Daily Painting Practice

Daily Painting Practice- Just having fun pushing paint - Doodling to dabbling -Flowers to landscape

2013-04-21T14:13:00.001-06:00

There are times when just pushing paint is perfectly pleasant for practice painting.

After completing those larger works, I didn't have anything special planned or in my mind. So I just started pushing paint for the pure enjoyment of it and to get my creative juices flowing.

I started on a small canvas board(5"x7") and sketched out some flowers.

This photo is a little fuzzy, but then so was my intent. Everyone doodles with a pencil (especially if you are in a boring meeting at work). I'm not a big doodler with paint though, but this is what I was doing. And just like doodling with a pencil there is no pressure to produce anything that others will see.... unless of course you post on a blog, like me.

Doodle number 1 complete

Just enough to get my art brain going again. This is a great exercise to do when you get stuck and find yourself staring at a blank canvas. No thought of a finished painting here, and when you are finished, just rub it out and save the canvas for the next doodle.

The flowers got me thinking about outdoors and that got me thinking about walking in the woods, and that made me remember our trip to the NorthWoods of Wisconsin last fall.

So this is how I started. I searched and found several reference photos from our trip and began scratching out the composition with my .89cent brush from Home Depot.

When I walk through the woods I always am drawn to fallen trees. They have a story to tell and provide an interesting contrast to the new life springing up around them.

This panel is 12"x16" and is very smooth, almost too smooth. The paint just glides on top and barely attaches to the surface.

I'm keeping everything very thin and trying to use colorful greys... is that an oxymoron?

Now I am starting to load up the paint and create some fun textures. This painting is going to be all about dabs of color.

I'll leave it here to dry a little before doing more. So I've gone from doodling to dabbling. If this works as a color study I may end up with another large painting to work on.

Daily Painting Practice - Seascape in Maine -Crescendo complete

2013-04-10T21:29:00.001-06:00

Another one ready for the show.

Signed and ready for a show in Kennebunkport, Maine in July.

Crescendo

36"x48" oil on canvas

Daily Painting Practice - Waterfalls -Completing a painting, what a miracle!

2013-04-06T13:56:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it? I actually completed, signed and named this one!

Do you believe in miracles? Yes I do. I think I actually painted this over 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 times. Persistence... another chapter for my art book. (if I ever get around to writing one.)

Click on image

Downstream

24"X30"

oil on canvas

Daily Painting Practice - Boat on the lake - sizing it up

2013-02-28T23:27:00.003-06:00

Here I go again.

Taking the color study and up sizing it to a larger canvas. Unlike the last painting, I am not using pastel pencil to mark the grid lines. Instead I am using a method to grid the painting without leaving a mark.

I used white thread. If you look closely, you can see the fine line of thread. I measured and marked the sides.

Then taped the thread on the back.

The canvas is 18"x24". I divided it in thirds. I put the horizon line right on the bottom third transfer line.

I am trying to decide where to place the sail boat. In the original color study the boat is more to the left. First I was thinking of moving it to exactly where the grid lines cross, but I think moving it farther to the left opens the painting up a bit. Now, I have two boats in the water.

I begin blocking in some tone and color, keeping the paint very thin, almost like watercolor.

I am concentrating on the sky, trying to keep my colors clean and fresh. For me, this means trying not to overwork the brush strokes. I placed a dot of white to check the placement of the sail again. It needs to move to the left.

Here you can see how thin I am keeping the paint. Also, I am trying to keep lots of color in the white clouds; purples, oranges, warm and cool grays and yellows.

I think the sky is coming along. The clouds have a nice rhythm and work their way back towards the horizon. Next, I'll work on the distant shoreline and start on the trees.

Daily Painting Practice - Maine Seascape -almost there

2013-02-23T15:49:00.004-06:00

I thought I would Post the progress of the large version.

The canvas is 36"x48". Originally I was going to do a landscape on this canvas but the sea waits for no man.

I made a grid on the original using a pastel so it can be removed. I scaled up the grid on the large canvas and roughed in the main darks and lights and used a cool midtone to cover the orange.

If you look close, you can see the grid marks. I originally wanted to complete each section ( sky, middle ground, center of interest, rocks, then foreground.) I held out a little while but somewhere along the way I got caught up in just painting and feeling my through the scene.

In these last two I worked mostly on the sky.

With the sky close to what I wanted I moved to the middle ground and the center of interest. I originally liked the wave on the right side, but as she who must not be named commented, I was after more power and not such a calm sea. So I began to fiddle with the idea.

The sea on the left side looks right but the perspective is not what I want on the right hand side. Also the white foam in the foreground is bothering me... It draws too much attention from the main event and is just a spot. It does not help lead the eye to the center.

I am still struggling with the background on the right side. But the rocks and the action of the water in the middle are working much better. Painting foam is fun. However, too much white can make it look very pasty and kill the life of the painting. So be sure to vary the color of the foam.

I am very close here and should have taken a break. It would have been a good time to sit back and review... I really like the right side now.... but

I fiddled with it a bit too much... Oh well, better leave it for now and work on something else.
I am almost there. Oh, and I will need a good title.

Daily Painting Practice - turn overs another way to generate ideas

2013-02-18T14:04:00.004-06:00

This a seascape at night. A painting by Frederick Waugh. I wonder where he came up with his idea?

If you have been following my blog lately, you know that I am trying to come up with many ideas for seascapes from thumbnail sketches. I was inspired to think about a moonlit seascape recently, not by Waugh, no my idea came from...

This.
No, it is not my color sketch for a foggy, moon lit, night time seascape. But it did give me an idea for a future painting. You will actually need to stand on your head to see the source.... go ahead ... I'll wait.
Never mind, I'll help you out....

Remember this one? (Yes I am still working on it.) The sea at night sketch is actually this painting turned over and cropped.
So, if you are runnning dry on ideas, (running dry is very dangerous for seascape painters) you can turn over a new leaf, or better yet turn over an old painting. You may be surprised at what you see.

Here are the latest progress shots of this painting. You have to go back quiet a few posts to see when and how I started.

I am working all over the place - making the rocks rockier, making the background fall back, giving the trees some form and the water some foam.

Too much splash in those waves on the left and not enough contrast between foreground and middle ground.

It's coming along. I added a leaf or two, detailed some of the rock, then worked... reworked ...and reworked the falls.

I still need to work on the foreground water and then ask for a critique from the fab 5.

Daily Practice Painting - Maine Seascape color study completed

2013-01-29T20:02:00.000-06:00

The final stages...

Can there ever really be a final stage? I keep changing waves and thinking about how much further to go with this color study. After all, I will be doing this same painting much larger for the show this summer in Kennebunkport, Maine.

I'm really starting to get the idea for the rolling and crashing of the waves now. My intuitive part is feeling my way around the scene. The thinking part of my artist brain is very talkative and constantly reminding me to... check the source of the light, check the perspective, both atmospheric and linear. Watch the color temperature. How do waves really work?

I think I have the waves in the background working. I had some help form she who must not be named.

I have worked very hard at keeping my edges soft. Most of the paint application was scrubbed into rather than laying it on the canvas.

Detail of waves

The Arrival ( working title)

color study

18"x24"

oil on canvas

Daily Painting Practice- Seascape color study continued

2013-01-27T12:01:00.004-06:00

Continued Color Study:

Next stage: Adding more color and playing with texture.

I am not an efficient painter. If production were necessary to my making a living, I would definitely starve. I have not developed a method to turn out paintings in a regular rhythm. The best explanation (or excuse) I have is that I rely more on my intuition than I do confidence and procedure when I paint.

Confidence, I know comes with knowledge, and knowledge comes from practice, and practice comes from painting and painting and ...painting.
But I suspect there is also a part of being productive that deals with being settled. Either you settle on a certain style, subject matter, medium, method, or even size of work.
I am, or have been up until now, more of a gypsy painter. Roving from subject to subject, method to method and style after style, I haven't found a home or settled down. Not exactly a formula for increasing productivity is it?

Still exploring. This is part of the production slow down. Even though I started this painting with a thumbnail and a color sketch, I am still exploring the scene. Still creating, arranging, re-arranging objects, light, and color as I paint.

Work in progress

I am enjoying this intuitive method. But someday this gypsy painter would like to settle down.

Daily Painting Practice- Maine Coastal Impressions- Starting the seascape

2013-01-23T20:01:00.002-06:00

Developing the color study -

The 18"x24"canvas was pre-toned with acrylic gesso with some gray/purple acrylic paint ( much like the area behind the painting). I toned the canvas again with a thin and darker gray/green. I began to sketch from the sketch ( see the last post), blocking in the composition and wiping out the light areas.

As you can see the paint is very thin and the colors very muted.

More scratching, wiping and brushing. That stiff 2" brush I bought from Home Depot is doing most of the work.

I am playing with that foam spray, trying to figure out how it works.

Adding some warmth to those cool tones really separates the rocks from the water.

That is actually coffee in my cup, not tea. (and no, my fellow tea drinkers, I'm not crossing over to the dark side... unless you count dark roasted...)
The idea of the strong morning light hits me... so it must follow, that it also must hit the rocks and spray.

That's a good place to stop and get a refill.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Daily Painting Practice- Imagination is as bountiful as the sea

2013-01-20T15:31:00.000-06:00

"He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea."
-from Welsh poet George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

I have always had a special feeling for the sea. Some of the first oil paintings I ever did when I was younger were seascapes or involved the sea. In fact, the first art book I bought was "Painting the Sea and Shore" by Harry R. Ballinger.

Nothing can stir my imagination more than the sea ... OK maybe flowers, or trees, or birds, but recently, ideas for seascapes have been spilling out of my brain via my thumbnail sketches. There is something about creating a painting completely from your imagination that can be both daunting and exhilarating at the same time.

I have been invited to participate in an art show in Kennebunkport, Maine this summer and the theme is the artist's thoughts about Maine. My idea- crashing waves on rocks.

To start creating a painting from your imagination, describe your subject in words first, then try to illustrate your feelings using the words as a framework for you composition.
As an example; I find the waves on the coast of Maine captivating, stirring, violent, rhythmic, powerful, mysterious, glorious, rich, inspiring... I could go on but you get the idea. Try doing this with any subject you want to paint.

Now, see if you can compose a sketch that looks like your words.
I will start building on my thumbnail idea with a color sketch. I took an old piece of masonite that had been pre- toned with a blue-gray-green.

Here is my limited palette. Keeping things simple in the beginning helps me stay loose.

I don't want to go crazy with details or feel like I have to finish . I just want to expand the original idea using color... besides, I am having way too much fun playing with the water and rocks to get too serious.

I think I'll settle with this as my oil sketch. Now the question is how to make it into a painting?... The better question is, can I be disciplined or patient enough to figure it out? Stay tuned!

Daily Painting Practice- Autumn on the lake - sailing from the color sketch

2013-01-16T22:48:00.000-06:00

Starting the larger painting from the last post.

Having completed the color sketch it is time to try and create a larger version. I think I used an old tube of red lake madder or some strange color like that to sketch the composition.

I am always amazed that with just three values and two colors you can get the feeling of a quiet lake.

Sketch in the sky color and the distant shore line. Remember the reflection is darker than the sky.

I thought it might be nice to compare the original color sketch with the larger version as I go along.

Time to work on those clouds. In the smaller version the large block of light clouds worked. In the larger version, I think I need to break up that large cloud mass a bit.

That's better. Now let's look at the trees.

I found it helps to start with a larger mass of color and then break it down into smaller shapes.

There is a big difference between, laying the color on top of the underpainting rather than into the paint of the under painting. I fight this all the time. Picking up the paint from the underpainting can kill your color and make everything seem muddy.

That dead branch gave me a lot of trouble.

Completed the painting but..... the larger version doesn't hold my attention. I think it needs a focal point.

click on the painting to enlarge the image

Autumn Sail

12"x16"

oil on hardboard

Daily Painting Practice- Big Brush Little Canvas - Landscape Color sketch

2013-01-11T17:22:00.001-06:00

Let's start big!

I thought this might be an interesting practice to do a painting (a study) with a big brush on a small 5"x7" canvas.

I went to Home Depot and purchased a handful of these small brushes. Small for house painting, large for this adventure.
The canvas was already toned with the olive green so I just jumped in with someloose and scrubby brush strokes.

Can you believe I actually started with 4 values. What discipline!

I am still only using the one brush.

The finishing touches were done with a smaller brush. Not a bad color sketch. I'll paint this again on a larger size canvas.

Daily Painting Practice - Using your imagination - color seascape sketch

2013-01-09T17:17:00.001-06:00

Imagine all the possibilities.

How many times have you come across that phrase? Have you actually ever tried to do it? Of course not.

Taken literally, even a computer couldn't handle it. But when we are talking about creating ideas for paintings even the smallest attempt at using your imagination can bring beneficial and surprising results. You will be amazed at what flows out of your creative side if you just open the taps.

Start with small 2x3" thumbnail sketches. Put the pencil down and don't take it off the page. Now just start moving the pencil as you imagine a scene or a theme. You may even just react to the dark and white abstract shapes in your thumbnail. Develop the thumbnail or abandon it and start again on a new idea. Just keep going. After 5 minutes the right side of your brain will be cooking with gas.

Your imagination is like a power tool in your studio. You can take it out and use it in every type of painting: portraits, plein air, landscapes, still life... you name it . So get started recharging your imagination batteries.

Splash of Maine- imagined seascape

5"x7"

oil on canvas board

Daily Painting Practice - Maine Coastal Seascape - Thumbnail & several color sketches

2013-01-03T20:57:00.000-06:00

This thumbnail sketch was only the beginning to a grand painting adventure.

Who would have guessed that the small sketch on the right could turn into so much fun?
I started with a pre-toned 5"x7" canvas and just scrubbed in some darks. The concept was "rough seas".

A very limited palette of colors again. Though this time I added Viridian Green to the mix. I thought a ship might add some drama... or might just be fun to try and paint.

Definitely have the stormy seas going. This is what I like about photographing my sketches as they progress because...

They change. But I still have a record of the previous idea.

As you can see, my sea voyage continued for a while longer. The weather became much more dramatic. That is, until the sun came out and the storm passed.

click on the image to enlarge the painting

After the Storm

oil sketch - 5"x7"

oil on canvas board

I wonder where the boat went.

Daily Painting Practice- Rough Seas -Manicuring Thumbnail Sketches and Growing Ideas

2012-12-31T11:10:00.000-06:00

Thumbnail sketches have not been a common practice with me.

I have always been too eager to jump right into painting relying on my photo reference or even the plein air scene in front of me to generate the composition and ideas. However, recently I have started a new habit that not only keeps me tuned into my creative side while I am at work but also helps me formulate concepts that make my work more personal.

Every year, especially at this time of year, you can find these small checkbook size calendars or daytimers. I discarded the calendar and folded some scrap paper (roughly 5 3/4"x6 1/2") and stapled the center. Sliding them into the calendar cover, I have my own thumbnail sketch book. The ideas flow out during the day and only take about 60 seconds. Then when I get home, I pick which ones I want to develop further into color sketches, like the thumbnail of the ship.

I have no idea or what a schooner actually looks like other than it has sails. I don't have reference for details of the boat or the sea but I have my imagination. So relying on that, I am developing the concept " ship at sea, rough water" I started by reusing an old daily painting canvas board that I covered over with a gray green mix. I originally thought of a night scene but I must have waited too long because by the time I got to adding some color...

The sun was breaking through the clouds on the horizon.

I am sticking with a very limited palette to ensure my colors harmonize.

I also wanted to stay away from white. The details may not be correct, that doesn't matter. It's the feeling and idea that you want to capture.

click on the image to enlarge the painting

"Heading Out"

color sketch 5"x7"

oil on canvas board

Seems an appropriate theme as we start a new year. Happy painting , happy new year! Enjoy the voyage.

Daily Painting Practice - Part 2 Fall Colors at North Woods Lake

2012-12-26T20:25:00.000-06:00

Refining a painting without killing the painting is a matter of correct choices.

Make the wrong choices and you increase the risk of needing a stronger cup of tea and a pillow to scream into. Make the right choices and you can relax with that cup of tea and use the pillow to lay back and admire your work.
All of the worry could be avoided if you take your time, step back and remember your concept and idea.
Be advised to do as I write, not as I do.

I continued to refine the clouds and the distant shoreline. I also softened the reflections making sure the values in the water were a little darker.

I worked and reworked the foliage which was heading toward those muted colors again. So what to do? Of course... Think back to my original concept.

click on the image to enlarge the painting

Autumn Beauty

12x16

oil on canvas board

This one was a study. I will use it to make a larger painting. I'll post that process whenever I start it.

Daily Painting Practice - Fall colors at a Northwoods Lake - part 1

2012-12-25T22:43:00.000-06:00

What comes first Composition or Color?

Actually, I have read the concept or idea should come first. Use composition to help you convey your idea. Use color to help sell the story to the viewer.
So, if my idea is beautiful autumn trees in sunlight, I should use a composition to best convey that.

I think this composition will do the job. The color choices to sell my idea of beautiful autumn trees, means that the color will have to be strong not muted, and they should also be harmonious. I'll try to do this sticking with a limited palette of colors. Ultra Marine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cad yellow light, Aliz. Crimson, Cad Red light. and Titanium White.

I am desperately trying to stay away from using white in the clouds. I hate pasty looking clouds. These are cad yellow and cad red light with white and some blue. I'm not pleased with the way the clouds line up and I think they need to be warmer.

So far the sunny part of my idea is working . The rest of the painting needs refining but I like the progress.

Daily Painting Practice - More Trees

2012-12-22T20:37:00.002-06:00

I warned you I would be painting more trees.

This time though my approach was a little bit different. I started with a very smooth surface on hard board and I did not tone the board, I left it white.

The board has no texture at all so the paint glides onto the surface. The color is very transparent and easy to wipe off. I am not using a limited palette this time and I am going very bold on the under painting colors. How brave is that?

I am completely out of my comfort zone with color this intense this early in the development of the painting. This can end up being a very Van Gogh-ish painting if I don't subdue the color a bit.

Instead of painting the white on top I wiped it off to let the white show through.

Now I add the darks to the foreground for more contrast.

It seems strange to have started with such bold colors and contrast and then muting those colors a bit to get to the end, but that is exactly what I did. The result was very pleasing I think.

click on the image to enlarge the painting

Birch Tree Study

11"x16

oil on board

Daily Painting Practice - Tree study part 2

2012-12-16T16:30:00.000-06:00

Enjoying your subject, I think, is half the battle to painting.

I really enjoyed mapping out the color in this study. and also playing with the light.

That light tree in the center was bugging me. It looked liked it couldn't make up its mind which side of the path it should be on.

So I moved it to the background.

click on the image to enlarge the picture

Northwoods Tree Study

12"x16"

oil on canvas

Daily Painting Practice- Tree Study - part 1

2012-12-15T14:07:00.005-06:00

Our trip to the North Woods in the fall

produced an abundance of reference material. I will be painting trees for a long time. Inspiration is easy to come by when walking in the woods of Wisconsin.

Step 1-

Start with an idea, close tree vs. distant trees. Throw in -catching the light. Sketch the idea into a pleasing composition.

Break it down into lights and darks

Still sketching the idea. I am holding myself back from using thicker paint.

It is a struggle I lost , some thicker paint did manage to sneek in there.

Step 2-

Another battle - keeping the colors muted yet varied. Especially shadow colors I like it when they stay very muted. I varied the hues to add contrast and interest..

I went back in and muted the color again. This photo is a little washed out but it gets the idea across.

To be continued. - Stay tuned for stage 2.

Daily Painting Practice - Plein Air Painting for a good cause

2012-12-12T19:45:00.000-06:00

My friend and fellow artist (Deb Groesser) invited me this past fall to paint a small plein air for her local library fundraiser. The Ralston 100 Community Mosaic Art Project was Deb's idea and celebrated Ralston's centennial. The individual works of art were drawn,painted, or pasted onto 6x6 inch canvas. They were displayed together as one mosaic and for a small donation you could win one. It was a great idea and I was happy to participate.

I set up in front of Deb's Studio on a freezing cold morning. (Unfortunately Deb was away at some sunny California location painting one of her incredible plein air paintings.) I on the other hand was freezing my kaboodle off standing on the cold sidewalk painting a local street scene.

Once I got home and warmed up, I worked on the final 6"x6" canvas. The plein air sketch on the left was my guide.

Not too much changed in the second version . I mostly just needed to clean and sharpen lines.

Morning in Ralston

6"x6" oil on canvas

Daily Painting Practice- Tree color study - walks in the North Woods

2012-11-19T22:31:00.001-06:00

Every artist knows of places where they feel they could spend the rest of their life painting and never run out of interesting subjects.

For me it would be Maine or the North Woods of Wisconsin. All I need to do is take a walk in the woods and the ideas start flooding in. But how to decide what to paint?

When you literally can't see the forest through the trees (or maybe it would be better to say, can't see the painting through the details), I find it easier to eliminate details and look for abstract shapes of light and dark.

For example, I started this color study looking for abstract blotches of color to lay on the toned canvas. I was thinking of trees but painting them as abstract color notes. It was a good way to stay loose in the beginning and not get sucked into details too early.

Sorry about the blurry photo. However, it is a good example of how you should blur your eyes when painting as a way of eliminating detail and simplifying values.

click on the picture to enlarge the image

Walk in the Woods - Color Study

6"x6"

oil on canvas board

daily painting practice - tree study - ideas from the north woods-

2012-11-17T19:53:00.001-06:00

I have started to do some small color studies.

Friends of ours invited us back to the North Woods of Wisconsin this fall. There is no greater gift in the world then to be invited to the North Woods, especially for an artist who is in love with trees. I admit it , I am a tree hugger. What is there not to love about painting trees?

Trees can be hard to paint though. I should say, tricky to paint. Finding the form is the hardest part for me. Especially when I am painting the thick woods.

I am experimenting with a limited palette of colors. I think I used 4 colors plus white.
I tried to capture the idea of an older tree surrounded a bunch of young ones. If the idea works in this small format I may enlarge it or use part of it in a larger painting. But I'm not out of the woods yet.... just a limited palette pun to keep you on your toes.

Did you ever feel yourself losing control of the painting process? I did, right about at this stage. It might have been a good idea to take a break and make a cup of tea. Instead, I took the palette knife and scraped most of the paint off and started again.

I started by warming up the foreground.

I had put the scraped off paint in a pile on my palette. It made such a nice gray tone, I just put it back in.

Surrounded

Tree study

5"x7"

oil on board

The limited palette helps keep the colors all in the same family. It really doesn't limit your choices of color. I think my pre-scaped stage had a little bit more punch. Oh well, should have, would have, could have...
I think the idea works though and that's the important thing. I'll save this and see if it has a future.

Daily Painting Practice - A Few More Plein Air Lessons

2012-11-11T16:43:00.001-06:00

My Plein air weekend continued:

The following day I got a late start,(too much plein air on day one I imagine), or it might have been because I forgot to set my alarm so I over slept .
I found a back country road outside of town that turned into a dirt road. It was as quiet as could be. I could hear the grasshoppers munching the dry corn. Iowa was in a terrible drought .

I pulled over and set up. I left myself a little room to back up and evaluate the progress.

Since there was no shade to paint in I used my umbrella to shade the painting. I wish I had one big enough to shade my whole body. Notice that I have not learned my lesson about laying out brushes on my car.

The canvas was pre-toned in an olive gray green. Perfect choice for painting an Iowa corn field.

An old pickup truck slowed down as it passed by me. I got the funniest look from the passenger. I don't think they could figure out what I was doing. I'd paint a stroke and back up a few steps to the car then step forward. Back and forth, back and forth. They must have thought I was disoriented and suffering from heat stroke. I am sure I looked too strange in my floppy hat and sunburned knees to stop and ask if I needed help.

Not a bad morning's work.

Stepping back one too many times. I guess I got too close and swiped the car with paint.
People who watch me plein air painting should take warning.

Daily Painting Practice- From Art Coma to Plein air - the story continues

2012-11-06T22:23:00.000-06:00

So back to my tale of plein air painting in Corning Iowa.

Still day 1.
I am about to attempt a third painting in the same day. Not only that, look at the size of my canvas. What a brave lad.
Now, most of you old pros at plein air may laugh at this accomplishment of doing three painting in one day. But let me remind you that this is Iowa... in July... bright sunlight...100 degrees ( well almost) and I'm wearing shorts.... and sitting down....

So here's another don't to add to our list. Don't ever paint in the sun, sitting down, wearing shorts. Why? Because when you sit down the shorts inch up your leg. Now remember, I am coming out of an art coma and my titanium white legs are not used to being exposed to direct sunlight..... I know what you are thinking, where is the sunblock that, she who must not be named, kindly told me to bring along?
It's stuffed in my art bag. I was too excited about starting this painting, I forgot to put on the sunblock. ( if you are counting, I believe that this is mistake number 3 for the day) .

My canvas is appropriately toned with a blazing hot orange. The sun was was cooking my left knee and turning it the same color as the car. At this point, I remembered the sun block, and got up to coat myself. So I stood, took off my glasses, and proceeded to coat my face, arms and legs in white oily goo.

By the time I got this far with the painting, I was having so much fun. I was on a roll, but so were the insects.
Another helpful hint... people aren't the only ones who like to watch you paint.... I find insects also have a strange appreciation for plein air painting. (I mean an attraction for plein air painters). So now, I had to get up again and coat my sun blocked skin with bug spray.

I thought things were going well, especially when a nice breeze blew across the field to cool me down, and possibly chase the bugs away.... If only my day ended there.

I took this progress photo and put the painting back on the easel and sat down for the final touches of paint. No sooner did I sit down and load up my brush when the gentle breeze turned into a strong headwind that lifted the painting off the easel .. I caught it with my shoulder.

Lets just say the tree didn't look the same any more.

I decided to call it a day. I packed the car, turned it around and started driving away when I noticed I had started driving without wearing my glasses. I pulled over, searched the car. No glasses. Drove back . Searched the area... still no glasses. Twenty minutes go by, now I am down on my oily, sun blocked coated, sun burnt knees , swatting flies and looking for my glasses in a bug infested field....

I never swear but that day I came close. I decided on one more look in the back of the car... nothing. I closed the hatch and there perched on top of the roof of the car. Glasses.

and so ended my first day back .

Daily Painting Practice

Daily Painting Practice- Just having fun pushing paint - Doodling to dabbling -Flowers to landscape

There are times when just pushing paint is perfectly pleasant for practice painting.

Daily Painting Practice - Seascape in Maine -Crescendo complete

Another one ready for the show.

Crescendo

Daily Painting Practice - Waterfalls -Completing a painting, what a miracle!

Can you believe it? I actually completed, signed and named this one!

Daily Painting Practice - Boat on the lake - sizing it up

Here I go again.

Daily Painting Practice - Maine Seascape -almost there

I thought I would Post the progress of the large version.

Daily Painting Practice - turn overs another way to generate ideas

This a seascape at night. A painting by Frederick Waugh. I wonder where he came up with his idea?

Daily Practice Painting - Maine Seascape color study completed

The final stages...

Daily Painting Practice- Seascape color study continued

Continued Color Study:

Daily Painting Practice- Maine Coastal Impressions- Starting the seascape

Developing the color study -

Daily Painting Practice- Imagination is as bountiful as the sea

"He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea." -from Welsh poet George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

Daily Painting Practice- Autumn on the lake - sailing from the color sketch

Starting the larger painting from the last post.

Daily Painting Practice- Big Brush Little Canvas - Landscape Color sketch

Let's start big!

Daily Painting Practice - Using your imagination - color seascape sketch

Imagine all the possibilities.

Daily Painting Practice - Maine Coastal Seascape - Thumbnail & several color sketches

This thumbnail sketch was only the beginning to a grand painting adventure.

I wonder where the boat went.

Daily Painting Practice- Rough Seas -Manicuring Thumbnail Sketches and Growing Ideas

Thumbnail sketches have not been a common practice with me.

Daily Painting Practice - Part 2 Fall Colors at North Woods Lake

Refining a painting without killing the painting is a matter of correct choices.

Daily Painting Practice - Fall colors at a Northwoods Lake - part 1

What comes first Composition or Color?

Daily Painting Practice - More Trees

I warned you I would be painting more trees.

Daily Painting Practice - Tree study part 2

Enjoying your subject, I think, is half the battle to painting.

Daily Painting Practice- Tree Study - part 1

Our trip to the North Woods in the fall

Step 1-

Step 2-

To be continued. - Stay tuned for stage 2.

Daily Painting Practice - Plein Air Painting for a good cause

Daily Painting Practice- Tree color study - walks in the North Woods

Every artist knows of places where they feel they could spend the rest of their life painting and never run out of interesting subjects.

Walk in the Woods - Color Study

daily painting practice - tree study - ideas from the north woods-

I have started to do some small color studies.

Surrounded

Daily Painting Practice - A Few More Plein Air Lessons

My Plein air weekend continued:

Daily Painting Practice- From Art Coma to Plein air - the story continues

So back to my tale of plein air painting in Corning Iowa.

"He that will learn to pray, let him go to sea."
-from Welsh poet George Herbert (1593 - 1633)