I'm Still Standing - Oklahoma Barn sketch

"I'm Still Standing"

10" x 10"

This was a painting for a friend of mine of a barn close to her childhood home in Oklahoma. I painted it from a photo she provided. I hope I can do a little road trip one day and paint this plein air style. It's a great subject and I know I could see even more character in person.

I used Liquin and tried to give it a different look. I think my initial effort looked very nice and I was happy with the results, but the next day I went back into it and I "flattened" some of the cool depth it had. Sometimes, more is not necessary better. I never touch my plein air paintings after I get back home and I still struggle when I try to go back into a studio painting. Most of my real successful studio works are finished in one sitting too.

Tornados, John Budicin and Phthalo Green!!

"Bluebonnet Storm"

9 x 12

This was a painting I did during a recent workshop with painter John Budicin. I attempted this with John's recommended colors added to my palette, plus I used all round brushes like he does. I had added Thalo Yellow Green, Phthalo Green, Dioxazine purple & Cad. Yellow Orange and was using many of them for the first time. The Phthalo Green was creeping into all of my colors and I couldn't wait to remove it! Normally my only green is Sap Green. John uses these colors to modify his basic mixtures. 

The hardest thing John did for me to get used to was painting the sky first and moving outward and painting light to dark, both of which are the opposite of my normal approach.

I struggled, but wanted to share anyway. By the way, my previous post was also painted during the same day and I used the same approach for that one.

ps I named this "Bluebonnet Storm" because that was the same week we had a reported fourteen tornado's hit Texas that day. We heard sirens go off from miles away. My wife called me and informed us that tornado's where all around us. It was a pretty scary day for everyone, but I'm happy to say we all made it home safe.

Here is a shot of John Budicin enjoying his Texas weather. lol

Shady Character

"Shady Character"

9 x 12

I found this great truck sitting under a tree all by itself. The owner offered to sell it to me,

but I found a better way to take it home.  

Vintage Cars Rock!

"Hot Wheels"

11" x 14" oil

  I came from a family of old car lovers, so it was just a matter of time before I painted me some.
You can't beat the classic lines and all the chrome on the classics. I painted this from a photo reference, but my approach remains exactly the same. The challenge was getting all those lines and color down correctly. I tried to  keep most of the detail on the trunks and back windshields to help draw your eye there. The light on the roof was doing some cool stuff, but I downplayed that. I like how the warm shadow colors on the wall turned out. I'm learning that all my shadows don't have to be the same mixture and always cool.