46. Orange and Blue

Orange and Blue 6x8 oil/linen

I have a couple of very important deadlines looming, and not much time to work on them, so I might default on a few dailies till I can get these done.  As it is, I am working early till late. But I did think it a good idea to 

warm up today with something simple, and I determined to work only about 45 min..  I found this blue goblet at a thrift store recently and wanted to paint it... and I love the combination of orange and blue - opposites or "complements" on the color wheel.

I've never painted cobalt blue glass before... very interesting.

Anyway, it's a simple set up and nothing fancy but to try to be purposeful with the brushstorkes and let them be.  And, for you painters out there, it's really important to keep your shadows thin and transparent... and remember the old adage, "cool light, warm shadows" - all the shadows here are warm in color, except where the blue of the glass really colored the white c loth as the light went through it...

45. Trail Crew, Pecos Wilderness

12x16 oil/linen

Actually started this one before Christmas, but had to put it aside until today.  The image was inspired by an old (1950's?) photo of Santa Fe National Forest rangers building cairns.  I think they were up in the Pecos Wilderness from the looks of the photo, but not totally sure.  This crew is wrapping up for the day and heading down off the ridge.

43. Star of Wonder

Star of Wonder 9x12 oil/panel

I just thought today about those Shepherds out watching their flocks of sheep the night that Jesus was born.

They saw the star, the angels and heard the message of the baby's birth, mostly because they were out there, outside, watching the night sky.

So, what if the Savior had been born in a different place and time?  Maybe it would have been somebody like this to see that Star.  Some ol' cowpoke, just watching the herd. 

Well, if was fun thinking about.
On a "painting" note, I found that painting moonlight meant two t hings.
1. all colors are practically gone.  They all fade to a greenish gray.
2. It's not as easy as that.
There should be no warm colors under moonlight, and though my photo seems to show a bit more warn tones than is actually there, just remember that in  painting moonlight scenes, use colors from the cool side of the spectrum.. For example, instead of cadmium yellow, use yellow ochre. Instead of cad read, use alizarin... But almost everything is mixed with ultramarine to cool it even further and lower the value as well...

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, full of joy and peace and hope!

42. Connie's Cabin, plein air

Connie's Cabin, 8x10

Real quick, because Steve is waiting on me to go out for our run this morning. This was done very quickly (again, because he was waiting) maybe 30-40 min. looking out our window at my neighbor's cabin. It's a great view both morning and evening. 

There was so much glare coming in our big south facing windows that I absolutely could not see, sometimes wasn't even sure what color I was putting down, so I just trowled on the paint with th e palette knife to get the feel of it, and left it as is, pretty rough, but it was fun trowling on paint for a change! :-)

41. Team Ropers

Team Ropers 8x13 oil/panel

I started this one several weeks ago... put it aside till I could figure out where I wanted to take it, and then finished it a few days ago.   I wanted to try a little more palette knife, especially in the background with the spectators... So I left that whole area really sketchy and yet, hopefully, still communicating "spectators and bleachers"...  Thanks to artist friend Max Nelson from wetcanvas.com for the photo reference.

40. Jenna and Thomas

Jenna and Thomas 12x16 oil/paper

This was actually from a few days ago, but I didn't post it till I made sure it was okay with the subject!  Jenna is an artist friend, and she absolutely loves cats. I think they had about seven kittens recently, and this little guy, Thomas, was one of them. Though the photo was low resolution, and there wasn't really any dramatic light to work with, I still thought this one was just so perfect of Jenna and her little furry friend.   

I do learn something every time I work on a portrait... sometimes its just small things about values, or maybe about mixing skin tones or shadow tones... there's always something to glean. That's what's been valuable about this 120 painting project... you always learn something every time you pick up a brush!  (sometimes you learn that it's just time to stop and go get a cookie)

39, The Parting

The Parting 8x10 oil/panel

This is based on another old historic photo. I'm going to guess that these friends are either Navajo or possible Apache, based on the dress and where the photo was taken.  There was something about the way that

these two old friends reached out to shake hands in parting that touched me.

That nice feeling was quickly forgotten in trying to paint them from an old, grainy, black and white photo!

I finally kept saying to myself "simplify, simplify"... the entire background was done with a palette knife and I tried to keep the figures themselves very painterly.  Those poor old Indian ponies look pretty forlorn, don't they?