Another Shadow

Hello!

Today is a big painting day for me. Here is the final shadow for the second large piece I have going. The clouds are finished and we are just waiting to put color on. I have started adding green to the large evergreen piece and it is looking fabulous. I shall have some lunch and then it's flower time on that piece. I tried to photograph the trees so far but they are freshly wet and all you see are bad reflections in the camera. We're going to need to be patient I guess!

Have a great week!

Until next time...

Wow!

Wow! It's finished and it is pretty fantastic (if I should say so myself!). I figured the foreground would be hard to negotiate but I must have been in the mode for it - it just came to life more and more with every stroke. Now it just needs to dry!!! I've titled it "Early Evening Radiance."

Tomorrow we will be heading to Chicago again. This will be the last trip to that area for this season. I will be at Highland Park this weekend and Oak Brook next weekend. I've got to keep packing.

Until next time...

Wet paint

I'm back!

I decided to work on the sky for the sister piece to the big sky while the sky colors were still good. This was fun because it had different kinds of clouds than the big one. It was a nice change of pace! I am planning a lone tree and a meadowed hill at the bottom of this beautiful and quite colorful sky. Now, I need to get back to the the big sky and this one will dry. Chris caught me in action and it also is a great shot of how my paintings are painted around the sides!

Until next time...

More paint

Hello!

Today I am back in the studio and I am working on the monster painting we are following, "the big sky." I was able to finish the sky and the under painting for my trees and meadow area. Today I get to work on those trees and meadow areas. I have plenty of space to work with!! I should be back later today with more!

Until next time...

The Big Sky

Good Afternoon!

Introducing a new follow a painting! For the moment, I am calling this one The Big Sky because it is probably my most ambitious painting of the summer. This painting is 60" wide by 40" tall. It is inspired once again from the beautiful evening skies I have been witnessing. It will probably be similar in subject matter and ambiance of the Yellow Sky we followed earlier in the month. I am sure the sky alone will take a good 8-12 hours but I can't wait to see how it goes! Here is a picture of the under painting. This is now dry and ready for it's magic! I will keep you posted!!

Until next time...

Finished For Now

Hello!

My sister and I walked our 8 miles this morning. It was a beautiful cool morning. Of course, I didn't bring my camera and there were so many great morning scenes this morning! Perhaps I'll have to find another morning to go take pictures!

One great thing about an early morning out is that I've already gotten to paint! Here is the final look at my mountain scene with the flowered meadow finished. I am very happy with how it finished out. It is 36" wide and 18" tall.

Which painting will we follow next? I think I will figure that out tomorrow when I get the whole day to get some painting done. I will keep you posted!

Until next time...

The Missing Picture

Good Morning!

I thought I would try to post the photo of the sky and shadows for the big painting I will be working on today. Here it goes.

Until next time...

Follow a Yellow Sky

Good Evening!

Hope this post finds you well. I don't have a lot to report from the studio today because I am finally actually making my way there. Today turned out to be the typical run errands and take care of business Monday. However, I am able to show you the next step of my Yellow Sky. I have been calling this layer of my paintings my "shadows." Why? Well, this particular layer has a tendency to be in shades of purple and basically just outlines where everything will go in the following layer when I get all the other colors mixed and ready to go. I feel like I'm creating their shadows, thus the term. Here you see the tree shadows and have a good idea of where the meadows will be painted. It keeps me from having to worry about composition and details all at the same time! Enjoy. I hope to show the last layer of this piece really soon. I want it to be featured at my next show.

Until next time...

Finishing Clouds

Hello!

Tonight I finished the last of the skies I had started in this series of paintings, well all but the two that still refuse to dry! Since one of those that won't dry is the wooded view we were going to follow, lets follow a different meadow view instead. This one has the new colored skies I mentioned the other day. You are looking at the finished sky. Tomorrow I will be able to show the tree and meadow "shadows." Actually almost all of my paintings have their shadows as well. When those are dry, I get to show off finished paintings!! Can't wait!

Until next time...

More Paintings!

Good Evening!

Just wanted to check in between brush stokes. I've been working on more skies today as I cycle through paintings. Because I use similar colors in many of my skies, I am able to use the same batch of paint for several paintings so that I am not constantly mixing the same colors over and over. So, this is a picture of the drying table as it looks right now. All of these paintings will be ready for their final colors soon.

Until next time...

Colorful Update

Hello!

I am still waiting for some layers to dry on the three paintings we are following closely so today I worked on others on the agenda. These included the second layer of paint for those colorful skies I showed you a while back. Remember? I know it's been a few days but here are the tree shadows for a couple of the sunset/ sunrise skies I was playing with. So far pretty nice. I have a couple larger skies planned that have some yellow in them like the starting of a setting sun. I can't wait to see how they look. I have another whole day to paint tomorrow so I should have more progress to show then!

Until next time...

More Progress

Hello!

Today has been a nice quiet day of painting. Here is a progress shot of Round Bails. I have finished the under painted sky. I have also worked on a sky under painting for a wooded view scene.

Until next time...

Follow the round bails

Good Evening!

I am about to test your multi-tasking skills! I have just designed, planned, and wired about 10 canvases to work on in a series. The subjects vary from round bails, to wooded views, to wide open fields. They will each have clouds and this paticular series includes several large sized canvases, the largest 36 x 48! We will not follow ALL of them because I think that could get rather nutty. However, we may attempt to follow two or three at a time.

Tonight I am showing you step two of the round bail sketch I drew yesterday. Here I have transfered the design onto the canvas with a simple line drawing in acrylic grey paint. The next step will be the under painting which I hope to get to tomorrow. This painting will be 15 inches tall and 30 inches wide.

I am also showing you the second barn drawing that I talked about yesterday. I loved the character that this old barn had. I am also playing with the persective of the field in foreground. I love looking at the rows upon rows of crops in a large field. Anyway, here is the preliminary sketch. This painting will be 30 inches tall and 40 inches wide. It's a big one!

Tonight I am working on a couple more sky under paintings since I have plenty of blues mixed. I have 5 rather big shows coming up so I really have to get a bit finished. Be back tomorrow!

Until next time...

Sketching Day

Hello!

Today was the drive back to Ohio. While Chris drove, I was able to go through some of my new photographs and start composing some scenes that I would like to paint. Above is a scan of my first sketch today (click on the picture for a more detailed look, then click the back arrow to return to the blog). I combined an image I took of round bails and drew in with them an image I found of a barn that had round bail stored inside. I like the idea of having bails inside and outside a man made structure. I have two ideas for barn scenes and this is the first. The other I am still solving the foreground on. I have an image in my head but it is a little stubborn making it onto paper! Tonight I will attempt to solve that issue. I will then project the images on canvases so I can start painting.

Until next time...

New Stuff!

Hello!

Wow! It has been a fabulous couple of days for getting things complete! This was one of those times where the eight things that are started and seem to take forever all of a sudden are done all at once!! Let's see, what shall I show off? Well, I did finish the one round bail painting I mentioned earlier and I also finished another set of evergreens. Those are the sneak peaks here! The round bails are titled "Quiet Day in the Field." This painting measures 12" high by 24" wide. It just seems so still and peaceful to me. The evergreens are a part of a series titled "Secret Hideaway." This painting is 12" high by 9" wide. I remember as a kid running into the evergreens and thinking I entered a whole other world!

I also have a new series of giclee prints made for some of my new work. More about them soon. They will be my new special feature in my booth at Westerville. I will launch the new series officially as soon as I can get the paperwork figured out and printed... stay tuned...

Until next time...

And I'm Back!

Good Evening! Chris and I have returned from a lovely trip to Toledo. I thought I may send the latest update on the cloud progress on my flag painting. After I get all the shapes laid in with the white paint, I am able to blend in other colors with the white to create the depth of the cloud and the detailed shapes within the cloud. Here is a close up of some cloud details. Until next time...

Happy Saturday!

Hello!

Welcome to anyone who may be new on my blog from Toledo! This weekend I am showing and selling my paintings at the Crosby Gardens in Toledo. I've had a lot of cards go out so thanks for coming to visit my blog! And thanks to all you loyal readers as well... good to chat at you again.

I got to paint at the show today and I started another sky there. I believe it will become a grassy knoll. However, we started following my flag yesterday and I am able to show you the next step. This is showing how I laid out all the cloud shapes before delving into the details. It is easy to do this when I have the dark purple background. When I start with a white canvas, I paint the blue sky first to leave behind the white cloud shapes. This is time I sort of went backwards. It's nice to switch it up sometimes! It will also be interesting to see if the skies have a different feel with this new technique.

Until next time...

New Follow a Painting

Good Morning!

I rushed off to paint last night so I thought I'd show you the beginning of what is anticipated a pretty fantastic painting. It is a new theme I have not painted in the past. Of course, it includes a pretty elaborate sky but the subject is new and patriotic. When we were in Glencoe, Chris took some great pictures of the town's flag against the, at that time, beautiful clouds of the day. It was very inspiring so I composed my favorite sky picture of the day against my favorite flag picture and you will see what I come up with the next few days. The canvas is 24 inches high and 36 inches wide. I painted the entire canvas a deep purple like I did my dogwood last week. I drew the flag out on a piece of contact paper and glued the flag where I wanted it on the canvas. Here you see the flag glued on and the palette of colors I will potentially be using for the sky. This is the clean, fresh version of the palette! I was trying to remember how many different tube colors I used total for all these shades of blue and purple... I think I have several combinations of about 9 different colors (of course, not all at once!!). Soon we'll see how those colors become a sky!

Until next time...

Finished Hay Field

Hello!

I thought I would get a quick word out and show you a final picture the hay field I showed you started the other day. I ended up painting two versions and they both turned out really nice. I like the character these rolls of hay have. I want to paint one a little larger so I can really play with the texture of the hay and have more room for the tree line and maybe, just maybe a barn! Hmmm... so many ideas and so little time!!

Okay, I've been putting off painting all day to get other errands and chores done so I HAVE to get in the studio! I may or may not be a little absent this weekend. Chris and I are headed to Toledo for the Crosby Gardens Art Festival. If you are from this area, stop by and see my work in person. I would love to meet a new blog reader!

Until next time...

Follow a Hay Field

Good Evening!

Today was a beautiful day and I took great advantage of it! My father and I took a little road trip through rural Ohio today. He was looking for wild life and I was scouting out beautiful scenes to paint. I was able to get some very inspiring pictures of wheat fields and old buildings with character and some lazy rolling hills. So, don't be surprised if you see some of them soon as I start painting new scenes. Tonight I am showing you the finished sky and the under painting for some hay rolls. This was a very popular theme in the past but I'm not sure I've ever followed any with you. I start out with shades of purple to later compliment the golds that will be painted on top. Tomorrow, I should be able to show the finished piece.

Until next time...