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White Daffodils
Read more: White DaffodilsThe daffodils have been in bloom for several weeks here in north Michigan. This is a painting I just completed, done in acrylics. I love these harbingers of spring, which I painted in my usual palette.
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Red Wing Blackbird: acrylic painting
Read more: Red Wing Blackbird: acrylic paintingOne of the signs of spring in Michigan is the red-winged blackbirds calling as they nest in the wet areas. This inspired my painting of one in acrylics. I combined a photo I took a few days ago of some wetlands nearby, with the blackbird to show him in his native habitat. The palette was…
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Prophetic art: Wind in my Sails
Read more: Prophetic art: Wind in my SailsYesterday, I did the weekly prophetic art time with my friend. I saw an image of a sailboat, so I painted this one from imagination; I put it on a lake with the water sparkling because I love it when the sun here does that. The painting is in acrylics. “Wind in My Sails”, acrylic…
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Plein aire sunny day study: Garden Statue
Read more: Plein aire sunny day study: Garden StatueIt is a sunny day in Northern Michigan, so I decided to do a quick acrylic study of my friend’s garden statue. The daffodils are up; but my acrylics dried really too fast (even with a Stay-Wet palette). So, there were a few lumps in the paint in the end. But I love the garden…
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Plein Aire study: Birch Tree
Read more: Plein Aire study: Birch TreeI decided to paint a beautiful birch tree that is only a few feet from the beach at Lake Huron. This study was done in acrylics. The day was hazy and a bit grey, so the colors are quite different from the previous sunny day study. I used my usual palette for this painting.
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Learning to Paint Impressionism: Lilac blooms
Read more: Learning to Paint Impressionism: Lilac bloomsA few days ago, I set up a still life in my studio with a lilac sprig that I took from the bush outside. I wanted to paint my impressions of light and color, following the Hawthorne method as best as I could. Because of the late afternoon sun, there was a lot of golden…
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Learning to Paint Impressionism: Sunny Day block study
Read more: Learning to Paint Impressionism: Sunny Day block studyI am in the pursuit of color. That means that I am doing what is considered a basic study in art school: block studies. Because I want to learn impressionism (a la “Charles Hawthorne” method) I am following the suggestions in Lois Griffel’s book, “Painting the Impressionist Landscape”. So, I decided to do the sunny…
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Painting Impressionism: color block study
Read more: Painting Impressionism: color block studyI have been reading an outstanding book by Lois Griffel, who follows the methods developed by Charles Hawthorne at the Cape Cod School of Art (where some of the outstanding American impressionistic painters have studied). She shares the importance of doing studies with color blocks, so here, I will share how to do a simple…
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Hope
Read more: HopeI decided to paint a friend of mine in a meadow (I love meadows, and am currently on a kick painting them), portraying the emotion Hope, which is what I am calling this painting. It represents the need to take time to look up, and see that there is hope during this time. This was…
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Colt in a Field
Read more: Colt in a FieldI love horses, used to own several and ride a lot. I wanted to paint a colt, so I did: I put him in a lovely field of flowers. I used a limited palette of ultramarine blue, hooker’s green, burnt sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre; napsa yellow and titanium white. This one was tons of…
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Quick Goose sketch
Read more: Quick Goose sketchI was visiting a friend on Lake Huron last week, and saw geese and seagulls everywhere; I did this very quick plein aire sketch of a gander watching over his mate while she fed. The white dots are seagulls in water. I had to do the sketch (in acrylics) in 5 minutes, because he was…
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World’s Strangest Looking White Flower
Read more: World’s Strangest Looking White FlowerI decided to give myself a challenge, and paint a white flower that really does look like this. Okay, some of you will think “Darn, that’s an ugly flower” (like my friend did), but it was a great painting challenge, with lots of lights and darks. I used a limited palette (titanium white, ultramarine blue,…