Klodt Barn

Last Saturday was the J40 Tractor Crawl in Van Buren County. Plein air painters were invited to set up at sites along the route. Practice on perspective was my goal here. I showed this to a friend who commented that she did not like the dark on the left side of the building. Even when she understood that is the shadow side and she did not have a problem with the shadows on the front. She said she would prefer the light red all around. I don't know what to make of that. 

14" x 11" oil on panel

Recent Plein Air

One Morning at Rodeo

The sunrise changes quickly, so I had 15 minutes on this one and a small panel.

6" x 6" oil on panel

Where's Wylie?

This was along a gravel road across the river from Farmington, Iowa. There were signs warning of falling rocks. Which explains the large rock at the bottom. 

10" x 8" oil on canvas

Shimek State Forest

The same limited palette used on the one above.

6" x 6"

Hannah and Duncan

My granddaughter went to Horse camp and won a second place riding Duncan. 

11" x 14" oil on panel

Limited Palette

Brantlee

I received a sample pack of three watercolors. I squeezed them out and threw away the tubes which means I don't remember the brand. I do remember that the red was Opera. There was also a blue and yellow. That was the only colors I used on this painting. The paper was a soft Arches printing paper.

Parade Spectator

Another painting using the three colors. Both of these were painted on the Arches Velin BFK Rives paper mentioned on a previous post. The paint picks up nicely as noted on the highlight on the nose and area above the lip. It is also nice for interesting effects created by dropping water into the background.

Thanks to Jessica for the watercolor samples. I have always wanted to try Opera. 

Trail into the Woods

I had time to get out for a couple of hours today to work on my greens.

12" x 6" oil on canvas

Hats Exhibit

The Fort Madison Art Center is having a theme exhibit titled, "We Wear Hats". The only photo reference I had was of a band. The entry is due today. 

16" x 20" oil on Amersand panel

Started on a white ground, then painted burnt sienna and ultramarine, wiped off the light areas.

Clock Tower

The clock tower in Dubuque

I started with an oil gessoed panel applying pthalo blue and wiping off where I wanted the lights.

Close up detail of sky. I wanted the rough surface to show so I did not sand after applying the oil gesso.

Painted just the darks. 

6" x 12

Painted the lights adding white paint to the colors. 

6" x 12" oil on panel

Hannah painted using the same method..

Rough in.

6" x 6" oil on panel

Father and Son

I took several photos for this commission and even though this pose is not going to be the final, I wanted to paint it. It was the challenge of this perspective that did it. I needed to do a few practice sketches anyway before I start the final pose.

14" x 11" oil on canvas

Early Morning on the Walking Trail

Early morning plein air painting in Rodeo Park is a great way to start the day. A lot of friendly walkers, some with dogs, one on the phone and some talking and getting their exercise with an encouraging friend. 

14 x 11 oil on panel

Watercolor on print paper

I bought 10 sheets of Arches Velin BFK Rives paper not knowing how it would work with watercolor. The label said "Art Publishing" with uses listed as lithography, screen printing, colotype, intaglio, relief engraving, letterpress, linocut, blind embossing and gold tooling but nothing about watercolor. The price was right for experimenting. 

The surface was soft lending itself to gradient effects. The soft surface also worked well when scrubbing my brush into the paper pushing the paint out of the way. This worked to give the clouds the dark edges. The azure blue paint is Holbein "Irodori" Antique watercolor(another bargain) containing pigment PB15 pthalo blue and PW6 titanium white, which is opaque. I often use this when I get carried away with the ultramarine in the sky.