Shining Through

Shining Through
Oil 16" x 20"

Experimenting with color some more....

The Intensity Of Fall

The Intensity of Fall
24" x 18"
Oil / Canvas

The Fall colors here in Colorado are so intense. It can be hard to believe how bright the colors really are, but they really are this way.

Lately, my interest in painting has been in color. I'm interested in how the impressionists used color to represent light. I've been enjoying studying the California Impressionists work. Particularly, I've been focusing on William Wendt's work. I've also been finding inspiration in Russian painters such as Sergei Bongart. I'm finding how it's so important to build a visual memory from outdoor field studies when you do work in studio such as I did for this piece. I had a photograph handy, but I relied heavily on my memory and imagination for it. You can't get much color from a photo. Photographs can control you, but when you use your memory you'll be free to push the limits.

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:

Alpine Sundown

Alpine Sundown
Oil 8x10

Mt. Princeton Vista

Mt. Princeton Vista
Oil 8" x 10"

Plein Air from today. This is a view of Mt. Princeton above the valley I live in. It's challenging to drop in shadows from clouds while painting outdoors. They are always moving so it can be tricky to make observations of how they work. I had to conserve my white paint because I forgot to bring it, luckily I made it without using it all. The wind got really chilly towards the end of the painting, started to have shivering hands while painting (maybe the shakiness can be seen in the brushstrokes)

Autumn Brook

Autumn Brook
Oil / Canvas
16" x 20"

I've painted a couple Plein Air studies of this spot before and have always wanted to do a little larger studio painting of it. Plein Air is fun but I also really enjoy being able to layer paint in the studio and build up some texture and color.

Fiery Skies

Fiery Skies
Oil 18" x 18"