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"Dusk"

4 x 6 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Hi everyone, I am back and wanted to let everyone know I have posted new paintings at my Etsy shop. There are a couple landscapes as well. I hope to start producing more alls prima paintings when I am done getting ready for a show in a couple weeks. I will share more information of my first curated show in the next post!

Cheers!

Plein Air-ing it

"Alexandria"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas

I love long weekends especially at the cabin with family and friends. Sleeping was the number one thing in the agenda and I am happy to say that I succeeded. Second to sleeping was continuing my journey with plein air paintings. As I mentioned in previous post landscapes are not my strong suit, but I do have an admiration for them and enjoy painting them any chance I can. I wanted to try to capture the time of day as fast as I can without having the distraction of putting every hair on a dog.  My goals were to capture the time of day, mood in the painting, and edit my process.

Similar to my previous post, I started with the top left picture with just a quick gesture of the landscape. I only want to capture the essence of the scene and its perspective. The top right picture shows my next step, this stage I only ad the overall tones for each section of the painting. This stage I like to call the "rough" in stage, still going quick to capture the type of light I want, similar to doing gestures but with color. This stage allows me to see how the overall color and mood that will be in the final painting. I want to try to keep close to this palette the further I move away from this stage and closer to the final. The bottom left picture I start to zero in on a section and take it to a finish. I first start with the darker values and move to the lighter values. In this stage I am taking the tree's in the foreground and the tree's in the background to a close finish. Then on the bottom right picture I complete the lake and sky, repeating the same process in working from dark to lighter values.  When all the shapes and values are stated in the painting and close to a finish I can then go around and put the finishing touches. 

Painting on location.

Here is another painting I did when the sun was starting to set the previous day. This was a really quick painting as the clouds were going in and out. The size of this painting is 5 x7 inches, being restricted to that size allows you to go much quicker.

Thank you again for stopping by and viewing. I hope you enjoyed this post and the paintings. Till next time, cheers!

Plein Air Painting

 

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"Dust"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I went up north to Park Rapids, Minnesota for vacation. Every year I go up I always leave saying "I wish I brought my paints with me!", finally I did! I am the first to tell you that painting landscapes have always been a weakness of mine. I do love them I just do not do them enough, maybe once or twice a year I'll get out and paint a landscape. Going to Park Rapids I wanted to change that and at least do a couple landscapes.

Experiencing nature when you're outdoors painting is something that I truly enjoyed. I would recommend everyone to do it as much as they can. With this process I wanted to lay down the tone or mood of the painting right away. After the initial drawing I painted each section with their general tones, not worrying about details just laying in the overall tones. Doing this allows me to see a "rough' draft of how the final will look, it also lets me get the tones down quicker especially for plein air painting. As I stated in my previous post the "rough" in stage does not mean scumbling paint everywhere in a messy way. I am still thinking of smooth transitions, edges and paint quality. At this stage I also keep the paints thin as I will be adding more layers when putting in the smaller forms or "details". Once the "rough" in stage is complete I start section by section in completing the painting, going from darker to lighter forms. I like to make sure each section is to a close finish as I can take it before moving onto the next section. Once all sections are completed I look at the painting as a whole and put the final touches so the painting can be cohesive.

Till next time, cheers!

Painting at the cabin

We are at the cabin for New Years to celebrate with friends and family. It's about a two hour drive north from Minneapolis in a small town named Alexandria, when you arrive it's pure beauty from every direction. Growing up in Florida I never knew about having a cabin, since moving to Minnesota I've learned what it is and appreciate it. Every time we come to the cabin I never paint as much as I want to, this time I feel l I'm finally producing the amount I should be doing. These paintings I am doing are on the spot and completed within the hour, more or less. I am able to treat these paintings as drawings in my sketchbook. The first painting is of Greg playing the guitar, he was practicing the whole time and I don't think he even realized I was painting him. It was fun listening to him play great music and see the passion he has for it. The second painting I did is the view from the cabin looking out to the lake. When I was painting I was fortunate to see our friends playing on the ice and digging some ice fishing holes. I tried capturing those moments in the painting. I hope to produce more of these little guys while I'm up here, they're great visual memories to look back at. Happy New Years!