Larger Landscapes -- the integrating power of the Wash

 Hello Dear Reader, 

I would like to back up a little in time to some larger paintings (36 x 24) that I completed using acrylics while I was in Colorado this past summer -- in this case my paint area was outdoors on a porch with eastern light.  These paintings feel different than my earlier landscapes.  Will leave that to you.

I have a friend in Colorado, Marjorie Cranston, who I had a chance to paint with oil pastels one afternoon, and she firmly convinced me that a painting need not take a long time to be lovely.  While these paintings took longer than the one, I worked on with her, the principle of working through problems quickly and thoughtfully still applied.  

I also discovered that the underpainting really contributed to the cohesiveness of the last two or three pieces.  This was such a treat to see!  The last piece was the Aspens at Boreas Pass and the next to the last piece was the Point Royal from Dillon Nature Preserve, both of which turned out better than my usual landscapes.    Let me see if I can add them both here.  John

Landscapes and Value

I have two landscape studies that I completed recently nearing Christmas of 2024.    One is Spring in Summit County, this is a view over Dillon Lake Toward Peak One of Ten Mile Range, and the second is a Winter Creek in Morning Light, a copy of a small Matt Smith piece.   I took a zoom class in Mid-November from the Tucson Art Academy Online by Matt Smith called "5 Key Steps to Achieving Convincing Values."   With his teaching insight in mind:

1)  have a value plan -- and paint from dark to lighter structures

2)  attend to value before color foundations

3) master simple subjects before doing complex paintings

4)  if the painting is more about color...simplify value, if the painting is more about value...simplify color  (Would be interesting to hear from you -- whether these two paintings each fall into a separate category!)

5)  get the value structure into the painting early on; moving from large to small; thin to thick; and dark to light.

Monarch on Sunflower

 

So as the year is starting up -- perhaps I can do a little better job of painting more frequently -- and gracefully.  

Its a New Year -- What Will Happen in 2024? Start with Playa

 

Hello patient blog reader, at least I hope you have returned to my page.  Let me show you a painting that I did for the San Antonio Art League and Museum, and that was accepted by the Juror Harold Joiner who is the gallery Directory at the Archway Gallery in Houston.  I got to hear him speak for a few minutes a few nights back and he was explaining what his criteria were for accepting paintings -- I sure enough though he was talking about this painting.  The theme of the show was Texas Landscape.  I tried to personify two major factors of nature in the Texas plains:  water and sun.  Of course, there are the towns -- and the agriculture.  The playa are remarkably important in recharging groundwater and in providing habitat for the region.  There are about 20,000 playa in the Texas high plains alone.  The style of the sun is after Hundertwasser, Friedrich Stowasser, an Austrian artist.  In fact I used his features as I styled the sun.  The playa face is from Benny Andrews, also an artist, who was recently featured here in San Antonio at the McNay Art Museum.  I considered originally making this artwork three dimensional in the Andrews' style.  

If you are in San Antonio, head down to the King William Area and enjoy the exhibit.  SAN ANTONIO ART LEAGUE & MUSEUM - HOME (saalm.org)

May you be Safe, Happy, Healthy, and Live with Ease every day.  John