"Toward the Mountains" Acrylic Watermedia Painting

This is my recent painting as it looked on August 29, 2021, which is the day I finished it.  That was also the day I needed to deliver it to the gallery in Boston, for display in September.  Yes, I know,  that was cutting it close.  On the morning of August 29th, I kept making small changes, even though my painting was wired, labeled, and ready to go.  At one point, I considered putting it in the car so I would just stop already!!!  These were all small changes, but I think they were worth making. I added a subtle dark blue lines suggesting shadow at the base of each of the dark green hillsides. I reworked the shapes on the mountains, including snow and shadow. I made a few changes to that sky, making sure that red sun would show up. These were all small changes, but they add up to an attempt to present viewers with a sense of peace. But  eventually it was time to drive to Boston and drop it off at Galatea Fine Art, where it will be on display this month.

That Smiling Face (Digitally Rescued Image)

I was looking for a picture of my dad to post today because August 28 was his birthday.  I tried a face recognition search on my computer in iPhoto, which is how I came across this image of my dad as a young man, probably a teenager.  But what iPhoto had turned up was a very tiny image, blurry, and in black and white.  It seemed unusable.  But that smile!  So I opened the image in Painter and got to work.  I enlarged the image, worked on the focus, added contrast, posterizing, woodcut effect, color overlay, you name it.  I drew into the image with digital pastel because part of the hair and one of the ears wasn't completely visible in the original.  Then I imported the image into iPhoto and did some more basic edited. It was worth it because I don't have very many pictures of my father when he was young.  And it was a nice way to celebrate my dad's birthday.

Toward the Mountains (Painting as of August 28, 2021)

Here is my latest painting as it looked on Saturday, August 28, 2021.  This was very nearly finished, and it had to be! I needed to drop it off at the gallery by the next day.  In fact, I had already attached wire and labeled it. I was pretty happy with the composition and the colors. But I was still working on some details, the shapes in the mountains and the sky.  I thought it was done when I went to bed. . . .

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 27, 2021)

Here is how my latest painting looked on August 27, 2021.  Just a few days to go until I had to drop off the painting at the gallery.  I focussed mainly on color. l added some white washes to the sky, for contrast. I added more of that Colorado red to the mountain tops, and evened out the teal blue on the slopes.  I modified the shapes of those two green hillsides, and added some sage green to the foreground. Almost there, a few small things to fix. . . .

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 26, 2021)

Here is my latest painting as it looked on August 26, 2021.  At this point,  I was working on the sky and the tops of the mountain. I was pretty happy with the shapes, but was working on color contrast between mountain and sky.  I had tried adding pale green (as in my photo reference), but I wanted the mountains to "pop".  When I paint, I often reach a point where I need to let go of what is happening in the photo and focus on what needs to happen on the canvas.

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 25, 2021)

This is my latest painting as it looked on August 25th.  The previous day, using my photo reference, I had finally corrected the silhouette and shapes of the mountain in the distance. But I realized that in the processes, those lines and shapes had moved upward a bit.  So the next task was to adjust the shapes of those two dark green slopes on the right and left.  Still do come: repainting the sky, and readjusting some colors.  I was starting to worry about time, because I had a deadline.

Toward the Mountains (Painting as of August 24, 2021)

Here is my latest painting as it looked on August 24th.  On both the 23rd (which I am not posting) and on the 24th, I worked on getting the lines of the mountains to look the way I wanted them to.  This meant turning my painting and my reference photo upside-down, which sounds funny, but I am serious and it really does help.

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 22, 2021)

Here is my current work-in-progress as it looked on August 22, 2021.  I worked on the lines of those mountains. At one point, I painted with  both my painting and my photo reference turned upside-down, and as always, that helped.

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 21, 2021)

Here is my current painting as it looked on August 21st.  At this point, I had just been working on the sky, and also beginning a struggle to capture the lines of those mountains.  My reference is a (digitally modified) photo that I took during a trip to Colorado in 2018 (posted here August 13th ).  I am using acrylic paint with water on Aquabord, 16 x 20 inches.

" Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 20, 2021)

Here is the painting I am working, on as it looked on August 20th.   I continued to work on the sky, and also worked on the shapes of those mountains.  This is acrylic used with water on Aquabord, 16 x 20 inches.

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 19, 2021)

Here is my current work-in-progress as it looked on August 19th. That's the day I began really working on the sky, establishing basic shapes and colors.  My painting reference is a photo that I took during my last trip to Colorado, in June of 2018.

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 18, 2021)

This is my current work-in-progress as it looked on August 18th. This painting is based on a photo (digitally modified) that I took during a trip to Colorado in 2018.  In this version, you can see that I am still working out the composition and color scheme. I am working with acrylics used with water on Aquabord, 16 x 20 inches.

 

"Toward the Mountains" (Painting as of August 17, 2021)

Here is my current painting as of August 17.  Using my painting reference photo, I added some areas of color to the sketch from the day before.  

Toward the Mountains (Painting as of August 16, 2021)

Here is my painting as it looked on August 16, 2021, the day I got it started.  Using my reference photo as a guide, I used blue paint to sketch in the basic shapes and to establish the composition.  (I also used just a bit of red paint for the sun.)  To be continued. . .

The Necessity of Flowers (framed drawing)

This is the last of the four small drawings I framed recently.  I created these flower drawings with Sharpie fineline markers.  I have scanned the drawings into the computer and in some cases, have made some digital corrections.  But I framed the original drawings to hang in my house.  

Hopeful Flowers (framed drawing)

Here is the third of four small drawings that I recently framed.  There is a digitally edited version of this drawing in my computer, but I am hanging the original drawing in my house.  All of these drawings are 6 x 6 inches, and were drawn with Sharpie fine-line markers on paper. 

Flowers of Kindness (framed drawing)

Here is another of the small drawings that I framed yesterday.  These drawings are 6 x 6 inches, Sharpie fine-line marker on paper. I scanned these drawings into the computer, and in some cases, made some digital corrections.  I am framing the original drawings to hang in my house.

Counting on Flowers (framed drawing)

Yesterday I framed some of my small drawings of flowers to hang in my house.  Although I have created digital versions, I am framing the original drawings.  This is the first of four.  They are all 6 x 6 inches, created with Sharpie fineline markers on paper. This is the first of four.

Toward the Mountains (Modified Photo for Painting Reference)

My previous post was the original version of this photo, taken in June of 2018 as we drove through the Colorado mountains.  I recently chose that photo to use as a painting reference for my next painting.  But in the original photo, the highway runs right through the foreground.  I decided that in this case, I didn't want to include the road, so I opened the jpg in Painter and used digital pastel and "cut-and-paste" to change the foreground, to produce the basic composition that I wanted for my painting.

Towards the Mountains (Original Photo)

It is time to paint the mountains again, so I have been looking at my photos of Colorado. This photo was taken back on June 7 of 2018, during our trip to Colorado. (A double celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary  and 50 years of friendship with our friends from Brazil, who were also celebrating 50 years married.)  I am not sure of the exact location, but I think it is somewhere near Breckenridge.  This is the photo just as it came out of the camera, although I have obscured the license plate.  I like the composition and decided to use this photo as my painting reference. Of course I could paint the highway, but decided not to. Instead, I created a digitally modified version of this photo, which I plan to post soon. .   

Two Bridges over the Hudson (with Prisma filter)

Here's another image from our recent road trip from Massachusetts to Nashville. We began with a northern route through Western Mass and upstate New York, eventually heading south through Ohio to Tennessee.  I took this picture on July 24, our first day on the road, as we were crossing the Hudson River into New York. Tonight I added the "Vivid" filter from the Prisma app. The blue bridge is called the Castleton Bridge, and the older bridge in the background is the Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge (built for train traffic).  I got excited when I learned the name of the older bridge because during our road trip, we listened to "The Power Broker" on Audible, a book about the history of New York in which Alfred Smith figures prominently. But alas, this is named after a different Alfred Smith.  Anyway, there is only one Hudson River, and this is it. 

Indoor Garden (Fabric Appliqué), Framed

This is a fabric appliqué that I made a few years ago.  We had our kitchen redone in February of 2020, and I had decided to have it framed to hang on our kitchen wall.  But Covid happened, and that little project was delayed until a few weeks ago, when I took my appliqué to the framers.  Today I picked it up and hung it on my kitchen wall.