Summer in the Horse Pasture

Composed using several photos. 

16" x 8" oil on panel

Rough in

Photo reference. I used Photoshop and cut out horses from photo references. I resized and moved them around until I was happy with the compostion.

Into the Woods

Working from several photo references to figure out where to place the horses.

12" x 12" oil on panel

Painting Fall

Upped the color on this one and added the road. 

12" x 9" oil on panel

recent plein air paintings

Plein air painting from the old skunk river bridge. This is the view of the new bridge. 

12" x 6" oil on panel

Bridge pylons from the old Farmington bridge.

10" x 8" oil on panel

Wilson Lake 

12" x 6" oil on panel

Appleberry Orchard

watercolor on 140 lb.paper

Two Three Four

Watercolor and Pigma ink pen. 

Bluffstrokes plein air

Dubuque had near flood levels with the river overflowing into several areas. 

11" x 14" oil on panel

River Valley Horses

One from my sketchbook. 

Eagle Point Park

Another painting from Bluffstrokes. The first painting I did was something that I was comfortable with.

9 x 12 oil on panel

vista off Balltown Road in Dubuque county Iowa

This was done during Bluffstrokes Plein air in Dubuque, Iowa. I was there last year and tried a vista from a ski resort, not a successful painting. Scenes like this are something I don't do enough of. Trying it during a competition is risky but it was a great opportunity given this view with changing leaf colors. There is a lot you can take home from a competition besides awards and sales. Painting from life is a how you learn about atmosphere and color. This was a great learning experience, plus I did sell the painting.

12 x 16 oil on panel

Herd of Three

I am feeling a little rusty on my watercolor painting. 

Worked out the compostition beforem trying to not loose their legs.

Multiples

The thing about hanging around with better artists is they push you to try things you are not comfortable with just to keep up. Scenes with multiple animals or people is one of those. 

8" x 5" sepia and india ink on paper

8" x 5" sepia on paper

process gif

click on and play. If I had enough time to try to figure out how to make it play without enlarging and hitting the play button.

More from Paint the Point

Mineral Point has it all, great architecture, beautiful far off vistas and great scenes like this.

16" x 12" oil on panel

Paint the Point

One of my paintings from Paint the Point in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Painting cattle plein air is a challenge. I would place one in a spot and follow it around to fill in the details. These models did take a break when the farmer came around with feed. I was relieved that they came back to this spot giving me time to get some more details. 

14" x 11" oil on panel

This was the original. When I got home I reversed the Longhorn and a few other changes. Now I just need to leave it alone.

Little Free Library

My 2 hour quick paint from Mineral Point Wisconsin's Paint the Point. This was painted on an off white watercolor ground. I spray it with clear acrylic after I am finished and frame it without glass. 

12" x 9" watercolor on panel.

Lessons Learned

I participated in a quick painting recently. The artists were told without notice a choice of two places and then they had to paint, frame, and have the art on the walls of the display in a total of an hour and a half. I have taken classes by some great teachers. Some students walk away from workshops expecting to leap into painting like the teacher. You may not feel like you benefited from the class til years later. This experience proved it. Along with years of subjecting my work to critiques, sometimes brutal; I learned a lot from the experience. I sat down and put this together, using lessons learned from those great teachers.

When I first set up, I started by centering my subject and realized this would not work and wiped it off. I noticed the triangle would lend itself to moving the sculpture to the right. Similar to a facial profile that faces toward the open space. By comparing the two versions, the triangle works leading to the sculpture.

Next is adding depth of color:

Using Photoshop I picked the green colors to show how it grays and moved toward blue to add depth. Also the brushstrokes went from short in the distance to wider in the foreground. Love a sunny day to use shadows to pull the eye toward the center of interest and add depth.

Repetition of Design:

This was an element that was drilled into me by one of those great teachers. It helps connect the center of interest with the environment. You can also see how the rectangular windows in the sculpture are repeated in the windows in the buildings behind it.

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