Blue Heon Experiment: Part 4

At this point I feel pretty good about the body of the Heron and decide to begin adding the beach. I need to have this color note on the panel to help me decide if the Heron is looking complete or if it will need more work. Because the heron is mostly blues and grey, I wanted the sand to be warm. In the reference the sand is cool: white with a touch of blue and grey. This lacks contrast, plus I know the sky and water are going to be cool, so I decied to push the color and really go for a warm yellow.

Blue Heron Experiment: Part 3

Next I mix up the colors for the body of the Heron. I fill in the area with a cool gray and then lighten and add color on the panel. I then paint in the legs and start to add more detail.

Blue Heron Experiment: Part 2

Next I mix up a pile of paint for the dark areas. I fill in the shadow on the ground and the shdow areas of the Heron. Mxing up a warm orange I paint in the beak and add a little detail.

The Blue Heron Experiment: Part 1

I have been wanting to try a new stylized approach to painting some wildlife. Sort of a loose abstract but still maintaining some detail. A source of inspiration for this would be silk baltic paintings or even the "factal" effect of a stained glass window. This is a style I have been thinking of approaching for some time now and just decided to give it a go and see how it works out. I recorded each step along the way in a sort of tutorial of the process. More for my own benefit, to be able to look back and see how I created it. But, I thought it also be an interesting process for everyone else to see as well. So here it goes.

First I sketch out the design of the Heron using a Tuscany Red colored pencil. My ground for this is a 1/8" thick hardwood panel that I made myself. I usually only use my own panels cut from hardboard, sealed and primed.

Over the sketch I outlined the basic figure using Burnt Sienna, breaking the composition up into large shapes. I am working in oil, so I will let this dry overnight so that I can work on top of it without disturbing the original markings.
To the right of the panel you can see the photo reference I am using.

A couple more plein air's

I recently went to White Pines, Tennessee to visit my aunt and uncle who had just retired and build a home on Lake Douglas, just outside the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. What a spot! The lake is gorgious and is home to Osprey, Bald Eagles, Herrons and countless other creatures. I could spend a lifetime down there painting.
We went on a road trip through part of the Smokey's. We saw some incredible vistas and valleys. Even got lucky and spotted two Bull Elk in a field. All and all it was a fantastic trip and I hope to return soon and often.

This is the view from there waterfront property looking across the narrow part of the lake. The lake is much better than my dipiction of it. In the distance you can see the smokey mountains.

"Douglas Lake" 10x12 oil on panel




It painted this one a couple of days after we returned from our trip. This looking North-West of our back deck. I decided to paint this in grays to practice my values, plus to paint it quicker as another storm front was moving in overhead and it was threatening rain.

"Approaching Storm" 10x14, oil on panel

Here are a couple of plein air painting. This first one is a quick study I did before meeting a friend for some beers. This is at a local bike trail that runs along the Youghigheny River. This particular spot is in a small town called Little Boston. It was a nice spot to paint with lots of subject matter. I would like to get back there when I would have more time paint. This is a small 4x6 painting that I pounded out in about 30 minutes, including set-up.

"Little Boston Bridge" 4x6 oil on panel



This plein air was done in Polish Hill. I had painted the buildings to the right of this on another outing to this spot. Once agian, I had somewhere to be and was running out of time. There was a house right next to this on eon the left I had planned on painting but ran out of time. So I filled it in with sky and went on my way.

"Polish Hill Home" 10x12 oil on panel

This painting is a studio painting I did about a month ago. I was inspired to do a group of seagull paintings after re-reading "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach. This first attempt is nothing like I had envisioned in my mind. I got to trapped by the photo reference and was unable to pull my vision out of the reference.
I will revisit this later when I have a more solid image in my head of what I am trying to accomplish. But, for now, here is this one.

"Looking West" 10x14 oil on panel

I painted these back in May. My family and I went camping for the weekend at Ohiopyle. I ended up being a beautiful weekend and a fun trip. Although, camping with an 15 month old boy isn't the same as camping when it was just the two of us. He definitly keeps our hands full. My wife however, being the generous woman she is, took charge of him which allowed me to go paint in peace for a few hours. I went to a popular spot called "Cucumber Falls" to paint and found it to be an exhilerating place to paint. The thunder of the waterfall and the moisture in the air really helps to calm the nerves, relax and focus. Even though it was a very busy spot, with kids climbing all over the rocks and people taking pictures or just sitting around and watching me paint, it was also a calm and relaxing spot to paint. I definitly want to get back and paint this location again.

"Cucumber Falls" 10x14 oil on panel




This one is of a pop-up camper that was set up in the lot across the way from our camper.

"Camper In The Shade" 4x6 oil on panel

I have several "plein aire" paintings that I did over the course of the summer. At this point I can't remember the order in which they were painted.

This one was a fun one for me. It really helped me get over my fear of getting out there and painting in public. I painted this one during the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington DC. Lots of people were milling about the mall so I got to tackle that fear head on. My first time painting any transiant objects which was fun.

"National Mall" 8x10 oil on board



This is a quick study I did in my backyard. Not my best but I will show them all, the good, the bad abd the ugly.

"Pear Tree In Bloom" 8x10 oil on panel



I did this one on my deck in the back of the house. This was done mostly as a study to practice painting "sky holes" or those litle spots in trees where the sky can be seen through the branches.

"Pine Three's" 4x6 oil on panel

I have a lot of work that I need to post. It has been a busy summer and I haven't had the time to keep up with my blog. Before I post anything new I have some older work I would to post here.

The first is a Cheetah portrait. This is oil on canvas paper done in a thin wash with detailed layed on top.



The next one is from the same year. Both were done in 1995. Looking back at these two pieces I wonder why I didn't continue to paint. They are pretty good and had I kept up the tempo and been painting all along...I can only imagine how far ahead my skills would be now. It is a lesson learned, NEVER STOP PAINTING!

"Proud" oil on canvas paper

Falcon Portrait

I did this one a couple of weeks ago. I think this is heading in the right direction as far as style goes. I like the big chunky brush strokes. This on one of the canvases that I stretched and primed myself. I love the tooth of these and will have to make more. I dont know if it my imagination or not, but I seem to paint better on these.

10x14 Oil on stretched canvas

"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.

Bucking Bronco

It has been a while since I posted something here. The month has been crazy getting ready for the holidays and my son's first birthday party. I haven't done much painting this month. I did however finish this painting that I posted the underpainting of at the end of November. This painting ended up being a struggle and I scraped the paint off a couple of times. It was a real lerning experience and I gained some good knowledge from this one. Not completely satisfied with the outcome, but there are a lot of elements that I do like about this painting. This was done for my nephew as a Xmas gift. I built tha frame myself and was very happy with the way the frame turned out.

Oil on 12 x 14 panel.

A Reminder of the Past

Last Friday I went to visit my parents for the afternoon. I painted this in the backyard. This painting is of Pete's farm which bordered the property line of my parents. Growing up I spent a lot of time up at the farm. Going out with Pete to gather hay bails, building forts in the hay loft, messing with the cows, running from angry bulls, riding bikes through the pasture, drinking cool water from the spring on hot days. That farm and the woods bordering it where a big part of my childhood. Even though I lived in a small apartment with two other brothers in one room, having permission to hang out at the farm made me feel like I grew up in my own personal estate. Unfortunatly progress marches on, and the farm was sold a few years ago to a developer. They have already begun to build large homes on the property. I hope to get back and paint what is left of the pastures before they are all gone.

I am pretty happy with the way this painting turned out. Painting is about creating an illusion of depth, light and form on a flat surface. As a painter I am creating shapes and color using brushstrokes to acheive that illusion. I feel, I have made a succesful painting when I buy into my own illusion. I still see a lot of "painting" mistakes, but for the most part I just see the subject as it is presented in it's enviroment. This was paintedfor my Nephew Logan as a christmas gift. He is big into John Deere tractors right now. I am also doing a bucking bronco for his brother Collin, who is big into rodeo stuff now.




"John Deere" 12 x 14 Oil on panel


This is a snapshot of the black and white underpainting.


Paintin...

Paintin...

I Did this a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to play around with an industrial theme and I came across a photo of a welder that had some great light in it. Most of the painting was done in one sitting. After I let it dry I came back and added in the sparks coming off the welding torch.




"Welder" 10 x 12, Oil on panel

Painting...

Finally got a chance to scan the paintings Ive done for the "Essence of Pittsburgh" plain air worksop I am taking. I can feel myself getting better and better each time I complete a painting. Some of Ron's techniques I struggle with, but I am taking some of what I am learning with Ron and what I already know and sort of mixing up my own technique. That style doesn't appear in these painting, as I am trying to stay true to Ron's technique for the learning value of it. I have a new painting on the easle that is definitly more my style.

This tree was from the first class. I only spent about an hour and a half on this. I really struggled with the color as this was the first time I ever used a limited palette.

8x10 Oil on panel


This ally scene is from the second class. Unfortunatly it was pouring down rain that day and we weren't able to get outside. Instead Ron brought a painting in that he had completed earlier and we followed along as he walked us through his process. I was situated under bad light and wasn't able to see the details of his painting. So most of it is plain and most of the detials are made up. After his demo I went up to take a closer look at the paintin and realized that I got it all wrong. But, all in all it was a great lesson.

8x10 Oil on Panel


This painting, from the third class was outside in Polish Hill. This was lookiing across a three way intersection towards a bar at the crest of a hill. I dont like the color much. I was too focused on the color and forgot to place importance on the value of the light. The whole painting looks rather flat.

8x10 Oil on Panel