I found this old draft for a post that I never uploaded. Since it is the holidays and I would rather not post something new right now, I am going to put it out there as originally written with a few added adjustments.
The other day 18 new, large canvases arrived. Two large boxes and one thin medium; and nowhere to put them. It really made me realize I need to move some paintings as I tried to reorganize the basement.
These are the first I grabbed to work on today. I hope to work on the rest during the week as I have time. Some of these don't look so bad in their original state but over the years I have dinked on them, sometimes much to my chagrin.
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| Last Harvest 2003, 9x12, oil on linen |
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| Last Harvest, 2015, 9x2 oil on linen |
For the Acorn Squash, I remember when I first did this piece I was trying to create energy; No one has paid much attention to it over the years so I felt I had nothing to lose by reworking it. After seeing the "remake" however, I think the purple cast shadows are too much of a distraction and I miss the energy aspect. I think this one may get my attention again...
The "Sagebrush" paintings were done in bright late morning sun. Although
the painting itself is "not bad" it does not really give you sense of
that bright overhead light. That is why I brightened up all the foliage
and flowers and darkened down the top part which was not doing its part
in the original. I also took some of that orange red of the flowers and
wove it through the rest of the flowers for a feeling of continuity.
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| Sagebrush, 2008, 12x9, oil on linen |
"On Berthoud Pass" we have a decent plein air painting; It does give a sense of distance but not a sense of rain. I was painting in the rain. I also tended at that time to put a lot of color shifts without thinking of the values. If the colors stay within the overall value (value = on a scale of 1-10, white to black) of the object(s) then it gives a sense of unity. My original has strips of color which is distracting to the whole. A side note on this painting: my mentor, Kevin Weckbach, came to my recent open house and picked this painting out as a perfect example of edges that are working. He knows how I struggle with this particular aspect of painting and he said I did an amazing job and that I needed to keep it not sell it. High praise indeed!
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| On Berthoud Pass facing North, 2006, 6x8, oil on linen |
2 comments:
You are amazing! How these paintings evolve just fascinates me such as adding a background to the top part of the paint. I never thought about how challenging it must be to paint rain--a clear liquid.
Merry Christmas, dear friend. You bring joy to so many people. JB
Thanks JB.
Always nice to hear what readers find of interest. But you are correct. Rain is clear, and yet not.
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