Night Painting

A while back I posted that I painted a few night paintings. This is one of those paintings. This one wasn't my personal favorite but I like it a lot. There are a lot more night paintings on the way and I'm super excited about these upcoming ones. These paintings border on abstract and realism. That is one of my favorite properties of a painting. If the painting is noticeable at a glance but then you have to take multiple glances just to make sure it really gets my attention. There is something about the mystery and mood of a painting of that nature that keeps me coming back.

A windy day

Today was a plein air day that kept me on my toes the entire time. I painted with Pam Newell this morning and then tried to paint on my own this afternoon. It started out nice with some sun and a few clouds but then the wind came bringing the rain with it. This is the first painting from the morning. It's 10"x20" which is on the large side for my pastels. This painting took a little over an hour to complete once I had set up and gotten everything going. Working larger and quicker is loosening up my style and hopefully putting me in a place I'm comfortable with style-wise. This painting felt a lot like a painting I did in Brookville that I liked a lot. I'm going to let this one set for a bit to see how I like it later.

Tonight after everyone else had gone to bed I began framing. Now I'm the proud owner of 4 completely finished paintings. The two oils that I framed are two of my favorite paintings that I've done so far. I think it is a good thing that my newest paintings are typically my favorites. It keeps me from getting attached to them and makes it much easier to let them go after framing new ones. The next item on the list for tonight is to write up an autobiography and resume to send off to some people that just became owners of my work. That is the kind of leg work that I'm thrilled to have.

Salvaging

This painting was done at the workshop this past weekend and it started life as a 16x20 and ended up a mere 12x12. The focus was to work large, quickly and deliberately. When all was said and done I was disgusted with the painting because I had messed up on the perspective of the bucket. I had chalked this one up to experience and was going to toss it but then I got to looking at it more. I began to realize that it was salvageable. Simply cropping the painting made me like it for the first time since the initial brush strokes. Sitting on paintings for a while gives them a second chance and some times that's all they need.

Tacit Knowledge

This past weekend I was at my first workshop and it was awesome. Wyatt Legrand was at Waycross and I was there. The workshop was in oil but the painting at top is a pastel. I think I learned a lot but it is hard to put in words hence the title. The workshop wasn't structured as a formal course normally is. It was at your own pace and was tailored towards the individuals. This fit me great and worked out very well. It is hard for me to put into words what I learned but if I was to try I would talk about colors, confidence and quickness. The confidence thing was mainly directed at painting larger and quicker. For anyone wanting to take an oil workshop in Indiana I would say jump at a Wyatt LeGrand workshop for all the reasons I stated above and watch him paint. It doesn't matter who the person is, if you watch them paint you are going to learn something. Hand movement is a big thing to watch when you are there at a demo. I'm not sure what other people are looking at or listening to but always watch the instructors hands. 

Anyway the painting above is what I did in 20 minutes tonight. This is the first time I have picked up pastel in two weeks. It felt good getting things going with the medium. After spending time away from pastel it makes me see it in a slightly different light.

Mileage on the tires

 Today was a fun day of plein air. The weather was perfect, the company was great and I didn't even want to throw any of my paintings away today. I painted with Thom Robinson, Pam Newell and Donna Shortt today. We started at Adrians orchard and after that Thom had to leave. The rest of us went out to whiteland to paint at another artist's house. After all was said and done I had five paintings that didn't turn out awful after getting them out of my carriers upon returning home. The top painting is the first that was completed. There is a yellow trailer with a tire in it, sitting by the parking lot of the orchard that caught my attention. I like the abstract shapes and patterns created when you zoom in on old machinary. The bottom painting was the last done today. After everyone else had gone I was there looking for one more painting before heading out myself. There was an old worn out trail leading back to a group of large trees. Today was fun and got me excited for this weekend. I might not be able to post anything the next couple of days but when I do get something up it will be worth the wait.

Busy Days

Last night I was celebrating Halloween with my family at my aunt and uncles. After we went trick or treating with my daughter we set up talking until we were tired. I had planned on doing some paintings after the trick or treating but things didn't work out that way. So this morning after eating breakfast and getting everything ready to leave I did this quick painting of a tree outside their backdoor. This was the first watercolor I have done in two months and I wasn't sure if I even remembered how to do it. I kept this color palette simple. After working with oils, mixing the watercolors seems much more easy. This was done fairly quickly and I think keeping this little watercolor journal when pastels or oils is out of the question would be a good idea. After getting home I took some photos of the new paintings outside and am currently toneing some oil panels. With any speed I can get another watercolor done before my daughter wakes up.

To top of a good weekend

This weekend there was a family get together at my parents house. Also at this time they are harvesting corn so I wanted to get some paintings of that process. On Friday night we arrived around 8 so the sun had already gone down. That made getting a painting of combining or loading out of the question. Thankfully the grain bins that they unload at are lit up well. I started painting one of the trucks unloading but didn't get it finished before they took off. It was already late and that was the last load of the night. So I had to choose some other stuff in the barnyard to paint. After a couple of hours I had two really good paintings that I really enjoy. Those are my first night time oil paintings and it was a lot of fun. It did get down right cold that night. At 1:30 I decided to call it quits when my feet were numb. By that time a good layer of frost had accumulated on all my stuff which made it hard to get everything in the car. My hands were deep red and I thought it was because of the paint but it was the cold. Touching that metal tripod with that frost on it hurt. Surprisingly working in solitude when its dark and having loud ambient noise from the grain bin driers put me in a meditative trance. Hours flew by and it felt like minutes. There was hardly any thinking and all decisions seemed to be innate reactions. It was exciting as the first time I painted in plein air and easily as addictive if not more so. Night painting is a new muse and many more paintings will be up soon.

Today on the way home my family swung by brown county to take in the fall colors before they fully disappeared. Sadly the leafs have all but gone from all but the last trees that shed late. There is also a show running in the brown county art gallery that I had put two paintings in. Usually you receive an email letting you know some kind of information about the show but I am still yet to receive anything. So we swung by the gallery and had a look. I took home best of show and that is the photo at top. I'm very excited about getting that award. There are a lot of great paintings in that building and to win anything there is awesome. Weirdly enough the painting that won was not the one that I personally like the best of the two. Thank goodness I didn't just take the one I liked or I might not have won anything. After thinking about the couple of shows I have won in, the painting that won has never been my personal favorite. I'm beginning to think I have an odd taste in art. I'm not sure if that should be taken into consideration when entering shows or if I should continue to put in my own favorites. It is something to think about but staying true to what I see as the best is most likely the path I will take.