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Hartville Barn After a Storm: #3
I went to my brother’s birthday party today, and my Aunt Virginia asked about my paintings. I mentioned that I’ve been doing a lot of fishing lately, and haven’t been painting as much. I am going fishing tomorrow, from sun up to sun down (cross my fingers that this rain passes.) So, when I got […]
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Hartville Barn After a Storm: #1
I really was not happy with my NYC paintings, so I decided to go back to subjects that truly interest me, and that brings me to this barn. A few weekends ago, I was driving home from a day on the lake, and drove through an immense storm. When the clouds cleared out the sky […]
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NYC: #4
I am really displeased with this one. I liked the drawing, but the whole thing just didn’t work. I got into painting bits and bobs too soon. I don’t want to do a full write up on this, because I’m not happy with it. I’m only posting this in hopes that one day, I’ll look […]
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DIY Kayak Cart
Some of the places I like to fish are a good bit off the road, so I have to carry my kayak a good ways. I’ve wanted a kayak cart for a while, so today I figured, why not try to make one? I don’t know how well this will hold up in the long […]
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NYC: #4 Inspiration Study
I’m starting to plan #4 before I’ve even finished killing #3. I am going to start #4 tomorrow, but first I’m going to evaluate some cityscapes that I admire from other artists. I’ll post some photos of paintings I found from a quick google search, and link to where I found them. Sometimes, it’s hard […]
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NYC: #3
I wanted to try the NYC painting again. This time, I wanted to incorporate more color, and rely on masking tape to get crisp vertical lines. First, I sketched the image, using darker lines on the more important parts to remind myself of where the focus needs to be. I want the focal point to […]
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NYC: #1
My friend Cris asked for a painting of New York City to put in her office. Her office is decorated in a largely black and white color scheme, so I tried to paint this in black and white. I decided to punch it up a bit with some yellow, as a tribute to the taxi’s […]
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Feeling Stuck
I started doing this because I saw a video of a master penman who was working on a piece, and he said something like: “People always say how talented I am. They see me write something with one stroke in a few seconds. But what they don’t see are the years of practice, the mountains […]
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Branden’s Yard: #1
My friend Branden lives out near Amish country – I guess you could say IN Amish country, since horses and buggies regularly drive past his house. A few weeks ago, I went to his house, and sat in his back yard and tried to paint it. That painting was a pretty royal failure, but it […]
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Cliffs of Dover: #1
As I’ve been working on drawing, I’ve also been watching videos of tutorials. In one an artist recommended some drills to practice drawing, and followed it up with “but don’t spend more than 50% of your time on drills. With the other 50%, spend time drawing just for fun.” I almost immediately smacked my forehead. […]
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Bargue, The Drawing Course: #1
I took a few days off of art to build this for my kids. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and I hope it will stand up to some abuse (from the weather and from children.) I built it so it could be a play house for them, and we can use it […]
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Gervasi Gazebo: #3
I’ve been getting frustrated with a lack of progress again. And this time it’s because I can’t seem to get the effects I want. I’m trying to emulate other painters because I admire their work – and I never get the same kind of results. I know, I know – paint the way you feel […]
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Gervasi Gazebo: #2
I tried to execute my plan on my second attempt. I went off the rails in a few places. I’m following the “five steps” from Tim Wilmot’s video. The steps he recommends are pretty much the same steps I see again and again. Some say: “paint dark values over light values” or “sketch large shapes” […]
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Gervasi Gazebo: #1
When I was at the Gervasi Vineyard a while ago, I took a photo of a gazebo because the light was striking in an appealing way. I wanted to paint this gazebo, so first I decided to take my time to create a strong sketch/value study. I particularly liked this sketch, and decided I would […]
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Zbukvic Farm: 1
Today, I decided to buck up, puff out my chest, and try a painting from Joseph Zbukvic’s Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor: The Critical Ingredients that Turn Paintings into Art. This book is out of print, and the only used copies available for purchase cost several hundred dollars. So, I printed the book from […]
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Dairy Farm: #1
This is the first painting after a series of Plein Air and at-home studies of a dairy farm on Route 21 near New Philadelphia, Ohio. The first post is here. The second is here. Sketch I decided to try another sketch of the composition last night, in order to try to simplify the composition a […]
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Dairy Farm: #1.1-3.4
Ok, I’m interested in painting the Dairy Farm that I found yesterday. The problem is, I hate the paintings I did yesterday, and the photo I took for future reference is pretty awful – because the fence cuts right through the subject. I try to take photos quickly when I start because I want to […]
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Salt Fork: #1
I drove out to Do some Plein Air Painting today. A while back I drove home from camping along Route 21, north of Salt Fork State Park. On the drive, I passed a Mutti Dairy Farm, and I took note of it as something to paint some day. So, when I decided to go painting […]
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Stop Looking at Me SWAAAAN.
Rachel and I went to Gervasi Still House for coffee today before work. I was pleasantly surprised. They had great coffee, with a free refill, and it wasn’t expensive. We might have to do that more often. After coffee, Rachel left for work, but I still had some time to kill, so I walked around […]
