NOW ON EBAY

"Copper Oranges" 6" x 8" oil

I have put this painting on Ebay. I haven't gone
as far as opening an Ebay store yet, but it is
in the works. To bid on this piece click on the
"My Ebay Store" link in the Links section found
on the right side of the blog. I have solicited
help from other Ebayers and will
get the kinks worked out this week.

Happy bidding!

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE

"Estes Runoff" oil

You can tell its hot here in Texas by
the things I choose to paint. Water, snow
or anything that will get my mind off how
hot it is outside.

On my last trip to Estes Park
my good friend, Bruce Peil, and I hiked up
to Loche Vale. On the way were a series of
runoffs with waterfalls. Not as dramatic as
I made this one to be, but waterfalls just the same.

I could sit on the rocks and just listen to the
sound of the rushing water all day. It is
such a cerebral experience compared to the rest
of the time I spend painting in Texas.

JUST ON THE FRINGE

"Water Supply" 12" x 16" oil plein air

This is one of the three barns I painted
last week. I painted this barn from the other
side as well. On the other side is a field
of fresh hay bales and as anyone knows, hay
bales have become a favorite subject
matter of mine. I'll post the other paintings
soon.

This one took longer than expected, almost three hours
instead of the two hours I will usually commit to a
plein air piece. I will typically steer away from a scene
that has this many elements in it. I try to limit
plein air work to three elements. This one has five
and that pushes the limit of my comfort zone.
There's a lot of architecture and that just takes longer
than other types of landscapes, plus I painted
it on a larger scale, 12" x 16" instead my standard
9" x 12". All-in-all I was uncomfortable the whole time I
was painting it, but in the end I'm glad I stuck to it
and finished the piece.

QUICKIE

"Orange Tea" 6" x 8" oil

Spent the morning doing field sketches of barns.
Came back in the studio and needed to do a warm
up before jumping into a larger studio piece.
Limited myself to a 30 minute still life. I liken
these to the gesture poses we used to do
in life drawing back in college. They get
the juices flowing and before doing a studio
piece, helps loosen me up because the studio
work gets too tight too quick.

TRYING TO FIND THE GROOVE

"Chasm Falls" 10" x 20'

I can thank Steve Atkinson,
www.steveatkinsonstudio.blogspot.com,
for giving me the appropriate kick in the butt
to get this painting done. I've had it sketched
out on a canvas and sitting in the corner
of the studio for about six months. During the
summers when its 106 degrees outside
and I'm stuck inside doing paintings of
apples, I get the doldrums and don't feel much
like painting. Steve comes along and posts
his painting "Simple Beauty" on his blog and
it just blows me away.

Next thing you know I've got "Chasm Falls" on
the easel and two hours later....done. Steve's
painting of an aspen grove probably in the
Rocky Mountains somewhere reminded me of
my trips to Estes Park and that's all it took
to snap me out of the summer funk. I've
already got three more paintings sketched
out and can't wait to get started.

DAILY

"Pair of Pears" 6" x 8" oil on canvas

I've gotten back into doing dailies. These
small paintings are really helping me
with brushwork and seeing colors in
shadows. When painting outdoors, especially
on a bright day, your iris of the eyes tend
to close down because of the bright reflections
coming off the ground. Seeing colors in
the shadows becomes difficult so I tend to
overdo these areas. Then back in the studio
or, worse yet, when framed and hung in
the gallery the colors jump off the canvas
when you really want them to be more subdued.

Brushwork is a constant fight between not enough
and too much. I'm finding the dailies painted in
30 minutes or less force me to make better
brushwork decisions. Now I'm anxious to
find out if I can carry this over into the plein
air work first and then the bigger canvases.