Different Strokes Painting - NYSE

Wow, Karin gave us a real tough subject to work from this week - this picture of the NYSE. I had a hard time deciding on how to tackle this challenge. Finally, I cropped a section of the photo and played with the contrast to get the view below:
I still found it to be very intimidating to even start this painting, so I tried an old trick some teachers use on reluctant students. I turned the page upside down and just tried to paint the shapes, lights, darks, without regard to if they were a guy's head, leg or a computer monitor. Still tough! My first pass, I thought was failing, so I left it to dry for a couple hours. Right before bedtime, I thought I'd look at it to see how it turned out. Mmmm, it had promise! So I added a few more strokes and called it done! It's not as vibrant as the cropped photo, but I think you can feel the anxiety and rush on the NYSE trading floor:

Plein Air Saturday - Infirmary Mound

Met the plein air group today near Granville Ohio at the Infirmary Mound park. Worked in pastel again. First shown is my work and following is the photo of the scene - then some other shots. The light changed fast today. Probably one of the last days this year to get outside to work.

Watercolor Class - Girl with Cookie Study

I took lots of great photos on Saturday at Slate Run park. This was a cropped portion of one. I painted this in class last night as a study for a future painting. I love the bucket and pump area, but overworked most of the rest of it.

Different Stroke Painting of the Week

This week's challenge from artist Karin Jurick's blog. This was a tough one. Not my best work! But its all about the process, not the product! I mirrored and manipulated her photo to get this view.

Plein Air Saturday

Got together with a group of plein air painters this morning. Here is the link to photos taken by one of the group:

Ohio Plein Air painted today at Slate Run Historic Farm

Check out the pictures at www.ohiopleinair.com

And then click on PAINTING SESSIONS And the top entry “Slate Run Historic Farm”

Here is the pastel I produced and a photo of the scene (although a slightly different view):

Paintings of the Week

This week's pastel inspired by a photograph from artist Karin Jurick's blog. I'm really happy with this one.
This is a watercolor of the same layout. I am struggling with the watercolors. Hmmm..

Pastel - Iris at Pond

SOLD - Dec 2012

Iris on the edge of a pond, with algae and reflection at the top. Did I pull it off?
Not sure if the reflection on the right side reads right..... Reference photo is below:

Pastel - Newspaper Man

This week's pastel inspired by a photograph from artist Karin Jurick's blog. Seems like I'm having much better luck creating pastels than watercolors. They are opposites in the way you approach lights and darks, and perhaps that is why the pastels seem more logical to me.

Ike Art - Pastel of Beach

More "Ike Art". Our power came back on after 24hrs, but no cable. So I sat down and did this pastel inspired by a photograph from artist Karin Jurick's blog.

Ike Art - Pastel of Peaches

The remnants of Hurricane Ike came through here yesterday. No power from 5pm on, they said it may be days before everyone's power is back. I work 3 miles from home, and luckily (??) they have power, so I came in, since obviously there is nothing to do at home.

After my power went out, I decided to try to work on this pastel with the light from the windows. I kept adding brighter colors because it looked so dull in the dim light. Looks pretty good today. Guess that is one way of getting used to actually seeing the lights and darks in your composition!

Watercolor Class - Grey Scale Study

Assignment in class was to use Lamp Black to create a grey scale study.

Frustrating Watercolors - Hen And Chicks

Grrr! Watercolors!
This is a 10-footer: looks ok from a distance, but don't look too closely!

Watercolor Sunday

A couple extreme watercolors - attempting to be more dramatic. Seem over-worked to me in person, but they look pretty good online.

Painting of the Week - Inniswood Herb Garden

Experimented with sketching with a Sharpie instead of a pencil -which means no erasing. I do like the graphic quality of the black lines. Makes it look more like an illustration. I like the right side of the painting with the tall bushes and the violet behind. I had problems under the big tree.

Pastel - Crestone Peaks, Colorado

Hard to photograph this one, it's 8" x 20". Too long for the scanner. Click pic for larger view.

Monnett Garden

Went up to Delaware to meet friend Diane to paint outside last night. We met at the Monnett Garden across from the Arts Castle. Lots of flowers. She was painting in oils and I tried my hand at pastels. These are tiny - 3x5. Although we met at 6pm, the light changed fast and it was cloudy and we had to pack up about 8pm. Dusk is coming much quicker now....

Painted Pear

This is a watercolor, painted using the pastel pear as reference. It was alot harder to paint. I think I like the pastel better.

Pair of Pastel Pears

FINALLY. Back in the groove. This was a pear from the ancient pear tree at Red Bank. I took some photos with extreme lighting. Instead of printing these out, I used the photo on the computer screen and painted with pastels. I LOVE these. Maybe I will try using the same photos but use watercolor instead.

Click on picture to view larger.

My photo:

My pastel painting:My photo:

My pastel painting:

Red Bank Boat Launch

Another frustrating evening painting. On a bright note, we were surrounded by about 30 mallard ducks (yes and a few Canada geese) who talked to us while we painted. There was also an ancient pear tree that was loaded with ripe fruit. Never saw a pear tree that large in my life. Hmmm. Guess I should have painted pears...

Use it or Lose It

Back to Stan's class last night. We met in the Galena town square and painted outside. It was hot and very humid. Not my favorite weather. I couldn't find too much in the scenery that inspired me, so I went for this view closer up. Not my best work but as they say, Use it or Lose it. Practice practice practice...

Class Week 4 - Blue Limestone Park

Last week for the Delaware Parks Plein Air class. We were at the Blue Limestone Park where the stones for the Arts Castle building were mined. A lovely park hidden away within Delaware. If you don't know its there, you'd never find it.

My pastel is the first picture below, followed by the photo of the inspiration.

Class Week 3 - Hogback Ridge Preserve

Newest pastel worked on black paper, done at the Hogback Ridge Preserve. This park is very densely wooded, so kinda dark in the evening. Everyone felt it was hard to work here because of the light. There was not much to paint other than trees, I was able to paint the cone flowers, oak leaf hydrangea and bee balm near the nature center.

The teacher decided that our last class next week will be at Blue Limestone Park in Delaware. Less green, and instead - rocks and water - and perhaps brighter.

I know why..... New Class Week 2

I think I know why I am not happy with my landscapes. TOO MUCH GREEN. Because of all the rain we have received in Ohio this spring and summer. Everything is way too GREEN. It is boring in art to have one color.

But I truly am enjoying the experience of making art outdoors and find it very peaceful.

Here is last night's effort.... now if I would have just moved the two trees to the right..... I do like the misty quality of the left hand side, where it recedes (as it should). I like the darks at the bottom of the forest. And my sky pretty much looks like it did after that huge thunderstorm went through.

New Class, New Medium

I am taking a new class this month, as a break from watercolors. The Delaware Arts Castle offered a class of "Plein Air in the Parks" with Angela Gage. We are meeting at a couple brand new parks in Delaware County. Last night, we were at Gallant Woods Nature Preserve. I decided to try my hand at pastels again. Its been nearly 35 years (WHAT?? has it been that long??) since I used pastels in high school. Angela has experience with pastels and she was very helpful getting me started again. Some of the other students used oils, pastels, and watercolors.

Here is what I accomplished and the photo I took of the scene. The paper is orange and you can see, it is not finished. I need to try to be less detailed and get larger swathes of color down.