Fishing and painting week in upstate Pa.

We had a wonderful week of fishing on this trip, the weather was fantastic with the temps starting in the high 30's in the mornings and getting in the mid 60's in the afternoon.
I did some painting early in the morning before we left for the streams and again at dusk when we got back.

When we arrived on Monday afternoon we noticed the maple was still green with a touch of red leaves at the top.

After we got settled in I set up my cigar box easel to do a sketch of the mountain and pine trees at sunset.

I liked the way the tip of the mountain and clouds were lit up with the last rays of sunlight.
This is a 5x7 on canvas board. All paintings were done in acrylics this year.

The streams were a little low this year so we had to take a stealthy approach so we didn't spook the fish before we could cast.

Sometimes long casts were necessary if we couldn't get close.

I did a sketch of a tree and fall leaves as the sun came up one morning.

And when we got back from fishing I did a sketch of a pine tree catching the last rays of the sun.

Each night we had a sky filled with stars and the moon, Tues night we watched the meteor shower.

It was a great trip, I have some material to work with this winter.

And the maple tree in the yard that was green when we got there had turned completely red, now we can go home.

Working with acrylics

My brother and I are heading upstate for our annual fly fishing trip tomorrow. I am going to take the acrylics with me and hope to get in a good amount of painting. I like the idea of not having a lot of wet paintings laying around like I would with oils.

I have been practicing with acrylics trying to get used to them again.
I used a sketch from 2004 at a local park as reference. The morning was foggy with the sun trying to burn thru.

My wife and I went up the Poconos looking at the fall colors, while we were waiting at a light I snapped a picture of a group of trees reflected in a pond.

8x10 acrylic

The Start of Autumn

The Start of Autumn  8x10 oil

A scene showing that brief period between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.
Saying goodbye to the warm days of summer and awaiting autumn's last hurrah.
I used a reference photo from last year when we were at Promised Land State Park in the Poconos.
We try to go up at least once in October each year to see the color and do a little fishing.

Maria and I went up  Promised Land today to take in the fall foliage.  It was a little cold in the morning, 41 degrees but it did warm up to 56 in the afternoon.

Oh yea, we did take the fishing rods too, Maria caught a nice bass across from the boat rentals.

Tobyhanna Lake

Quick Sketch of the Moon's light

I

Acrylic sketch 6"x6"

Last night I took notice of the light from the moon with the tree shadows, but what struck me was the reflection of the moon in the window.

 I studied the scene a little and went in and made a sketch as reference for a painting at a later date.

Gladiolus and Impatiens

Gladiolus and Inpatiens    11x14 oil

Inspired my my wife's Gladiolus this year. I invented and abstracted the background to bring focus to the flowers.

Neshaminy Creek, Tyler State Park, 11x14 oil

I finished this painting after nibbling away on it for a few weeks. That is the Shofield Ford Covered Bridge in the background. When we were there in May I painted the covered bridge red as an experiment to see how it would contrast with all the green foliage in the scene. This is the real color  of the bridge.

Before we left I collected a few rocks for Maria's rock paintings.
Here is a what Maria is working on.

Plein Air Day

My brother Chris and I got out for a little painting on Monday and headed to Tyler State Park down by the covered bridge. Its been a while since I was out painting and I felt a little rusty.
 I tried to  capture the atmosphere of the sunny morning. I have enough information in the sketch to do a bigger painting.

8x10 oil

When we got home we got a little more practice in and painted one of Maria's flower pots.
I put the finishing touches on it in the studio.

8x10 oil


My wife Maria has been doing some rock painting for her flower plots, we will go out and spend a hour or two hunting for rocks along river banks and come home with a bag full of rock canvases.

These are Maria's creations,

Fly Fishing Art, The Strike

The Strike  8x10 oil

This painting sat around unfinished for close to a year. Last weekend my brother and I got out fishing and this week I was able to finish it, funny how that works. Thats him from a trip we took a couple years ago.

Dolphin Rock Painting acrylic,  5 1/2" x 3"

I finished this rock painting of a dolphin, also known as a mahi-mahi.
When I spotted the shape of this rock it reminded me of the high forehead of a dolphin.
I keep forgetting to photograph the rock before painting it.

Painted Rock , Ruby Throated Hummingbird

5" x 6"
This one came easier as I tried to keep the design simple.
The shape of the rock mimics both the shape of the flower and the curving pattern of the hummingbirds wings.
I apply a couple coats of varnish which protects the rock and keeps the colors bright and fresh.

Painted rock, blowfish

I found this rock while we were fishing. Its all about shapes. When I held it in my hand I saw the air filled stomach of a blowfish. An added bonus is it has a flat bottom where it can stand up on its own.

Rock Painting, a new artistic challenge

Recently I started experimenting with painting on rocks. I find this type of painting very addictive.
The challenge is finding rocks with an interesting shape and pulling an image out of it.

These two rocks I collected today while we were fishing at the lake, I saw a bird shape in the rock in the back and a flounder in the one in front.

After I clean and dry the rocks I apply a couple layers of acrylic paint mixed with medium to give the rocks a good base coat.

Here is a blowfish I'm working on now. In the back you can see the rocks with the grey base coat on.

This is what I've done so far, I'm still getting a feel for all the possibilities you can do with rocks.
These I will start listing in my Etsy shop.
The last few weeks I rearranged my selling venues.

I have a new website for my original paintings    http://www.patrick-odriscoll.com

My Etsy shop will have aceo's, and small 5x7 original paintings along with the painted rocks.

Still Life Flowers

Flowers  8x10 oil

I almost forgot about this sketch, I was going through my drying rack and spotted it.
A couple of weeks agoI took some of the flowers out of the vase and laid them on the table to paint..
I used a (gessoed over) panel, which is a painting that didn't make it.
 Luckily I have a box of them to practice with. This was the setup for the afternoon practice session.

I used a limited palette of  cad yellow med, crimson, cobalt and ultramarine blue and white.

Last snow painting of the year

8x10 oil on panel

This is from last Fridays snow storm. I liked the way the trees looked with all the wet heavy snow clinging to them.  On the way to the grocery store Saturday morning I was able to click some pictures on my phone as a quick sketch for reference. The good part was by Saturday afternoon most of it had melted. Still waiting for spring.

Another Artist in the Family

Eric O'Driscoll  Artist


My nephew Eric was in his first art show Friday night, It was great being there with him and his dad for the opening of the show. Eric's piece is a watercolor of  sneakers.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 5:26 pm | Updated: 2:52 pm, Wed Mar 18, 2015.

By ANTHONY DIMATTIA Staff writer

BENSALEM — The opening reception for the 5th annual Multi-Generational Art Exhibition will be from 6-9 p.m. Friday at the Bensalem Senior Center, 1850 Byberry Road.

The event displays the work of artists from the senior center along with roughly three or four Bensalem Township School District students, organizers said.

Here is a picture of Eric plein air painting with us in the snow.

A Walk in the Snow

Snow Day, 6x8  oil

 A snow scene from my memory. A couple years ago I was walking through Neshaminy State Park after a snow storm and was taken by a scene similar to this.
I was in a part of the park that had a cathedral of trees with the sunlight coming thru throwing crisscross shadows and lighting up the snow making it glow.
I added people walking their dog to instill a sense of pleasure in freshly fallen snow.