Books - Quick Study

Happy Friday, so I did another quick study for tonight's post.  I did this in about an hour and the point is to quickly and accurately(ish) try to capture the colors and shapes without overthinking it and overworking the painting.  No focus on details just practice to get things set for plein air painting.

Tomatoes - Quick Study

I did this oil painting as another quick study.  It's three tomatoes.  It is an okay start, I don't feel like I got the roundness of the tomatoes as well as I would like.  The saying is keep practicing the starts of paintings and the finishes will take care of themselves.  So this is a start, but I don't know about the finish.

Carrots - The quick study

Tonight I worked on a quick oil study of carrots.  I knocked this out quickly. I wanted to work on getting down a decent capture of paint in a quick manner.  No time wasted over thinking or daubing, practice getting it down quick and as accurate as possible.

Head Studies in Pencil

I worked on these tonight, more of the Andrew Loomis book studies.  I tried to work these up fast and only spent about 45 minutes on each.  Some are better than others and the last in the bottom right corner is best.  All work towards 10000 hours for mastery or at least proficiency.

Lemons Quick Study

I knocked this quick oil study out this afternoon.  It was about an hour and half painting, so not bad for the time and one go only at the brush strokes and paint application.

Cumbres & Toltec Narrow Gauge Steam Engine #487 - Finished

I finished, mostly, this oil painting of Cumbres & Toltec Narrow Gauge Steam Engine #487 tonight.  I have been working on this on and off for the pass couple of years.  I think I have improved enough that I have worked this to a level I am satisfied with and can live with it.  The Cumbres & Toltec is an original Denver and Rio Grande Railroad line which runs along Colorado's southern border with New Mexico.  The railroad is now run as a tourist heritage line and is well worth a trip down to see.

Sunset over the Caribbean - working the sky

I pulled this out tonight and worked on the sky.  I am happy with the sky.  I need to work on the water to get it better and more realistic.  I am going to add layers to the water.

Brighton Summit - nearly finished

 Today, I worked on Brighton Summit painting.  This is from the top of Brighton Ski Resort in Utah during ski season.  I added texture to the rock and the snow.  I am not completely happy with the snow bank but this is good enough for tonight.

Brighton Summit - more work

I dug out the block-in of Brighton Ski Resort Summit painting for tonight's work.  I started to add texture and surface to the rock face, shadow and curve to the snow surfaces, and details to the trees on the far slope.  This is in pretty good shape and I will probably just add some more details and make some small adjustments to finish this one.

Quick Sketch Face studies

I worked these quick sketches of faces.  I did these quickly within 5-10 minutes as a way to practice quickly capturing facial images and structures in pencil.

Orchid Painting - Further Refined

Back from Monday work day.  I worked on refining the orchid petals and added detail to the red stamen and its pollen buds.  I will work to finish the petals and then add the rest of the pollen buds down into the center of the Orchid.

Provisions Company

I am back from work travel.  I worked on this study of the Provisions Company in Southport, North Carolina.  I fixed some perspective issues but if I do this bigger it will need more work.  I added the Flag, details to the sign, and the chains and posts to separate the dining area.

Cattails Reflection - Block-in

I started this Cattails Reflection study for my Friday celebration of the end of the week.  It's an okay start, I am only partially satisfied with it.  I wanted to get the Cattails and reeds better developed as a one stroke painting but it was not happening tonight, so I will let it sit and come back to it later.

Utah Canyon Lands

Tonight I worked the clouds a little and I started adding rock detail to the cliffs.  I will need to add the vegetation and work on the colors to improve the textures and structures of things.