Avacado Tree with Nesturchims

Mixing Board

24"X 36" Oil on board

A simply amazing day at the Back Bay in Newport Beach.  The mustard and daisies were dominating the landscape.

After studying the work of a Russian Impressionist, I decided that I wanted to try a different approach to mixing my colors.  I chose to mix my colors on the painting itself.

Once I started painting, I realized I did not pack my pallet knife, a plastic bag for used paper towels, and I lost my paper towels.  This ended up forcing me to stick to the plan.  I ended up throwing down a lot of paint.  

The values seem right for the most part.  I would have liked a little more separation between the foreground and the background.

My next effort at mixing on the board will seek to use a greater number of brushes, a greater variety of mark making, a bigger contrast in values, and more vibrant colors.  Not horrible for my first effort.

Painting Close to Home

I have a neighbor down the street that always has these amazing Irises.  It was a great opportunity to paint and isolate.

There is a home that has these awesome Irises.  It was a great place to paint for the day.  There were very few people out on the street.  I have just started wearing headphones while painting.  These headphones help keep people from talking to me about painting.  I have always made time to interact with anyone who approaches me.  I love painting with my music cranked up.  

I pulled together my composition from this group of Irises.  The size of my paper was not wide enough to paint this scene the way that I wanted so I edited out the stuff that I did not think was critical.

I started the painting with the placement of the flowers because they were the most important part of the painting.  I wanted to make sure that they enough space.  I then created the shapes of the leaves of the Irises.  I then washed it out so there was only a suggestion of the shapes of the leaves.  

I then tried to suggest the darker areas of the painting while deconstructing the painting even further.  The process of deconstructing the painting helps me move through the painting quicker.  The first deconstruction of the under painting helped me establish the composition.  The second deconstruction helped establish the value plan.

Here I re-establish the location of the Irises.  

At this point I am introducing the colors of the Irises

Here I paint the shapes of the leaves of the Irises.

I cut in some negative space to provide a counter point to all of the detail within the painting.  I continue to make adjustments to the shapes and colors within the painting.

This was a very quick painting.  It took two hours from start to finish.  

The finished painting. 21"X 27". Mixed media water color under painting with pastel.

The value shot reveals the overcast light that day.

The detail shot.

Paintdemic Social Distancing at Newport Back Bay

Back Bay mixed media pastel over water color measuring 27"X 41" on U-Art 400 grit sanded paper.

I had another opportunity to paint because the dogs were being watched by my family who were at home working.  Bayside Drive was closed to create social distancing so I was able to paint in the street.

The under painting was intended to build a base for the color interaction I envisioned when I got on location.  

The under painting is finished.  Now it is time to apply pastel.

Focusing on developing shapes, relationships, and values.

Now everything starts to move faster.

As the light began to change the shadows became more interesting on the bluff.  Because I was working in pastel it was easier to chase the light than if I had been painting in oil.

I thought I was done. When looking at the shape of the bluff I felt as if it was too square looking.  

I used some turquoise to cut a little into the bluff.  It seemed at the time like it made the difference.

Finished!

The value shot.  It seems like I got it right.

The detail shot.