View Towards Carbon Canyon

8" x 5" watercolor on 4-ply plate bristol

(plein air sketch)

I love this view which is very close to my home in Yorba Linda, CA.  The weather was very quick to change as it was windy and partly cloudy.  I'm still trying to get the hang of the medium and in this case was surprised at how long it took for each layer to dry.  I've committed to paint in a transparent (traditional) fashion for a while to take advantage of the beautiful translucent quality of the medium.   This "waiting to dry" time was to my advantage as I was able to really just observe and mentally record the different light and shade patterns which were constantly changing before me.  It was a glorious day though I've been frustrated many times trying to paint in such weather.

Editing a photo for the purpose of painting. 

 and

How I approach the composition of a studio painting.

This is the original photo.  I've composed a this picture so there is a sense of balance.  The large mass on the right is balanced by the clutter on the left.  I am attracted to the soft flowing forms of nature contrasted by the rigid man-made forms.

I've begun to edit out some of the unnecessary passages using Photoshop.  Anything which I feel distracts from the basic composition I paint out.

I've edited even more of the clutter here and added some warm shapes into the foreground to break up the huge swatch of green.  Notice I'm not referring to "grass", "trees", "houses", at this point.  I find it helps to think in terms of masses, shape, value, color, pattern at this point.

I find it invaluable to have a black and white version of my composition to refer to while painting.  It's very easy to react to color while painting and forget that every color has an inherent value.  Here I can very easily see the value progression in the picture.

 

 

"Spring afternoon"  6"x8" oil on canvas panel

Even though this is a tiny painting - it is the same way I would approach a larger canvas.  With a larger canvas - I would have laid a grid over my reference and then a corresponding grid over my canvas in order to transfer the composition accurately.  I find that painting these small paintings allows a freedom of experimentation.  In this case I wanted to use more palette knife.

 

Pacific Grove - Thanksgiving week 2009

10" x 8" oil on linen panel

detail (1)

detail (2)
-So much to be thankful for...
I find painting helps me to more deeply
enjoy the beauty found in nature.