Ducks at the Cumming Center Pond (with Prisma filter)

I didn't have a chance to paint today so I decided to find another way to make art.  Looking through my photos, I found a picture of ducks swimming on the Cumming Center Pond.  I decided to try the image with a Prisma filter.  After some trial and error, I found one that I liked, and here is the result. 

Layers of Green (Painting as of January 30, 2020)

This is the painting I have been working on.  This image started with a vacation snapshot taken in Colorado several decades ago.   I cropped a bit of the background, and that is what I am using as a reference. (See post for January 15th).  I had only a short time to paint today, but I roughed in some color for the fore-ground, a mixture of lime green and red-violet.  This is not the final color; I am still working out the colors as well as the composition.  To be continued. . . .

Layers of Green (Painting as of January 29, 2020)

I stole some time to work on this painting today.  My inspiration is a piece of background cropped a vacation snapshot taken in the Colorado mountains several decades ago. (My painting reference is posted here, January 15.) Today I added more layers of green to some of the mountains, and am still adjusting the composition as I go. I am using tubes of several different kinds of green acrylic paint, sometimes right out of the tube, but also mixed with other colors, like purple and blue. As I worked today, I realized that there are layers of meaning in the title: I am painting the layers of green in these mountain ranges, but I am also creating the colors by layering different greens (for example, phthalocyanine green over hooker's green, hunter's green over hooker's green). To be continued. . . .

Layers of Green (Painting as of January 28, 2020)

I worked some more on this painting today. My inspiration for this photo is a crop of the background from a snapshot taken in Colorado during a family vacation, several decades ago. My photo reference is posted here on January 15th. Today I started adding texture and areas of color, starting with the darkest tones in the mountains, as well as the lightest tones in the sky.  I am still adjusting the composition as I work.  To be continued. . . .

Layers of Green (Painting as of January 27, 2020)

This is the painting I started yesterday.  I am working from a close crop from the background a photo taken during a family trip to Colorado several decades ago.  (Reference photo is posted here January 15.) I didn't have much time today, but I revised the lines to modify the composition.  I am planning to use lots of shades of green, but today I just used some green right out of the tube because my main goal with color at this point is to make it easier to see the changes I am making. 

Layers of Green (Painting as of Jan. 26, 2020)

Finally had a chance to paint today, so I got this painting started. This is based on a close crop from the background of a photo taken during a family trip to Colorado several decades ago. (Photo reference posted here Jan. 15.)  I know, I know. It's not green yet, but it will be.

Reposting: Countryside North of Porto (Watercolor Painting)

This is the last of the six watercolors that hang in the family room, near our back door, just outside my kitchen.  These six paintings are all from a group of watercolors I painted right after my first trip to Porto.  I had to take my six paintings down for a week or two while our kitchen is being redone, but decided to post them here. This one is a painting of the countryside north of Porto.  I remember we were stopped at a gas station and the view was lovely so I took a quick snapshot.  A few weeks later, I turned the photo into this painting.

Reposting: Doorway in Porto (Watercolor Painting)

I usually have six of my watercolors of Portugal hanging in my house, but they are down right now due to kitchen renovation.  This is one of them, from a set of paintings that I did after my first trip to Portugal.  I took a snapshot of one of the little grocery stores in Porto, and that photo was the basis for this painting.

Reposting: Monção, Portugal (Watercolor Painting)

Here's another of the watercolors I painted after my first trip to Portugal.  This is one of the six paintings normally on the wall in my house, but temporarily taken down while the kitchen is being redone.  Like yesterday's painting, this began with a photo that I took in Monção, Portugal, a charming wall city just across the river from Spain.

Reposting: View of Spain from Portugal (Watercolor Painting)

This is another of my watercolors of Portugal, normally on my wall but at the moment temporarily down during my kitchen makeover.  This painting is based on a photo that I took during my first trip to Portugal.  During a day trip north from Porto, we stopped for lunch in Monção, Portugal, right across the river from Spain.

Reposting: Rooftop in Porto (Watercolor)

In my house,  six of my watercolors of Portugal are usually hanging on the wall.  But this week they are down while the kitchen gets a makeover.  I am so used to seeing them every day so I am posting them here instead. So this is another of those watercolors, painted after my first visit to Porto.  I love the tile roofs of Portugal.  This is based on a photo I took from an athletic club on a hill (in the Foz I think), overlooking the rooftops of Porto.

Reposting: Bom Jesus, Braga (Watercolor)

This is one of the watercolors I painted shortly after my first trip to Portugal. Six of these paintings have been hanging on my kitchen-family room wall for years. But yesterday I had to take then down, just temporarily, while our kitchen is being renovated.  I miss seeing them because they remind me of happy trips to Portugal, so I decided to post them here this week.  This painting began with a photo that I took during a trip to Bom Jesus in Braga. We climbed the many, many flights of stairs to the visited  a lovely park at the top. I took a picture of the souvenir shop, and that was the inspiration for this painting.

Reposting: Watercolors of Portugal (in my kitchen)

These are some of the watercolors I painted after my first trip to Portugal.  These nine paintings have been hanging in my kitchen/family room for over a decade, and they still bring back great memories!  Feels like a bit of Portugal in my kitchen. Today I took them down (temporarily) because the great kitchen remodel starts tomorrow morning.  I will miss them, but they will be back up on the wall in a week or two . . . .

Pink Sky and Snow Squall (with Prisma filter)

A couple of weeks ago, we were caught in a sudden snow squall.  As it passed, the sky turned a beautiful shade of pink.  This is one of the photos I took, enhanced with a Prisma filter.

Inspired by Hofmann (Abstraction Exercise)

A few weeks ago, we finally went to see the Hans Hofmann exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum.  The exhibit included several art activities, one of which was a table with materials to create an abstract image using pieces of plastic on a board. Of course I didn't pass up the opportunity and although the works were temporary, I took a picture of mine.  (Posted here on January 4.)  To avoid cast shadows, the piece had to be photographed vertical, but because there was no adhesive, the pieces slipped out of place as I was taking the photo.  I have been meaning to go back and correct that digitally (because Hans Hofmann is worth it)  and today was finally the day.  Tonight I opened the photo in Painter and used a grid, digital pastel, and cut-and-paste to straighten out and align the shapes.  When I was done, I decided to also add some posterizing and woodcut effect.  So here's my little homage to Hans Hofmann.

Purple Mountain Majesties (Reference for Painting)

This image began with a snapshot from a family trip to Colorado (photo posted here on January 14).  That snapshot is going to be the basis for two paintings. First, I am going to use an image cropped from the background as the basis for a painting, with green as the main color. (See photo reference posted yesterday, Jan. 15.)  I am also going to do a painting based on the whole image, with purple as the main color. So I opened the original photo in Painter and modified it, using Painter's color overlay, color adjustment, and posterizing tools to get a purple color scheme.  The image posted here today will be my reference for that painting.

Layers of Green (Reference for Painting)

This image began with the family snapshot I posted here yesterday, taken during a trip to Breckenridge, Colorado, several decades ago.  Tonight's post is a close-in crop of the mountains in the background of my snapshot. I used Painter to add posterizing effect and to emphasize the green colors.  This is going to be the reference for my next painting.  But I got such good feedback on the original family snapshot that I decided to also do a second painting based on the original composition.  I used Painter's digital tricks to arrive at a different color scheme for that second painting reference, and I plan to post that here tomorrow. 

In the Colorado Rockies (Family Snapshot)

I am going to start another mountain painting soon.  For my next show (in May), I am working from snapshots from trips to Colorado.  Like the last painting I did, this was also from a family trip to Breckenridge with the kids. I know that because it was in the same set, in the same album, as the others.  But since there is no note on the back of the photo, I have no idea of the specific location. I cleaned this photo up a bit today before posting it.  Then I used Painter to crop the image and add posterizing to create a photo reference for my next painting.  I plan to post that digitally modified version tomorrow.

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Acrylic Watermedia Painting)

I worked on this painting today, a mountain landscape inspired by memories of Colorado.  This painting began with a family snapshot taken during a family trip decades ago.  I modified the original photo with Painter and used the result as my painting reference (posted here January 2, 2020).  Today I fussed with some of the lines in the foreground. I turned the painting and the photo reference upside-down and revised some of the shapes in the mountains.  But I decided that the painting was finished, and it was time to move on to the next project. This painting was just hard for me to leave, and so was Boulder.

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of January 12, 2020)

I worked on this painting again today. This landscape was inspired by a snapshot taken during a family trip back  to Colorado years ago.  (My photo reference is posted here January 2, 2020).  Today I focused on the white areas in the foreground and in the sky, working with a somewhat broader and varying between opaque and transparent layers.  I want some of the colors beneath to show through the white to add interest and depth.  I also added another layer of blue to the sky and also added the same color to a few shadows in the snow.  Just a few more details to fix.  This is almost finished. . . .

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of Jan. 11, 2020)

I worked on this painting today, a landscape is based on a vacation photo taken decades ago (see post for January 2nd). The location is the  Boulder Overlook;  this is a view of the Flatirons seen from the overlook, with Boulder off to the right.  As you drive north from Denver, this overlook offers the first glimpse of the Boulder. I have loved this overlook since we first moved to Boulder back in 68 and I still get emotional whenever we go back to visit. Today I made one more adjustment to the mountain shapes. There was a lot of white left to paint in the foreground, but first I added some underpainting in pale pastel colors to add variety and depth.  Then I used purple to emphasize a line  of foliage on the little ridge in the foreground. Finally I added white washes to the sky and to the snowy areas in the foreground.  I think I need to add another layer or two of white, but this is nearly done. To be continued. . . .

"House on Signal Mountain" in New Home

Here is my painting, "House on Signal Mountain," in its new home in Tennessee.  Puts a smile on my face to see it there.  I love the way it is hung, right above a "Signal Mountain" plaque.  I think it looks like it is exactly where it belongs.

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of January 9, 2020)

This is my current project as it looked yesterday.  I am painting a mountain landscape seen from the Boulder Overlook, using a digitally modified version of an old snapshot as my reference. (See my main photo reference, posted here on January 2nd.)  This version shows a few more changes to the shapes of the mountains, and additional layers of color: blue for the sky and pink areas on the mountains. To be continued. . . .

"Blue Mountain Blues" Headed to New Jersey

This is one of my acrylic watermedia paintings, inspired by memories of the mountains of Colorado, my home state.  Today I mailed it off to its new owner in New Jersey. This is 16 x 20 on Aquabord.

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of January 7, 2020)

Today I continued working on this painting. This inspired by a snapshot taken during a trip to Colorado back in 1979. I used Painter and some digital pastel to modify the original snapshot to create the painting reference (posted here Jan. 2nd).  Last night I realized that I had miscounted the number of peaks in these mountains, so I started by corrected that.  I also adjusted the snow line at the base of the mountains, and now I am happier with the composition.  To be continued.

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of January 6, 2020)

Late this afternoon, I had a chance to return to this project. This is a painting of the view you see coming into Boulder.  I am using an old snapshot (digitally modified) as a reference (posted here January 2nd). Today I was still struggling with the shapes of those mountains so I kept going with purple and white. Finally I turned both the painting and my photo reference upside-down, and that helped a lot.  To be continued. . .

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of Jan. 5, 2020)

This is the painting that I started two days ago.  My inspiration is a snapshot from a family trip to Colorado.  I modified my old snapshot with Painter so I could use it as a painting reference. When we first got married, we lived in Boulder and started our family there. It was a very hard place to leave! So coming up over that overlook for the first view of Boulder was always (and is still) very emotional for me. Today I used purple and white paint to change the composition of my painting, adjusting the position of the mountains.  I didn't add more color because I want to keep things simple for now. As I worked, I added more light and  shadow.  To be continued. . . .

Abstraction Exercise (Peabody Essex Museum)

This morning I finally had a chance to see the Hans Hofmann exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum.  In one room of the exhibit, there was an activity table set up so that viewers could take a crack at making an abstract composition, using plastic cutouts in colors and shapes favored by Hans Hofmann.  I couldn't resist, so here's mine.  (The shapes didn't stick to the background too well; they were all intended to be squared up at 90 degrees, but they weren't glued down and they slipped a bit.)  Anyway, it was a good exercise and I had fun.

Snowscene from Boulder Overlook (Painting as of Jan. 3, 2020)

I started a new painting today.  This is inspired by a family photo taken during a trip to Colorado in 1979. (The photo is posted here December 30, 2019.)  I used Painter to create a digitally modified version of the original photo to use as a painting reference (posted here Jan. 2, 2020).  Today I sketched in my idea for the composition, using just purple and a bit of red-violet.  In the original snapshot, the mountains in the distance are obscured by clouds and snow, so I also referred to some summertime photos that I took in June of 2018 at the same spot.  No doubt I will adjust the composition, but this is the basic idea, and it felt good to get started.

Boulder Scenic Overlook (Digitally Modified Photo)

A few days ago, I posted a photo that I took in 1979 during a trip to Colorado.  My snapshot was taken from the scenic overlook above Boulder (on the Denver-Boulder turnpike).  I am using that photo as inspiration for my next painting.  To transform the snapshot into a painting reference, I cropped it to get the basic composition I wanted, and then opened the image in Painter and used digital pastel to simplify the foreground, covering up some small buildings, cars, etc. with white.  I also changed the contour of the road just a bit. Then I posterized the scene to help make the shapes stand out.  As a bonus, I also got some nice colors.  I hope to start painting tomorrow.

Happy New Year 2020 (Digital Drawing)

This is the final frame of the video I posted yesterday, a little animation created in Procreate as I was drawing. I cleaned the drawing up just a bit in Painter. Sending this out to wish everyone health and happiness in the year ahead.  (Here's a link to the video in case you missed it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/49306024437