work in progress this week...

I am focusing on two pictures this week. My portrait of Maryann is finally dry and ready for the next layer of glaze. I have learned more about Harley Davidson motorcycles than I ever thought I would know. These days when I pass one on the street I look carefully at it's engine, handle bars and any accessories it may have on it. They are all unique. Harley riders like to express themselves by outfitting their bike and clothing with awesome bling.

This week also marks the start of my series tentatively titled Equestrian Expressionism.  Maybe that name is a bit too kitschy, but so far it is the first one to stick with me.
Equestrian Expressionism is a 24 picture series I've been contemplating for the last year or so. Half of the paintings will interpret my admiration for horses and their varied relationship with humans. The other half of the series deals how horses are depicted in art and pop culture through the generations. These will be still lifes. All of the pictures are painted in oil on panels. Here's hoping I can get all of this done in a timely fashion.

Here are a few pix of the pictures thus far...

Portrait of Maryann in progress.
The orange behind her is an underpainting. The actual background will be a summer sky in Syracuse, New York.

Imperial Horse, in progress.
 I wish there wasn't such a glare on this shot. The colors are richer in person.

First Woman Doctor...

Here's the cover for a biography about Elizabeth Blackwell, America's first woman doctor. I illustrated this school book for second graders in May. I love the historical work. Tracking down the costumes and researching the hairstyles and doctor's tools was a lot of fun.

Summer's final hold outs.

I love the colors this time of year. The warm tones that appear as green gives way to rust and gold, and eventually to brown and grey. This was a difficult, dry summer for the plants. I don't think the corn is going to yield much of a crop. The drought was so bad in some areas that the corn was a total loss. Perhaps the low supply will boost the prices, we'll have to see.
I thought the berries would have been done by August. They had a resurgence in the last three weeks, as if to tell the harsh summer that it didn't win, that they were still alive.
A few of the blueberry bushes and grape vines weren't so lucky. They will have to be replaced in the spring. Some of the blackberries I planted this spring are meant to be grown on a trellis, like grape vines. Unfortunately, I can't remember which ones they were! I suppose after a while they will make themselves known to me.

Back to school, back to blogging...

It has been a busy summer and a time of transition here.  My oldest daughter went away to college at the end of August. My middle daughter went to Spain on a foreign exchange trip with Rotary a few weeks later. The house seems oddly quiet with two of them away, but I am enjoying the extra space I've gained since they left. I guess I shouldn't get too used to it, they'll be back in a few months.
I am beginning a series of traditional paintings that explores the beauty and power of horses and peoples relationship with them. A sub group of these pictures will be still lifes depicting horse figurines of different kinds, ranging from vintage cast iron statues to Beanie Babies.
Below are a few of the first photos of this project.

Photographed with my cell phone, the shot is a little darker than reality. It feels great to work from life. I plan on alternating between the paintings from photos and paintings from life.

Cool cowboy from the shooting contest. This one is almost ready for varnish.

Portrait progress...

I was hoping to get this picture mostly done today. Unfortunately, today was one of those days where I got sidetracked by minutia over and over again. It was difficult to stay on task but today was mostly productive.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Painting Plein Air...

This little set of paints was so perfect that it was hard to open it up and use it.

 A few of my friends have been painting landscapes from life recently. I've always admired those who can do that well, but painting flora and fauna while amidst flora and fauna has always been a challenge for me. 

I painted this one this morning. I had to stop when the sun rose too  high and changed the shadows.

Another good friend whom I will refer to as my BFF gave me a brand new set of Thomas Kinkade oil paints. The set contains a couple of dozen little tubes, all named differently than the paints I am used to. Will this make me a "Painter of Light" like the late great Mr. Kinkade? I am not sure but I did love the colorful set. One noteable color that was missing was a cadium red. The set contained cool and soft reds. Even the orange was a bit  cool. 
It was fun to work with his colors, but after a while, I broke down and threw a few of my colors onto the palette.

A crooked barn. Painting crooked buildings is a challenge,  you want the viewer to know you meant the structure to be crooked, otherwise they'll think you've had too many wine coolers.

Painting plein air is harder than some of my talented friends make it look. I am happy with my efforts on my first day, but plan on learning more about this before I have another go later in July.
Tomorrow I will return to my watercolor portrait, hopefully getting it farther along. I won't need sunscreen to work on it, and I won't have a pissed off mocking bird yelling at me the entire time.

A few patrons of the arts.

Emily and Madeline...

These lovely girls are sisters. I am painting their portrait on hot press paper in transparent watercolor.
After months of working digitally and in oils, it is refreshing to get back to water-based media.

I hope to get this done in one attempt, although watercolor can be very unforgiving. Some of my previous watercolors took two or three tries. I am approaching this picture differently than I used to. When I begin a painting, I work out the values first. I used to do that with layers of paynes grey and raw umber. This time I am working out the main values in pencil before I put down any paint. It is tempting to rush this stage of the painting because it can be pretty tedious. The next step is to lay in the lightest washes of skin tone and background colors.