Box Turtle - Block-in

Saturday is errand day, so till I get to retire I usually don't get much artwork done.  Plus so of the things I have been working on are layered, so I have a bunch of starts but most are not post worthy yet.  Maybe when I get to a third of fourth layer on some of these experiments.  So this post is an experiment, I have never tried to paint a turtle.  I have blocked in the shape and base color, with a little bit of shadow.  Next step will be to outline the shell contours and then work the colors.

Palm Fronds

This is another start of an experiment.  I have not painted palm trees and I want to eventually paint some Weaver birds from Kenya so this is a good practice study.

Smoky Mountains - Block-in

I am starting a new set of studies of different things, some textures, trees, ground covers and atmospherics.   This is an atmospheric study of the Smoky Mountains.  I will add in tree texture and the mists/"Smoke" one sees in this region after the block-in drys.

Foggy Shoreline

Tonight's painting is not original but it is a study before I do some of my own paintings from Maine.  I will need to work on the shoreline of this one.  I color corrected the sky, water, and rocks from an earlier attempt at this one.

Salt Marsh Study

I started on this yesterday and finished it up as far as I could go with it today.  I want to work on the grass and the waves, they are decently started but I am not happy with them.  I will let this rest and then figure out what adjustments are needed.

Cap May Lighthouse - closer to finished

I dug up this oil from last fall, its of the Cap May Lighthouse in New Jersey at night.  You can see were I have changed the highlights on the body of the lighthouse.  I also tweaked the foliage on the trees and shrubs.   Finally, I added the rotation of the light which is what a lighthouse is for, warning mariners of points, shoals, and headlands.

Cloudy Twilight study

Another small cloud/sky study.  This small one gave me fits and it needs some work but it is more practice.  Always need more practice.

Mountain Thundercloud Study

Tonight's study is a Thundercloud building over mountains.  This is another small oil study to build up the practice and proficiency.

Ducks at Sunrise

I did nothing to this painting to the sky and the sun.  I did work on the silhouettes of the ducks, added darks and lights to make depth and shape to them.  Probably its done, while I might add a few fine touches.

Ocean City Beach and Waves

This is the last of the Plein Air studies I did in Ocean City, Maryland this last week.  Waves are notoriously hard to capture but it is easier when they are small and lit by overhead sunlight.  It was clod and windy though not as bad on this day.  Plus this is the advantage of a small kit.

Ocean City Sunset

Ocean City Maryland sits on a island/peninsula landform which is connected by two bridges and to the north to Delaware.  So you can watch the sun rise over the Atlantic and then you can watch the sun set over the small bay behind the Resort area.  This is from the parking lot near a restaurant called "Fish Tales."  I think I will make this into a larger painting as this study necessarily was simplified from the dock and trees in the foreground, i.e. I did not add them here.

Assateague Island Scrubby Pine

Today was our last day at Ocean City.  We went to Assateague Island National Sea shore.  I did this plein air Oil Painting of a Scrubby Pine near the campground.  This was a practice for the next phase of life, when I get to control my time, this is what I want to do daily.

Happy Birthday Sophia

My niece turns 17 today.  She dreams of beaches so I made her a watercolor card of one such scene.

Ocean City Plein Air

This is a view from our hotel room in Ocean City, Maryland.  It also is my first
Use of my birthday present pocade painting box.  The rain cleared out enough to
Do this from the balcony.

Building Thundercloud

I actually wanted to post this last night but I lost track of time and went to bed.  I worked on a couple of these small sky cloud studies, this one was the best.    Everyone sees the 'magic' of your best paintings, bur they don't see all the practice and work it takes to get there.

Heron at Sunset

This is an oil study of a Heron wading through the shallows at sunset.  He is looking for his dinner.  One more study in the progression of necessary practice.

Cloudy Sunset - Block-in

Another work week done, so I worked on something truly interesting or at least interesting to me.  I blocked in this cloudy sunset over the ocean.  I will have to add better edges and dry brushing to the clouds and the sun rays.  The ocean will need some additional color to be more convincing.

Rock & Grass study

This is a little study in Titanium White and Burnt Umber of rocks and grass in a meadow.  It is just a small quick practice which is all I could get to tonight.  Every little bit of practice helps though.

Cherry Blossom over the Tidal Basin

You can see how after doing the initial block-in I have added darkness to the water, color depth to the blossoms, and highlights to the branches.  I think I need to add some more darks to the water, but this is close to being done.

Cherry Blossom Jefferson Memorial Dawn

I did not get to see the Cherry Blossoms this year.  Regular work interfered with getting down to the Tidal Basin.   I worked on this painting off one of my old pictures and some other pictures I found, so this is a study for the future, when I can live by the brush.

Aspen Tree Study

This is a two color study of Aspen trees.  I used Titanium White and Burnt Umber oil paint for this study of Aspen trees.  Simple practice quickly executed are another way to practice and not torment yourself by over thinking a subject.

Oil Tree study

I have been doing a fair amount of drawing studies of trees, so I decided to do an oil painting study.  It is a completely different issue and much harder.  Painting is a series of attempts, some are failures, some succeed, and some are amazing but the point is to keep doing the work.  It is the only way to improve.  Failures and near misses are as important as the easy successes.