sketching

Sketching warm up. The deer in Thousand Hills State Park just stand there making it easy to take decent photos.

Sepia ink brush and watercolor

quick paintings

I was late setting this up, but managed to get some of the nice clouds yesterday. I used a no. 12 brush then a no. 4. This is a 6" x 6" study painted from an abandoned bridge. I great place to paint.

6" x 6" oil on panel

Another small study of the view from the west of the new bridge. 

7" x 5" oil on panel

plein air painting places

When I turned this painting in, the comment was, "Not many people know about this bridge". I am sure the locals know but I am not one of them. When going to a new location for a plein air painting event you can scope out the place on the internet. Start by doing a search on the area and Googling images. Pinterest is also a good place to find images. This one was found through:  https://bridgehunter.com/category/city/quincy-illinois/ 

I also use Google earth and using the street view drive through the area hoping to spot a nice scene.

10" x 8" watercolor on aquabord

Katy

A long overdue portrait commission. 

12" x 16" oil on baltic birch panel

horses

Painting horses in watercolor. I am trying out several types of paper, this is on soft press.

Painted on Arches which I found easier to work on.

Another one on the soft press.

One on hot pressed paper.

Watercolor plein air

More artwork on the Fabriano soft white watercolor paper. It has been a while since I painted in watercolor.

watercolor on board

I purchased a jar of Daniel Smith watercolor ground in titanium white and buff titanium. I brushed buff titanium on a  gessoed baltic birch panel then sanded it. The brush strokes still show on this one. Maybe putting another coat on will fix this. The ground does a good job of handling the paint, The main problem with this one is I applied the ground over a gessoed board which resisted the watercolor. White gouache mixed with a little ultramarine blue was used on the sky. The rest was transparent watercolor. I washed this off leaving faint images that can now be painted over with another coat of the watercolor ground.

Garden Tour 2018

This weekend was the annual Fort Madison Area Arts Association garden tour. I managed to paint two gardens, the first is the winery. They gave tours and a nice talk on making wine along with samples of various wines made at this vineyard. 

10" x 8" oil on panel

I tried painting a goat at the other site. It took some following the goats around to get a likeness. I have an upcoming plein air event at the Van Buren county fair. The fair should be easier since they will be in pens most of the time. I did take photos and along with this study I should be able to paint a better goat.

10" x 8" oil on panel

watercolor soft press

Sometimes when you get a bargain there is a reason it is a bargain. I bought this watercolor paper that was marked Fabriano extra white soft pressed 300 gsm. The 300gsm converts to approximately 140 lbs. I bought this at a warehouse sale and was pleasantly surprised. I expected it to be more of a hot pressed paper which is OK for the price. It seems more of a cross between a hot pressed and cold pressed surface as you can see from the photo. It makes a nice wet into wet affect. I am not a watercolor landscape painter but for a study this paper will work nicely.

Sunrise at Rodeo

Quick sunrise study. If I had brought a few more panels I could have painted different scenes because it changes so fast. 

8" x 6" oil on panel

Steelville plein air

Last week I participated in Steelville Missouri's plein air competition. This was painted at sunset on an 11" x 14" panel. The rules stated that it must be painted entirely plein air, so not touch ups later. Painting sunsets require planning by drawing in the shapes before. I could plan that the area on the left will remain dark, but the rest changes quickly. I think I should have gone to this location two days. The first day with a small study then, hopefully the next day the weather repeats itself for me to paint the larger image.

peony study

Small study painted plein air. 

4" x 6" oil on baltic birch panel

peonies

Painting the rich colors of some flowers is challenging. This is supposed to be a deep red. I may go back out and try again, this time getting over my fear of the dark.

10" x 8" oil on baltic birch

Forest scenes

I managed to get out this afternoon. Just shades of green with a bit of brown, This is a small 4" x 6" study. 

Another 4" x 6" study.

In the end I decided to do a different forest scene. 

9" x 12" oil on baltic birch

Water perspective

Working on painting water above and below. Figuring out how to transition to the bottom view. This was also done with water soluble oils. Still not getting the hang of them.

6" x 12" oil on baltic birch

Klondike Park Quarry

I paint this plein air but never submitted it because I did not get the foreground water finished. I had to cut it short to make it to the plein air painting event in the Daniel Boone home. Ended up with only an hour to paint there, Then on to a winery for another painting. 

14" x 11" oil on panel

I reworked this from the photo. I am going back and forth over this and I think I like the simpler plein air version better.

water soluble oils

I found a set of water soluble oils in the discount section. Getting my painting to look like the ones on the internet that resemble a watercolor is another matter. The color choices are limited and there are a lot of hues. I do like the ease of clean up. It may take me a while to learn how to get that watercolor look without loosing the dark values.

12" x 9" 

sketches

I just got a new fountain pen with a fine point. The colt in the front is drawn in medium point and the horse in the back is the fine point.

Both of these are in fine point

The top is fine point and the bottom is medium point. It does skew the results when the ink is different colors. 

Recent plein air paintings

Plein air painting in Sugar Creek Winery during Augusta Plein Air Art Festival.

11" x 14" oil on baltic birch

Plein air painting in Canton, Missouri during the River Bluffs plein air event. I intended to paint several horses grazing in the pasture, but this one came up to me and just stood there.

11" x 14" oil on baltic birch. 

Augusta Plein Air

Last week I participated in Augusta Plein Air Art Festival. I had a good time painting the nocturne while enjoying the company of some fun artists.

10" x 8" oil on baltic panel

This was my first painting during the event, a mute swan named Harry who lives at the Defiance Ridge Winery. This area is known for its many fine wineries that offer great vistas for the plein air artists. This one sold that day. 

12" x 9" oil on baltic panel

Klondike Park is located in an abandoned quarry outside of Augusta along the Katy Trail. This was my third attempt to capture the rocks after I wiped off the first two. 

11" x 14" oil on baltic panel