Refining the Image

I worked on the clouds, started giving them some form. I painted the treeline in the back a cool blueish green to make it recede into the distance, and refined the treeline in front of it with warmer and a little more intense greens. I started adding the reflections in the water on the opposite bank. The other fisherman I wiped out and will reposition him later. I made sure I maintained the original idea of a shaft of light spotlighting the fisherman and lighting the treeline in back of them. Next I will attack the water and see if I can make it look like it has current and eddies and a sense of movement to it. What I should do is go back up there and study the water, make some sketches and write down what I see. Unfortunely it is pouring out AGAIN so this evening is out,and tommorow we are going up the Poconos fishing. So Sunday evening would be the next possible time to get back up there and they are calling for rain then too.

Well, we will see.

Enjoy your weekend!

The Block In

I have blocked in the four major shapes with thinned paint. Using thinned paint makes it easy in case you have to make adjustments to any of the shapes, its just a matter of wiping the area with a rag and readjust your shape. Now I'll start refining the different shades of greens in the trees, and try to build some volume in the clouds.

Sketching in the Composition

I thin some paint and indicate the major areas of the of the scene. As you can see I put in the clouds, knowing they are the lightest value in the painting. The horizonal line running a quarter of the way up from the bottom is the far bank, and the blank area right above that is the tree line. The two marks are the fishermen, and the rocky point with the vegetation. I've kept everything simple, sky, background trees, river, rocky point and fisherman.

Fishing the Delaware River

Saturday evening my two brothers and I went up to the Delaware River to do a little fishing. We were wet wading so I didnt bother bringing my camera (in case I fell in and ruined it). I had walked upriver a little and as the sun was going down behind me a shaft of light lit up the area my brothers were fishing in . Not having my camera I had to memorize the scene , I took note of what objects were the lightest, medium, darkest values. I went thru the same mental excersize I go thru when I'm painting. When I got home I did this 5"x7" sketch of what I remembered,which is only the important parts that make up the scene.

In the upcoming posts I'm going to show the progression of the painting as I go thru the steps from sketching the composition to the finished painting.

Curious

This is a pastel painting I did of a chipmunk. I tried to capture that curious nature they have.

Morning at Valley Forge

Morning at Valley Forge 5"x7" oil

This morning I went to Valley Forge Park, got there as the sun was coming up. Treated to a misty sunrise(something you never see staying in bed). There were deer in pratically every field you passed. Saw three foxes, one had a rabbit in his mouth as he ran across the road in front of me, I wasn't fast enough with the camera. Finally settled on a scene to paint before the sun got too high. The 5"x7" and 6"x8" panels are just the right size for early morning painting when the sun is moving fast and you are trying to capture the light before it changes too much.

I did another painting of Valley Creek at the white covered bridge but it didnt come out too good, I picked a subject with way too much detail, so I did my best to capture the lighting conditions without any detail, took reference photos for the details and I'll use the sketch for my color. In a later post I'll show the sketch and the finished painting.

I haven't posted since July 1st because I have a few paintings in different stages of development, and we have been doing more fishing this year, which is a good thing.

Enjoy your day!

Tobyhanna Creek

Tobyhanna Creek 8x10 acrylic $118.50

We fished this stream off and on for the last thirty years or so. Actually this is one of the first streams we visited when we started flyfishing. Back in the 80's we saw a guy fighting a monsterous brown trout on saltwater gear,(in the bait section) he was trying to horse him in and he ended up breaking him off. I wanted so bad to tell him to ease up on him but just watched as we heard the loud snap of his line, he reeled in the rest of his line and silently walked off. We looked for that trout each time we went there but never saw him again. Kistler Run empties into the Tobyhanna down stream around the bend, you can usually count on the brook trout to provide a little action before heading back to the car. Alot of good memories there.