Daily Painting

Have been working on some show entries for Puget Sound Group and also Eastside Association so not much new painting going on. To get back into the swing, and due to a long time fascination with the daily painting concept started a few years ago, I decided to try it. I have hundreds of landscape references from photos I took over the so decided to work on these, especially ones I hadn't done before. The works range from 4x6 to 6x8 inches and let me work on color and style. Here are some early samples. Views are Washington and Oregon scenes. The top is a 5x7 scene from the Oregon coast with driftwood in the foreground that I've always put aside but I feel I finally did a decent version of it. 
Next is one of a series of Oregon Haystack Rocks I've painted over the years, 4x6.
Third down is the dead end of my street, Sunnyside Ave. N. Once a car crashed through the trees at the center and ended up down on the street shown. This one is 6x8.
Last is a scene near Mt. Vernon Washington that I had done in a large version but I put more color in this small 5x7, and now need to rethink the larger version. It seems some paintings are never done.

New Plein Air work

This is an 8x10 oil from a scene in the Seattle Horticultural Garden, facing west, over a pond. I believe that's the Intramural Athletics building in the background. I tried a more pointillist, or broken color style, with some of the red-orange underpainting showing through. 

More Plein Air Work

Here are several more paintings done from my outdoor sessions this fall. Top one is an 11x14 version of a painting I've done a few variations of. It's an idyllic summer evening with a lone canoe near the water lilies on the west side of  Green Lake, near my home in  Seattle.

Below that is an 8x16 view southwest toward Lake Washington and the 520 Bridge from the Seattle Horticultural Center grounds.

At bottom, is an 8x10 version of the beached boats at Lake Sammamish  State Park east of Seattle. 

Weather continues great in this area however outdoor painting season is probably over as it cools down. Rains come back this weekend, finally, as we need the water now after over two months with only a sprinkling of rain. Grass has turned mainly yellow and nights are turning cool at 40's.    

Outdoor work

Seattle weather has held up during our mini-drought. Now about 60 days with only one rainy day. Plein Air Group from Eastside Association of Fine Arts visited Lake Sammamish Park for yesterday's outdoor painting session. ($10 to park). Here are two small 6x8 works I almost completed while there. Both show the beach with the second one showing some of the kayaks stored on the beach.  One more organized session this year.

Other recent work

Catching up on the blogging after a busy period painting outdoors and reworking my style. Here are some other recent works. The top one is an 8x10 of a Hawaii scene I've liked and had done a small version in 5x7 so wanted to enlarge it. 

Second scene is from a Park in Cottonwood, Arizona, and is also 8x10.

Third down is a view of downtown Seattle from Gasworks Park. It was a cloudy day but I wanted to brighten the colors and work on my brushstroke style. It's 8x10 done on a canvas pad sheet. 

Fourth and fifth at bottom are from a Plein Air (outdoor) session at the Edmonds, Washington waterfront, near the ferry dock. I find outdoors I don't get enough value contrast at times, ie., light and dark, so have to rework these a little indoors afterward. These are my preferred outdoor size, 6x8. With this size, I can block in and underlying design in a neutral color, and get a pretty well finished work in an hour plus. Also, the 6x8 paintbox I built is a good compromise of size and weight. I have now made paintboxes in 9x12, 8x10, 6x8, and 5x7 sizes. Yes, I go overboard on the woodworking, but I enjoy making these. Now use the 6x8 the most of all and save the 5x7 for packing in a suitcase when I travel. 8x10 is designed to screw onto my tripod but I find it difficult to get the paint coverage for that size in a session outdoors. In any case I take photo references of whatever I paint outdoors for later details and rework as needed. 

Paper Towel Paintings retouched

Back in the studio I reworked my two paper towel paintings toward the style I've been working on, with firmer more evident brush strokes. 

Paper Towel Paintings

Painted outdoors last week and as set up my gear, realized I forgot to pack my brushes. I tried my palette knife but it was too difficult to fill in the canvas texture and on a small palette I couldn't mix enough volume of paint so...my solution was to wrap a paper towel around my index finger and paint that way. Here are the two works I began that way at the Seattle Horticultural Center. This is a park next to the University of Washington campus in Seattle and contains nice paths and several ponds as well as having views of Lake Washington and Mount Rainier. A nice place to paint. These two 6x8 works are at one of the ponds. There is a looseness in the work I like.