forest path

This is one of my favorite paintings and the image that I used as a basis for the previous painting.  This was actually painted a few years ago and hangs in my reading room.  It included a technique I had never used before which was to lay down certain colors and then rub some of the areas lightly with the end of a wax candle.  The waxed areas then resist colors that are layered on top, preserving the underlying colors.  This created the highlights and rough areas on some of the tree bark and on the path.

content with less than perfection

With more than a week off from work, I was finally able to pull out that canvas I bought months ago and work on the painting in my head.  Step-by-step, I worked and I had determined beforehand that I would decide to be content with less than perfection.  It was an attempt and I would learn from it and I would hang it up in my home and be content with it...and on another day, I would make another attempt and apply what I learned and enjoy that result as well.

This is the largest piece I've done in a long time...another way I wanted to stretch myself.  It is a 24 x 36 inch canvas.  It's also in acrylics which I haven't worked in for years.

surprises

Often the most pleasing outcomes are surprises.  This small painting was the result of some basic painting technique exercises out of a watercolor painting instruction book.  The purpose was to practice with washes and painting wet-on-wet and though I practiced several times, this one turned out particularly nicely and I've had it hanging in my house in various places for a few years.  I love the simplicity of it and the placement and composition.  It also illustrates the fact that every single painting is unique even if you're copying another's work for the purpose of learning and that often the most pleasing results come as a complete surprise, even to the artist.

autumn

Fall has inspired me again. The colors and shadows, the light playing off of shifting leaves, the crisp sky. I've also been wanting to capture a sense of quietness and solitude with long, horizontal panoramas. So I've used the colors of autumn, a combination of wet-on-wet and dry brush details, and cropped the painting with a long and narrow, horizontal mat. The painting itself is 4x10 inches.

Birch Grove

I actually painted this several months ago but hadn't posted it for some reason. I was experimenting with backlighting so I wanted to paint a grove of trees lit from behind. A friend pointed out to me later the "path" through the trees, although this was unintentional and just happened.

trees

I've been practicing painting trees...trees in the fall, trees in the spring, trees full and green in the summertime.