Upper left, a 40 x 72 commission that is almost complete. This is a variation on an earlier large work in oranges and yellows. This oils is all about reds, yellows and greens. The trick is to keep the colors flowing all over the canvas, working the front to back and using leaf shapes without making portraits of the trees. Just a bit more tuning and it is done.
Lower left is a the now completed skycape Huddle at the Ocean 30 x 30 inches, started during my art class in St. Simons, GA last month. More info on the blog link.
To the right of that is a very old oil pulled out to the stack of paintings gone bad. It was once a very nice oil, but I overworked it my a country mile. I learned not to work at night since the lighting is not as true and I'm just not as fresh, giving me the tendency to slog on rather than paint smart. I painted over the foreground with a somewhat transparent yellow, added the dark trunks on the left and now a new painting is emerging from the earlier start. It calls to me now and I'll go where the oil guides me.
Center on the easel is another start from a workshop done here in the Denver metro two years ago. It was also in the stack of coulda-shoulda made better starts at the time. After seeing it again last week, the start was pretty good after all. The bottom was just yellows and white canvas, so the aqua greens were added first. The white canvas coming through really shouts... hmmm. The trees were just a mass of upright trunks in very dark colors. I've added purple going to blue foliage to get something going, allowing a lot of the darks to come through. The entire oil is up for grabs - no spots are sacred, but it has the potential to remain a very strong and interesting landscape.
On the easel is the now completed oil Ed's view, Tomahawk Lake, 30 x 48 inches. It is one of those classic lake shapes. Not wanting to do the typical look, I did my best to make it an interesting painting to view. It helped a lot to make a good start with some unusual colors thrown in for complexity and interest. Watch this blog Monday, March 24th for a posting that shows this finished oil in progress.
I'm starting to love that challenging stack of 'bad' canvases to pick through!
You're not holding back! Way to go, Ken!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that Casey. You are the bomb!
DeleteReally nice to see these alltogether...love the colours!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sheri!!
DeleteGreat display and liked the discussion of each painting. It's really a good feeling to go back to a "God, what do I do with this one?", that somehow I didn't throw away, and two years later know what to do and it sells before the opening!
ReplyDeleteIt's a thrill to make the fix. Then we know we are growing as artists. Ahhhh.
ReplyDelete