Cherry Blossom Washington Monument - the Finish

So I am 99% done with the Cherry Blossom Washington Monument Commission.  I will sign it tomorrow after letting it rest of night and I will look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.  I changed the tidal wall color and worked a little on the reflection near it.  All the rest of the finishing touches were on the blossoms and their texture.

Turkey Point Lighthouse - Block-in

I worked on this block-in for this study for Turkey Point Lighthouse in Maryland.  I plan to do a significant amount of work on the left side trees and bushes.  I just put in a very basic value and shape.  I will tweak the clouds some also. Then there will be a lot of detail on the lighthouse.

Cherry Blossom Monument - getting closer

I was able to work more on this painting tonight after work and I am getting closer to being done.  The last miles are the hardest.  I worked on the water reflection and the retaining wall.  I added more blossom foliage and I am trying to get it structurally right so the tree has depth and structure.  I will have this done by the weekend and to its owner early next week.

Cherry Blossom Monument - Weekend of rain

We had a fair amount of rain here this weekend.  I did not get as much done as I would like (power outages, thunder, and lighting), but I did add somethings on the facets of the Washington Monument, added some more blossom structure to the cherry trees.  I darkened the trees below the monument and I am working on the tidal stone wall.

Cherry Blossom Monument commission

We had a huge rainstorm here which made the commute home from the day job, a long and tedious one.  I did not get to work on the commission as much as I would have liked but, I did start on adding texture to the blossom foliage.  I also played with the water a tiny bit.  This weekend I want to get this 90% done which should be an obtainable goal.

Thomas Moran Watercolor - Yellowstone

Artist Thomas Moran did the first paintings of Yellowstone National Park about 160 years ago.  His art was instrumental in helping Yellowstone being declared the first National Park.  I did this watercolor and pentel pen sketch after the style of Moran's original.  I some times do these little sketches to experiment and to try to learn the techniques used originally.

Blossom Study - Cherry Blossoms at the tidal basin

I blocked in this study of Cherry Blossoms over the Tidal Basin near the Potomac River in Washington DC.  I started this to work out some things for my commission of a larger painting.  I plan to add a blossom reflection in the water and better define the branches.