Sunday Morning at Valley Forge Park

When we arrived at the park we were greeted by the full moon. 

     When it started to get light out I started a sketch of the moon and the maple tree to the right. I used the light from inside the truck to see by.

 This is the sketch, I finished the rest of it at home. I wanted to capture the lighting conditions at the time when it just starts to get light out. I ran out of time because the light changes faster than I can paint.

 The sun started to peek over the horizon.

 The tree I was painting with a little sun on it.

 We got in the truck and and started looking for scenes to photograph, and came upon this guy, he was curious.

 He did a nice job of posing for us.

 Here was a photographer walking away with a big buck walking behind him

 A spot of  color along one of the trails.

 My brother Phil photographing some scenery.

Spent three hours at the park and captured some good images, not a bad way to start the morning.

Sketching Trip to Valley Forge National Park

My brother Chris and I went to Valley Forge Park Saturday morning to do a little sketching.

This would be his first time working with oil paints so it would be a relaxing session learning how they can be handled.

We were hoping for the early morning sunlight but it never showed except for a minute it peeked out while I was doing a demo for Chris (top picture).

We did a little searching around the park looking for a spot that would provide a range of values (lights and darks) for his sketch. On an overcast day the values are closer together so you have to look a little harder to see the differences in value and color shifts.

The second picture shows Chris working on the scene in front of him. And the third picture is his completed sketch,which turned out pretty good for his first attempt at painting on location.

I wanted him to get used to seeing values when looking at scenes to paint.

We took a drive to Marsh Creek State Park to look around and Chris did a sketch of a point of land sticking out in the lake.

Chris's son Eric couldn't make it today because we started out at 5:00am, but he has been going with us on our sketching trips. Eric shows alot of enthusiasm for art and a desire to learn everything he can about painting, not bad for an 8 year old!

Valley Forge 5x7 oil

Went to Valley Forge Park yesterday to enjoy the nice weather. Took the paints with me in case a scene presented itself to me. I figured there would still be some reminants of snow left behind so I wanted to include that in the picture. I wanted you to get a feeling of spring edging in and winter melting away. I found a parking spot next to this cannon overlooking these fields.

I have been wanting to paint these cannons for a while now, so this is my first attempt. It felt good to be painting outside again.

Setting Moon, Valley Forge Park

Setting Moon, Valley Forge Park 5"x7" oil ( SOLD )

On my last visit to the park I got there right as it was starting to get light out, and when I came around the one turn there was the full moon bright as it could be.

The Dam at Valley Creek

The Dam at Valley Creek 8x10 oil

Went up to Valley Forge Park at dawn this morning. If you like seeing deer this is the place to be,most of the fields have deer feeding in them. I like the orange sunlight that lights up the landscape this early in the morning. After getting my fix of looking at the wildlife and landscapes, I went down to Valley Creek to do a painting of the dam. The sun was just starting to reach this area when I started the painting.

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!