Olive Oil

Sunday I went out to an olive orchard and painted with a small group.  The place was incredibly beautiful, and has plenty to paint.  I wanted to paint some olive trees beause I've never done it and the color seemed a lot like a sage bush which I have painted.  They grew in rows, and one row pointed to a blooming oak. 

 

                             Olive Oil

                               9x12

Big shapes equal small adjustments

After reading notes and print outs from previous workshops, I made an outline that I need to follow on every painting I do.  These new ideas will change how I previously went about doing a painting.  Most of it has to do with what I do before paint touches the canvas.  I got a chance to paint at a ladies ranch near Pearsall earlier this week.  It was good to apply these new ideas to a unfamiliar area.  I'm still trying to have strong values within 4-5 main shapes.  If I can get just that, the finalizing touches are edge work and highlights.  

                             6x8's

Landa Park Painting

Today I painted at the park here in town.  I painted a tree that was hanging over the river, and thought I could make it something interesting.  After painting for an hour and a half,  my design never came through.  I am willing to go back into this and add some interesting aspects.

9x12

New Paintings Uploaded

Today I uploaded some of my new paintings I've been working on.  I'm excited for next weeks turn of weather.  Im ready to get outside and paint and gather source material!

Cool Pool

This morning I painted from the picture in the previous post.  The image was taken at Toms Creek, near Startzville.  I changed the design up, and added some larger shapes.

                     

Cool Pool

9x12

Blurry rocks

I really like to paint submerged rocks, so I've been trying to find some scenes that portray this new obsession.  I took some pictures of Tom creek, near Startzville today.  By studying rocks underwater, I found the deeper they are the more blurry they become.  Seems simple enough right? We'll see.

Here's the photo.

 

I will change it up some but really enjoy the area in the bottom left.  Stand by

Still raining....let's try fishing

This last weekend I went on an overnight float trip on the Colorado River.  My buddy John joined me and a few other friends.  We chased bass armed with fly rods.  We caught some fish, although it did rain on us, but we prepared for it!

Today I worked on the cypress painting.  I I feel like its finishing well

Studio Session Continued...

I spent another morning in the studio.  Today I found a photo my grandma took a while ago, and by awhile ago she means longer than I can fathom.  Anyways, the photo had a nice lead in with oaks and distant hill country giants, real Texas stuff.  As a Texas artist, I feel like I should paint bluebonnets.  I find the flower to be beautiful, and pretty fun to paint.  I set a limit on my usage of the flower.  I have seen them "blanketed" across a landscape, but when painted like that it seems garish, to me.  So I set some rules in the studio this morning: 

1. Use the flowers to define a line in design 

2. Distance flowers should be lighter

3. Don't over do it

With these rules applied, I finished my first Texas bluebonnet painting.

                            12x16