There is No Blue Without Yellow, Without Orange.

There is no Blue Without Yellow, Without Orange.

8x6in   oil on canvas board    100.

I was thinking of Vincent van Gogh's famous quote taken from a letter he wrote to Emile Bernard, June 1888. The painting was quite lifeless until I punched up the blue.  Brighter than what I usually do when painting from life, but the leaves have gone from this favorite tree so this is from a photo.

Artist Note:

I am not comfortable painting with a strong color contrast...red and green come to mind but orange and blue has always been a favorite combination but I usually I go for a softer and grayed value of the blue.

Path to Nowhere

Path to Nowhere

6x6in  oil on canvas    85.

A person can go three miles on this path and still never get to a building or anything else but a stream.  The path continues through the water and on into the distance. The cottonwood tree and line of salt cedars in the painting follow the stream.
I was with a painting buddy and knowing we had to walk back we decided to turn around.
The path must go somewhere and I looked on a map but nothing shows. Maybe it goes to a ranch, way, way out there?


Artist Note:

This was painted in the early summer last year. I was trying to see simple masses, shapes and shadow areas. It was a cloudy day so the light was diffused most of the time. I painted the ground the sun flooded color I remembered and waited for the sun to appear again so I could quickly place the shadow areas in.
I used a #4 round synthetic brush only on this.