lil egg washer

Things have calmed down so I had time to start another painting from the old photos I have. This one is in the National Archives under the depression era. A simple blocking of shapes and values at the moment. I'm trying to keep the back of the neck and legs so they appear to glow, the main light source being behind her and a small light above. So she will aslo have a halo around the hair. Hopefully the dress will appear a bit translucent around the thigh area.

Bathtime

I decided it was time to try and paint a portrait using the cross-hatching stroke technique. I was searching in the National Archives and found a beautiful black and white photo with this woman and her baby and couldn't resist. This is the first blocking in stage of the painting, using pan pastel burgundy and light blue in the negative space around the subject.

24x16" on Canson paper smooth side

Pastels

Next stage I worked on the mom's face and clothes more and started on the baby. I decided that he needed a fatter face to go with the chubby body, so I brushed that off and started again.

Here I worked on the far wall with the curtains and faint light coming threw. Pulled the chair and table with vase to sit in front of the curtain. Worked on her white apron and the towels on her lap and behind the baby.

I decided it was too dark overall especially with the extra light coming from outside as well as the left side indoor lighting, and lightened up a few areas.

Here is a closeup of the baby and moms apron. I had a good time with this trying create different colors by stroking mix combination's over each other without blending the traditional ways. On too another portrait as I usually need to go through a series of at least 3 before moving on to a different subject.

Thanks for looking as always!

Mamma and her baby

12x9" pastel on canson smooth side

I have been sick this season like alot of people I know, so I haven't done alot of painting. So here is another study done a few weeks ago. I am still enjoying playing around with the cross hatching type strokes.

Baby Calf

11x14 on canson the bumpy side nupastels and rembrandts
On a roll, I needed to have a go at another. Babies are so cute.

lil piggies

11x14 on canson nupastels
I thought I would try a different subject using the cross hatching strokes, and this is what I came up with. It was about an hour and I had a great time doing it.

Vermont Stream

14x11"
This is the 2nd real attempt at using cross-hatching through the whole painting. Alot, Alot of strokes were used. To tone an area down I used complimentary colors in the same values. Such as the big spruce on the right has reds under the blue and greens. And to liven up an area the colors stayed to those next to each other on the colorwheel.
Some areas needed to lay down flat so I used horizontal strokes such as those in the water, and vertical strokes in the grass around the area of interest. Doing this allows the my eye to focus on the areas I choose to be the center of interest.

This is a closeup of the strokes I used.

I have been mulling over how to do a portrait using these stroking techniques...I may or may not succeed but will have fun trying.

vermont farm

An update for today. I added some darks, finished up the leaves on the right hand tree. And pulled some of the highlights back in. I also added in the gate, I think it helps to direct your eye to the left and down the path. Now I'm just looking to decide if its done.

vermont farm

Here is a close up crop of Clara. I think as a whole the painting needs so more intense colors.

Vermont Farm

An update to my farm painting. I decided give another try at cross-hatching and thought that the farm I had started would be a good base. Since I already had the basic value and hues I found it easier to work in the hatching. So the next one I will take the good advice from my pals on WetCanvas.com and use an under painting. Although the photo I took did not have the hens in it, I think it needed something to anchor it into a life situation. So the hens are mine, good thing a had some photos because none of them would stay put yesterday. I am thinking about putting in a rooster and chicks, I think it still needs a story.
I will put a crop in the next post so you can see the strokes.

Pond At Macks Apples Plein Air

pastel 11x14
Plein Aire
Painted with the Plein Aire Society Of New Hampshire today. They were actually in Londonderry where I live and had several different spots around town. This one is across from Macks Apple stand, a small pond with apple trees in the background. I painted this with a different approach than I usually do, its a broken color tech., where you keep applying color crossing each other to allow it to mix visually with your eyes. I am finding it hard to get my colors as bright as I would in the studio, another lesson to be learned.

Vermont Farm

Pastel 11"x14"
This is from SugarBush Farms in Vermont, they make really great cheese from a collective of farmers in the area. This is looking down into the side yard. I decided to paint this without an underpainting on watercolor paper primed with colorfix primer. Next stage is to include some of red metal gates and a small post fence off the barn to the left. Fill in leaves and work on the trunk of the right hand tree.

Rickers Pond VT plein aire

11X14"
This weekend we went camping during Labor day Vacation in Vermont. Beautiful little state campground on Rickers Pond. It had nice sandy beach edges, except for the ground nesting bees's it would have been perfect. The rangers came and sprayed the nest and the next day we were in business to swim and get on our canoe and kayak. This is looking down into the next camping site which had a pop up camper behind the clump of trees to the right, which I left out naturally. The birch trees were all leaning in towards the water, very pretty. I took a photo with my camera to compare what I painted. What a difference, between the two. If I had painted this from the photo I think it would be completely different and lost alot of the distance feeling to it. I wouldn't have even seen the Birches in the back.

Sunflowers Abstract Plein Aire

Another Plein Aire from last week. 11x14" on matboard with colorfix primer.
The sunflowers are in a fenched in areia in our backyard, behind them is our chicken coop to which i orginally had in this but it had too many line horizontally so i mushed it out. Needed something to let the flowers come forward so i just blocked them in....so an abstract quality to it. 1 hour.

Back Yard Plein Aire

My last attempt was while sitting on my pool deck. I was so slow that the sun had changed position sooner than i had hoped. My kitty wandered in while i was fiddling at the left tree and I managed to get him sketched in enough to look like a cat. My first moving object. :) Oh these are 11x14's.

Shaker Village in New Hampsire

My 3rd attempt at Plein aire. This was at the Shaker Village in NH. I painted along side a guy from the NH Plein Aire society that I joined this summer. This was my outing and only Dan showed up...so it was a gentle introduction into painting outside with others. He painted on very small pieces of black canson and made very nice little pastel paintings that reminded my of wood block printings. I was happy with this but I think the bushes in the back could have been toned down more.

The Lake plein aire

This is my 2nd attempt at painting plein aire....(in real life). It was a really hot hot day and I was sitting in the back of my pickup truck looking across the lake. Water dripping down my back...YUK! A nice gentleman sat next to me and was very nice....people watching me paint, make me very nervous....plein aire even more so as I'm figuring it out. Wow its pretty hard to cut out soo much information when your painting right out in it. I did manage to get the far side of the lake move back into space so that was a beginning. Had to leave before i could really get going.

stella dora daylillies plein aire

I'm back! I have been busy this summer with camping and the kids. I got a plein aire setup a versa easy-L. I have been worried about starting out with plein aire...so my first step was this little 5x7 from my garden. My kids saw me all set up in the sun and had to laugh as i had a beach umbrella and a floppy sunhat on...trying to look all artisty in front of my new setup. :)

Beautiful Bloosom

Ahhh Im finally back and painting again. This is Bloosom one of our egg layers, she has a twin Daisy they always seem to get into trouble. Thier eggs are a pale peachy/tan and are Xlarge. Fat, they are fat chickens! Guess they need to be to lay such big eggs.
This is 13.5x10.5" on watercolor paper covered with clear colorfix primer. The underpainting was an old watercolor of a rooster I did many years ago that was pretty messed up in proportion sizes. I think next I will address the ground a bit more and add to the background some sky blues. She needs some highlights on feathers here and there and on her eye.

Buttrick Road Pasture finished

Last update on this one. I made the road into a small walking path and changed the diagonal to make it not the center of attention. Making up grass for the new side was interesting..... I changed a few minor things with the far trees and added some pinks and blues into the bark and throughout to make it all appear in harmony. Oh I also cropped a bit off the left side to push the main center of interest, the large trunk over to allow for a nicer flow. Thanks for the help from WetCanvas on composition...much better.

Buttrick Road Pasture 3

Here is the 3rd phase, highlights were added the sky was lightend at the horizon line and more skylights were added into the trees. The left side was cropped a bit to further move the focal tree from being to close to the center. Now I'm considering changing or removing the diagonal road in the front, I will have to think on that. Plant a new field or maybe change the road into a path in a different direction.

Buttrick Road Pasture 2

I'm coming along with the painting, trying to get the darks layed down, before the lighter overlays. The road is still at the very basic one layer of pastel stage at this point. I'm thinking the lower sky needs to be a bit lighter.

Buttrick Road Pasture WIP

I haven't painted in the last week or so with my kids all coming down with different maladies. So here I am back to the dust!
This week is a photo I took in my home town, its a small pasture for cows close to the center of town in the early morning.
10.5x13.5"
On watercolor paper with clear colorfix primer on it. This is a quick underpainting with watercolors to lay down the basics.

Webster-Cliff Trail

A painting that I did from a hike we had a few summers ago in Crawford Notch Park in New Hamphire. A great trail with lots of difficulties the views are breathtaking!
10.5x14.5" Pastel on colorfixed watercolor paper.

Nosy Gala WIP finish

Finished finally! Here is my crazy big headed (on purpose) painting of Gala. In real life its much better than the photo, correcting digital camera photos is not an extact science. I was hoping to achieve just a fun piece, cartoonish, to bring some personality to a simple dog painting.

Nosy Gala

Another installment of Nosy Gala. Things have been busy at home this week. I shrunk the ball down to increase the feeling of a really big head. Added more lights and darks into the trees. Worked more on her nose that was off. Generally added more medium and darks thoughout her face. Now I need to bring in highlights to show the where the sun is shinning on her more. Then decided on whether grass will come in with strokes.