Day 34

My entry in the Wet Canvas November challenge, Emerald Lake in Rocky Mtn National Park...(thanks for the reference photo jaystile!)

I did this twice, still not loose enough. I need to get back home to my studio!

Day 33

This was my attempt at Bill and Dougs pen and wash challenge on Wet Canvas. Thanks for the reference photo Bill.

Here I am trying to loosen up, and I am doing pen again....secretly I think I love pen, and for some reason all those tedious lines relax me....not like the oil I did this afternoon that got wiped off. I have a lovely tinted canvas to work on tomorrow.

Still tired from to much time in the car. Must recover soon!

Day 32

Quick painting in my Moleskine book after a full day of travel. Funny to be painting Pemaquid Light here in NY. Tomorrow I hope to find time for photos and a visit to an Ansel Adams exhibit.

The area between the NY throughway and the Adirondacks is amazing panorama of rolling hills and working farmland. There are several Amish farms, and we were lucky to see buggy's out, pulled expertly by retired Standardbreds.

Day 31

31 Paintings done. I think I have one painting that I will frame, and none are going in the woodstove. This is a marsh I have been admiring in Fayette.

My art supply order still has not arrived. The Fedex folks can't find it....it seems to have disappeared, so off to NY without those InkTense pencils....maybe there will be an art store in Utica????

Day 30

The knife is getting a little easier to use.  I painted this once, hated it, wiped the paint off, (which made a lovely "sand"color), and began again.  This time I stuck with the knife, which keeps me from getting to overworked.

  While trying to mix a shadow color I made the most gorgeous brown!  I also learned that you can make green from black and yellow, who knew?

Day 28 and 29

Molly was the cutest puppy I had ever seen.  This is an attempt at those crazy spots in gouche.

And today I put on some orange and went down to the lake to paint, thinking it was a far safer place than in the woods on the first day of deer season.  I am not sure where all that red came from, it did not look like that when I painted it.  Tonight a significant snowfall is predicted, so I am not sure if I will be outside or not to paint tomorrow.  I know I should go no matter what, plein air is so much better than inside....but am I tough enough? 

Day 27

Back to still life. Thanks for the fruit Luke!

I remember when fruit came without stickers.  I spent two hours drawing sliver ware today, knowing they will go in still lifes at some point.  It is drudgery, but I can't paint something I can't draw. So it is back to basics.  In the traditional art schools, students spent months drawing plaster casts before they moved on to painting. I need to reposition my shadow box so I can look down a bit on my subject and see the shadows!  I also want to find a surface I can use to capture reflections.

 And this is my drawing done later in the day, clearly I need to practice, practice, practice!