Annual flyfishing/painting trip

My brother and I head out Sunday morning for our annual flyfishing trip to northcentral Pa. We do alot of walking, climbing, and crawling along the streams during the coarse of a day,and I like taking my portable paintbox( wood cigar box) with me but by the end of the day it starts feeling pretty heavy so this year I wanted to try to lighten the load a little.  This portable setup is just for my stream  fishing, I also bring an easel and tripod when  back at the cabin.

To lighten the load I am going to leave the box at home.

I have different size pieces of canvas I precut and toned to get rid of the white of the canvas. These I will tape onto a 8x10 masonite panel which will be my easel now, I can prop it up against a tree or a rock or just hold it in my hand. I am also switching paints, going from oils to acrylics. With the fast drying acrylics I won't have to worry about smearing the painting while we are walking to the next spot. I just remove the dry painting from the masonite panel and tape on another canvas.

To help keep the acrylics workable I brought a bottle of Liquitex pallette wetting spray. I was actually looking for a spray bottle to put water in and found this.It is liquid medium. I'll use a small clear plastic pallette to put the paints on.
To wash the  brushes I have a small container of soapy water, a rag and sponge in a ziplock bag for cleanup.
              
A week of flyfishing and painting sounds pretty good to me. The weather forcast is not as promising, chance of rain each day except Monday.



Will return on Fri afternoon.

Here are some images from past trips.

Heavy Fog

My wife and I visited Marsh Creek State Park to do a little fishing. On the 45 minute drive there we  experienced heavy fog making it hard to see in front of you. When we arrived at the lake all you could see was fog. Finally at 10:30 the sun started to show, all you could make out was a white dot in the sky and underneath that was a bright reflection in the water from the sun. This is my impression from that morning.

Peeking Thru 6"x6" oil

Autumn Landscape Valley Forge National Park

This is a studio painting done from pictures taken at Valley Forge National Park.  Last fall my brother and I went there at dawn to photograph the wildlife and get reference material for future paintings.  Knowing the full moon was out that night I wanted to get there early to do a sketch of it, but I would have to use the light from the back of the truck so I could see what I was painting.

                         5x7 sketch

Neshaminy State Park ,plein air

My brother Chris (pictured above) and I got out this morning for a few hours of plein air painting.
We went to Neshaminy State Park  to paint the wild growing fields and the view of the Delaware river. We had a bright overcast light and every once in a while the sun would peek thru.
Its been a while since we got out so it felt good to be painting outdoors again.

On our way thru Wallmarts plant dept.we spotted these catus. They had a variety of colors and shapes but this red/green color combination caught my eye, I couldn't resist. We ended up buying three.
You never know where your inspiration will come from.

Bluebird at The Box

I see this bluebird box on my walks thru a local park, this time I caught the bluebird at home.

Almost plein air

My wife and I decided to spend the afternoon along the Delaware river in Washington Crossing. I brought my paints along to do some painting since we were going to be there for about four hours. While we were eating lunch I was looking around to see what scene would make a good painting. It was overcast already with possible thunderstorms later on. The scene I settled on was a house across the river and its long reflection in the water. I did a verticle pencil sketch to emphasize the long reflection from the house and indictated the value pattern of the scene. I did a quick sketch to see what it looked like horizonally.
I sketched the scene on the canvas and no sooner I started squezzing out the paint when we hear a rumbling in the sky. Maybe eight seconds later a bolt of lightning hit right across the river from us.When I looked up Maria was already packed and on her way.
On the way home the weather improved so we stopped off at a local park to finish the afternoon. Now removed from the scene the painting has to be finished from the pencil sketch and my memory from studying the scene during lunch. I got halfway through the painting when the skies opened up...afternoon over.

When I got home I finished the almost plein air painting!! This is the result.

Finally Finished

Flyfishing,  A Jumper ,  16x20 oil

I finally finished this painting, it sat half finished for months while I started and finished other paintings. It gave me time to look it over and make neccessary adjustments that I didn't see the first time around.
A self portrait of sorts, being in a place like this is good therapy for the body and mind.
Thanks for looking,
Pat

Blogger Problems

I have been experiencing problems with my blog lately. I have not been able to leave comments on anyones blog, and my followers list and everyone elses followers list dissapeared. I reported it and now waiting for the fix. Anyone else having this problem?
Pat

Food Painting Pancakes and Syrup

A still life of a Saturday morning breakfast. What caught my eye that morning was the reflected light from the syrup bottle. I debated about putting in the other objects and decided the pancakes and mug  would help complete the story.
Thanks for looking,
Pat

Cars in foggy landscape

I enjoy doing landscapes with a little mood in them. This shows cars negotiating the fog on the morning commute. The reflections from the car lights on the wet road is what caught my attention and added a little sparkle to a subdued landscape.
.An important question I ask myself is why would this make an interesting painting. I also wanted to create the slight tension one feels driving in the fog and I like the way the road curves into the foggy unknown.
Thanks for looking,
Pat

Mermaid

Mermaid 5x7 oil  (SOLD)

I wanted to try capturing the graceful motion of swimming in water. My pratice in figurative work continues.

Making Bubbles 8x10 oil

This is one of my grandaughters having fun making bubbles.
I want to concentrate doing more figurative work this year, painting people going about life, whether walking their dog, or standing in line waiting for water ice.
I usually paint landscapes and things dealing with nature.  Now I'll branch out a bit and try painting human nature.

Moonlight

I like trying to capture the mood on moonlit nights. This image was from a  flyfishing vacation my brother and I take every year in Northcentral Pa. When you don't have to go to work the next day you can afford to stay up all night making sketches of the landscape as the moon works its way across the sky.
Once your eyes adjust you can see remarkably well by moonlight, enough to walk all around the park taking pictures and sketching.

Moonlight  8x10 oil on Gallery wrapped canvas.

Tree Reflection

Tree Reflection 12"x12" acrylic on cradled wood panel.

This is a stream that runs thru the state park we stay at when on vacation in the fall. 

The second picture shows the sketch I did on location that day -sorry about the white line going down the sketch, I accidently painted on it while doing another painting months later.

And me sitting on a blowdown where I did the sketch. The cigar paintbox is convienent for when you have other things you are doing (fishing) besides painting but you still want to do some sketches during the day. You carry it on shoulder and its out of the way until you need it.

Tulip

Tulip 5x7 acrylic

My wife's flower bed provided the inspiration.When I leave for work at 6:30am  they are closed up when I get home they are spread open like this.

Valley Forge Resident

Valley Forge Resident 12x12 oil

We go to Valley Forge National Park at sunrise to photograph the deer and other wildlife that lives there. They have a deer herd that has grown considerably (over 1200 deer) and now the park service is in the process of eliminating most of the deer which could take up to four years.

From November to March sharpshooters culled 600 deer during the nighttime hours, away from areas being used by public. I wonder if this guy made it.
I spend time at the park with three of my brothers. My brother Tom and I flyfish Valley Creek which runs thru the park, my brother Phil and I photograph at the park and my brother Chris and I paint at the park.

I think I'm going to go there this weekend.
Thanks for stopping by,
Pat

Flyfishing, Tying One On

Tying One On  6"x8" acrylic on a cradled wood panel.

A stream running thru a forest is probably the enviroment I enjoy being in the most. I love the peaceful feeling you get being in a place like this and I wanted to do a painting portraying those feelings.
I used predominatly cool colors to reinforce the quiet peaceful feeling, and placed the flyfisherman in an area away from any distractions. His relaxed stance as he ties on a fly tells of a patient angler at home in this enviroment.

Ringneck Pheasant

Ringneck Pheasant  15x30  Acrylic on masonite panel  

I like the bold colors the male pheasant has. I painted this pheasant in warm afternoon light  and provided him with an escape route in case danger approaches. Years ago when there were still pheasants around in good numbers you would be walking the fields and all of a sudden be surprised by a pheasant that flushed right at your feet.

When we were young there was a pheasant that came out of the woods crossed the road walked  along the side of our house and dissapeared somewhere out back. So every day before school we would be waiting by the window watching for our friend to make his appearance. 
I'm amazed what sticks in your mind after all these years.
Thanks for looking,
Pat

Valley Creek

Valley Creek  8x10 original oil painting       

I painted this early in the morning as the sun was starting to light the landscape. Usually we are here flyfishing but on this day I was here to paint.Valley Creek holds a good population of wild brown trout which we have caught and released over the years.