Here are a couple images from recent outings. The first one is a little 6 x 8 painting of some trees. I tried something different with this one. Instead of my usual wash in, I started by painting the whole background very dark and building up to the light. I lifted my main trees out of the background with a little turp and a stiff brush. It actually took form very fast, coming in at about thirty minutes and it definitely gave the final piece a different feel. 
The second painting is a restored 1880's farm house. This painting gave me a challenge in that the home is a very unusual chalky green color. This house is owned by the city of Grapevine and they took donations to help restore this home and the surrounding property. I heard everyone was kind of down when they found out what color this had to be to restore it back to it's original form. Not sure if I actually pulled it off.
Hi Randy. Thanks for posting new pics! I have run across a few artists that heavily tone their grounds recently. Karin Jurick (http://karinjurick.blogspot.com/) paints on a black ground. She mainly paints figures in various settings and has a really cool style. Check them out if you can. Also, I've met a really nice and energetic painter named Sara Winters (http://winterspaintings.blogspot.com/) who paints on a deep red background. I bought one of her small painting off of Etsy recently because I like her loose style and her ability to render complex scenes with an abstract flair.
ReplyDeleteI like your trees. The dark base creates a nice depth that is probably tough to get otherwise. The farmhouse has a nice calm feeling about it. The chalky green reads true for me! We have a few of these city or foundation owned farmhouses in Colorado Springs as well. Hope you are staying cool in Texas! Take care, /Lee