Morning Trail 6x8
Yup... It's a pond but in a looser more painterly style...
This was painted using lead white paint. You might say "big deal" but let me tell you the Lead white acts completely different from the titanium. I hadn't even realized that I was fighting the titanium until I got my new white. BTW white paint is about half the paint on any painting so it's a critical component.
It's not just the paint that's changing either. This is a definite transition piece. It was painted somewhat transparently. I'm going to be doing a lot more of that as well as glazing ect in my next paintings. Also here I'm making my break with detail I want a more emotional evocative feeling in my work...
View over the pond
Nice title eh?
This ones pretty tight detail wise. Many things I like about the piece and a few I don't. We'll see how much longer I stay with the perk ponds. I know I could paint them till the day I die but I'm going on vacation soon and I expect to find some great scenes. Odds are I'll want to paint them but well see.
Los Gatos Creek
We're looking down on the creek here that runs along the ponds on one side with the freeway on the other. A challenging view to paint tho it looks pretty easy now it's done ;-)
There's a good bit of detail in this piece, in the foreground especially. I've been playing with the amount of detail in my paintings. I don't want too much but a bit here and there is nice. I try to err on the side of less not more. In my earlier pieces it was not as much of an issue but now that I can control the paint better I goota watch it....
A tale of two paintings
Finished this one last weekend. This is the western side of the biggest pond. I like the tree here and the path leading up to and around it.
I like it so much that this is the second time I painted it. Here is the same scene painted in the spring.
This painting resides in the collection of a friend now. It was the first I painted on Luan panel. The panel in this case I'd gessoed with house primer. I like this painting but I can't say I liked that slick hard surface for painting. After this one I painted on the raw wood for a while.
Now I use clear acrylic gesso that I sand down. I really enjoy that painting suface as it feels just like painting on wood and it pulls the paint off the brush real nicely...
Sky Pond
Ah... June is sweet here this year. Hasn't been too hot. This scene is at the corner of one of the ponds. I definitely gravitate to the corners as the compositions are more interesting than a straight on view.
This was a cloudy day but pleasantly so. I really enjoyed painting the cloud's reflections in the pond. I would have posted this one last week when I painted it but the lower right hand side of the painting was bothering me so I added some grass there and I'm much happier now.
I'm forgetting if I mentioned in an earlier post but these are all part of a series I'm doing. Basically the series is 100 6x8 paintings. I'm trying to keep the focus on the Campbell perk pond area too. Not sure if I can pull 80 more paintings out of there without getting redundant. I think its possible though. Cant guarantee that I'll even want to paint that area for that long either but we'll see. This painting is # 19 I may start just labeling the posts with these numbers as I'm running out of "pond" titles.
Perk Pond
You can see these trees from the other side as you cruise down Highway 17. This part of the park follows the freeway for about 1 mile.
I really liked the green pond scum in this scene. It's more vivid on the actual painting. Lots of detail in this one. I really try not too get too carried away with detail. I think it's best to capture the mood and feel of a scene and let the viewer supply the detail from their imaginations...
Path by the Pond
Another one I painted in late April/Early May. I really liked this scene and the painting came out well. I've noticed that I get pretty attached to the paintings. This becomes real evident when I'm showing a piece to somebody and it's clear I'm not going to be giving them the painting...
I should be more giving I know but like I said I'm attached. Funny enough the universe got me on this one. I took this piece down to my sisters to show her. She of course proceeded to look for spots on her walls she could hang it. I said no way sis I'm too attached then I lean it against a wall and continue chatting with her.
Well, what happened then sucked because I moved quickly or something and the painting in it's it's frame went crashing to the floor. The frame was new and I was actually concerned about it and not the painting. So I inspected the frame and saw no damage and was relived. However I eventually noticed that THE PAINTING had got cracked right in the middle! So that's what I get for being selfish I guess...The crack is not that noticeable fortuately and I've since given the painting to my Brother in law Bouke
Campbell Perk Pond
This was painted last month and not posted... I've a few like that that I'm salting in here and there. There's a few more on my camera too that I need to get uploaded.
This was painted on a Luan panel like most of my stuff but this is the first one that I gessoed before painting. I like clear acrylic gesso because I love to use the natural wood tone as my ground. This ones surface was not great in that the paint layed on top of the gesso and I prefer a bit of absorbtion. Still the painting came out pretty well and I've since started sanding the gesso before I paint and that works well.
View from the Bridge
There's a bridge in Los Gatos Creek Park.... I knew aout the bridge but for some reason I'd never rode over it.
This is the view from that bridge looking down on a...pond! There's a scene I'm working on now that greets you afterward. The mountains in this are a touch contrasty so I'll probably be toning them done a bit...
Deep Pond
Hey... What can I say I'm on a pond kick... I may paint 100 pond paintings!
I'm very happy with this painting... It was a challenge. Actually their all a challenge but this had many elements that I wanted to portray.
I especially like the orange flowers (featured in the foreground) they're dead now but they were abundant the day I captured this scene...
This painting is notable also because I fully embraced the sable brush here. Sable allows me to execute far more detail. I'm definitely trying not to do to much detail especially as all these paintings are only 6 x8 inches but a bit of detail is nice once in awhile...
Campbell Pond
I like the shadowed area in this one.
Behind this pond you can see another bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Yes it's the Los Gatos perk ponds... I'm not tired of painting this area yet... There's more paintings to be posted in the next few days BTW so stay tuned....
Cloudy Day Pond
Hey!
Two posts.... One day... What gives?
Painted last week.
Ponds, I know.... I love painting this place. BTW, I just discovered an area of this park I'd not seen, last Friday...Working on a painting of that area now...
View from Quicksilver
I know I've been absent... Rest assured the painting goes on whether I'm posting or not.
Here's a new one:
A wise ass friend suggested I add a butterfly... That would be nice actually....Hmmm.....
Anyway. This scene is in Alamaden Quicksilver park. This is pretty early in the morning... I like the early morning light. To bad it's in the morning....
Spring Reflections
Hey, hows that for a title!
Yet another portrait of the fishing ponds near my work. Photography really dosen't capture many of the qualities of oil paintings.
On this piece has the wood grain semi visable thru the water in the pond. It's a neat effect that was total hapenstance.
Sunlight on Vasona
I'm pretty happy with this painting. It captures the dusk light pretty well if I don't say so myself. This is based on a shot I took of Vasona lake in April.
This is the site that rewards you at the end of the Los Gatos Trail after a long bike ride. I have atempted another painting recently of this scene zoomed out further... that ... ah... didn't go so well but I'm sure I'll be painting this scene more in the future anyway.
BTW this painting and the previous were painted on canvas panels. I've since switched to painting on wood panels. The canvas texture at 6x8 seems a touch to much so I've opted for painting on a smoother substrate.
April Path
This is the first decent painting I did. Prior to this piece I'd been struggling with many aspects of oil painting. I'm still struggling of
course
but this piece gave me hope and direction after quite a few weeks of muddling about.
It's a recreation path close to my work. I used to ride on this path every day early in the morning on my way to work. It's very beautiful there in the morning. This painting is actually based on a shot taken in the early evening.
Quicksilver Morning Oak
I woke up super early last Saturday to go to Almaden Quicksilver park. I haven't been there since I was a kid. Getting up early on Saturdays is not something I usually do but I really wanted to collect inspiration in the morning light.
This oak was right across from the parking lot. Looking at it now if I ever repaint this scene I might handle the foreground grass differently...
This is part of my ongoing 6x8 series. I was gonna post paintings in the order I completed them and I'm still going to do that. However I've got about seven others done that I think I'll post and write about before I go back to chronological order...
Painting 5-7-09
This is another painting in my series based on Los Gatos trail and Vasona park. This is actually a fishing pond that many people love to go fishing at. The day was very cloudy and I I really wanted to capture the feeling of the clouds with blue sky peeking through.
It was actually warmer than it appears to be that day. I'll be painting more from this area I'm sure as it's very close to where I work and I really like the scenery there.