Archive for March, 2009

Painting along the Potomac River

The March weather has been warm and dry on weekends so I have painted the last two Sundays along the Potomac River near the Anglers Inn entrance. The first painting, above, was painted when there was an overcast light all day. The soft diffuse light had the effect of enriching colors not dulling them and gave a slight pink cast to everything. In comparison, the sky seemed to have a green tint to it so I started with an overall light green base. The final  color scheme turned more blue and orange but the traces of green left help to give the overall colors more balance and may serve as a hint of spring yet to come.

 

This next painting was done the following weekend in much the same spot but I set myself in and among the rocks that you only see in the distance in the first painting. Lately I have been using a camera before I paint. The small preview you see in the back of the camera gives a good idea of the basic forms that are often hard to see with the naked eye. For example you are so used to seeing the sky that you don’t often realize how dominant it is. And afterwards you have a photo of what you took in case you need it as reference.  In this scene all I saw in the camera preview were the two basic shapes of the sky and its reflection below which looked interesting but I would not have noticed that without the camera. Something about this painting seems colder and more forbidding then the day actually felt. It was actually a pleasant day with people basking on the rocks. There seemed to be a constant party going on somewhere behind the rocks in the background of this picture but here those rocks look somewhat inhospitable.