Big Barn

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

Really getting into the orange now. I decided to focus only on the biggest shapes and aim to get the color just so. Which actually was fine, since I thought that would communicate the light and space of the scene. The problem was that without ANY detail, it had no scale and was devoid of context. Adding those distant trees/shrubs, a few planks in the barn front, and the little shadows between the wood and the cement really helped sort that out. Good thing to know.

Red Truck Green Background

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

Since the "Seeing Double" challenge had us paint two paintings of the same scene, this explains why I'm too tired to type much. We were encouraged to work on both paintings simultaneously, but I only have one easel this week, so I had to do them one after the other. It was actually really fun to labour over the wider shot with all those details, and then just zoom in and concentrate on the truck. 

Red Truck Green Building

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

My submission to the Daily Paintworks' "Seeing Double" Challenge. You can read all about it on their site. I'm too tired to even type. 

Chicken Truck

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

Even warmer hills and grass. I think I'm getting the hang of this "adding orange" thang.

I had to check that this truck was going to be around for at least an hour or so, and when I got the assurance I just dove in. I mostly included it for composition, but also because I was getting a little sick of painting barns. Besides I like painting trucks.

Back of the Barn

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

Yesterday I mentioned mixing orange into your greens (though yesterday's posting did not actually show this phenomenon). In this painting you can actually see me beginning to grasp this concept.

Return to the Creamery

Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches - Click Here to Bid

I had the distinct honor to attend another workshop with Tim Horn. It's been a few years, and I couldn't wait to ask all the questions I'd accumulated in that time. Well, at least some of them.

We were at Moore Ranch in Nicasio again, though it was a lot windier than last time. Cold foggy mornings replaced by warm, sunny afternoons.

Tim did a demo each day, and shared a few things that were new to him as well. I don't remember what his palette was like on my first visit, but he was using a limited 7 color palette this time. Not really limited, but more specifically what he called "chromatic":
Cool yellow (or lemon yellow)
Warm Yellow (Cadmium)
Cadmium Orange
Alizarin Crimson
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Sap Green
White

In almost every book I've read, and every other workshop I've attended, everyone's palette starts with Burnt Umber. Not Tim's. It was quite an adjustment having to mix all my browns from scratch. Oh, and  with no black, I had to make my own "darkest darks" and warm, cool, and neutral grays. I don't usually use black either, so this was fine.

The biggest thing I took away from this workshop was just how much orange you can put into the green to warm things up and still have it look very green and natural. If you compare my paintings from this trip to some on Tim's website, you'll see I have a long way to fully implement this new knowledge, but it sure did amaze me every day I was there.

Mobile Home

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

My dad set up near the river, but I could not paint that bridge, again, so I faced the street. There was this old mobile home travel camper thing that looked pretty immovable, so I included that in the view, mostly to break up the street, and because it was in the shadow of some trees.

As soon as I started, there was some activity around the street, with a man making several trips back and forth between a parked car and the camper, and then the gas station, on foot, with a gas container, then much priming of the engine and more gas trips, and revving the engine etc.

I quickly finished up the camper before he took off, but the man came up and had a look and said that he'd leave it for now and move it later. Actually, I was not only done with the camper, but the whole thing, by then.

Again, I feel like this wound up with a bit of a blue cast overall. 

Pool House Shade

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

Another view of the pool house, one of my favorite places on Earth. I wanted to focus on the roof, so I cropped out the ground. An interesting idea, but a bit disconnected. I did this one for the Daily Paintworks' Shadow Challenge,  based on some sketches I made in Sonoma and my photos (which is where I got the cropping idea).

The darks may be a bit too dark throughout, but I was really focused on the contrast in the light and shadow on the roof, which is what drew me to paint this in the first place.

Sonoma Studio

Acrylic on Panel - 9 x 12 inches - Click Here to Bid

This is a view of the barn that houses my dad's studio, as seen from the front porch. It started off great, but then got kinda busy.  

The Old Bank

Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches - Click Here to Bid

This is on the main drag through Geyserville. I believe the big red building used to be the bank, and I think it's the only two story building in town. There's some antique stores and a few galleries, one with the artist actively working, and in the bank building a nice italian restaurant called Diavolo.

I sat in the shade of the hardware store's awning. It was really hard to judge color well there, though, because there was so much glare from the street, and it was so dark under the awning. And everything seems to have taken on a blue cast. I think this one's ripe for a redo.