Building Blocks

Building Blocks
Oil / Canvas
11" x 14"

Cold Steel

Cold Steel
9" x 12"
Oil / Canvas

Worked with "cool" light in this painting. So I thought the title Cold Steel was a fitting title with the cold color look in the painting.



Here's the beginning of the painting. Just making indications of where things are.

Nude Studies

8x10 Oil / Canvas






8x10 Oil / Canvas





9x12 Oil / Canvas

Jane

Jane
Oil / Canvas
9" x 12"

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.

Colorado Mountain Plein Air Festival

Last month I was in the Colorado Mountain Plein Air Festival. Here are a couple paintings I did for the show:


Fallen
12x16
Oil / Canvas

Me and Karen painted at this location and it ended up raining on us. I told Karen she's an official plein air painter now that she painted in the rain.



John Deere
Oil/Canvas
9x12

This is the painting I did for the quick paint I think I spent around an Hour and half on it. I'm making this quick sketch for sale on my Etsy shop.

Below is a photo my friend Steve Easterwood took of me painting at the quick paint

Figure Study

Figure Study
Oil / Canvas
8" x 16"

Been enjoying painting monochromes lately. I usually use a venetian red color mixture but I've been liking Permanent Red Deep with Raw Sienna color mixture for these.

Monochrome Portrait

Oil / Canvas
14" x 11"

This portrait came from an old photograph I found. I love old photos, the characters and expressions in them I find very interesting. This guys wild hair and piercing expression caught my eye.

Light on Cascade Falls II

Light On Cascade Falls II
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"
Plein Air

I did an 8x10 of this scene outdoors and I decided to try the same comp a little bit larger outdoors again. Hence the title Light on Cascade Falls II

Plein Air Moab!

Last week I participated in the Plein Air Moab Utah show. It was a lot of fun! Met up with some friends and painted with my friend Josh Been a lot. The show was great! It had a lot of great paintings. I had two in the show, One for the Oil category and the other in the Quick Draw category. Both pieces sold! The painting in the Oil category had the most bids out of any painting in the show! (they ran out of room on the silent auction sheet)


Below are the paintings I brought back with me:


Canyon Reflections
Oil 8" x 10"




Canyon Light
Oil 11" x 14"




Desert Tower
Oil 12" x 12"



Arch Window
Oil 10" x 12"

I decided to put these paintings up for sale at a discounted price on my etsy store. These have some really great prices for original art. Follow the link on the side banner -->

Winter Glory

Winter Glory
Oil / Canvas
16" x 20"

Fall Colors

The Leaves are starting to change up here in the valley. Below are a couple new fall color paintings:



River Colors
Oil / Canvas
11" x 14"




Patterns of Fall
Oil / Canvas
15" x 24"

Setting Sun

Setting Sun
Oil / Canvas
26" x 14"


Decided to return to a batch of photos and paint this scene that I've had in the back of my head to paint. In this painting I learned that I could gray down my yellow without it going to green with the pile of left over white that I mixed together from a previous painting. The gray was about the same value of the yellow and it was warm so it didn't cool down the yellow to much. I've been getting in the habit of keeping piles of grays on my palette. They are really great harmonizers.

Light on Cascade Falls

Light On Cascade Falls
8" by 10" Oil

Been Practicing painting water falls lately. This is a new one I did of the cascade falls nearby where I live.

Victor Plein Air

Back Home now from the Victor, CO plein air event. The Opening for the show is this Friday. I did 9 paintings while I was there. I decided to camp out at a reservoir nearby and did 5 paintings the first full day I had there. The next day was really windy but I managed to get a couple done. Upon returning to my campsite that day I found that my tent, and everything in it was stolen, which included, my sleeping bag, air mattress, clothes, and the five paintings I did the day before!

It was rough! However, I managed to paint two more the next day. Below is what survived. I at least have my three for the show. It certainly has been the roughest plein air event I've done but it was fun painting these mines.


Pieces of the Past
Oil 12" x 16"

I did this painting the morning after my stuff got stolen.



Rustic Barn
9" x 16" Oil

I went back and repainted this scene. The one that was stolen was a little larger but I really liked the composition and just had to redo it.



Vindicator Mine
12" x 16" Oil

The mines in Victor are so interesting. So much texture and character.


Mine Debris
10" x 12" Oil

Plein Air Paintings

Below are a couple Plein Air Paintings I did Yesterday. I did a total of four. These are two of the four.


To Mountain Heights
Oil / Canvas 14" x 14"




Cottonwood Pass
Oil / Canvas
8" x 12"

Portrait Sketch

New Portrait Painting

Oil / Canvas
24" x 30"

The Arkansas Plein Air Painting

The Arkansas
Oil 23" x 36"

I did this one recently entirely Plein Air. I wanted to attempt a larger painting outdoors. It took two morning painting sessions to complete it. The view is off the highway so I just took my studio easel out and painted away.

Here's me painting the spot

Above Tree Line

Above Tree Line
Oil 16" x 20"