

Last September I was working on two 18x18 inch oil paintings. One of them has finally resurfaced. This is Winter Marsh, a late afternoon scene from reference photos taken a couple years ago in my home town.

studio sales

Something new for the new year! If you follow this blog, you know that occasionally I rip my studio apart and start over...rearrange, paint the walls, clean out shelves, etc. Today I went through my flat files and came across a few paintings from yesteryear (what a great word).

I'll sell them directly from my studio on a new blog titled Studio Sales. You can CLICK HERE to see the first two offerings. I'll also add a link to Studio Sales in the sidebar of this blog. Thanks for taking a look.

a value check

This is the 'value check' for my first painting of 2013, "Arboretum Winter Color," pastel on paper, 24 x 24 inches. I'm pleased with the values that portray a winter afternoon in the Pacific Northwest - mostly mid and dark values with just a touch of light on the white-barked trees.  I will hang it on my Studio wall and look at it for a few days to see if it needs any color or detail adjustments before signing it and calling it done.

For a value check on your painting, photograph it and switch the mode to grayscale in your computer with Photoshop Elements or the photo editing application you use. Remember, 'Value does the work, color gets the glory.' (quote from Richard McKinley)

a loose look

I love the first interpretation of a scene when I'm working out the color and composition for a larger painting. Colors and shapes are experimental, less contrived than in a larger, 'finished' piece. Detail is minimal because the studies are usually quite small though this one is larger than most at 7.75 x 7.5 inches.

At top are the three steps in creating this little study, beginning with an oil paint wash. Next, the darkest and lightest pastel colors are added. Favorite parts of this one are the spontaneous, random branches and indication of leaves of the trees. This painting is sold.

color study steps

When painting a color study for a larger painting, I try to keep it fast and simple. These are the steps of the 7x5 inch color study for "Sunday Walk:" Sold

1. Apply black acrylic in several values to mass in the dark values (just add water to make a lighter value).

2. Add pastels of the lightest values to complete the value range of the painting.

3. Add color choices -  warm colors advance, cool colors recede. 

4. The completed study. View it with the magnifier at Daily Paintworks.