Sometimes You Get Lucky

I had gone up to Washington Crossing State Park to do a little fishing and or some painting. As it turned out they were cutting the grass on the grounds and the parking lot close to the river entrance was filled with equipment and trailers so I headed to another part of the park to paint.

It was a nice sunny day so it was a chance to practice painting tree groupings with their light and dark patterns and the shadows they throw on the ground. I got a quarter of the way thru when a woman and her dog settled down for lunch, I thought what a great chance to paint a figure into the landscape.

I used a few strokes for the major shapes that made the woman look like she was sitting there. The dog kept moving so I waited for him to stop for a second and laid him in the best I could.

8" x 10"  oil on canvas panel

The woman and her dog finished and left and I put some final touches to the painting.
What a great experience and a great afternoon.

8 x 10 oil on a handmade canvas panel.

If I had gone fishing first this painting would not have happened, sometimes you get lucky.

DPW challenge painting, " Light and Shadow

This weeks Daily Paintworks  painting challenge is Light and Shadow.
This scene was from an early morning walk through Neshaminy State Park this spring.
I was attracted to the long shadows the tree line was throwing on the field.

Making the best of it.

Last week I had gone to the park at sunrise to paint a particular scene, a scene I had painted before at sunset but I was not happy with the results.

When I got there the clouds had started moving in towards the sun and I knew I wasn't going to have the light I wanted. At sunrise the group of trees to the left get a blast of sunlight creating a nice contrast with the trees in the background. That wasn't going to happen today so I grabbed my camera and started taking photos to the right of me looking into the sun.

What interested me was the reflection of the sun in the water.
About a minute later the sun was swallowed up by the clouds and there would be no more sun that morning.

The Daily Paintworks challenge this week is painting water so I used the photo to help create my entry.

Sunrise Reflections,   6 x 6 oil on canvas on panel.
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/challenge/the-water-challenge/452