This is a little (5×7) study that I did to practice the color, temperature and value of the light.The sun hits the mountain peaks like this in the winter here in Juneau. (on one of the maybe 10 sunny days we get) It is so beautiful! I want to be able to capture the extreme impact that it has. I think this is quite close to how it looks. I’m am going to do several more this week. It will be my focus.
This is a little 5×7 painting. It is the second time that I have done this picture.I believe that it is much cleaner and much less overworked as well. I must say that I don’t generally enjoy doing a picture more than once, but I am learning the value of doing so. The first time I did this, it was quite a struggle to capture the sunny light. But this time it took less than half the time. It was a real pleasure to work on! From now on I am going to make it a practice to do certain paintings more than once, and even in different colors or value patterns. I think it will increase my learning significantly.
This is another effort to employ the looser style of painting that I like so much. I really tried to go about this in a more reckless abandon fashion. I did not want to be fussy with detail but wanted to focus on the larger value differences. About mid way through I almost tossed it, but in the end I think it came out rather well.
This is a collection of 4×4 paintings that I did this week. They are copies of larger paintings by a friend who’s work I particularly like. His brush strokes are quick and sketchy and his paint is quite thick and textural. Another thing I like about it is his color choices. He uses a few different colors than I was using and I enjoyed adding these to my pallet. (the new ones were sap green, cad orange light, and yellow ochre)
I really enjoyed these little studies. I got a feel for the look and light, as well as a bit more texture. I think this was very helpful.
This is a painting of our ski area in Juneau called Eagle Crest. It is a beautiful place to hike. I love the warm colors and the reflections in the water. I wanted the dark area in the distance to look more shaded from the sun than it does, I need to work on that. But this was a fun painting to do. (It is 8×10)
Today I decided to divert from my little studies and do a winter scene that really appealed to me. I love the little bit of sun peaking through the trees. I did try to work loosely on this and felt like I had some success not being too fussy.
Can you guess which of these took 15-20 minutes, and which one took almost a full day? Well, I wanted to do this to prove that a painting can be done quickly and effectively. In this I wanted to capture the essence of the scene; like the light vs. darks and the general layout, and perhaps notes of color. The larger one took most of a day. It really is not that much more detailed than the other. They both capture the scene. I could work on the smaller one more, but this is all I needed it to tell me right now. I think this is a very valuable skill to learn well. I will be doing much more of this quickk study to see what I can do with it. I would not consider the larger one a complete painting, but I was at a point of overworking it and decided I had messed with it enough. I will try it again another day.
Art with my Coffee 