Archive for the ‘painting’ Category

Painting over the speed limit

I have always wanted make a painting of the Beltway, the highway that circles around Washington, DC. It has the classical elements of a landscape: trees, open space, and sky except that it has a ribbon of concrete going through it on which you are traveling at very high speeds. Not really a great place to savor the complexities of natural light and atmosphere. And certainly not a place to set up an easel. But since every is moving at about the same speed and the landscape changes so little—one highway looks much like any other—there is a sense of time slowing down, too. Anyway I thought there was some interesting situation there to work with and this is my first attempt. I worked from a source photograph, a process that is relatively new to me. I altered the color from the original photo to exaggerate the sense of space fading away in a thick atmosphere and of the light reflecting and being absorbed by the highway.

 

This painting was entered and accepted into the Annual Members Show at the Yellow Barn Gallery in Glen Echo, MD. It is up through December 21 so stop by if you can.

Fall Landscapes

Recently I have been working on a large cityscape that I based on a photo. After adding layer after layer of paint and making change after change to the color scheme and composition I have to admit defeat. You won’t see that painting here, at least for a while. Almost as a break I painted a few smallish landscapes. Something about finishing each picture in one two-hour period and not going back to rethink it kept the paintings pretty successful, I think. Seems like the old adage of KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetheart) has some merit. Both were painted on canvas board; something about the hard surface encourages me to paint in more or less flat blocks of color.

The first painting was done at the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, MD; the second at the entrance to the Washington Cathedral.

Still Life

Thought I would try my hand at still lifes. I have had a table set up in my studio for quite some time now and it has collected several objects I thought would be interesting to paint. My inspiration was a book on Morandi’s still lifes and their feeling for shape and subtle changes in value. I did several perparatory sketches, not to prepare a composition but just to discover shapes that are often hidden in plain view until you start to draw. Then I did these two small oil paintings on panel board, starting with the pear as a strong focal point and working around it.

Changing light

The light changes gradually as Fall approaches. Officially it is still summer but the green is starting to fade and yellow and the skies take on a hazy look too. I painted this at the farm of an old friend of mine who is also a fine artist in her own right but focuses more on boarding and training horses now. The sky was very interesting this day. Not the usually hazy overcast but some more dramatic clouds—forerunners of the ‘tropical depression’ headed our way. I usually clean up the edges on my pictures but recently my paintings have been looking a little overworked. The picture looked fine so why not just stop where I am?

Summer in the City

I always enjoy the light this time of year. It is one of the payoffs of the humid and hazy Washington weather. I tried to catch the warm glow and muted pastels in this scene of downtown Bethesda. If it was successful maybe now you don’t have to actually go outside and deal with the heat. The square canvas is something I thought might work with city architecture and I plan to do a series of Bethesda scenes in this format.