The Arrival of Spring

Spring Robin  5x7 oil on Masonite

A sure sign that spring is here. I have been seeing flocks of robins around now.

On a different note my wife and I went to the park after dinner to enjoy the sunset, while we were scouting around we saw some deer crossing the road up ahead of us. One of them was a piebald deer, it was brown on the front half and white on the rear half. By the time I could swing around the deer were on the other side of the field. I couldn't get a good picture of it broadside cause it kept its head down feeding.

The sunset was nice too.

Curious Bluejay

Bluejay  8"x6" oil

I wanted to capture the inquisitive nature of the bluejay.  Something has caught the attention of our bluejay in the painting above and he is only seconds away from flight.
I always liked the brilliant blue plumage and the black collar that goes around his neck.

Forest Interior

Forest Interior  oil 8x10

I saw this scene along one of the trout streams we fish. As we walk along I'm always searching for interesting patterns of light that would translate into a possible painting. This was one.
What had interested me was  the filtered light making its way thru the trees to light up the three bushes.

Winter at the Park

 The last time it snowed I took a walk in the park with my camera looking for subject matter. I have painted this tree a few times in the past and this day I liked the contrast between the tree and snow and sky.

I distilled the scene to the bare essentials, leaving out the multitude of trees surrounding the scene. I used acrylics on a 6"x6" Ampersand panel.

Winter Landscape

Whitetail Deer, Heading for Cover  11x14 oil

We haven't had much snow here in southeast Pa this year except for a few quick storms that dropped 1 to 2 inches and most of it melted by the afternoon. I felt like painting a winter scene while I'm still in a winter mood. I had started this painting a while ago and it sat around waiting for another winter for me to get motivated to finish it.
The little snow events we did have this year got me out on walks and sparked that interest in painting snow.  I have two other snow paintings I'm working on that should be finished soon.

Still Life, Candle and Books

Still Life Oil Painting, Candle and Books 8x10 oil


I tried to capture the flickering light a candle throws off.

Incoming

Incoming Geese  12x16 oil

I painted this based on the study I did last week at the lake. The number of geese that were here last week was three times the number you see in this painting. I had put my camera on the movie setting and let it run as the clouds of geese kept coming. I tried to capture the rhythmic motion of them as they came in for the landing.

First Plein Air Sketch of the Year

             
5x7 oil

I got out for a couple of hours this afternoon to get some exercise and do some painting if a scene presented itself to me. It wasn't the greatest weather for painting, overcast, cold and windy, but I like being out no matter what the weather.
I wanted to experiment with different colors and switched a few colors for the winter months.
I found a spot along the lake where a lot of geese were coming and going and I figured they would add a bit of interest to the scene. It was nice listening to them calling to each other as a new group flew in.

Happy New Year

Fireworks being set off on a barge on the Delaware River in Phila, Pa.   11x14 oil on canvas

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!   (SOLD)

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.                      8"x8" oil

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.

Long Cast

Long Cast  12x16 oil painting, fly fishing art (Sold)

This painting is about the wonderful solitude of being in a place like this, whether its walking thru the woods and observing the multitude of trees or listening to the sounds of the stream as you patiently wait for the trout to show themselves. After a day of this you feel so refreshed.
 I used backlighting to echo the colors of the trout into the landscape they live in.
And our fly fisherman is poised for the strike.

Foggy Morning

After hearing the weather report last night for thick fog in the morning I decided it would be a good morning to get out. It would be a chance to get some good reference material to create some moody paintings.

This spot normally looks like this but today with the thick fog looked barely recognizable.

The deer showed up well in the fog

So after I got done shooting the photos I found a spot in the woods with the fog in the background and settled on this tree that has seen its last days. When I got home I adjusted the color in the foreground and put the details in the tree.

A Few More Paintings from our Flyfishing trip

5x7 Acrylic              (SOLD)

A flyfishing scene from one of the streams we fished in north central Pa. this year.

5x7 acrylic              (SOLD)

These small trees were right next to where we set up our tent when we used to camp at the state park, it was like seeing an old friend each year we went up. You could always count on some color from them. Now they are taller than us. Each year when we arrive at the state park after a four hour drive we stop off at  the campsite we always used, good old number 7.

Back from our flyfishing trip

Returned yesterday from our annual flyfishing trip to upstate Pa.

The cabin we stay in is awesome. Its a far cry from camping in a tent like we did for 18 years.

The rain and age did us in from camping. We go every October so morning temps are in the low 40's, and it rains a lot in October.

The fishing was great, we fished four different streams catching brook, brown and rainbow trout. This time of year most of the the trout have intense color  to them.

Tom with a rainbow trout

Me with a nice brown trout

I did a few paintings back at the cabin at night.

                                                                                                  

A forest interior

Fall foliage reflection in a stream

                                                                                          

Now we deal with Hurricane Sandy tomorrow into Tuesday.

Good luck everyone.

Autumn Afternoon

Autumn Afternoon 8x10 oil

I started this painting last year and it was halfway done, but as fall turned into winter I lost interest in it and it went into the section of unfinished paintings. This past week I came across it while moving things around and put it out where I could see it.
This morning I was awake at 5:00am went out put the coffee on and put the painting on the easel and brought it to completion.
I like the warm afternoon light and the subtle shadows from the oak tree in the front yard.

The Right Light

The Shed  5x7 acrylic

A simple shed seen in the right light can help produce a pleasing picture.
A half hour before that I did a sketch of the bird feeder but wasn't happy with it so when I saw the light on the shed I turned the bird feeder sketch on its side and painted this over it.

Plein Air sketches, oh deer what a morning.

I got an early start Saturday morning, when I pulled into the park I was greeted with thick fog from the lake. I slowly drove around looking for deer and when I saw the first sign of color in the sky I went to the small parking spot over looking the lake.

I like this time of morning when you can just barely start making out the colors in the landscape and the sky goes thru its quickly changing light show. I did this sketch as the intense color started, by the time I finished the sky had changed completely.
As I was putting things away to move to the next spot I turned around and saw a herd of deer had gathered in the field  behind me. That explains the dog barking earlier.

I moved around to the back of the park where last week I saw this field starting to get a nice yellow color to it.

As I was setting up these two does decided to investigate why this person was in the corner of their field.

This is the 5x7 field sketch done that morning.

11x14 studio painting done with acrylics

My interest was the field in the middle distance so I darkened the foreground shapes and added more of a golden color to the field to help make a more dramatic picture.

To Paint or not to Paint

I went out this morning to paint but I was in a neutral mood, like do I really want to paint this morning. I love being out at sunrise whether I'm painting or not, when the early morning sunlight has that orange glow to it.

I went to the park looking around for a spot with good lighting but the clouds were moving in thicker and the sun was having trouble getting thru. I couldn't find anything interesting to paint (which happens when I am in a neutral mood) so I figured I would take one more look around and finally settled on this spot with the red cedar tree which I have painted in the past.

I used a 5x7 panel and simplified the scene omitting the group of trees on the right and excluding the big section of dull grey sky.

This is the completed painting from a morning of indecision.

To protect the wet painting I use a 5x7 piece of masonite and four wood plugs that I position on each corner of the painting. Tape the four corners together and you are ready to go.

Early Morning at the Lake

Went to the park early Saturday morning, on the drive in I saw this beautiful sunrise but because I got a late start I was witnessing it on the drive in instead of being already set up on location. I took a few pictures and rode around to where I was going to paint.
More clouds had moved in as I set up and the sun was playing hide and seek. So I figured I would just make the best of it. A couple of fishermen took up position on the point of land so I got some pictures of them for reference for later. They ended up moving out of sight 20 minutes later anyway.

I painted this final version combining the sky I saw coming in with the location sketch. I'm thinking of putting some figures in after the paint dries a little, there is a lot of glare from the wet paint.