Don't even THINK about it!

It has been a while since I posted any paintings here. I am painting... really... but most of the time I end up with a "wiper" or a "scraper" or as one painter calls them, a "frisbee." Since I paint on panels, you can take a bad painting and sail them into the woods like a frisbee. I have become a master at making toned canvases. Make a bad painting... wipe it off.

Case in point. I was painting with the Plein Air Nashville group near Cheekwood one Saturday morning several weeks ago. My first painting attempt wasn't going anywhere, so I wiped it down, and shifted my attention to the entrance of Cheekwood. I had just gotten things blocked in when I needed to leave. So I took a photo and continued painting from it later at home. I think I nailed having a focal point on this one! But a painting friend of mine told me I should have left out the sign. But that was the whole point. Oh, well...

As I walked up to the Do Not Enter sign, I saw that someone had added some reinforcing words to the empty space. I like it. : )

2009 painting #1

I took a couple of photos from the side of the road a while back. I thought I would try to turn one into a little painting. What caught my attention at the scene was the colorful orange grass on the hillside. I am convinced that a strong design is vital to a painting's success. So I did many little thumbnails where I played with the shapes and value pattern. I varied the sizes and the arrangement of the shapes. Finally I settled on the vertical format and made a 6"x8" painting. It's not a great painting... the brushwork is bad... among other things. But I think the design is working OK.





thumbnails (click to enlarge)

6"x8" oil on panel

Hay Bales

Hay Bales 6"x8" oil on panel

I have not had much time this summer to work on my painting chops. The last three or four times I have gone out to paint, have resulted in wipers. I stepped back at some point and got a good, objective look at my painting and decided that all the CPR in the world was not going to save it... so I wiped it off. I am getting quite good at creating toned panels, though. :0) I seem to be taking two steps forward and one step back in my painting progress. Or maybe one step forward and two steps back is more like it. Painting can be a struggle.

So... I decided to go back to basics. Many years ago I took some watercolor workshops from Tony Couch. In the workshops, Tony taught me all I know about design. It was good stuff. He also POUNDED into our heads that a painting needs a fast reading VALUE PATTERN. I seem to forget this when I am outdoors and dealing with the rapidly changing light conditions and other issues.

I looked through some pictures I took recently of some hay bales and settled on a couple of them. I did some little thumbnail sketches to see them in three values. These had a very obvious value pattern. A dark background with a mid-value field and some light bales of hay. Then I went about sticking to this value plan as I painted. I think I did... and it helped me come out with a more successful painting.

Value sketches for hay bales

Welcome

I am somewhat new to painting with oils. I am hoping that starting this blog will encourage me to paint more. We'll see...