Aspens – the meadow

The eye needed somewhere  to go, a path to follow, so I added a meadow on the right- in my mind’s eye like many meadows I have seen that beckon you to follow.  Now I’m trying to make the meadow recede to show its distance.  I added the meadow at the last class but the paint in that area was too wet and needed to set up a bit more before I could lay other colors in there.

Oils take time to set up….which can be helpful- you can mix right on the canvas-  or challenging when a distinct rendering is wanted and can’t be had. As my skill improves I expect my abilities to work with wet paint will improve as well.  So, I now wait for the paint to set up.

Waiting isn’t entirely without merit.  It has its own benefits. There is a time to wait and a time to paint. Wisdom is knowing when. There’s a benefit to be gained from waiting that cannot be delivered by this  microwave-ready-to-eat-out-of-the-box-pre-packaged world. 

Update on 11-08 with meadow added to the right and working to get background to recede.

Left side of Aspens

Caption

On the left I’m developing the depth using different colors to set trees farther back into the woods the farther they are from the foreground.  So far I was happy with how it came out…but standing back taking it all in to see if it’s giving the right feel to the rest of it.

Since this photo I dabbed spots of brighter yellow highlights on the upper right edges of the aspen, and among the trees in the middle where the pines open up and you can see the golden yellow breaking through.

Full Size Format Pic

Progress on Aspens

Not finished with developing this section but I brought the trunkc of the aspens down into the grass and was pleased with how it created the depth I was looking for.

3 Aspens Depth

Aspens Progress #2

Here’s the progress after Monday’s art class. To make more interesting I am adding some depth o the right, building ni a meadow.

Aspens Taking Shape

Aspens and woods unfolding

Aspens Progress

Another step forwards. Filling in sky and grasses. Developed the grasses at bottom of picture and toyed with bright grasses in foreground with the band of dark shadow between that and the tree line. Experimented with tree trunk and put in a few leaves over the fresh blue sky, which I believe I will it let dry before I overpaint it.

Progress on Aspens on Sept 9, 2009

Elvis

The completed Elvis won an honorable mention at our local art show.  It is an oil on canvas of a Black Baldy- a type of beef cattle which is a cross between a Black angus and a Hereford.  My Grandfather raised these for many years.  The painting is based on a photo I took one summer on his ranch in Montana many years ago. 

Elvis

Poppy field progress

Here’s the latest on the Poppy Field.  At last art session I figured it was pretty much done but I wanted to look at it for awhile and see if I liked the perspective. Might need to smooth out the middle area more, maybe build more identifiable image of poppy in foreground.  Thinking about it at this point.

Poppy Field in progress

Poppy Field

 

Poppy Field Aug 24

Here is the Poppy Field piece with some progress from last night’s art class. I’m working on the blending to create perspective. Blended the sky in more to give it a smoother feel and to make it recede. Added several larger patches of color to simulate the poppys in the foreground. And then added progressively smaller patches of yellow/orange going back into the painting to give the poppy field some depth. Still working on the mid-range. Outlined the contour of the hills, set the contrast better, and played around with some highlights to show light source coming from left- lighter colors on left face of hills, aquamarine blue tinted on right face to show shadows. I’ve noticed it’s important to properly spell “poppy” so it doesn’t come out as “poopy.” We don’t want poopy poppys now do we?