Last Light on the Beach

Another 'light and open space' paintings. This morning, on my bike ride, I developed a theory as to  why I like this proportion of sky to land: for the last 30 years I've been living in the middle of a rolling prairie and unless you're looking at your feet, this is pretty much the split between land and sky you're going to see. I've just grown so used to it. As a matter of fact, last night when I looked at this painting I realized that my original version had too much land and I had to cut down the dunes by a good inch or two before I got to this, more satisfactory proportion.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

A Hint of Autumn

Just putting paint on board today while listening to the new Bombay Bicycle Club album. I really shouldn't be doing this: I should be making every painting important. Oh well.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Last Light Along the Falmont Bay Road

This is the first and maybe the last fruit of my week on the shore of Lake Michigan. There is nothing in it that directly reflects that week on the beach. Go figure.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Rainy Avenue

A rainy morning painting.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Summer in Lansworth 6

After spending a week's family holiday on the shore I should be painting pictures with the sea in it. I'd like to. But today, when I took out the bigger board, I decided I wasn't that ambitious today... maybe tomorrow.  I added today's smaller piece to my Summer in Lansworth series hoping to fool the gullible into thinking that I'm exploring in great detail the light and shape of street corners because it is important, not because I can't think of anything else to paint.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Misty Morn too

Well, it didn't look any better in the morning, so repainted it, keeping the same old scene just for comparison. I like this better, but is nothing to write home about. We'll see what I think of this version tomorrow.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Misty Morn

I'll likely paint over this one. It is just too much the same as too many others. As much as I hate to work, I'm going to have to really put some effort into coming up with some new ideas...

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

The Strand Before Sunrise

Okay, here's my story: I'm painting series paintings just like Monet... and I'm sticking with it.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Dragonfly Boats

As long as all I feel like doing is putting paint on board, I decided to do another of the Archipelago of the Three Lovers painting.  The 12x24" 30x60cm size board is what is left over when I cut two 18x24" 45x60cm boards out of a standard sized sheet of hardboard. And since I rather like a lot of sky in my large scale landscapes, this is somewhat of an orphaned size.

Summer in Lansworth 5

I spent yesterday painting another picture by lightly dabbing the paint on. It didn't work. I'm neither into drama or bright colors and the dabbing makes for a very diffuse painting that I found it impossible to create any contrast and interest in it at all. I'd like to think my devil may care approach to brush strokes add interest to my otherwise understated paintings would lack.

Today's painting brings nothing new with it. Mostly I'm just painting and exploring colors. In the past I used a yellows for my greens but now, for some reason, I want to use mostly blues for my greens. Go figure. Anyways, I'm not concerned about what I paint these days: its how I paint that interests me, so I end up re-doing familiar scenes. Hopefully I'll be able to move on in time.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Summer in Lansworth 4

A foggy summer morning in Lansworth.  Did this just to explore the use of a different type of brush stroke. Needs to be refined a bit. Somehow.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard