Capturing Some Late Fall Color

I had some time to kill in the morning so I grabbed my plein air bag and headed out to one of the nearby parks to see if I could catch some leftover color still on the trees.

After driving around a bit I settled on a stand of trees with a good light and shadow pattern to help add some depth to the scene. I spent an hour capturing the light before it changed.

Late Fall Color,  8x10 oil on canvas panel.

Early Morning Sketch

 I didn't have to travel far for this sketch.The rising sun backlighting the leaves on the trees was the motivation for today.
When I saw the light taking shape I set up my small cigar box easel by the window to capture the scene.

I used acrylics on an 8x10 canvas panel. I was able to block in all the shapes and the general lighting conditions before the light had changed. 

Working with Acrylics Outside

Bird Feeder 8x10 acrylic

I painted this at the end of the day about a half hour before sunset. I took advantage of the acrylics fast drying time.  I worked from background to foreground blocking in shapes, so by the time I finished blocking in the bird feeder the background was already dry and I was able to adjust the values and modeling of each shape without worrying about lifting the first layer of  paint.
Then I'll compare shapes sitting next to each other and keep adjusting back and forth until it reads the way you want it too.


I had installed a piece of glass in the bottom of the paint box for oil paints, but it  also works great for acrylics too. I keep a small spray bottle with water and mist the acrylics as they start to dry. And when the leftover mixed paint dries I use a scraper that lifts the paint in a matter of seconds, and you have a clean mixing area again.
A jar of water hangs on the outside of the box keeping it free of the mixing area.

I try to keep the setup as simple as possible so there is less to carry, and if you make it easy on yourself you will more inclined to go out and paint.

Settled In and Ready to Paint.

We spent the last few months looking for, buying, and moving into our house. All of my painting equipment was packed away except for one plein air bag so when I found some time I could
paint a little.

We have good views of the sky everywhere you turn,  so I have been practicing painting cloud patterns at sunrise and sunset.
Here are a few paintings I managed after a 3 month layoff.

My neighbors shed 5x7

Late Evening plein air

Two 5x7's oil

Painted these last night at sunset. I wanted to find a spot looking across the lake showcasing the last rays of sunlight. All I had to do was turn to the left to paint the  moon scene.

Acrylic Nocturne

Waiting for Daybreak  8x10, acrylic

Our boat in the driveway lit by the moon. I like to go out and observe the lighting effects from the moon. Good practice for painting nocturnes.
I try to keep the values close together but still readable.

After Dinner Relaxation

My wife Maria and I like going out after dinner when we have time, either going fishing, spotting wildlife or walking to stay fit. And at the end of our activity for the night we enjoy watching the sky go through its light show as the sun drops below the horizon.

On this night we were fishing at a local park and right before sunset Maria had caught a nice bass measuring 18.5 inches.

 
 A few minutes later we were treated to a nice sunset. I snapped some photos and
two days later completed a painting of the sunset we saw that night.

Sunset on the Lake  8x10 acrylic on canvas

Early Morning Surprise

I was making the coffee this morning looked out the window and saw a fox getting a drink out of the water bowl for the birds. He just sat  there looking around and then turned and trotted off, we lost track of him after that.

 A nice way to start the morning.

I finished up on a fly fishing painting recently, a scene from an upstate Pa trout stream. My brother Tom poised to catch a trout from a mountain stream.

Sunrise walk,

Sunrise Walk, 11x14 oil on cradled wood panel

This painting is based on the sky study I did on March 11th.
I wanted to portray a peaceful feeling that shows the few minutes of dramatic color right before the sun is all the way up and everything is brightened.
As you can see I toned down the sky from the study to help create the peaceful feeling I was going for.
I painted a woman walking her dog for the human interest side to the story. It also gave me a chance to practice painting reflections.

Fly Fishing Art,

Trout Stream, Late Afternoon, 12x16 oil         (SOLD)

This painting is finally finished, it took two years of working on it, putting it away for a while then bringing it out again and seeing things that needed changing, now I'm happy with it.

Early morning practice

I painted this at sunrise before heading in to work at 7:00. I'm fortunate, this park is only 5 minutes from work so getting some early morning practice in is easy. On this morning I had 25 minutes to get something down, sunrise was at 6:21.  The night before I saw we were going to have clouds in the sky at sunrise so I wanted to be there to try to capture the drama in the sky. When I got home from work I cleaned up the painting.

Sunrise Falls Twp. Park, 6"x8"  oil

I'm going to try a bigger painting using this as a guide but I was thinking of a larger area of subdued sky reflection in the water and maybe put in a figure walking their dog along the shoreline.

Recent snow paintings

A Stand of Pines,  8x10, oil on canvas

I pass these pine trees on my way to the park, the road they are on has no area to pull over so I had to get a shot on my phone as I passed by on the way home. I was attracted to the contrast of the bright clouds and snow against the darks of the pine trees. The hard part was trying to make the pines look like a group without overdoing it.

Farmhouse and Fields 6"x8" acrylic on wood panel

I like the peaceful feeling of this painting, a subdued winter sunset and a warm fire in the fireplace.

Forest Landscape,painting the sounds of nature

8x10 oil on a RayMar linen panel

This is the stream that runs through the state park we stay at in the fall in upstate Pa.
We spend the day slowly walking along the stream trying not to alert the trout of our presence,
these are wild fish that hide at the slightest sign of danger.
You take in all the sounds of the forest, from woodpeckers hammering away to grouse drumming and even one year we rescued an injured hawk that couldn't fly. We found a wildlife rehibilitator to make sure the hawk was in good hands.

Our reward for the day are the brightly colored jewels we catch and release back into the stream.

The Blizzard of 2016

I painted this on the night of the blizzard looking out the window. My thoughts were on how much snow we were going to have to clear in the next two days then I noticed the neighbors driveway light
 glowing in the snow. It made me forget about shoveling for a while.

Night Light  5"x7" oil on cradled wood panel

Fly Fishing Art, A Good Run, 12x16

Fly Fishing Art, A Good Run, 12x16, oil on RayMar canvas panel  ( SOLD)

I repainted this recently after looking at it and seeing things that I didn't see before. It helps putting the painting away for a while and when you take it out again the areas that need help stand out.
The composition of the painting pretty much stayed the same but I repainted it using a limited palette.
I wanted to experiment this year using six primary colors and white.

Cad Yellow Lt.
Cad.Yellow Medium
Cad Red Light
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Ultramarine Blue
Cerulean Blue
Titanium White

Thats me in the water, that section of stream has been good to us over the years.