Park Avenue in Spring

Park Avenue-Spring, 30x30, oil on linen

This particular painting left me struggling. I don't normally do downtown type buildings when I paint the city. Then there was the fact I had to force what was in shadows from all the reflected light off of the windows. In the photo reference much of what was in shadow on the left hand side was as light as what was in the sun on the right. There was also light hitting the tulips but they were not in sun at all. Lots of things to think about on this one. This was painted mostly as a local tone (three values, no light source) because so much of it was in shadow although technically it is light and shadow as a visual approach.

I was in NYC exploring on my own. I had walked up to the Frick Museum via Park Avenue and walked back through Central Park on this glorious April day. The day before my cousin and I had gone to the Brooklyn Museum to see a wonderful John Singer Sargent show. After absorbing all the art we could (we did 4 exhibits that day!) next door to the museum are the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens which were in their spring glory with cherry blossoms galore. My cousin lives in NJ but we can take the bus from where she lives for $7 and we are at Port Authority in approximately 20" depending on traffic, of course. There is another John Singer Sargent show coming to the Met this summer that is calling me to come see it. This show will be approximately 75 of his more personal portraits, not the society portraits he is known for. It will be in London and NYC only. The link is not yet posted on their website but I just discovered there is a Van Gogh exhibit there this summer as well so it will be a two for one!

Heading Down Berthoud

Oil on Panel, 9x12

Here is another one from the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge that I finished up from the block in I posted last month. Surprisingly, I did not have to correct the drawing on this one. I have found while going through and reviewing what I did last month that a few definitely needed some correction. To be expected to some degree when working within a tight time frame and after a long day or days of work. It is amazing how hard we hit the ground running after the holidays.

This is heading down Berthoud Pass on Hwy 40. Must have been a wet spring since the hills are so green!

Squaring the Circle or Ordered Chaos?

24x24, oil on Canvas

Unusual for me...I have two good names for this painting. "Squaring the Circle" or "Ordered Chaos." I see value in both darn it. "Ordered Chaos" came out of the block in. "Squaring the Circle" came up upon completion.
This piece was painted with equalization in mind. Lots of repeated patterns and despite all the squares and rectangles it does circle through the square...I thought this painting would test my abilities but it was amazingly fun to paint and despite my best efforts to tone down the colors, I kept coming back to the rich bright colors you see here. Happy Happy Happy!

Ploffskin, Pluffskin Pelicans Three

Oil on Canvas, 6x6

I was going through all my little paintings from January (30 paintings in 30 days) and I came across this one that I did not end up posting because I did not like it at the time. My opinion has changed since I put it away a month ago. For what it is, a quick study, it has something going for it. It has three values for a local tone painting. The composition is good. It is obvious a storm is brewing. I think I was frustrated by the slick surface on this one and the paint sliding all over the place. I gave up on the rolling waves and took the white caps out. Sometimes I roll with it and other times it just seems to be a struggle. This would have been day 16 as I segued from Storm Brewing to this one as they were taken minutes apart.

Lowry In Snow 26

Lowry in Snow, 12x16, oil on panel

This photo came out very stark! But I am not sure I will have time to retake it any time soon so I am going with it. I painted over an old still life I had done in blues that was never finished and not likely to be. I figured blue and purples under a winter scape was apropos. It was a bit more difficult than I expected fighting that blue. I had a hard time with my values and colors on top of it. They still seem a bit overly warm to me and the sky needs to be a shade or two darker perhaps. Could be the light reflecting on the brushstrokes too. I am thinking out loud here...

This is the view from my window where I work on the old Lowry AFB again. This lone tree was actually in the photo with the Purple Deer on Day 20 but it did not add value. It is not a beautiful view but I have grown to love it over the years. Glad that I have a window and a view at all!

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/2015/01/thirty-paintings-in-30-days-day-twenty_26.html

Young Artist study 25

9x12 oil on linen

This painting was a black and white study for a larger piece I posted last month, #2 in that post. I decided to paint it in color and give it to the young lady in question when it is done. It is not where I want it to be yet but I have it mostly covered in color now so here it is as a painting for the challenge. I want to sit on it to see if I like the high key or if I want to tone it down a bit.

I was so exhausted by the time last Friday came around that I did not really paint anything this weekend for the week coming up to finish up the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. My hat is off to anyone who manages to complete. It isn't that I haven't been at my easel everyday, as that I have managed to do. This weekend I really wanted to get some larger pieces finished that just needed a bit of attention. They started to weigh on me, and I was motivated to work on them. When I focus on the challenge it takes up my whole weekend. I could not do both.

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

Park Along the Bay 22

Park Along the Bay SF, 6x6, oil on panel

Squeaking by to Day 22 in the 30 paintings in 30 Day challenge! Keeping to a simple subject so I feel like I am accomplishing a painting and not just a block-in. This is right near SF bay on a very wet drizzly day. The rain had stopped for awhile but it was only a matter of time before it began again. We were in San Francisco to see the Impressionist Pt 2 from the D'Orsay Museum in Paris. It was Pt 2 because it was the second of two exhibitions on loan from the D'Orsay while it was undergoing renovations and it was the later "Impressionists" as they moved on to other directions. So the show included VanGogh, Bonnard and Vuilliard among others. Pt 1 had the more typically known names associated with the impressionists. We could only go to one and I wanted my husband to see these later names. He had never seen a VanGogh in person before. He was suitably impressed.

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/2015/01/thirty-paintings-in-30-days-day-twenty_22.html