Tag Archives: oil painting

Golden Grizzly

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grizzly-630x640I was really drawn to do this  particular painting because of the nice color contrast I had in mind for his fur. I also wanted the challenge of doing a large close up shot. It was great fun to do and I look forward to doing some more similar close up pictures of animals and perhaps even people. This was painted on 8×8 gesso board, which can be challenging because of the slippery nature of its surface. But I find that it is good for forcing me to stay loose with my brushwork.

Juneau Mini paintings

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juneau-vieww mendenhall-streammendenhall-morningmendenhall

These are each 2.5×3.5 inches. They are so much fun to paint! I guess I have always liked detail. The fun thing is, they look very detailed (they are for the size) but in fact I do have to minimize how much detail there is.

Mini Landscapes

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loop-rd I have decided to try selling some mini paintings. These are very difficult to photograph clearly but I did my best at this point. Each of these are 2×4 inches. I do not plan to frame them because they are stretched canvas and I painted around the edges. I do plan to add some sort of ribbon or hanger to show how they   cauke-bayould be used as ornaments. They   also look really cute on the mini easels that are available.

echo

Foggy Morning at Mendenhall Glacier

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img_2716-512x640This beautiful place is Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, AK. I am fortunate to live just within a few miles. My husband and I love to take morning walks here and we were blesses on this particular morning with this spectacular view. I really love how the distant peak is the only area receiving the warmth of the morning sun. This type of contrast of sunlight and shadow is what really inspires me. It is a challenge to capture that light.

Walk to Mendenhall

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IMG_0805Another morning walk to Mendenhall Glacier. It is beautiful no matter what the weather. On this morning the fog was just clearing. I liked the warm reds on the peaks contrasted with the deep purple in the shadow from another mountain. And of course the little bits of left over fog are always interesting. This is a 5×7 oil on canvas…mostly meant to be a study of the light effects.

Sky Practice

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Sky PracticeThis is a 5×7 oil painting of a point outside Juneau, AK. When I took this photo, I just loved how the blue reflection on the shady parts of the rock seemed so blue and complemented to bright, vivid green of the grassy knoll. But when I started this picture I was really intending to practice my skies. I have trouble keeping them light enough, and I’d like to be able to get better blues into them. So on this one I was trying to use some Cerulean Blue…I usually use Pthalo. I used both here, starting with Cerulean near the mountain peaks and gradually going to Pthalo as the sky got higher. this is not how my photo looked, but I was happy with it. After the sky was done I figured I’d just add the rest…and here it is. I think I will try to do some quick practice though of mainly skies. Because I started with the sky I ended up running out of the proper proportion of water at the bottom. I think this would be much more pleasing to the eye if it had a couple more inches of water, but there’s always next time.

Frosty Mendenhall Evening

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Frosty Mendenhall MorningThis is the view from my dining room windows. It is not always visible because of all the low clouds and rain that we get, but when it is, it is spectacular! During winter the low sun creates the most beautiful lighting effects on everything. On this evening the frost was really thick on everything. It tends to build up because the sun doesn’t get high enough to melt it off things. So the hoarfrost almost seems to grow. This made everything seem so cool and gray and soft compared to the bright warm glow on the mountain peaks. I cannot seem to get a photo of this painting that really shows the coloring well, but this isn’t too bad.  As with a few of my paintings now, I have painted this a couple times (or pretty close to this) and it gets a little better each time.

Mendenhall Loop Road II

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IMG_0806This is the valley in Juneau where I live. It is the main road that goes to the glacier. In the summertime there is a constant stream of tour buses that run from the cruise ships downtown out to the Mendenhall Glacier. This is the road they take. On a clear day, when you get to this point it can be so beautiful that it makes your heart leap! Tourists must have their jaws drop as they approach. It is about 4 miles from this point but you cannot wait to get there to see it when you are given this glimpse beforehand. I have also painted this a couple times trying to get the values just right. The mountain is difficult to get just right. It seems darker than you have to paint it in order to put it into the distance. I’m learning ( =

Dune Grasses

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Dune GrassesThis is an 8×10 oil painting done from a photo I took down in Cohassette, MA while visiting my parents. On this particular day it was misty and overcast. I wanted to try painting this because of those weather conditions. It is very different to paint bright sunny day as opposed to a gray overcast day. It takes practice to see things in different light. I think that this is why I like to paint. I like the challenge of portraying the certain feeling a scene takes on in different lighting conditions. I really spend a lot of time observing the changes in light and shadow as well as colors under different conditions. It is really amazing to me.