One
Thing
Leads To
Another
OR
Getting Ready For
Arizona August 2006
The
way an artist gets "good" at painting is by painting something ALOT.
So I had some concern as I prepared for my
trip to Arizona. The word
"Arizona" brings
to mind red rocks and sage brush. I tried to
find something near my
cornfield
surroundings
of central Missouri to practice on. There are
no mountains here. But I
went out often
with
my painting gear
to paint
hills..................
..................................................and
cows.......................
April 9, 2006 Cut out hill
April 9, 2006 Cows feeding
11" x 14"
sketchbook
paper
11" x 14" sketchbook paper
April 9,
2006 Cows among trees
April 9, 2006 Sky and hillside
11"
x 14" sketchbook
paper
11" x 14" sketchbook paper
A
scrapbook of mine holds color arrangements done by other painters. I
have clipped out pictures of
streams, mountains, and trees from real estate material. I used marker
a permanent marker to make the
borders black. I look at it, I study it, this is how I learn, this is
how I grow.
As I studied the
work
of artists I
admire I tried some of their color schemes out.
May 25,
2006 Hill top
May 25,
2006 River scene
In the
LEFT piece I mixed the green
11" x 14" sketchbook
paper
8" x 10" Raymar canvas panel
colors that I saw with my eye balls. In the
RIGHT piece I experimented with a limited
palette, that is I mixed all my colors
from
four
tubes of paint. Alizarin
Crimson,
Cadmium Yellow Light, Colbalt Blue Hue,
and Titanium White. I
made the trees
in the distance a lighter color than what
I saw with my eye balls. Both scenes
had the same natural greens in them.
As my friend JoeTonnar
once
told me, it is up to the artist
to interpret what he sees. I am
delighted how that experiment
turned out.
One thing
led to
another and I found myself using my paint to describe plants.
I once saw this subject material as difficult
and
uninteresting. Bit by bit. I found myself attracted to
individual plants more than to distant vistas.
May
26, 2006 Sycamore
tree
July 8, 2006 Austin
Hollow July
7, 2006
11" x 14" sketchbook
paper
8" x 11" wood
panel
8" x 10" Raymar canvas panel
As
much as
I am attracted to
autumn Look at my
dabs of
paint.
This shaded tree works
colors, I was disappointed in my
attempt
What did I try to
describe
for me. I left in all the details
to describe this sycamore tree. A lot
more in this
piece?
that I like. I like this piece.
practice is needed on my part. Doing
leaf An orange
fence,
ground
What problems was I happy
shadow
studies is "too much work"
at
cover, sky, sun-lit
green,
to solve?
this
point in
time.
green in
shades.
What
else?
There are smaller details
Every stroke of the brush
I chose to
leave out.
is solving a
problem
Like
I choose to
tackle.
the pebbles on the road,
and birds in the sky.
See Hollow
What is
something else
real small that
I chose to
leave out?
In
preparation for the trip to Clarksdale, Arizona I began to do
studies of native Missouri weeds.
July 12, 2006
July 12, 2006
11" x 14"
sketchbook
11" x 14" sketchbook
A couple pieces made me feel like I had "turned a corner." One was a
mullein stalk
near the village of Coloma, MO.
The other had rock
slabs at the White Rock Carroll County quarry.
In both pieces I interpreted
July 17, 2006 Mullein
plant
July 19, 2006 Rock Slabs
what I was seeing with my eye balls,
8" x 10" Raymar canvas
panel
11" x 14" sketchbook paper 7-9 am and experimented with the colors.
I love the periwinkle-lavender on the
RIGHT. Very
cool....
My next stop
would be Clarkdale, Arizona.
See Bitter Creek
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