Reflections On The Lily Pond

Reflections On The Lily Pond

8x6in oil on canvas panel $135 SOLD

Artist Note.

Number 8 

in the lily pond series.

The glow of the setting sun 

reflects on the water.

Sky and water  together- 

Beautiful!

I always have an 

emotional response

to this combination 

no matter what time of day.

Using the palette knife

I went for simple shapes of color

to suggest sky, hills, water and then 

adding the lily pads at the end. 

Its amazing what the eye can 

make out of

simple shapes and color.

Lily Pond - Yupo Redo

Lily Pond #4

 8 x8 in Watercolor on Yupo 

Work in process...

Artist Note.

Not as much "stylized"

this time.

Here is a re-do of the previous post

taking into account 

all the suggestions

and observations. 

It was an interesting project for me. 

I am totally grateful to all the 

artists who took the time to share

their viewpoints.

I really learned a lot of new

ways of actually

contemplating-

edges -

adding -

subtracting -

tension -

balance.

My previous effort had the 

water lighter  

and pads darker.

here are my source images 

showing both ways.

MY new version reversed 

the first one.

Below are small sketches I made

on the quest for a  Yupo watercolor

painting of a lily pond.

Some of the groaners on the journey.

Below is the original wiper

then I thought what did I love?

Answer - the koi.

 LOL- conflicting  two points of interest...

decide to leave the koi for

 another painting!

Back to it being too busy! 

I raised the 

horizon and liked it 

and at least it looked watery!

Several more attempts followed 

when I discovered the  reeds.

I thought the verticals added 

something I liked. 

I thank everyone who commented 

or emailed their suggestions

or just joined in the fun of it.

Snow, Water and Crows #3

Snow, Water and Crows #3

6x8 oil on canvas panel  SOLD

The colors are not accurate and I do

not have any editing tool to correct it

at the present time.

The three panels so far have an uncanny 

way of looking as if they could be

part of a whole. It is because I am using the same 

limited color palette.

I am finding that I have an interest in learning

to paint the crows...

so I have started to do some little studies.

I am enjoying painting all of this snow and 

water...we have no snow left so am 

depending on memory and photos.

Feeling free as a bird (no pun intended)

after the pressure of the Challenge.

I also worked quite a few more hours today

on the 

large Farmers Market painting.

I am learning a lot from working on such

a huge size. Like my shoulders ache!

Snow, Water and Crows #2 - day 29

Snow, Water and Crows 2

6x8in oil on canvas  $130.SOLD


Here is number two in my new series
It became more realistic than I wanted, but
that is part of exploration on a theme

Artist Note
In this one the crows became more
important.  Those little suckers are
not easy to do.
Took about ten wipe-offs on
such a small space.
I realize that they are going to
be one of the areas I will be exploring.
How not to get dorky crows!

For serious art lovers. I have linked to a
wonderful video of a presentation
the AMAZING  landscape painter
Clyde Aspevig
gave in Montana.
It is 25 mins long.
When you want to give yourself a treat,
settle down and get inspired.

Clyde Aspevig

here

Workshop Demo and Artist's Work.

Demo

Radish, Garlic and Scallions

6x8in oil on canvas SOLD

I always get pumped up when I do a workshop.
I keep it to six artists so I can really get around
to helping each one develop the fracturing technique
to suit what I see as the most natural way for them.

This one had 6 fabulous artists creating  

several new paintings each day.
But first they had to start off by watching my
different mark making using the full blown
Fracturing Tool technique.

this was the demo.
KNOW NO FEAR is the the motto!

We start off with basic exercises to learn the Fracturing.
I show some of those on my FREE Art-Byte tutorial called
Tools Needed for Fracturing
see HERE
(Have a look at all the other great tutorials
they have on Daily Paintworks.)

Here are some of the artists work
(Click to enlarge.)

 Everyone was encouraged to go about learning 
the Fracturing in a really free, "know no fear" manner.

Kathy arrived from Hawaii so water was a natural theme

to begin with. 

Here are the exercises by Phyllis above...

and Mary's apple below

Margaret went wild with beautiful colors

and then outlined as an experiment.

We all liked it!  

Below is Lindy's still life.

Not finished as it was a timed exercise. 

(I am looking forward to seeing it finished)

There were a few more I did not get a good 

photo of - an apology to the artists

Next we went into landscapes using a pink base.

Below is one by Denise. 

This is the view from her window

And the one from Kathy - glorious color!

That is Hawaii again!

Lindy produced the one below.

A more gentle use of color than the one above but

both artists see their local color very well

 Enjoy this one by Phyllis... a colorist by nature

(she worked on a much larger version of this later)

Next we went into more "refined" fracturing 

where each artist explored the degree of 

the technique they felt a comfort level with

Lindy did this little treasure

Kathy created a glowing fruit painting

Mary found she enjoyed 

just a little fracturing at the start

- helping her to loosen up.

 Mary also found the fan brush 

is fun - especially for fur

Lindy started painting larger as the days went by.

Margaret  found that "gentle fracturing" worked 

best for her

Kathy resisted the urge to "tidy up" too much and 

worked on warm/cool vibrations using beautiful color.

It was a wonderful group of talented, fun and generous 

artists who allowed me to work them hard and 

push each of them out of their comfort zones. 

I am incredibly grateful and humbled that 

they were willing to travel the miles and place 

their trust in me to help them in 

their personal quest to keep growing as an artist.

Sunset on the Bosque

Sunset on the Bosque.

6x6in oil on canvas panel  $100. SOLD

A beautiful sunset reflecting on water and snow.

Artist Note.

Sometimes it is nice to do a small painting
which does not fight back.
One of the blogs I follow, Conservatively Bohemian,
showed this wonderful PHOTO
I wrote and asked Sherry if I could use
the photo and being the lovely person she is...
of course she said yes.
Thanks again Sherry!

The photo is full of mood and is of a sunrise.
As always, once I start painting it takes on
a life of its own and soon it became a sunset
reflecting on the water at the bosque.
Why the bosque? Most likely because I have
recently been painting it and it was fresh in
my mind. I have also painted the sunset
at the bosque quite a few times so the colors
and reflections are in my memory buds.
Funny how I can forget the grocery list but 
remember the visual stuff.
Anyone out there who can relate?

Aspen Stream

Aspen Stream

6x8in oil on canvas panel  $125. SOLD

I was invited to paint with a friend today in her beautiful new studio.
It was wonderful.

Artist Note.

Fracturing landscapes is interesting. I am going to have to do quite a few
of them to learn the ins and outs.
When I was painting the water I found I could quickly lose the wet look.
The waterfall came and went so lots of scraping off and
starting again on this one.
I did enjoy painting it and learned some neat stuff, but feel I need to do
more of them before I offer some techniques.