Back after a vacation

So the vacation was actually a computer repair enforced vacation and not a real one.  The computer is back and in good repair.  I worked on the lantern study.  You can see the changes I made to improve the sky, detail the horizon with trees.  I began to add in the shine and reflections from the light.  I will need to continue to refine this and improve the depth in the glass globe and details on the lantern.

Progression of progress - Ponderosa Pine and Aspens study

Above you can see the progress in reverse order.  I  blocked in the basic colors and then started refining the spaces and some of the values/"colors."  I have a few tree trunks and some foliage to modify on the right side to finish this up.

Great Falls Virginia

This is the competed Great Falls Plein Air.  Since I added to it after leaving the scene it is not technically still Plein Air but, the fading, changing light meant I had to stop anyway, as I am not fast enough yet to capture the scene quickly.  Though Plein Air is the means to getting better.

Snowy Mountain - Part two

Today, I messed with a couple of different paintings I had blocked in previously.  I will continue to post the before and afters so you can see the progress and how I have tweaked things on the path of getting them to a finished state.  The top photo is today;s work.  I refined the sky, the cliffs and the foreground. It is getting closer to a state I will be happy with and I will probably play some more with it tomorrow evening.

Orchids

Today, I puttered around on a few things, but this is what I did which was the biggest change on things.  I decided to block in the start of these Orchids.  Just the basics color notes and the background.  I will add to the Flowers details and will leave the background dark but textured from the thick application of paint.

Great Falls, Virginia - Plein Air

Today, I braved the cold with artist Armand Cabrera and Plein Air painted at Great Falls Virginia.  It is where the Potomac river passes over a series of rocky shelves.  Plein Air is great for observation of nature and improving your painting skills.  It is also a huge challenge.  I only completed part of my two canvasses.  I will probably work a little more on both tomorrow.   I captured as much as I could before the winter sunshine shifted too much and changed all the colors and shadows.

Sycamore tree study

Sycamore Tree study is what I worked on this evening after the full day at work.  I had done the initial block in early for the background and I added the trunk and some of the branches.  More work will need to be done on this but it has a decent start.