ARCH IN ITALY, PART 4

 

Slowly getting there now, mostly this stage has been about selectively working on different areas trying to bring it all together which will hopefully match the idea I have in my head. The insides of the arches have received a few more darker washes carefully painting around the stems and flowers of the plant on the upper one. Most of the ladder has also been brought to where I want it although I will still need to work on the sunlit areas a bit. I hope to do that and finish the plant with its intriguing shadows in the last part.

ARCH IN ITALY, PART 3

 

Having worked a little more on the wall, I added darker washes to the lower arch before filling in most of the upper one. I left a lighter area above one of the rungs of the ladder as I was thinking to put in a dove sitting there but not sure if I will go ahead with that idea. I also added a bit more definition to some of the cracks as I wasn't quite happy with them - I think I'll still have to do more to get a better  distressed look along with some added texture, that should be next.

ARCH IN ITALY, PART 2

 

Easing gently into the painting process, I started by adding large washes of color directly over the bricks but leaving some areas a pure white of the paper. The lower arch had some darker washes over the shadowed part which I slowly intensified adding more paint after each layer had dried. I also made a start on the upper arch carefully painting around the old ladder and the plant that had taken root just inside. Some of the gaps between the bricks were lightly indicated with a warm grey while the lower shadowed cracks went in a lot darker. So far so good, next I'll bring the overall tone of the bricks closer to what I had intended then continue refining the upper arch.

ARCH IN ITALY, PART 1

 

  I started this drawing after coming back from our trip to Italy a few years ago. Quite a bit later, I transferred the image to a larger sheet of watercolor paper intending to complete a painting of the scene. Well, the work sat around in my studio for quite some time until I decided to finally begin painting. Hopefully this time around, I will be able to continue working on it until it's finished.

WINTER MARSH II

 

This small cattail marsh is just across the way from where we are staying and I often spend time walking around observing the many birds, animals and insects using this area. Now that it is winter, most of the birds have migrated and for many days, the water is frozen over. Still the place retains it's special charm so that one evening after the sun had set, I looked across at the pines and marveled at the contrast between them and the sky which had taken on a purplish hue. The cattails were lighter accents in the foreground but I kept them subdued so that they only filled that section of the painting and didn't distract from the tree/sky relationship. Size is 10 x 8 inches, acrylic on board.

LATE FEBUARY

 

When we lived at our old house, we would walk most evenings to a nearby hill and watch the sunset. Sometimes I would do quick sketches and small watercolors trying to capture what I saw. The sky and mood changed so quickly, I often had only a very short time to get anything down. The painting shown here was one such an evening as a few minutes later, almost all of the color had faded from the sky. With what I had seen firmly in my memory, I later did a smaller study of the scene when I got back to the studio then modified it a little for this larger painting. Attention is drawn to the farmhouse by the single light shown in one of the windows but I was careful to keep this subtle. Size is 12 x 9 inches, acrylic on canvas.

OLD BOTTLE

 

I found this bottle on one of my walks and decided it was interesting enough to try painting it. The glass is actually a very deep orange so over a dark purplish background, I started with some cadmium orange modified with burnt umber and a touch of black to lay in most of the bottle's shape. I then added highlights - the label was the most difficult and I had to let the off-white dry before adding any of the final details. I do plan on keeping this bottle as I'm sure that I will do more paintings of it! Size is 10 x 8 inches, oil on panel.