Copy other artists to learn how to paint the tricky bits....

8x10 oil on panel

Doing copies is invaluable, but frustrating because I don't want to use my 'good' panels or canvases because these studies are destined for the garbage.  So I use gessoed cardboard, and scraps of chipboard and masonite panels I've picked up here and there.   Funky - but it works.

Above, I did a copy of a portion of a landscape by Mark Boedges, a fine landscape painter who has better control of value than any contemporary artist aside from Jeremy Lipking.  I've spent a substantial amount of time looking at his work trying to figure out the basics: warm or cool, color mixes, etc, and gone over his supply list to get any clues because we all think a particular brush or brand of paint will make a huge difference in our work.  They don't.  The only thing that leads to improvement is practice and studying other, better artists.

I'm not posting the original I painted from because of copyright issues. But if you're curious you can go here to see his work: Mark Boedges

The photo below is a study of another piece by the same artist, to practice mixing realistic greens.  His mixes are more subdued than I thought from first impression.  Gray paint pre-mixed, and a good understanding of using complementary colors to mute colors are necessities.

8 x 12.75 oil on masonite panel

Landscape and portraiture are both difficult subject matter.  I have little interest in painting people, but I'm incredibly fascinated by landscape work.  Water isn't as difficult to paint as I thought, but trees and foliage are a bearcat.  

Figuring out clouds

 

More chipboard scraps used to do cloud studies.  The bottom piece was the first study, but the colors were outside my ability to capture. There was a lot of repainting and at some point you have to quit or you won't be able to look back at a study and remember the lesson. I've done studies of various cloud formations in watercolor because it seems like it would be easier, but it's not. 

The third, top study was a bit easier, but I had a hideous time getting the right gold at the base of the golden sky areas.  It looked to have both orange and green in the mix, which seemed impossible, but I did end up mixing it that way, and got closer.  No banana, but closer to the correct color.  Clouds, trees and rocks in the landscape are all very, very tricky.

  These are all done from photos I've taken around my house.  The sky is always remarkable and always different.  No shortage of inspiration on the Oregon coast!

Daily Paintworks Monthly Challenge

10x10 acrylic on wood panel

This month's challenge was 'Under the Sea',  Daily Paintworks Challenge  and I've had a hankering to paint a fish, so I went looking for just the right fish.  Instead I found this adorable looking stingray.  Who knew!  I think his/her eyes are on the other side and these are just markings to warn off predators, but the look works for me.  

Miss Marley

 

11x14 Oil on stretched canvas - NFS

An adorable (and tiny!) Yorkie some friends adopted from a shelter a couple of years ago when she was 12. She is the center of their household, so I wanted to do something a bit regal.  Princesses deserve that!

It never ceases to amaze me that someone would give up a dog when they get old, abandon them, or turn them into a shelter, but I've worked rescue long enough to know it happens all the time.  

Up the road a ways...

8x10 oil on panel

sits this house at the rear of the beautiful lot where the tree below lives. It was built about 3 years ago, and I couldn't figure out why it looked out of perspective until I realized the house doesn't sit square on the lot. but I know why they placed the house the way they did - to take advantage of the view of their lot.  Because it's just a plein air sketch, I won't try to correct it.  It's the light and shadows that made me want to stand there and puzzle it out.  Tip: Put out more paint than you think you'll need.  At least 3 times as much!

 

Idea: Go outside. Paint a tree. So I did.

9 x 12 Oil on panel 

After months of ignoring everything but the news and training myself for our new 'normal', I packed up my homemade pochade box and walked around the corner from my house.  This tree has captured my fancy at other times of the day, but I noticed the shadow pattern and decided to have a go.  Even on a gravel road, people stop to see what you're doing, so I'll have to find a sneaky way to paint outdoors in the future.

No Cashews for Yous

Sold-8 x 10 acrylic on linen panel

My personal birdie modeled for me!  I have a thin post attached to the top screw down on my easel for leaning a mahl stick and she's adopted it as her personal place to oversee what's going on down below.  So I get a feather in the paint now and then....so what.  It's good to have adult supervision.

Waiting for the Train

8 x 10 acrylic on wood panel

This is from a photo I got a couple of years ago of two crow friends sitting on the track in the fog.  Very tricky to paint and I had to move the birds.  I'm enjoying acrylics in a way I never thought I would.  It's far more forgiving if you need to 'make repairs' and once dry I doubt anyone but an expert could tell the difference between oil and acrylic.

I see I left a shadow of one of the prior birds.  That's what you get for varnishing in the evening!  I'm curious to see if that can be 'repaired' with a coat of varnish on. 

Or should I leave it as a spooky reminder that we're all only here for a brief time?