Chalk Cliffs Plein Air Paintings

Towering Cliffs Oil 24" x18" Plein Air - Alla Prima




Chalk Cliffs Oil 20" x 24" Oil Plein Air Alla Prima

Partly Cloudy
Oil 24" x 36"

Recent Floral Still Life Work

Red And Pink
12" x 9"
Oil







Red And Pink Carnations
12" x 9"
Oil






Carnation Still Life
24" x 30"
Oil






Back Light Still Life
24" x 30"
Oil






Carnation Colors
12" x 9"
Oil





Floral Arrangement
24" x 18"
Oil







Carnations
9" x 12"
Oil

Wildflowers

Wildflowers
12" x 20"
Oil

Took an impressionistic approach on this one. Played with thick paint - building thick paint on top of thick paint in order to make a more tactile look and get more variety in color. Detail picks are below:

Painting Commissions

Posting a couple painting commissions I've done several months ago. Both are of real places nearby where I live in Salida, CO


Twin Sisters





Arkansas River

Winter Forest

Winter Forest
16" x 20"
Oil / Canvas

January Newsletter

My January Newsletter is out.

Check it out Here


My New Years Sale starts today. 10% off everything in my gallery. Ends on 1/7/11.
See what's available Here

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Catching the Light

Catching The Light
Oil / Canvas
9" x 12"

Hills and Snow

Hills and Snow
24" x 48"
Oil on Panel

For this piece I wanted to capture an interesting design and a sense of the light, texture, and depth of the space. I painted on Panel, which I thought helped build the type of textures I wanted. I layered paint on switching between palette knife and brush.

Details:

Jack Painting Demo

To start, I made a rough drawing. Making dry brushed marks that are not fully committed to the location of shapes and edges. You can "sneak up" on more accurate marks later this way.

Blocking in the shadow shapes here. This is where the more committed drawing takes place. It's thin so there's still room for adjustments. Observing how the shadows are connected here.

Blocking in the background. The background is real simple, so why not get it all in first.

The full block in. Getting in all the basic planes.

From here you can move in for the placement of the features. Things still aren't fully committed yet to their location and size relationships. That's the great thing about oils, you can take a brush and move it around on the surface until it's in the right spot.

I haven't placed in my darkest darks or dark accents in the face yet or even my brightest brights in it either. I wanted the in between values placed first and then carve out the high and low values.

Jack
Oil / Canvas
9"x12"

The final painting. From the block in to the final you can see what was adjusted how the darks and lights were added to define the form more.

I used the palette knife to sharpen some edges. Generally, I'll work from thin to thick in paint and soft to crisp in edges. Although, it doesn't matter how you start your edges, you could start with all sharp and then soften them in the end.

Photos of My Studio / Gallery

Fine Art Views. Finalist Top 15%

I'm excited to announce my painting "Kauffman" was chosen as a finalist in the top 15% for the Fine Art Views Painting Competition!

Follow the link to see the entries. It's an honor to be selected among such great art!

The Painting

The Finalists

Salida Studio Gallery Photos

Below are some photos of my new studio - gallery that I'm getting ready to open by this coming weekend. Things are almost ready to go!

Salida is a beautiful location and I'm very excited to be in the middle of such beautiful landscape. Salida is known for it's arts community and the Gallery is located on First St. which is on Salida's downtown Gallery Row.

Many thanks to my great friend Michael Bucher for helping me with designing and creating my sign sitting there in front of the computer desk. I plan on installing the sign outside tomorrow.

I plan on having my easel in the middle of the room.

Yep.

A Couple exterior shots.

My Wife, Karen's display of work. We'll be putting in a shelf for her needle felts.

Last Light

Last Light
Oil on Canvas
16 by 20"

Under the Trees

Under The Trees
Oil - 9 by 12"

Light on Clear Creek

Light On Clear Creek
Oil 24" by 30"

Up the Hill

Up the Hill
Oil 9 by 12"

Winter Home

It's 2010 and my first post of the new year. I'm looking forward to posting much more work on my blog this year. This was the last painting I finished in '09.

"Winter Home"
Oil / Canvas
16" by 20"

"Aspen Joy" Plein Air

"Aspen Joy"
Oil 11" by 14"

From Sunday. Me and Karen went up in the mountains to see the changing Aspens.
It was a perfect day the weather was great!

Standing Figure

"Standing Figure"
Oil 11" by 14"

I had done this one a couple years ago. Came across it while looking through my stash of artwork and thought that it still had some potential, so I worked on it some more, adding color and changing some things to make it better than what it was.

Doing this actually isn't unusual for me. I'll pick up a painting I've started maybe a few weeks ago and finish it a while later quite often. Sometimes doing a painting in one sitting isn't always enough.