Number 84: Still A Lot of Green...

Out Standing in a Field, 5x7 - Oil on Canvas Panel

I just went out walking in one of the fields out behind my house for this one. I wanted to take my brand-spankin' new Open Box M out for a plein air spin and find some autumn color. Although the trees around here have been changing, and the leaves have been dropping, it seems that the main colors I'm seeing are still green.

I trudged up to the top of a hill and saw this little masterpiece as I looked down. Orange-reds of cedars cut down in the spring along with some autumn yellows of an old elm tree just standing by itself in a grazing field.

My primary goal in the composition of this one was to balance the lights with the darks and highlight the contrast between the two. There is a lot of light colored loess soil in the The Loess Hills of western Iowa which changes dramatically depending on the direction of the light. There are also a multitude of grasses ranging from the lighter tall grasses to the darker and greener short grasses.

All in all, this is probably one of the more difficult paintings I've done considering the many different green values and their close proximity to one another. But, standing back, I'm happy with the end result - for now!

Number 85: A Day Well Spent!

I've been busily painting this weekend, but wanted to post a couple that were done yesterday.

I had the privilege of spending time with three adorable ladies scouting out painting sites. I met up with them to visit a local nature center where we learned about the local fauna and flora. We hiked the trails and then went and painted. I painted mine fairly quickly as I needed to throw dinner together. So food was my inspiration...

And here's my rendition...

Coulda Been Salsa, 5x7 - Oil on Canvas Panel

I guess that subconsiously I like onions and jalapenos more than I like tomatoes - I made them bigger! I didn't notice that when I was painting. Anyway, there was no salsa involved, just a great salad!

The other two submissions are from my awesome painting buddies, and budding artists, Kelly and Alexis!

Kelly's First Published Artwork!!

5x7, Watercolor on Canvas Panel

Alexis's First Published Artwork!!

5x7, Watercolor on Canvas Panel

It was truly a pleasure spending the day and painting with these wonderful young ladies! It's so amazing to see things through fresh, young eyes!! I hope to do it again soon!!

Number 86: Loving Life!!

I'm doing a tribute painting this week.

I had a 'first date' with the most wonderful person I've ever had the privilege of meeting! She is a total sweetheart and we spent the entire evening sitting by a small lake talking and drinking wine, or drinking wine and talking - it depends on who's telling the story.

I've known this person for about a year, but have never had the... Well, you know how it goes sometimes...

Now, that's all well and good, but there's a back story...

I know what we're going to be doing and where we're going for this 'first date', but I don't know what kind of wine she likes. So when she tells me, I think, 'yeah, that should be easy!' only to find out NOT so easy...

Three stores later, and wine in hand, this story begins...

And here's where I am...

at the beginning...

I've got a good start... And then I get a text message from her. Do I, or don't I? I send her a photo that she watched me take while we were talking - and one that I'm thinking of putting to canvas... in addition to my 'start' above...

Our First Sunset... (Painting to come...)

She says she loves both! So, I know that I'm on the right track with the painting and I'm alright with a camera!

Well, she's only seen the beginning - of the painting - so here's the final...

Impossible Find - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

(Not for sale...)

The name says it all!! And not only the wine, hehe!!

Needless to say, I've had the best weekend I've had in a LONG, LONG time!!

And, Jen, I REALLY do love your new shoes!! (Just for the record!!)

Never in a Million Years...

WOW!! SOLD!!

I never had the intention of selling any of my first 100, didn't even think of it! But, apparently someone likes feathers or bananas, or both, 'cuz I had an e-mail request to purchase 'Gone Bananas' and 'Feathers of a Bird'!! Talk about the ultimate critique! I'm on cloud nine!!

 

#007 Feathers of a Bird - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

WOW!! SOLD!!

 

#009 Gone Bananas!! - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

WOW!! SOLD!!

Thank you, so VERY much, to the purchaser!!

I'm off to paint some more!!

Beer Can Racin' - Not Slackin'... And Firsts All Around!!

I LOVE sailing!! And every chance I get to go sailing with friends, whether it's in San Diego CA,  down to Belize, or all the way up to Alaska, I take it! Sailing seems to be different everywhere I go - it's a weather strategy, water reading, wind reading, boat sliding and skipping, sail popping or luffing thing... I'm just happy to be on the boat!! Ballast, that's me!

In between official races there are unofficial, unsanctioned races called beer can races. Every yacht club has them, and they are good to test new theories or equipment before a 'real' race. This is where I find myself this week - ballast on a sailboat in a beer can race!

While not a great venue for plein air PAINTING, I took my sketch pad along with some colored pencils and tagged this action SKETCHING! Look for a painting in the near future as I LOVED this experience and I want to capture this excitement and use it for later works!

After turning around at the halfway mark, I started my sketching...

 

Notice that I captured the two boats on the left still raising their spinnakers, not quite to the top!! Oh, so cool!! It's always good to be in the boat at the front of the pack, hehe!!

This drawing only took me about seven minutes, which made the other 'ballast beer/wine drinking members' ask me how I learned to draw so fast. I briefly explained that what I did as a 'painter', mixing colors from the three primary colors and putting those colors on a canvas in the shortest amount of time possible, made me able to sketch things with pencil much, much faster.

Then I broke out my colored pencils... As quickly as I could, I captured the colors of the spinnaker sails and the reflections in the water...

The entire crew, with the boat I was on being as far ahead as it was, checked out what I was doing - including the boat's captain and owner. He and his wife offered to purchase the drawing for a substantial sum, as this was the first time their boat had won a race. I'll also be painting a handful of canvasses of this event, one for each crew member, courtesy of the owners - my first paid commission!!

Firsts all around - first time this boat had won a race, and the first time I'd been offered actual money for something I've created...

And I've received invitations to sail with a lot of other boats! I guess everyone needs ballast, hehe!

Good times, and a GREAT day!!!

Number 87: Green and Yellow Peppers

 

I gave these two a little more room to breath! Painting peppers is extremely interesting as you get a look, put down some paint, look up again and if you've moved even the slightest bit the reflections and shadows change! I was getting a little frustrated until I realized what was happening...

 

I had a lot of fun with these two and learned a lot, too! Like how may different values of green are in a green pepper.  ;-)  I hope you enjoy!

 

Yellow and Green Peppers - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Number 88: Smashing Peppers...

 

Today I'm painting the pepper clan. And since today marks the 'unofficial' end of summer and the beginning of autumn, I chose each of the pepper colors to transition into the fall-like color schemes.

 

It kinda looks as if I smashed these poor peppers together to get them to fit on the canvas!

 

Smashing Peppers - 5x7 Canvas on Board

Number 89: Spicing it Up...

Painted a couple of Jalapenos practicing with the palette knives. The background was done with a brush, though.

Spicing it Up - 5x7 Oil on Board

Takin' a Break for a Q&A...

I've noticed that there have been a lot of repeat questions, not only from this blog, but from all the places I frequent. In an effort to answer them all I'm going to post this Q&A with the most frequently asked questions so that everyone will find the same information from the same place.

First, if you haven't visited my blog before, welcome! I'm glad you took the time to stop by. This is where I 'hold court' so to speak - in other words, this is where I spend most of my time posting my latest efforts and answering questions about those efforts. Feel free to peruse the entries and make comments and/or criticisms on any or all of them. I'm here to learn and part of that is to take your input and incorporate that into my learning process. I can't make any promises, though. I may be on a track that's taking me to where I think I should be. But the occasional reminder as to why I shouldn't be where I am is always welcome!  ;-)

Now, on to the answers to the questions...

Q: What is your palette?
A: The last few paintings I've been using tubes from my initial foray into oil painting at the beginning of the year, those being Bob Ross Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Prussian Blue and Titanium White. I'm also planning on using Bright Red when I do tomatoes. Yes, that's Bob Ross paints from Weber and the answer to that question is coming up... Within the last month I've been playing around with different manufacturers' paints, like Utrecht, Rembrandt, M. Graham, Gamblin, The Art Store, and Grumbacher just to name a few. I haven't painted anything with them, just mixing different combinations to see what works and whatnot. I've also been watching out for results of painting with Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, a Black, and Titanium White, too. So, if you have any experience with that palette let me know what works.

Q: Is that really you in the picture?
A: ;-) Yes, it is. There are so few photos of me that I had to use one that my very good friend Judy took of me in August while I was in San Diego. Here's what she sent me:

And that's what I've had to work with. I look intimidating and MEAN in both, as if I'm waiting for hell to freeze over or something, but I liked the greenery in the background. When I get any with me behind an easel, I'll change it.  ;-)  And, no, I'm not mean and I'm not waiting for hell to freeze over.

Q: Your profile says that you are an Airline Trainer. Which airline do you work for?

A: I used to work for an airline that was based out of Minneapolis, MN, USA. Since the merger I now work for the world's largest airline based out of Atlanta, GA, USA. I'd mention names, but I don't want to wrangle with the legal department. They have enough to do right now.

Q: How did you get involved in oil painting?

A: Eating lunch. You might think that I'm kidding, but I'm not. While eating lunch one day almost a year ago, I turned on the TV. Now, mind you, I've only got five channels on a good day. One of them just happens to be PBS. I saw Bob Ross for the first time and he just happened to be on whenever I had lunch. So, as it goes, I was after-Christmas shopping and saw a Bob Ross painting kit. I bought it and the rest is history... I've been hooked ever since and cannot get enough!

Q: Your first painting en plein air appears to be done using a Soltek easel. All the others appear to be done using a Guerilla box. Which do you prefer?

A: Wow! Quite observant! Yes, I use both a Soltek easel and a 9x12 Guerilla Box with a tripod. And I've just ordered a 12x16 Open Box M which I should receive in a couple of weeks. And if you're REALLY observant you've noticed that I've been working with 5x7 panels exclusively and have had to improvise, adapt, and overcome based on that size. Notice the panel holders in the Soltek and the panel in the Guerilla box that I 'screw' my panels into. (Thank you, Thomas Kincaid for the 'screw it in 'til you're done' method) Now that I've mentioned it, TK is going to E-Mail me a 'Huh?'

Anyway, I love, LOVE, each one of my easels. But each has it's own time and place. Metal heats up quicker in inexcusable heat like you find in the Southwest USA during the summertime messing with the consistency of oil paint. And I imagine that it has the exact opposite effect, yet the same messing with the consistency of oil paint effect, in sub-zero weather, although I have yet to test that theory. That would apply to the Soltek easel. Wood, on the other hand, can stay loaded and ready to go in the car or truck - except in the most EXTREME cases, which, no matter which easel you're using, will probably make you question whether to go out or not. 

As much as I LOVE each of my current easels, the Soltek AND the Guerilla Box, I've got the inside scoop working for an airline and all - if you travel A LOT like I do... the Open Box M is about the size of a laptop and doesn't make the red lights start flashing going through the x-ray machine - unless you forgot to put your 3.2 oz or less tubes of paint in a 1 qt. clear plastic bag, one bag per passenger - like the Soltek always seems to do. Whenever I travel on a weekend trip with my Soltek, I always feel like Vince, the Sham-WoW guy, showing off the Soltek easel to the new group of TSA agents.  Did you get that, Camera Guy? ;-)  Don't get me wrong, I love to show off my Soltek, just not to people that don't appreciate it for what it's used for.

As a side note, I am NOT compensated in any way, shape, or form by any particular easel manufacturer for what I'm saying here. Not that I'd be adverse to being compensated, but I believe in being trustworthy. And with that said, I should be officially off the radar of any other legal folks that might be looking to wrangle, except for those representing Vince and Sham-Wow. FREE ADVERTISING - Twice!! Enough said...

Q: Do you prefer still life or en plein air?

A: I don't do this very often, but I'm going to assume that you mean still life in studio or en plein air. My choice at this point would be hold the wind, hold the rain, hold the cold, stop the sun, with extra color en plein air. But until I'm fast enough mixing and laying down color, I'm going to keep TRYING en plein air. And as long as I need to keep practicing a new technique, which seems to be always at this point, I'll do it in studio, which ironically enough means 'in study'.

That'll do it for the Q&A today. If I get any more questions that need to be addressed, I'll initiate another Q&A session. I enjoy these sessions because this is how we ALL learn!! Keep the questions coming!

Number 90: Passing Through...

While taking a break after going bananas I took my camera out to the garden to get some shots of the latest blooming flowers for later works. As soon as I got down to the garden, I knew that something out of the ordinary was up. It turns out that migration season has started for the monarch butterfly. It started with a handful when I took a couple of pics and beat feet to get my pochade box. When I got back there were monarchs EVERYWHERE!! I took a pic of the one I decided to try to paint - and I'm glad I did. It just kept flexing it's wings. Up and down, up and down. I tried to paint everything as fast as I could, all at once - alla quick! But not quick enough. It flew away...

But I got enough done to get the general colors down, which took a whole fifteen minutes. I then went inside and hooked up the camera to the computer to see if there was anything that I missed. Not with the monarch or the sunflower, but I did have to add the stem and the leaf.

Looking at the painting now it appears darker than it did outside. I'm going to have to watch that in the future...

Anyway, here's the progress... Notice my sketch of wings spread, wings folded, wings spread...  ;-)

 

And here's the final. Not much work done but notice how much darker, and maybe warmer, the painting is than the photo... I think this is why they say to not paint from photographs - at least not the colors.

Passing Through - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Number 91: Gone Bananas!!

Another long weekend and I'm planning on painting my way through every minute.

Stopped by the grocery store on my way home from work and picked up some likely candidates to practice on. I decided to open with the bananas...

 

I plopped, or should I say propped, my trio into my setup and got my Guerilla Box set up with a canvas board. You'll probably notice that the board is toned a little dark. I heard about toning canvas and tried using both regular gesso and coloring regular gesso with acrylic. Well, this is the last canvas board that I went a little overboard with the acrylic, hehe!

 

Introducing Burnt Sienna - in a major way!! Well, you won't see much of the undertone as this time I made an attempt to lay it on thick.

Anyway, I've also come across a nice little tool made by Easyl that I've been using for keeping to my original composition. That's the gadget tacked to the upper left of my painting board. I've been kinda cheating with my composition by using the corner of my background setup to focus on the star of the show. I did it with the onions too. And I'm going to keep using that 'cheat' until I get some sense of how to do it naturally!

So, I get everything blocked in and I keep going - paying attention to the lightest light and the darkest dark. I get the background all in and then the lights and the shadows. Then I start thinking edges. I try to add the 'blemishes' of the bananas with my brush. Not what I wanted. Not crisp and clear enough. I tried a bright bristle brush thinking that the sharp edge might be the trick. Nope! Step back and have an 'Um, duh!!' moment. Why not use a palette knife? Voila!!

 

See? No more burnt sienna!! And the palette knife did the trick! Actually, the palette knife strokes went very well with and complimented the brush strokes from the bright bristle brush. Everything comes together in the end!

 

Gone Bananas - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

WOW!! SOLD!!

And, as a bonus, something to eat while I set up my next project!

Number 92: Onions...

 

I intended to get outside today to attempt another plein air painting, but the weather isn't going to cooperate today. It's raining pretty good and I didn't have a particular spot picked out. Since I don't want to get drenched when I don't really have to, I decided on plan B. Onions!

 

I parked a couple of onions trying out a new still life setup instead of my black shadow box. I originally liked the idea of the contrast between the white and the red onion, and since everyone seems to have done at least one onion still life I thought "why not". Then, as I was laying in the composition, I started noticing the difference in shadow and highlights in each onion. Then I picked up the differences in the background. At this point I started getting excited. I think I'm starting to see like an artist! And I even finished this one within an hour! Yes, it's a simple still life. But I'm still just a beginner!

Onions - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Number 93: Feathers of a Bird...

 

This one brings me up to speed with what I've painted so far - Feathers of a Bird. Or should it be birds of a feather? Anyway, I have white pigeons and occasionally they drop some pretty fine looking feathers. I picked a couple up earlier in the day with the intention of maybe painting them when I didn't have anything else to do. But I came home from work late that same night and decided it was time to take the 'white challenge'. 

 

This one is my favorite so far. I haven't seen too many paintings of feathers out there that didn't include the whole bird that usually goes with them. The different shades of white, the shadows, and the way the light plays off the quills made this one quite an interesting challenge.

Feathers of a Bird - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

WOW!! SOLD!!

Number 94: Sunflowers and Black-Eyed Susans in Vase

 

I don't know if this qualifies as a plein air still life or not. I decided that since it was nice outside and I had a couple of minutes between mowing the lawn and other chores around the house that I'd take this nice little arrangement out on my back porch and move some paint around a canvas. Yes, the tomato harvest has been good this year, as has the cucumbers...

 

And presto! My main focus was on the light playing through the vase and the somewhat complementary colors of reds and greens with a splash of yellow. I still have a hard time believing that a limited four color palette can create such an awesome mix of colors!

 

Sunflowers and Black-Eyed Susans in Green Vase

5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Number 95: A Brush with Paradise

I was in San Diego, California. I took a picture. And another one. And then a closeup. I came home.
While looking through all the photographs from my trip, I saw this one and had a thought. So I blurred it using Photoshop...

 

And then I painted it as if I were squinting at it in real life - all the while looking at it on my computer screen.

And now, I'm beginning to see shapes of color and detail! This was a wonderful experience painting this piece as I am extremely enamored by the Bird of Paradise. I simply love the colors - oranges, yellows, blues, greens, and crimson. It is by far my most favorite flower and I hope to paint more during this first 100.

 

 Bird of Paradise - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Number 96: Baseball is in the Air...

Ah, Spring! The smell of the leather baseball glove and the pop of the baseball hitting the pocket as you play catch with your best friend after school. The memories came flooding back as I watched the first game of the year on TV and heard the first crack of the bat...

 

Inspiration hit me like that ball lost in the sun, missing the glove, and WHAM!! Right in the head!! I set it up in my newly built shadow box and this is what happened.

 

I'm enjoying this painting thing more and more the more I do it!! Here's how the final picture turned out...

 

Baseball - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Even though there are some compositional issues that need to be resolved, all in all I think that this one didn't turn out so bad for a beginner!

Number 97: The Light Goes On!

 

Well, here I experienced an epiphany of sorts. I came across a video put out by an amazing still life artist named Mark Carder. His main points were that you need to 'learn to see', and to use a limited palette. It was at this point that I was introduced to painting what you see and mixing any color you need from the primaries plus white and brown. Although I didn't follow his example to the letter, I learned a heck of a lot by just gleaning the jist of his method. I built a shadow box, set up a still life, and started pushing some paint around...

It's amazing exactly how LITTLE paint it took to push around to get the effect that I was looking for with this one!

And, the finished product. I'm feeling as if I've moved forward by leaps and bounds compared to what I've been doing...

 

Light bulb - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Panel

Number 98: The Next Step - Cityscape Plein Air!

Talk about kicking it up a notch or two! All I remember thinking at the time was, "I have to paint downtown!" Well, being the brave soul that I am, and without a second thought, I packed my gear and headed downtown. I found the perfect spot and settled in for a small painting session. This is where I was introduced to curious people and suspicious police officers. The building on the right is city hall and one of the buildings on the left is the police station. The colors are all there, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I think I'll call this a color study! Oh! And I think I should start painting out of sight for a while. Criticism and the fact that I don't have a clue what I'm doing yet just don't seem to go together...

 

City Square - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Number 99: En Plein Air - Part Two!

I liked painting outside so much that my second attempt was painted just a few feet away, albeit on another day.

 

This was the object of my attention - a trellis with some greenery growing up it as well as a rock and some daffodils in bloom.

Trellis and Daffodils - 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Well, the original looks somewhat like the painting - or should that be the other way around? Needless to say, at this point I determined that I have so much work to do to improve. Perhaps I'll paint this one again next spring just to see who wins, reality or painting. Where'd the swing go?

Number 100: The First Plein Air...

 

 As my first official outing, and to commemorate the beginning of my new found passion, this painting represents the first of 100 paintings. It's a 5x7, canvas on board, of the pine tree trunks and bird house in my back yard. Notice all the tubes on the easel, hehe! This little painting was a fun one and I will always remember it not only as my first painting, but also my first plein air painting!