While waiting for the dreary clouds to leave so I can go out to paint plein air again, I reverted to painting from photos of a sunny summer day. Both were executed in the Alla Prima manner, quickly wet on wet with oil paint. At least they feel warm and sunny!
A lovely Spring day for plein air painting at the Portland Arboretum! Surrounded by pink blossoms, I painted these two views of magnolia trees. Both are in oil, 9" x 12".
This is a 12" x 12" format oil painting of Smith Rock in Central Oregon based on the same photo I used previously a year ago during Muse Art's An Artist a Day. Those two paintings were done in acrylic. By painting in oil, much richer and thicker textures can be created. I even used a palette knife, new for me! This was painted over a previous composition started last summer, which seemed less cohesive, so I worked to simplify the forms and strengthen the composition.
Artist Quin Sweetman was our model in a vintage purple dress at Studio 30 last Friday. I painted a 12" x 16" portrait, then another, smaller sketch of her nonchalant, barefoot pose.
Traveling north through Central Oregon last summer, we turned off a side road with a sign that read "fish hatchery". We never did find the fish hatchery, but we did find breath taking scenery in a quiet place overlooking the Deschutes River. It seems like a place worth looking for again. I painted "Deschutes River, Maupin" in oil, from one of my photos, on a 10" x 10" canvas.
Studying landscape paintings of Canyon de Chelly by Edgar Payne, I was reminded of Smith Rock, and decided to make another small study based on photos. This is 6" x 6" in oil.
I was inspired by the model dressed as Georgia O'Keefe from Studio 30, but still not satisfied with that painting, so I studied some of the portraits made by her photographer husband, Alfred Stieglitz. This is a new painting based on a photo with the cow skull added. I think it will remain sketchy and unfinished.
