The Wall of Shame

 I spent the last couple of days moving 250 ish plein air painting from my studio and organizing my art space. Most of these pieces were 2x3 feet pastels on board.  My daughter was such a huge help. She brought them down the 3 flights of stairs where I organized them.

As I reviewed these painting, I threw out about 20 of the worst paintings in the trash.

I also identified some paintings that showed real promise.  Up until this year, I had never worked on a plein air painting more than my initial effort.

As I reorganized the studio I hung every painting that had remained unfinished because of a problem I couldn't solve or a skill I didn't have.

Studio dog. I have four Golden Retrievers that have never been in my studio because it has been so crazy.

Since I have organized and cleaned the dogs are now allowed to come in. They are so cautious and respectful. It is so cute.

A Good Week of Plein Air Painting

36x24 soft pastel on board

36x24 soft pastel on board

36x24 soft pastel on board

24x32 soft pastel on board

24x36 soft pastel on board
 

At The Bench

A commission from last year. It started out with a friendly conversation with Matt and his dad.

Matt had just proposed at Heisler Park at this bench.

Matt wanted to make sure I put the bench in the painting. I did everything I could to change his mind. 

He insisted and I put the bench into the painting.

The finished painting The Bench 24x36 pastel on board.

The bench in question.

Some detail shots showing my mark making and the abstraction in my work.

 

From Rockpile

The finished painting "From Rockpile" 30x30 inches oil on panel.

Now that everything had been added to the painting to a certain degree, it was time to relate everything within the painting by making adjustments to the value, shapes, and color.

The lower left hand corner is the closest place in the landscape to the viewer.  It had to be the darkest, the lightest, and have the most detail.  It was also for me the most difficult part of the painting to seem realistic because of the small space it took up.

Trying to establish the atmospheric perspective by painting the land mass in the back.  By doing this I am making color and value decisions about the foreground and middle ground of the painting.

I went ahead and finished the sky to establish the light and color key for the painting.  I also was thinking in terms of the underlying dark color in the rocks, beach, and bluff.  When I am thinking about the underpainting color of an object I am also making decisions about what the top or last colors of those objects will be.

Here I thought it was important to define the coastline by painting the water that shapes it.  One of the things that I continually think about is the interaction between parts of the painting. Defining something by what it isn't.

Every painting seems to have a different start.  There may not be a huge difference in these starts and I am not sure why I do not do the same thing every time.  Sometimes I will draw the composition in a specific color.  Other times I will just block everything in or put down big shapes to "map out" the composition.

Sunset

Heisler Sunset Progression

8

I was working on a plein air painting at Heisler Park. I was grinding and chasing the light...like always.

At the end of my painting session I was blessed with an iconic Laguna sunset. I had to take that image into the studio and see what I could do with it.

The really fun paintings start fast and finish with a flurry. This had all the signs that this would be one of those paintings.

At this point I was feeling really happy about my colors,shapes and values.

One of my conscious objectives was to maintain as big a difference in values between the reflections the palm trees in the foreground.

I was able to stay patient.  There are times when I get really excited about a painting and I jump to finishing moves instead of letting the painting structure develop.

The next couple of pictures show color and value progressions in the water.

I am now adding detail in the water with color/value shifts.  I am staying true the vision I have for the painting.

The finished painting "From Dusk" 36x24 oil on gesso board.

 

Yesterday