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.

This is what is on my easel currently. This is a painting for my nephew who loves rodeos. Especially the bucking bronco.
This is the underpainting which is a wash of oil on a 12x14 panel. I am pretty happy with the positioning of the elements but worry that the lack of connection from the bronco to the figures on the right breaks up the composition. I will probably drop the figure sitting on the fence being that he is so close to edge that a frame will cover part of him. Also I don't think it really adds anything to the composition and if anything is distracting.

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

Plein Air Paintin...

I joined the PAPWP group on Sunday the 8th at Phipps Conservatory. It ended up being a beautiful day and the gardens were a great place to paint. This painting is from the side gardens looking out across Panther Hollow to the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. 10 x 12 Oil on panel.



This one was a quick grab of some purple flowers that were to my right. I don't recall the name of the flowers(I need to start carrying a notebook to jot down notes),but I had just finished with the Cahtedral painting and a nice beam of sunlight was shining on these purple flowers and the scene was so dramatic. So I moved my easel and started to paint them. Unfortunatly as quickly as the sun hit the flowers, it just as quickly went away. Iwas in a bad position as the sun was behind filtering through a tree. So everything would either be in complete shadow or direct sunlight, depending on how the tree branches moved. So I only spent about fifteen minutes on this. Quick and dirty. 10 x 12 Oil on panel

Paintin...

This is a "plein air" painting I did in the studio(if you can do such a thing). I painted this from a photograph I pulled up on my computer. Even though this is inside, I approached it as if I was painting outside. I spent about two hours on this.
Mostly brush work with some knive painting to ge the crest of the waves and the pier. I also used the knife to create the shadows coming across the beach from the right. I like working with the knife but it is definitly going to take practice to get used to it.

Sketchin...

I have been wanting to do some figure studies for a while now. Just doing the plein air painting is keeping my hands full, but I managed to squeeze this one out in a couple of sittings. I came across this photo from a California photographer. I would love to paint some figures from his work. He has a great sense of dramatic lighting that really highlights the body.
The sketch took about 20 minutes to complete. Finishing it in Conte' crayon took about an hour and a half.

Sketchin...

Here is a recent sketch of some profiles. These are from magazines I sketched from while sitting in front of the tv.

Ramblin...

Phew! Time flys by when you are not looking. Been thirteen days since my last post.
I started the "Essence of Pittsburgh" en plein air workshop this past Saturday.
Was fun and very educational. I think I am going to learn a lot from Ron. The group was small, maybe eight people, which was nice as it kept the one-on-one time more personal. Very nice group of artists and I look forward to painting with them all again next Saturday. First Ron talked about his pallete set up and color choices. We are using a limited pallete of Thalo Green, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Yellow Lemon and Titanium White.
Okay, it doesn't sound so limited, but when I was trying to capture the color of a tree trunk before the sun moved and the color changed, I panicked and struggled. I just wanted to grab a tube of Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre. But that is the point of taking this class, to learn something new and paint a little differently than I normally do. I actually like the limited pallete, as it forces me to learn better color mixing skills. I plan to create some color charts this week using that pallete.
After discussing his pallete and basic set up for painting outdoors, Ron did a demonstration and explained some of the difficulty and challanges of painting outdoors. Not only dealing with the elements and people, but mainly how you have to quickly capture the light of the scene before it changes.
After Ron's demo we had about 45 minutes of time left so he let us loose and we took up positions through the grounds of the art center and painted. I will post a photo soon. I have about 3 painting to post, just waiting for an oppurtunity to photograph them.

Been a while since I last posted, so I thought I should check in. Been hard to find the time to create art. I did get out this past sunday with the plein air group. I completed two paintings, one in hast as I was losing light. I think I improved some in my brush work, but I am still struggling with color mix and temerature.
Saturday we went to the Lawranceville art crawl, which was interesting. Highlight of the walking tour was stopping by Ron Donohue's studio. His work was georgeous in person and i cant wait to start the workshop he is teaching at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

I will post my paintings from Sunday as soon as I get a chance.

Heres my plein air from Sunday. I am still having trouble getting good pictures, but this will work.
This is the playground across the street from my house. It was an overcast day, but every ten minutes or so the sun would break through and gave me some nice shadows.
I tried to limit my palette to the following colors: Ultramarine Blue, Cadnium Yellow Light, Burnt Umber, Alizarin Crimson, Titanium White and Ivory Black. I am still trying to wrap my brain around color temperature, I understand it, but it tends to get lost on me during the painting process. I will post this on wetcanvas for some advice. I am sure someone will be able to advise me on how to warm up the painting, being that it is mostly cool colors.

Paintin...

I wasn't going to post the painting I did on my first plein air outing. But after thinking about I thought what the hell, I will post it. Even though I do not like this painting, the whole point of starting this blog in the first place was to track my progress and progression as an artist. I am actually starting to like this painting. The reason being that I can look at it now and see all of the things that need to be improved, or how I could have done it better. So, I am learning a lot from this painting and, from that outing. There is another plein air outing coming up this Sunday, and being that it is a bi-week for the Steelers (they generally meet at 2:00, an hour into game time), I am planning on attending.

This is oil on 10 x 12 panel. It is a view from Mt. Washington looking down the Monongahela river valley ( Monongahela is a Lenape[Native American] word for "High bluffs", or "falling banks"). The Southside of Pittsburgh is on the right.

I hope to return in a year and paint the same scene to see how much progress I have made.

Sketchin...

Haven't done much sketching this past week. I took a look at the image from this weeks drawing thread at wetcanvas. I loved the image so much I decided in stead of sketching it, I would try to paint it. This is oil on a 10 x12 panel. It took about 2 hours or so to complete. My egg shapes are funny, but I think I captured the light pretty good.

I added a new playing card painting to my painting blog.
Click here or the link on the right.
I have two more (#4 and #5) complete, just waiting for them to dry so I can scan them and post. I also completed a 10x12 oil that I will post as soon as I am able to either scan, or take a good picture of it.

I have been so consumed with painting that I haven't given any time for sketching. I haven't
had a chance to participate in the drawing forum over at WetCanvas. Bums me out cause I like to keep my drawing skills sharp. In the meantime, I have done a little work on the "etching" project that was discussed on an earlier post. Here is the start of a "logo" that will be used for the "Greatest Materials Moments" event.

Paintin'...

Well I went out on my first plein air adventure yesterday. I found out about a local group (Plein Air Painters of Western Pennsylvania) that meets every Sunday at various locations. So I thought I would give it a shot and packed up my paints and headed out. I was nervous about attending being that I have no experience painting in plein air, but with much encouragment and support from Kate, I braved it. Glad I did because it was a good experience. Yesterday the location was at the Mt. Washington overlooks. It was nerve racking being that there is a lot of scenery to take in, and being that it was a beautiful day, a lot of people about.

There were 4 members of PAPWP that day. They were very encouraging and greeted me with a warm welcome. Ron was a great guy and I hope to join them as often as I can. I haven't decided if I am going to post my painting from that day, I think it is quite terrible. I will look at it again and see if it strikes me after the fact.

Sketchin...

Here are a couple of sketches I did sitting around the campfire this past weekend.
These are headshots I sketched from a Magazine my wife had with her.

Plein Air...

Here is my first attempt at a plein air painting. This a view of the campground we where staying at. It is more of a rough sketch than a complete painting. The brushes I was using were horrible(cheap brushes in a canvas roll from Michaels), and I never finished the foreground. Got to start somewhere though.
I think I did a good job of capturing the light, but the color and composition are not so good.

I really need to come up with a better way of taking pictures. Again, sorry for the blurry pict.

Pochade Box...

Two weekends ago I spent the day building this pochade box. This is a mock up I built using a picture of a Guarilla Box as reference. This one is built using MDF and holds five 10x12 panels. I will build one out of hardwood once I feel that the dimensions and features are to my satisfaction.
It was fun to build, but I doubt that the MDF will hold up over time. I went on a camping trip this past weekend and got to use it. Will post those picts next.