Color charts and snippet # 2

Today was a good, productive day in the studio. This one is coming along nicely, although it surprised me when I started liking what was happening on the canvas a whole lot better than the pretty darn good photo I had managed to capture of this area. I got one spot that looked really 'sweet' and I knew I needed to avoid it like the plague or I would destroy it. I then chose to forget the photo and just paint what I liked on the canvas.

 A light bulb moment, kind of, as now I better understand those before me that recommended using a photo as a 'jumping off point', not just slave and copy it.

I should be able to complete this one tomorrow.........can you guess what landmark this is?

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I also was having trouble with subtle grays
 for one of the very large paintings and it was
 full of little shifts of greys.........so I opened
up the cupboard door and studied my color charts.
 There it was! I was trying to get the tone/value
 using Burnt Sienna when a much better and
more accurate choice was Transparent Oxide Red!
 I am pretty sure that I will be using
 my color charts more often now.



Have a wonderful evening and remember when that color is elusive, make some mixes and record them for future reference!

Snippet # 2 and using color charts

Snippet # 2 ........the painting is coming along nicely. Should be able to add finishing touches tomorrow. This one is rather small compared to the other two I am working on; it is only 18 x 24".

I worked from my photo but took my color cues from a small oil sketch (9 x 12) that I  started a few weeks ago.  Can you guess where this landmark is?

I was having so much trouble working on another of my very large paintings, so I pulled out my color chart for TOR, as I found the exact color that I wanted to mix on this chart............no wonder I couldn't get it....I didn't have Transparent Oxide Red on my palette. Instead, I was trying to get it with Burnt Sienna. What a difference the shift in warmth and transparency made. Especially since I was using Zinc White, rather than Titanium. Guess I need to refer to these charts, instead of them decorating the back of my cupboard doors!

Learn a great deal about color theory, all on your own, by mixing and recording those mixes!!!!

Sneak peek...

Working on all new work for a show and not being able to share it is tough! Therefore, I have chosen to photograph snippets of my paintings to give you a sneak peek of a portion of the painting.

 I am keeping a journal as I do this, as I have never painted this many paintings of this size. Considering the challenge I did in January of the daily tiny paintings and then to jump to this. Almost overwhelming, but it was my choice. What was I thinking?  I have stretched a number of my own and made a few panels. The smallest is 18 x 24". Well, life is short and it has been a great motivator.

They say any successful artist has miles of canvas behind them; as much canvas as I have used this month will only get me about a quarter of a mile.....sigh!

Painting frenzy

I guess you could say I am in a painting frenzy. A real challenge I have gotten myself into this time! Getting all new paintings going  for a semi-solo show in October. To top it off, they are much larger than I do on a regular basis and after doing the 30 paintings in 30 days that were mostly 5 x 7", these 18 x 24 up to 29 x 50" seem like monsters!

I need to wait for the show to reveal any of them, so I am sharing a recent western smaller painting.

So far on the easels I have, Cathedral Rock, The West Rim, Chapel of the Holy Cross and Yellowstone Falls.


 The title of the show is "EAST MEETS WEST". I will probably add some animals to a few; like the quail that I saw so many times in Cave Creek, AZ; or the buffalo of Jackson Hole ; the moose in Dubois or the antelope in Pinedale.

I have never had more than 1 painting going at a time, so this is a real change for me. It seems to be working, as I can do a little on one and then move on before I overwork anything. I also have almost always painted 'alla prima' and very tight and detailed. Plein air painting has loosened me up and I approach it very differently now. I have been laying in the foundations with using Liquin as a medium; so far, so good. I also have allowed myself to use any tube colors I choose, experimenting with a few I rarely use.

I am planning on making my own simple framing from 1 x 2" poplar or pine and staining it a rich mahogany, I think. My miter saw doesn't cut very accurate angles so I may need to use an old fashioned wood miter box and hand saw. I will test one this week.

I did manage to make my display stands and get them stained. I will post a photo of them later in the week.