Over the Horizon

Silverpoint heightened with white gouache
14 x 11

Is there room in the world for another picture of a woman looking at some unseen thing? Hope so.

I'd meant to put this up a couple weeks ago, but something just didn't feel right. It seems I'd forgotten the cast shadow. Who was it that lost his shadow, Peter Pan? Wendy had to sew it back on for him. I guess I've sewed her shadow back on now so it's ready to be seen. Strangely enough that's about all I have to say about it. Hope that enough.

Lifting Fog

Where is the time going? I didn't mean to skip two weeks without a post. I've got plenty of things to show but something always seems to come up. On the up side this piece hadn't been started two weeks ago so you get something brand new.

I'm going to show you something a bit different today, a plein air piece.

Oil on panel
6 x 12

I don't usually show these for two reasons. First I don't do very many so there just aren't many to see. Second they're not very good. I have a lot of trouble getting comfortable painting outside. I like it, I just can't get used to it. I really need to do more though, and I plan to continue at an increased rate. We'll see how those plans work out. There might be a third reason too. These little on location pieces aren't meant as an end in themselves usually. They're mainly just quick sketches that will grow up into something bigger and hopefully much better.

On to this particular piece. I got up early one day and headed out to the wetlands. As it turned out it was a really foggy day which I personally think is a great thing. By the time I got there the fog was already lifting, not too much of it left. It really didn't seem to be hanging over the wetlands too much to start with surprisingly enough. But the atmosphere was still pretty soft early on. To make things even better wildflowers were blooming all along the shorelines. So I set up real quick, painted as fast as possible and by the time I was done the fog had been replace by a clear blue sky. You can decide how well I captured the moment. My question was, did I have enough information to do a more finished studio piece? Well let's see.


Oil on canvas
9 x 18

Personally I think this worked out fairly well. There seems to be that early morning fog with the sun just burning through. The wildflowers make a nice focal point in the midgrounds and the water leads the eye into the space. I think I like it, should frame up nicely.

I really would like to do more plein air painting especially more detailed, studied out pieces. Yeah, that's a must do.