"Bridge over red rock" 12x14 oil on panel

My latest painting. Did this last weekend. Pretty happy with the way it turned out. Probably my "cleanest" painting yet. This was taken from a photo reference I got online. The photo (of the painting) has a lot of glare on it which is altering the color. It is not as bright as the photo is, more true to life. When it is fully dry I will try to get a good scan of this.

Spent the weekend prepping some new panels. Cut down a 48x96 sheet of hardboard to various sizes. I got a total of 39 panels. It was a lot of work but I figured I would take the time and prep a whole sheet, which will keep me stocked for some time.

Pittsburgh from Schenley Park

Painted a couple of Saturdays ago on Saint Patty's Day. It was a sunny day but way cold out. I set up next to a stand of pine trees, above the ice rink. Thought that was smart as it would block the wind. Big mistake! The wind would blow across a big berm next to the ice rink and pick up the snow only to dump it across my palette and paint panel. Good thing I was working in oil! So, being that it was so cold and I was beig pelted with snow, I only worked on this for about 30-40 minutes. This is my first plein air with a limited, three color, palette. Alizarin Crimson, Cadnium Orange hue and Thalo Blue. Only used two brushes for this, Filberts #8 and #4. Would have used some brights (would have made squaring off the buildings easier), but I forgot them at home. I may return to this spot and do a spring and summer version of this view.

8x10, oil on panel

Back Off!

I completed this painting about two weeks ago. It is a return to a style I was playing with back in the late 90's. You can see an example of this in the "Mountain Lion" painting that is posted on my paintings blog: http://daveraselpaintings.blogspot.com/ I am trying to get an abstract/graphic look in the background, balanced with an impressionism/realism look to the animal. I think it could work well, just a matter of getting that balance between the two. I am pretty happy with the way this painting turned out. I think I really captured the expression on the falcon's face. This is oil on stretched canvas, 12x24.



Here is a detail shot of the falcon's head:


The following is my second attempt at this style. I was trying to get more motion on the canvas with this one. This is oil on stretched canvas, 16x20.



This was an interesting experience with canvas for me. The first one, "Back Off!", was painted on a canvas that I prepared myself. I started with raw 12oz. cotton duck canvas. I stretched it then prepped the surface with rabbit skin glue sizing. This stuff is amazing. It pulled the canvas tight as a drum. I then primed the canvas with Oil gesso, applied with a palette knife. The second painting "Bird of Prey" was done on a store bought canvas. The difference between the two blew me away. Granted, the store bought one was a cheap Michael's brand, but the application of paint on the two was so dramatically different. The paint flowed so nice and smooth on the one I stretched. The store bought canvas took much more work to get the paint to stick. I think it shows in the painting itself. Lesson learned.

Had a good couple of weeks. I got three new painting I am anxious to post. Need to wait for the paint to dry to get a good pict. Two are in studio and one is plein air.

I am really getting anxious for the weather to change. This will be my first spring doing plein air paintings and I cant wait to get out. I have been scouting locations all winter.

The first painting I completed has a thread at wet canvas. The image isn't that good being that there is glare on it. Here is the link:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5468445#post5468445

Art is like a hayride...

Did you ever go for a ride in a hay trailer? Pulled by a big farm tractor across dusty, bumpy dirt roads through a farm pasture? This is what the creative flow feels like. When I am completely engaged it is like sitting on the wooden bench in the back of a hay trailer. Tractor spews some smoke as it jumps into gear and lurches forward. Slow at first. Then it begins to pick up speed. I am sitting there enjoying the scenery and the blissful gently bouncing hypnosis of the trailers movement. But then it begins to pick up speed and the gentle bouncing turns into a rough bucking. The ruts under the wheels deepen and knock me from the bench. I get back to my seat and hang on for the ride. It's fun but you got to hold on. Then it gets real rough. The trailer is kicking and bucking hard now. I can barely hold on. The dust is kicking up and I am choking on the foul air. Kicking and bouncing, moaning and creeking, I get bounced to the back of the trailer. Thr tractor is speeding up heading down a pasture path. Half seated, half standing trying to remain on the trailer it hits a hard lump of dry earth. Throwing me up in the air I grab onto the back gate as I tumble over the side. Hanging on for dear life, dust in my face, teeth rattling, I am being drug along like a rag doll. Unable to hang on anymore I let go and crash into the hard earth rolling to a stop in the middle of the path. The tractor and wagon rolls on, bouncing and kicking till it is out of sight.
Thrilled with the excitement of the energy yet dissapointed that I couldn't hold onto it. Laying there I wonder if I will get to experience that again. But I have learned that if I stand up, brush myself off and start walking, another trailer will be by soon.

Top Ten Moments

All of the artwork is finally complete for the top ten materials moments.
This was an interesting project to work on. Each moment required some research to find specific items, or historic accuracy. Because of time restraints I couldn't complete each moment as a whole illustration. So to save time i created only on "sheild" drawing and compiled the sheild image together with the individual moments after inking and scanning. I also added the background texture to this composite, using Photoshop to bring them all together.

So here are the moments. Click on the image below to see a rotating gif file: