Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 31, 2022)

Here is my painting-in-progress as of New Year's Eve, 2022. I am working on refining shapes of flowers and leaves, working in small sections. This photo shows progress in the cluster of flowers and the leaves at the top of the canvas

Wishes for a Bright Year Ahead

I made this little video on my iPad with the Procreate app, which captures a video replay as you draw.  I am sending this out to everyone with wishes for a bright year ahead

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 30, 2022)

Time was short today, but I worked on this painting for a while.  I am still refining the shapes of the blossoms and branches, especially concentrating on the placement and curves of created by the vine against the adobe wall. To be continued. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 29, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today, concentrating on refining the major branches as well as shapes of blossoms, leaves, and stems on the right-hand side, with the wall in the background. I am taking care with the lines created by the branches in front of the wall.  To be continued. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 28, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  I am fairly satisfied with placement, so I got out a smaller brush and started refining the shapes of the leaves, starting on the right -- with the adobe wall in the background.  

"Pergola at Long Hill" at the Beverly Historical Society

Here's my oil bar painting on display at the Beverly Historical Society in the show "Icons, Myths, and Legends of Beverly." The show was on display from October 21st to December 17th.  I took this photo at the closing reception.  The painting was hung on a red wall, almost the same color as the pergola.  

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 26, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today, still refining the position of the major blossoms and branches. I am concentrating on the way the branches hang across the wall.  I spent time measuring and also spent time painting with the canvas and the photo reference both turned upside-down.  Sounds like a crazy thing to do, but it always helps.

Holiday Greetings from Squirrels and Birds (Digital Drawing)

My previous post was a video replay, created on my iPad, of holiday greetings from squirrels and birds.  I used the Procreate app, which creates a stroke-by-stroke replay as you draw. This digital drawing is the final frame of the video, but cleaned up a bit on my computer, using my Painter program.  Now I can send it out to greet friends and family during the holiday season.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 25, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  I was concentrating on the right-hand side of the painting, checking and revising the placement of major branches and the general shape of the negative space.  I wanted to improve the shapes of some of the curving lines. In the process, I changed the background color again.  I think it is getting closer to the final color.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 24, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  I printed out a larger copy of my reference photo to make it easier to see detail, and then made revisions. You can still see some conte crayon on the canvas where I am changing things.  I made the background darker, for more contrast so I can see better, but fear not, this is not the final color.  

Holiday Greetings from Squirrels and Birds

I made this little drawing replay video today using the Procreate app on my iPad.  Squirrels and birds say "Enjoy the Season," and I agree. Whatever holiday(s) you may be celebrating this weekend, I wish you happy times and safe travels.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 23, 2022)

I worked on this painting again today.  There is more to do in terms of placement, but most of the major lines and shapes are where I want them to be.  I still need to refine the shapes, but today I worked on color, repainting the yellow blossoms and the background.  These are not the final colors, but are getting closer. Making the colors brighter is making it easier for me to track where things are.  To be continued.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 22, 2022)

This is my current painting as it looks today.  I am still working on placement, at this point using light and dark green to establish the position of smaller branches and leaves.  These are not the final colors.  At this point I just need contrast so I can see what I am doing.  To be continued. . .

 

Dachshund Menorah by Guest Artist Melissa Pepper

I hope you enjoy this wonderful drawing as much as I do! This is by guest artist and my cousin Melissa Pepper.  

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 16, 2022)

Here is my painting as it looked at the end of the day on Friday.  Changes reflect some concentrated work on placement, first of clusters of blossoms, then of the five main branches, and then of smaller branches where there will be clusters of leaves.  I am measuring locations on the canvas against the grid I have drawn over my reference photo, just figuring out where things go on the canvas.  This method is slow and methodical, and it is beginning to pay off. At this point, the shapes are rough and I using colors mainly to help me clearly where things are on the canvas.  Modifying shapes and colors will come later. To be continued. . . .

Sunflower Menorah (Digital Drawing)

Yesterday, for the first night of Chanukah, I posted a video showing sunflowers transforming into a menorah (in tribute to Ukraine).  I made the video on my iPad with the Procreate app, which captures a  replay as you draw. Today I took the iPad drawing (the final frame of the video), and used Painter to clean it up a bit, and here it is. Now I can send this out with greetings for family and friends. 

Sunflower Menorah (drawing replay video)

Yesterday I used the Procreate app on my iPad to create this little video. Press play to watch this little transformation.  Hanukkah is about freedom, so it seemed fitting to create a little menorah in honor of Ukraine.  Sending this out to say Happy Chanukah to those celebrating, and to wish everyone a little more courage, a little more freedom, a little more light.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 15, 2022)

Here is my current project as it looked two days ago.  My focus was still composition.  I revised the placement of the main branches and the main clusters of blossoms by measuring (using a grid) and comparing to the position on the reference photo. I redrew the lines of the main branches, using red so the new lines would be easy to see.  As I made changes, I repainted the background in a lighter color. This is still rough, but getting a bit closer to what I want to see.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Painting as of Dec. 14, 2022)

Here is my current project as it looked on the first painting day, December 14th.  I am painting trumpet vines on an adobe wall for my long-lost friend Marcia. My goal on the 14th was to "rough in" a general idea of the composition, using my photo reference as a guide. Although I worked quickly and the painting is indeed very rough, as advertised, I was happy to get started.  The colors, the composition, and, well, just about everything is going to change.  To be continued.

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Sketch for Painting Dec. 13, 2022)

Here is my sketch for my current project, a painting of trumpet vines for my long-lost friend Marcia. Here I am just sketching on the canvas with conte crayon. I am trying to get the composition and placement right. I set up a rough grid on the photo reference as well as on the canvas. The key is to get the placement of those five key branches to work. A big part of making art is just working through a series of mistakes. . .

Trumpet Vine for Marcia (Photo reference for painting)

My friend Marcia sent me this photo of a trumpet vine and I am going to paint it for her.

Reposting: Estes Park Memory (Acrylic Watermedia)

This is the second of two of my paintings now on display in the lobby of Porter Mill Studios as part of the annual December show of Porter Mill Artists.  This is acrylic used as watermedia on Aquabord 16 x 20 with a 2" edge.

Reposting: Layers of Green (Acrylic Watermedia)

This is the first of two of my paintings currently on display in the Porter Mill Lobby as part of the annual Porter Mill Artists show. This is acrylic paint used with water on 16 x 20 aquaboard (with 2" edge).

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Acrylic Mixed Media Painting

On Sunday morning, my painting was already wired and labeled, but I still wanted to do some cleanup. So I  got up early and went over my work, first of all making sure all the surfaces were covered. I made some minor adjustments, making sure that all the lines extended to the edge of the canvas. These were all tiny changes that would dry quickly. Soon enough it was time to go.  We headed down to Boston where I turned it in at @Galatea Fine Arts.  It will be on display in December int the Artists' Alcove, in the landscape group show entitled, "Light of Day".  

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Painting as of Nov. 26. 2022

This is my mixed media painting as it looked at the end of the day on Saturday.  This may not look like realism, but still I relied on my painting reference (posted here Nov. 18). I started added acrylic paint in transparent layers to adjust the colors: brown to the purple area at the bottom, hunter's green to the lime green area, phthalo green to the first line of blue mountain. I added some blue shadows to the mountain, on the right where it would be in shadow.  And then I mixed some metallic gold paint with acrylic medium and painted a thin layer over the pale orange areas.  I added the sun (gentle morning pink) and I also added some sharp orange areas to suggest where the sun was hitting the mountains.  I was pretty happy with it, but there was still some cleanup to do, as you can see.  That would have to wait till the next day, also the same day it was due to be delivered in Boston.  I would have to get up early!  To be continued. . . .

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Painting as of Nov. 25, 2022

Here is my progress as of Friday, November 25th.  Using my painting reference as a guide, I filled in the middle section of the composition with pasted paper in purple and dark blue.  Things seemed to be coming together at this point.  To be continued.

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Painting as of Nov. 24, 2022

Here is my current project as it looked on Thursday night.  My schedule has been crazy but have been using little bits of time to paste little bits of purple paper on the lower part of this landscape. To be continued. . . 

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Painting as of Nov. 23, 2022

I worked some more on this painting this afternoon.  (This is going to be a mixed media painting with acrylic paint, but I am using pasted paper to establish the basic shapes first.)  Today I added the contours of a green hill in the foreground, working from my painting reference, posted here Nov.  18th.  These are not necessarily the final colors.  I have a collection of colored tissue paper, and I am using papers in the colors closest to what I want. Later I will modify some of the colors with acrylic paint.  To be continued.

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Painting as of Nov. 22, 2022

Yesterday I continued to work on this project, a mixed media painting, acrylic paint and pasted paper. At this point, I am still using pasted paper to define areas of the landscape.  As I worked, I  adjusted the top line of the mountain with purple paper.  To get the color of morning sunlight on the mountains, I layered pale pink paper over orange.    To be continued. . .

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Painting as of Nov. 22, 2022

Today I worked on this painting for a little while.  First I used colored conte crayon to make some adjustments to my sketch, and also applied some areas of color, just to make it easier to see the different areas.  Then I started working on the sky, applying pale pink pasted paper.  This is how it looks so far.

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs) Rough Sketch on Board

It's been a busy day but I managed to get my next painting started.  I began by trying to print out my painting reference on the computer.  It was taking forever, so I just grabbed some conte crayon and roughed in the basic composition right on the masonite board,  just using the image on my phone. Meanwhile, my printer spit out the image of my painting reference.  Although there are some mistakes in this sketch, this is pretty close to what I want.  I will need to adjust that top line, for sure.  Anyway, it's a beginning.  This is going to be acrylic and pasted paper, 16 x 20 inches.  To be continued. . . .

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs), Reference for Painting

Yesterday I posted a photo that I took back in 2011 during a trip to Colorado.  After spending the previous night with friends in Colorado Springs, I left in the morning to drive back to Denver. But on my way out of Springs, I saw this view of the mountains in the morning light, and I stopped (in a shopping center parking lot) to take a picture.  Recently I decided I wanted to paint that scene, but the bottom half of the photo was full of cars. So I opened the image in Painter and used some cut-and-paste to get rid of wires, poles, cars, and trucks.  Then I used digital pastel to replace the foreground.  Then I kicked up the saturation just a bit and added posterizing effect.  Now I can use this as a painting reference.

Morning Mountains (Colorado Springs); Inspiration for Painting

It is time for another mountain painting.  I found this image on my computer,  a photo that I took back in 2011 during a trip to Colorado.  I had been visiting friends in Colorado Springs the day before.  I stayed over and left early the next morning to drive back up to Denver.  On the way to the highway, I stopped at a shopping center near Woodmen Road so I could get a picture of the morning light on those mountains. In Colorado, you don't have to go hiking to be inspired by a view of the mountains. You can be in a parking lot, and the view takes your breath away. However, I don't want those cars in my painting, so to get this image ready to be a painting reference, I knew I would have to make some changes. 

 

Bright November Leaves at Long Hill (with Prisma filter)

I added the Prisma app's "Flora" filter to the photo that I posted here yesterday.  I have already used the resulting image to send birthday greetings to a favorite friend who was born in November. 

Bright November Leaves at Long Hill

This is another photo from last week's visit to Long Hill Gardens here in Beverly, MA.  The colors were amazing!

Even More Beautiful November (Long Hill Gardens)

This is a closer crop of the photo that I posted yesterday.  What I liked best about the image is the red leaves, so I decide to crop the photo in a way that puts those red leaves in a more central position.  

Beautiful November (Long Hill Gardens)

Here's another photo from last week's visit to Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA.  The colors were spectacular.  Today I edited this photo to get this composition.

Dad in Uniform (Digitally modified snapshot)

On Veteran's Day, I usually post a war-time photo of my dad. The image I am posting today began with a snapshot that I found yesterday among his photos, sent to me a few years ago.  Sometimes these old pictures present a mystery about where he was during the war or what he was doing.* In this case, nothing was written on the back, no clues, no date, and only a bit of mystery. From other of army photos, I already know his unit spent camped out near a forest. But I liked the simple picture of my father in uniform, and decided to go with that.  The only mystery was why I hadn't seen this picture before.  Today I scanned the snapshot into my computer, and used iPhoto to do some basic retouching.  That's when I noticed that it looked like one of his front teeth was missing. Aha! So that's why I hadn't seen the photo before! (I had heard that he had lost a front tooth during the war.  The family story is he was drunk and when he was spoken to by the MPs, he refused to reveal his name, rank, and serial number, and got punched in the mouth.)  Well, okay. But I could fix the tooth. I decided to open the image in Painter and I replaced the missing tooth with a little digital dentistry.  I also noticed that you could see the shoulder of another person standing next to him, so I decided to crop that out, and the result was a better composition.  The photo was pretty grainy, so I added both woodcut and posterizing effects to get this image.  I will continue my efforts to solve mysteries, big and small, about my dad's time in the army.  But really, the details don't matter. He was an ordinary guy, and as he told me years later, he was scared, though you can't tell from looking at him here. No big dramatic tales to tell. Like a lot of other people, he did his bit against the Nazis. But knowing that he did his part to fight tyranny, even though he had a lot to loose, even though he had to leave his brand new wife to do it, even though he was afraid: that's the main story.  That's what I have been thinking about more and more. I try to remember his example of ordinary courage when the news of the day makes me worry about two-bit tyrants and creeping antisemitism. 

 *(For example, yesterday I was intrigued by 

a different photo of my dad with army buddies in front of a building, and on the back he had written "École Professionale," somewhere near Cherbourg, I assume. No time to track that down today, so I will leave that for another time.) 

Path at Long Hill Gardens

Last weekend, on the way home from Russell's Garden, we stopped for a walk at Long Hill Gardens.  The November colors were spectacular.

Bouquet in November (with Prisma filter)

On Monday, my daughter brought me this beautiful bouquet. Of course I took pictures. Yesterday I added Prisma’s “Oleander” filter and cropped the original to get this composition.

FIeld and Trees in November (Russell Orchards)

Here's another photo that I took this weekend at Russell Orchards, up in Ipswich, MA.  I was walking back to the car when I saw this view. I loved the colors and stopped to take some pictures. I cropped the original to get this composition.

November at Russell Orchards

Yesterday we went to Russell Orchards up in Ipswich, MA.  I hadn't been there in a few years, and there were lots of new things to see: new crafts for sale, T-shirts, a wine-tasting area with outdoor seating.  But the old standards are still there, including huge bins of apples, and warm cider donuts for sale.  The day was a great combination of spring weather and fall colors.  On the way back to the car, I took a picture of some fruit trees with bright yellow leaves.  Later, I cropped the image to get this composition.

Hawk in Spruce Tree (with Prisma filter)

Friday morning, I was out in the yard and a hawk circled overhead and settled in our spruce tree.  I got my iPhone out and took pictures. The sun was in my eyes and the bird was high in the tree, but I zoomed in and got a few pictures. In the photos I took, it was still pretty hard to see this lovely bird against the background.  So I explored the Prism app to see if there was a filter that would help and I chose "Monoke".  Then I imported the resulting image into iPhoto, adjusted the contrast and saturation again, and cropped the image to get this composition.  It took a bit of work to get a good image of this beautiful bird, but it was well worth it. You don't see a hawk in your yard every day!

Reposting: Mom at Crews Beggs (Digitally modified)

I have posted this at least twice before, in 2013 and in 2005. The original sepia-toned version of this photo is one of my favorites, showing my mom striding by Crews Beggs Department Store in my hometown. I am not sure, but I think it was taken by my Uncle Ike, a great photographer.* Back in 2005, I used Painter to add color. I am reposting today in memory of my mother, born November 2nd.

*He did business in Pueblo as Jay Phillips Studio.

Late October Trickery

This image began with a color photo that I took a couple of years ago in Boston's Back Bay on a bright sunny day. Today I decided to use some digital trickery on this image to make a post for October 31st.  First, I used the Prisma app to add the "Daryl Feril" filter.  I saved the image, reloaded it into Prisma and edited it with a second filter, "Monoke".  Then I opened the image in iPhoto and adjusted the exposure and contrast to make the image darker.  Now this Boston Brownstone looks like it might be a haunted house. . .

White Pumpkins at Marini Farm (with Prisma filter)

To continue the pumpkin theme, here's another photo that I took at Marini farms in early October.  White and orange pumpkins were arranged on the grass and honestly, it was more of an artistic installation than a typical display.  So I took some pictures.   I recently added Prisma's "Flora" filter and then cropped the image to get this composition.

Rows of Pumpkins (with Prisma filter)

Took this photo a few weeks ago and recently added Prisma app’s Watercolor filter. Posting today because this makes me think of the traffic on 128 as everyone tries to get to Salem in late October.

Pumpkins at Marini Farm (with Prisma app)

This image began with a photo that I took a few weeks ago, during a little outing to Marini Farm (a local farm stand).  There were pumpkins everywhere, so I took some pictures.  I have been saving my pumpkin photos to post this week.  Salem is the next town over,  and October is a major tourist season around here. As October 31 approaches, there are almost as many tourists as there are pumpkins!  Today I used the Prisma app on my phone to apply a filter.  After some trial and error, I chose the "Dolphin" filter.  Edited in Prisma app with Dolphin

Pergola at Long Hill (Oil Bar Painting)

Here's my oil bar painting as it looked on October 12, 2022, the day I finished it.  I made too many small adjustments to list here.  I added to the foliage around the Pergola.  I adjusted the shape of the pink tree. I toned down the yellow light where the sunshine hits the pergola.  And I changed the light of the sky from pale blue to pale yellow.  I pronounced this painting finished, with just enough time to spare to let it dry, sign it and attach a wire for hanging. This is how it looked when I delivered to the Beverly Historical Society just two days later, narrowly making the deadline for their show, "Icons, Myths, and Legends of Beverly," running from October 21st to December 17th.

Pergola at Long Hill (Oil Bar Painting as of October 11, 2022)

Here is my latest oil bar painting as it looked on October 11th.  The day before, this painting had been sideways in the ease while I painted the sides of the canvas. Once the paint dried enough,  I turned the painting right-side-up, and I knew it was time to modify the composition.  I was planning to add more foliage to the area around the pergola.  (Although it wasn't obvious in my reference photo, the path to the pergola is lined with azalea bushes.) Since I was going to add more detail in that area, I wanted to simplify the rest.  I extended the shape of the pink tree behind the pergola. (This is a departure from the reference photo.)  Then I eliminated a row of dark green overhanging leaves at the top of the canvas. This immediately simplified the background on the upper left side and made the trees in the background look taller.  I wanted some light to show through the trees, but limited that to two small areas that would suggest  a nice diagonal line between them. This is also different from the reference photo.  But when I paint from a photo reference, there almost always comes a point when what is on the canvas becomes more important than what is in the photo.  I knew there was more to do, but I felt like I was on the right track. 

Pergola at Long Hill (Oil Bar Painting as of October 10, 2022)

Here is my oil bar painting as it looked on October 10, 2022., last Monday.  I had been working on this painting for an art show, and it was due to be turned in on the 14th or 15th.  The painting wasn't finished but I needed to "seal" the sides with paint, but it would take several days to dry, so it was time to start. So this painting was turned sideways on the easel.  At first, I thought that meant I wouldn't be able to work on it, but I realized that I often turn paintings upside-down to work on them.  So I turned my photo reference sideways too, and kept going, although I didn't attempt major changes.  I worked on light and dark on the Pergola and developed some detail in the foreground.  When I took this photo, the painting was still on its side.

Pergola at Long Hill (Oil Bar Painting as of October 9, 2022)

Here is my oil bar painting as of October 9th.  I began to work on the background, using my photo reference, as well as other photos I have taken there.  I also began to focus on the sunlight coming through the trees and shining on the pergola.

Pergola at Long Hill (Oil Bar Painting as of October 8, 2022)

Here is my latest painting as it looked on October 8, 2022. I began to add foliage around the pergola. It was fun to add the yellow. I also extended the branches of the pink tree behind the structure.