21st Painting - What a view

Once a year the country seat holds a festival to celbrate the life of James Whitcom Riley. He was a famous not only hoosier poet, but from Greenfield, the county seat. During this yearly festival they hold an art show/contest. (If you've read my posts from last year, you've seen I entered two last year and one 3rd and honerable mention. ) There is a theme each year and they all come from titles of poems that Riley wrote. This year's theme was " from a balloon". The theme is how I came up with this painting.

Reference photo:

And the painting:

20th Painting Butterfly on Coneflower

Ok, I know, months without an update and now 2 in one day, all I can say is I was busy painting... Priorities an all...

My 20th painting is one that I just had to paint. I love butterflies . I love flowers. This reference photo had both. (My thanks to whoever posted it in the wetcanvas reference library)

It's not a large painting, but it still took a bit of time. I was striving for a translucent looks to the wings. I'm not sure I accomplished it, but I do like it a lot anyway.

8" x 10"

19th Painting

The only thing my daughter-in-law asked for for her birthday is a family photo be painted.

This is the result.

It took several months but she is very happy with the result and so am I.

18th Painting - Hancock County Iron Bridge

My second attempt at plein air sent me to the boon-docks. I was to meet the rest of the plein air group at 9am at the bridge. The only address I had was 900s sout of 500 east. The only problem with that is that this particular intersection is right on the edge of 3 counties, so depending on which direction you are comming from, the signage said a different thing! I finally arrived about 9:30. As you can imagine from the painting, although it was a beautiful day, with the tree canapy, the lighting made it seam almost dusky. This sounds kind of gloomy, but the way the light was hitting the bridge was dramatic. (It did, however, make choosing my paint colors difficult. )

I once again learned some lessons for the next time I go out. #1 - bring bug spray. I think I spent more time swatting bugs (2 or 3 at a time), then actually painting. And #2 - bring your mahl stick. You never know when your run into a sign that needs lettering and for me, I need that stability to get good lettering.

One really cool thing that happened, after we had been painting for a while, a deer walked across, just past the bridge. It walk to the middle, turned looked at us for a few minutes then casually walked off. I just knew it was thinking... what are you doing here? After it left we were all very excited and stopped painting for a bit as we all had to comment on the deer. One of the artists got a few photos. Another artist has incorporated the deer into her painting. I don't paint that quickly, so it is not in mine, but I do think it is quite neat!

As I stated before, the lighting was better at this stop than my 1st plein air, so I like this finished painting better than the first. I feel I still need some work on my greens though. Next time I'll do better. Besides I still have a long way to go before I'm suppose to judge weather or not I'm good or not. 82 more paintings to be exact!

17th painting -FORTVILLE GRAIN

Do you remember that song back when you watched Sesame Street ..."one of these things is not like the other"? Well, no 17 is that one. Up to this point I've painted still lifes, animals and a run of portraits, but no landscapes. I decided to do something about this. A local art gallery has a plein aire group and I joined it. Once a month, in the warmer months they get together as a group and go paint. Plein aire implies completed in one setting. So during this outing we have about 3 hours to set up, sketch, and paint something.

I generally paint very slowly, so this was to be a big challenge in just in completing it in the time allowed. It is also my first landscape. Then throw in, just for good measure, it was a dark and grey day. Oh, and one more thing, it is a grey building!

I had never been to this small town where we were to meet. The directions I had been given would have been ok if I knew were anything was, but I didn't! We were set to start at 9am. I finally found the place about 9:20. Then I set up and didn't actually get started until about 9:30.

Painting out doors is new to me, so really enjoyed that. Unfortunately, there is one thing I hadn't considered. Lack of restrooms. I had wanted to be really awake and alert for this expedition so I fully drank a whole pot of coffee before leaving the house. This mistake won't happen again!

About 11am I needed to use the restroom. By about 11:30 had really had to go. I could have packed it all up and found a bathroom and come back, but my chances of getting exactly the same angle again were really pretty low, so I continued on.

By noon I was not alone in needing a restroom. And by 12:30 I believe there was lots of hurrying to finish so everyone could find a bathroom. Keep in mind all the angles in the building we were painting. This was not an easy subject!

The project was set to wind up around 1pm, but around 12:45 we started packing up so we could go find our respective bathrooms.

So that's how my first plein aire painting was completed. "FORTVILLE GRAIN" is not like the others for many reasons. It's a landscape, it was not painted from reference photos, it was painted plein aire, and it is by far the quickest painting I've done! All in all, I don't think it bad. Though I'm told "you are an artist, you never think it is good enough!" I still think next time I'll drink a lot less coffee before I go.

16th Painting

I have a grand-daughter. 5 sons and finally a grand-daughter. Love the sound of it! It doesnt hurt that she is beautiful either! See for yourselves!

the painting - Shea Meadow on 8" x 10" oil on canvas

15th painting

I got the reference photo for this one on wetcanvas. I fell instantly in love with the little guy. Getting the light right took some time and tons of adjustments but I am happy with it now.

Chipmunk in the woods on 8" x 10" oval canvas