Our trip from upstate Pa

We had a good week even with the overcast weather all week except for Friday. We lucked out and had no rain except for Monday night. We caught fish at every stream we fished so that was good.

We visited our old campsite when we arrived.

There was still some fall color left along the streams.

The colors of the trout matched the colors of the landscape.

I did some painting in the mornings before we headed out to the streams.
This is a sketch from a small section of a Kousa dogwood tree with its spiked red fruits.

A quick sketch of the maple tree out back.

The one night there was a lull in the action spotting wildlife so I grabbed a knife block and set up a still life.

This painting I worked on over a couple of nights, it was from a painting trip with my brother Chris at a local park.

I couldn't forget about our nightly visitors.

Sketching at Tyler State Park

Here are some sketches done on a early May Sunday morning at Tyler State Park. The weather for that Sunday was supposed to be sunny in the morning but when I was loading the car the skies were solid grey overcast.
My plan was to paint the fields and groups of trees with sunlight illuminating the upright trees trying to catch the early morning light.

When I walked into the one field with a horse path I saw a field of yellow and decided to sketch this bit of color on a drab morning. I am currently working on a 12x16 painting of this scene using this sketch as reference.

After I finished this I wanted to take a look at a farmhouse a couple of fields over. On the way I stopped to watch  a baby Grey Catbird catching insects on the path. It was amusing watching him fly a little, look and grab a morsel.

When I got to the farmhouse the skies were starting to brighten up a little so I set up to paint.

                                         (SOLD)

Both sketches are 5x7

On my way back who do I run into but the Catbird sleeping right in the middle of the path.

                                                                                                

I gently picked him up and put him under some bushes out of harms way because the path is used by bike riders, joggers, and people walking who might not see him.

It turned out to be a good morning after all.

Autumn Landscape Core Creek Park 12x16 acrylic

I finished this painting this weekend that was sitting around for about a year unfinished.
As you can see in the entry in my sketch book I stopped off at the park after work in November 2010.
The light was just right but all I had was my sketch book because I had not planned on going to the park. On afternoons when the light is right sometimes I'll make a small detour to the park to look around.
I'm getting better at attending to unfinished paintings. The painting from the last post was one too.

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.

Moonlit Nocturne

This was painted from sketches done from one of our trips upstate. What interested me was the cloud formations passing in front of the moon. The original scene was a wet gravel road leading into the park. The damp road had a barely visible reflection of the moon on it. I switched a small stream (which I have an addiction to)  for the road so the reflection would read better.

We have no cell phone service up there but there is a pay phone at the entrance to the park so we arrange with our wives to call at a certain time at night so we can talk about each others day and make sure everything is ok at home.  While I was waiting for my turn at the phone it gave me time to look around and sketch this scene.

My brother and I have been going up there for the last twenty four years and never tire of this place. And as an artist there is always something new to catch my interest because nothing is ever the same. A brief rain shower before we came down to the phone provided a scene that stimulated my senses.

Fading Light

A quick sketch Sunday afternoon capturing the fadng light on the neighbors fence and yard. I like the shadow thrown by the top of our house on the fence. I happened to be looking out the window to see if any birds were at the feeders when I saw the sun on the fence. I grabbed a 5"x7" panel that had a sketch on it already and painted over it.
Constant pratice keeps you sharp and helps build your knowledge of light and how it affects the landscape.
I do alot of these sketches, the good ones you keep for reference, the bad ones you paint over.

Thanks for looking,
Pat

Paintings from the flyfishing trip

This leaf came from the maple tree outside the cabin. This year only a few leaves turned while we were there, the tree was still mostly green. Half the leaf was bright red the other half was starting to turn brown.

This is the maple tree this year.

I did this painting at night back at the cabin from the study I did at the stream.

This is the study done streamside, I wanted to capture the shaft of sunlight on the tree and its reflection in the stream. While I was doing this Tom caught three brook trout further upstream.

This shows me with my paintbox on a blowdown and the scene I painted.

I painted this at the cabin at night from the pencil sketch  I did that day. It helps doing these color studies as soon as possible while the scene is still fresh in your mind.

This is the pencil sketch I did standing in the stream watching Tom.

This is the view standing on the porch looking out thru the stand of pines to the mountains in the back. Every morning the fog is here at dawn, along with the 39 degree temps too.

This was painted at dawn another day with a heavier fog trying to hide the mountains in the back.

These sketches done on location will help me when its time to do studio paintings, I will have all the information needed concerning color, values,and mood. And you end up learning a little more every time you go out.

As a side note- eariler in the year my camera fell out of my vest and into the stream rendering it useless. The second camera I brought developed problems a week before the trip, it keeps shorting out the new batteries after taking 2 pictures, so I was cameraless this trip. When I got home there was a package there for me.
How suprised I was to find a camera just like my original one that took a swim in the stream. My wife had ordered one the day I left on our trip. She's the greatest.