Five Days A Week Daily Painting: September 2006

View of the Channel, 6" x 6" Oil on Canvas

I think summer in the northeast United States is one of the most beautiful places in this country. The colors are so true and intense and the reflections in the water are very beautiful and a challenge to paint. Where I live there are lots of lakes and they seem to constantly change because of the wind and reflection. I have read that artists like to live and paint by the water, because colors are much truer because of the reflected light, and I think I agree with them. Some of the lakes are more remote than others, and I always wonder just how they would have looked before white people came. I'm sure they were very prestine and beautiful. There is alot of history here around the lakes involving the American Indians who were here first, and I enjoy finding and illustrating the stories of the various tribes. I have studied indegenous art for many years and it's so interesting to me because of the colors that each tribe used. I can look at the environment here and see the correlation of the colors and patterns the tribes from this area used. Here the colors were very true and intense, and the patterns the Indians used here resembled nature as we see it now, or realistic, like leaves and flowers; in the southeast they lightened the color pallett just a little with more yellows, but the style was pretty much the same; the northwest colors are a very dark hue of true colors, and thier patterns are what I would call modern with very stylized lines; and the southwest the colors are pastel. Western and southwestern art and patterns seem to be more abstract. I remember when I visited Canyon De Chelly. The rocks were pinkish-red, the water turquoise, the sky shades of the lighter hues of blue, and the grass geen to yellow. It was very beautiful and striking. You can tell from looking at a piece of Indian art what part of the country the person's tribe was from that made it.

In the White Mountains, 5" x 7"

This is a painting from a picture and from memory of a trip to the White Mountains somewhere between Arizona and Colorado. The little homestead was on the top of the mountain, nestled into the tall pines around it. When I was by it was close to the end of the day, when everything takes on a golden hue.

McKinley Panorama, 5" x 7" Oil on Canvas

I was finally able to scan the original painting. It takes about 3 days, at least, in dry weather to have the paint dry enough to scan. And some reason, I'm having trouble with the digital camera getting the pictures to come out without a red cast. I have some landscapes done, but I'm not able to publish yet because they are still very wet. I usually paint heavy, so the drying time is longer. I'm going to look into faster drying paint and hope that this might be the answer to the problem.

This is the edited photo with my son reflected in his wife's glasses. I was very happy with the way it came out. Hope you enjoy it too.

This is the picture that I painted it from, minus the photographer. I loaded it into Photoshop, and was able to put my son as a reflection in her glasses.

McKinley Panorama, 5" x 7" Oil on Canvas

I wanted to get this posted this evening, and I appologize for the quality, there's alot of reflection in the paint because I had to photograph it and it's still wet. I will repost it when it's dry and can be scanned. I have been painting vegetables and fruits; still life's to try to get up to speed, but I have to admit, I'm a little burned out on food right now, and I have decided if my heart isn't in it, there's no magic, and no reason to paint. Actually, I think the decision came, when I felt like I was having a crisis on the bok choy, which I may finish someday, but not today. I have been working for about 3 months, trying to crank out a picture a day, and I guess something just snapped. I wondered if this is what happened to Duane when he painted a bug, or maybe I'm wrong and he just wanted to paint it. Either way, he can make anything look good, even a bug! This is a picture of my beautiful daughter-in-law who is an artist in her own right with a camera. This is from a picture that was taken by my son. They live in Washington state, where the views are gorgeous.

Brown Egg in Stoneware Bowl, 5" x 5", oil on canvas

Most of the small paintings are more or less paractice on things that I haven't covered in awhile, and as with most things, you have to practice them or you get rusty. That's what I'm doing here, going over things again. Transparency is one of these things. I wanted to see the effect of the dark red of the bowl on the clear egg white. Although I am satisfied with the result, I will be doing more transparent and reflection work in the future.

Summer at the Lake, 5" x 7" Plein aire, oil on canvas

I have to appologize for not submitting everyday. I have had alot of personal things to take care of lately, and well as working on regular paintings. I hope to get back on schedule soon. Thanks for stopping by.