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Nimisila C-6: Study Review
I decided that before I start a new painting of these lily pads at the C-6 Dock at Nimisila Reservoir, I should review the paintings I have made so far. I realized over the weekend that I’m not painting the actual scene anymore, I’m painting some kind of analog of what I saw and felt […]
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Farm Road: End of Year 2
So… my second year of watercolor is over. As an attempt to measure my progress, I decided a while ago that I would paint the Farm Road painting each year. Last year, the results were pretty remarkable. When I compared last year’s painting to the painting I made when I first started, I saw a […]
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Nimisila C-6: #14
Well folks, this is the last painting of my second year of watercolor! This is number 14 in my studies as I prepare for a painting that I’ll be making on a full sheet. I think I’m close, but I want to try again, with more wet in wet work in the peninsula, and any […]
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Nimisila C-6: #13
You know that famous saying, “The thirteenth time’s a charm.” Before I get into the painting, I wanted to show the sketch, and a little thing I did to my easel this weekend. Easel Hack I have this drafting compass from Rachel’s Pappy that I use all the time. I use it to measure something […]
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Nimisila C-6: #12
This is my attempt to paint this scene from Dock C-6 at Nimisila Reservoir. If you are curious about my previous attempts… Attempts 1-4 are here. Attempts 5-7 are here. Attempts 8-9 are here. Attempts 10-11 are here. Number 12: OMG… I think I’m getting close. So I decided to try to follow the recipe […]
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Nimisila C-6: #10-11
Dang. These are hard. Number 10: I didn’t bother to go back in and paint the flowers on this one because I knew it wasn’t going to be a finished version. I like the way the water is rendered in this one, but like all the others, the lily pads here are quite dark. I […]
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Nimisilla C-6: #8-9
I decided to try the painting of the lillies at the C-6 boat ramp at Nimisila Reservoir again today. If you want to see the evolution of this one, the first four paintings are discussed here, and paintings 5-7 are here. Nimisila C-6: #8… Yuck For this painting I wanted to try to focus on […]
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The Tree You’re Looking For: #2
I decided that I’m sick of painting the same kind of thing over and over. Or rather, it’s not that I’m sick of it, it’s that I am stagnated because I’m always doing the same thing. So I decided to try something abstract. Ok – what a righteous failure. Yeah. It’s awful. it says nothing, […]
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Nimisila C-6: #5 – 7
How? HOW?! How did Monet do water lillies so much justice? And how does Joseph Zbukvic achieve similar perfection in his paintings? I clearly do not know. I tried to paint the scene from Nimisilla Reservoir dock C-6 again today. I think I’m getting closer, but I’m still not entirely sure how to represent that […]
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Nimisilla C-6: #1-4
I went out to Nimisilla Reservoir today to try some Plein air painting. I am not happy with any of the results, so I tried again at home, and I’m not happy with that either. I don’t feel like doing a full write up on another failed painting, but I am committed to posting even […]
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James & Verna’s Barn
My friend Branden grew up on this farm in Dalton, Ohio. His dad and mom, James and Verna, still live there, and Branden lives a few miles away. The last time I was with Branden, we went to his parents to get a live trap for a skunk that made its home under Branden’s shed. […]
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Winter Grape Vine: #4
I have another photo that’s been sitting in my pile of photos I want to paint for several months. This was taken in Gnaddenhutten Ohio, just after sunrise in November. There was a hint of ice frost covering everything, and it was windless, quiet and still. I took this photo, and really like the geometric […]
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Wave Crash
Ok … GUYS! I’m proud of this one. That means if you don’t like it, shut up. Because I’m fragile. Call me a snow flake, a wuss, whatever. I don’t care. I just know that I like this painting, and I almost never actually like my work. If you tell me why it sucks, I […]
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Collette’s Happy Place
My mom has a friend in Arizona who wanted a painting of a photograph that her daughter took of a place where she likes to camp. It was a challenging photo, but I’m pleased with the final results. The photo is beautiful, and a really interesting composition. This is very different from what I normally […]
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Ray Hendershot Exercise: Birch Trees
Tonight, I painted the next exercise in Ray Hendershot’s book. I don’t know why Birch trees feel like a very trite subject to me – but they do. I think every painting of birch trees is essentially the same thing – masked off trunks with something colorful or dark behind them. I think Ray Hendershot […]
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Dock at Deer Creek: #1
This painting is my attempt to recreate a photo that I took one morning just after sunrise at Deer Creek here in Ohio. I went fishing in the morning, and stopped for a moment on the dock to take some pictures. One of my favorite photos was this one: After a few weeks of having […]
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Ray Hendershot Exercise: Fully Foliated Trees
The next exercise in Ray Hendershot’s “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors” is to paint fully foliated trees. This exercise demonstrates what appears to be a great strength of the pedagogy in this book. The distant trees exercise is useful for this exercise, but it isn’t necessary. Because Mr. Hendershot encourages us to paint loose representations […]
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Ray Hendershot Exercise: Distant Trees
I purchased a book by Ray Hendershot entitled “Texture Techniques for Winning Watercolors.” I appreciate how Mr. Hendershot manages to achieve the impression of a photorealistic image, but includes just enough Impressionism to give the composition a level of emotion that I feel photorealistic paintings often lack. (Steven Kozar does an excellent job of proving […]
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Caldwell Hillside: #1
I haven’t painted in a while, in large part because I haven’t felt inspired by the ideas in my head. There is a photo I have had in my recent photos that I’ve wanted to paint. The photo wasn’t great in terms of composition, but the memory of the scene was very strong. I remember […]
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Not Watercolor
It seems as though my motivation to paint lately is non existent. Or rather, I have a desire to paint, but I can’t think of what I should paint. You’d think this would be a great time to practice some drills, or experiment with new things I’ve never tried, maybe try abstracts, or *gasp* oils… […]
