Apples and oil paints

My lovely girlfriend and I got up way too early on a Sunday and headed out to the Apple Farm for an "art date"--she takes pictures, I paint. The day was wildly beautiful, sun and clouds and a crisp fall air blowing in from the wrong direction. I hiked it way out to the far corner of the property trying to find something to paint. It wasn't for a lack of scenery, it was the opposite--TOO MUCH SCENERY! I started one painting and about 45 minutes in I was not happy with the design so I wiped it all down and moved to start something different. The results were much better! 

All the while I was visited by some nut-hatches, a cardinal, a disc-golfer, and a family of turkeys. 

Oh, and the best part about painting at an apple farm? No need to bring snacks! They grow on trees! 

(Thanks Bejan)

first attempt

better attempt!

sketching seems to help with my design

Thousand Islands

But has anyone "really" counted them?

We had a dudes weekend planned and the weather decided to be less than favorable for the time we were in the 1,000 Islands. Mid morning I took break from our usual shenanigans and headed down to the water to paint. It was a dreary morning, gray and more gray, rainy and did I mention gray? 

I decided to use a limited palette to reflect the grayness. Indigo came in really handy! 

the image needed some editing--it was so gray the pic was dull! 

Plein Air

I recently purchased a travel pochade box (thank you Ben for creating a custom smaller version for me!) so I can dive into plein air painting. Plein air painting is an old form of painting where the artist travels outside of the studio and creates a piece outdoors, while in front of their subject. Monet was a very big proponent of this style, often time painting 10 or 12 pieces in a row as the light changed! Most of the time the artist will create the piece, alla prima, which means 'first attempt' or all in one sitting. My plan was to use this as a hiking kit, travel to a location, create a painting, and then hike out. It took a few tries to get the pack situation figured out, what tools and snacks to bring in order to be truly portable. Below you can see the setup and a few paintings I have attempted with this new piece of hardware. 

started on site, but had to leave in a hurry--finished in studio

maiden voyage! canandaigua lake vista

started a cool sketch of the boathouses and then a truck blocked my view! 

a paint outing with canandaigua's finest artists

My lovely girlfriend giving it a whirl!

wednesday night painting!

My better half brought home some lovely sunflowers and all day wednesday I was super excited to bring them to painting class and paint them! I've attempted flowers before and it didn't go as planned. So after a few false starts I pounded out a 12" x 16" painting! It was a ton of fun and yet another painting where I feel like I am "getting it"! 

[oil paint on 12"x16" canvas]

wed. night paintin'

It is (was) wednesday! That means painting night! I was digging for some reference when I remembered this cool picture a local photographer friend had taken. I saved it to my phone and thought "this would make a cool painting". I set up my phone, turned the auto-lock off and got to work! 

This is probably the first painting I have made where I am super-excited about the outcome, and during the whole process I had a clear direction, and an idea where I wanted the piece to go. It was awesome! 

After the hour it took to paint, I wasn't in the mood to paint another panel. So I grabbed my sketchbook and sketched one of the women who was working. She is very animated when she works and made a great subject. 

[painting: oil paints on 8x10 gessobord panel]
[sketch: pilot V5 pen with PITT cool gray markers, and white gel pen in a NEW Strathmore Toned Gray Sketchbook]

last wednesday night painting

Whoops! I forgot about these guys! 

The first painting was an edit to a painting of the Canandaigua boathouses that I started a few weeks ago. I was unhappy with it and edited some of the shadows and pushed some colors. Much better! 

The second was a small plant in the corner and I decided to make an impromptu still-life. 30 minutes later--Voila!

[Oil paints on 8x10 gessoboard]

wed. night paintin'

[oil on gessobord<--yes that is spelled correctly]

wed. night paintin'

wednesday nights mark my excitement for the week because that means i get a sloppy burger and i get to paint with oils. i haven't found my subject matter i am married to yet, bouncing between still-life's and painting from photos. i am not a fan of painting from a photo because it isn't "fun". i don't get the depth from seeing something in real life, if the lighting is off, i can't just turn on a light and adjust--you are stuck with what you are looking at in an photo. so while a few artists were eating lunch the other day there was this little butter container that a finger had pushed into creating a little wave of yellow aluminum and some neat shadows. it was a neat little object, a fun composition in a tiny little butter container. i immediately thought "cool! that's going to be my subject--a little butter container!!". of course i left it at home and forgot to bring it! there is always next week! 

instead i was stuck with painting from a photo--more boathouses! 

[oil on gessoed MDF panel, 8x10]

monsters part 2

art as gifts is really fun to make! it makes me smile when the person lights up when the receive them. she's in love with this guy. 

happy birthday! 

[acrylic paint, oil based markers on 8"x10" canvas]

xmas presents

here is a pic of the painting i made as my parents christmas present. i did a sketch a while back of the boathouses on canandaigua lake and my mother exclaimed "i want a painting of that for the spare room!". voila. 

you can also a hyper lapse video of me in action painting most of it.

[16"x40" canvas with acrylic paints and paint markers]