Baltimore Inner Harbor Trip , Sketches

Maria and I spent the weekend at Baltimore's Inner harbor to celebrate her birthday. We had a great time at the National Aquarium and I came away with some reference material for future paintings.

The tough part was trying to get workable pictures in a dimly lit crowed area.I tried getting still shots but the pictures weren't coming out too good even though I had the iso up to 400 trying to compensate for the low light in the viewing areas.
 I switched to the movie setting on the camera and recorded  people and  the brightly lit tank setting.

I did this 5x7 acrylic sketch to try to get a feel for the lighting conditions inside, but more important is capturing the excitement in the people as they view the exhibits.

The painting below is in the block in stage where I try to position the people and get the lighting in the tank close to where I want it.

Lake Reflections

Evening at the Lake  8x10  acrylic


This painting is from Saturday evening at the lake.  It was painted from photos I shot as the sun was going down.
I have been enjoying painting these summer skies this year.

Some evenings Maria and I will go to the park after dinner and sit and enjoy watching the activity at the lake as the sun sets. When the sun is gone we get in the car and search for the deer within the park.
We got lucky Saturday night and saw some giant bucks.

We were getting ready to leave the park when these bucks crossed in front of us. I made a u turn and staked out a spot I thought they would be headed.

Sorry about the quality of the videos, it was a lot darker than what the video shows. The video actually lightened the scene. But you can get an idea of the size of the racks on these deer.

Back Yard car wash

Back Yard Car Wash  11x14 acrylic

Another attempt at figure painting.

 This was painted from photos I took while Maria was washing her car.
I was trying for something that looked natural and not so much posed.

I kept her rock garden and the fence lower in value to help separate her from the background.

Aceo still life

 Aceo  Art Card   2.5"x3.5" Peanut Butter Cup

A miniature painting for a miniature candy. The last time I was in the grocery store I picked up a few of these in the bulk candy section.  When I'm in the store I always skim the shelves looking for something interesting to paint, things that might have different textures or color.
I wanted to try to capture the reflective quality of the wrapping paper against the richness of the chocolate.
And Maria always wonders why I forget some of the groceries....... just kidding.

Speaking of Maria, I've been working on a painting of her in the back yard washing her car.  It gives me a chance to get some practice in with my figurative work.

Core Creek Park at Dusk

                                 Dusk at Core Creek Park  12x16 oil


This painting is about the quiet mood at dusk. This night Maria and I were here fishing when she made mention of the pink tinged clouds. I kept the lake surface calm echoing the quiet feeling of the night.

Evening plein air sketches.

I went to the park after dinner to do some sketching.  I wanted to see this one part of the lake where Maria and I were fishing two weeks ago. We were there at the right time because we saw some interesting lighting conditions which I captured with my camera.  And tonight I just wanted to visit and paint it on site even though the lighting was different tonight.
These are the sketches from tonight.

 5x7 oil sketch

2.5"x 3.5" Aceo card

I was packing up when I looked up and saw the sky and decided to try one more. I used a Aceo card and was finished in 10 minutes. You can see the paint smeared  on the way home. But I have the important facts of the scene down.

ACEO stands for Art Cards Editions Originals, the only requirement is they have to be 2.5"x 3.5", the size of baseball cards. They are also called Trading cards.

Thanks for looking.
Pat

Clouds at Sunset

Clouds at Sunset  8x10 acrylic on canvas panel

The night I came up here the spot I wanted to paint at had a full parking lot so I knew I was not going to have the solitude I needed at this time of evening when the light moves so quick and you need all your concentration on the scene in front of you.
This  spot was my second choice and when I saw the clouds in back of the trees I knew this was a good possibility.

This is the 12x16 panel I have divided into 4 sections. It makes it convenient that I only have one panel to carry which fits into slots in the back of my paintbox. The sketch on the right was done at the very end of the night as the sun was disappearing out of the sky and was used for the previous painting.

Evening Light

This was painted from a plein air sketch I did last week  after dinner.  I completed one sketch half hour earlier and was getting ready to leave when I saw this sky and pulled around to my familiar spot and finished just as the light left.

This is an 8x10 painted with acrylics.