Autumn in the Tall Grass (revised)

Yes, it's revision time again. The only thing done is change the foreground, any other changes in tone are just the difference between two photos and how they get processed. I think the foreground is now more in sync with the sweeping nature of the composition.

Autumn in the Tall Grass

As I mentioned either here or on deviantART, I don't have a very clear image in my head of what I want to paint, if indeed, I have one at all. In this series of paintings all I wanted to do was paint a lot of open space. In a way, these pieces are sort of an inside joke, or simply a declaration of independence in that I'm painting pictures that will appeal to almost no one at all, because, well, I can. Someday however, someone's going to have to like this one a lot, since they'll have paid millions for it.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Autumn in the Heather

Yesterday's work, with a little high lighting today. I'm coming around to believing that I should always go back the next day after the paint has dried and add more highlights to an acrylic paintings. Acrylics dry darker than they appear when you first paint them, and it is especially annoying when the brighter spots are not brighter the next day. In any event, this was meant to be a rather overcast day, so it is not too much darker than I had intended.

The nice thing about not turning painting into a business is that I can paint a picture like this that has zero market appeal, and not worry about it at all. If I like it, it's just fine. That makes painting so much more pleasant.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Autumn on the Heath (Rev.)

This revising thing is getting to be a habit, one I don't like. But I guess it's necessary. Anyways, I decided that the foreground had too much of the night scene still in it, and well, the color shift of the acrylic paint didn't do it any good either, so I've gone back and repainted it today, a little more heatherly this time around.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Autumn on the Heath

My intent was to paint a night scene, creating the sky by using a series of washes and layers using extra acrylic medium to see if I could create a sense of depth and richness in the sky. Big problem. Well, two big problems. First, I didn't know what I was doing so I tried this and than and this and that didn't work. And secondly, I was forcefully reminded that I hate to paint that way. I don't like doing art projects. I like to paint, as in painting a study or a sketch. That's how my talent works. I never use a study as a basis for a 'studio' or finished piece. The study or sketch is it.

Anyways, I painted a more conventional night sky last night and started doing the foreground when I realized that wasn't going to work either, so I changed the course of the painting to a day scene by more or less painting over the night sky and here's were we ended up. A bit gloomy, but I don't paint all that many gloomy paintings, so what the heck.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

A Lane in Lilyfield

Just something I wanted to paint. Probably need to be a bit more daring here. Oh, well: good enough. (Which is not really a good enough attitude, but it is good enough for today.)

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

The Farm at Lilyfield

Another rather unproductive week painting. Indian summer left us midweek, and I've spent the last couple of days working on this piece. Way to long, since it's nothing to write home about. I would have given up on the scene except that I hadn't the faintest idea of what else to paint...  Good painting weather is here, so hopefully I figure out something to paint.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Green Banner Boat

The latest addition to my Archipelago of the Three Lovers series.  It's a science fiction series of paintings and/or abstract paintings with a slight nod to being something.
Imagine three planets (the three lovers) in close orbit around a point in space. They're close enough together to share an atmosphere and occasionally scrap by each other knocking bits and pieces, plants, animals and people off into this shared atmosphere and these rocks then hang suspended like motes of dust within the shifting gravitational pull of the three planets. This is the archipelago, drifting 'islands' in free fall in the space between the worlds. I seem to remember an Edger Rice Burroughs book with twin worlds and a shared atmosphere, but I think three worlds would work better. Since it's actually weightless in the archipelago, the 'wings' of the various crafts are moved like oars to move the boats amongst the floating islands.

I tried using additional acrylic medium with a little paint to try to get more depths into the painting, with a little success. Maybe.


12x24" 30x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Indian Summer in Pangone 2

Well, I made my week's quota. Nothing to write home about, but what the heck: it's an hour or two on a Friday night. (Truth is that this is always the way I do things.) They say there's another three or four days to go for this spell of 70's weather, so I expect I'll be painting at night for a while yet.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Indian Summer in Pangone

Actually it's indian summer here, and with the long winter just around the corner, I haven't been able to stay inside to paint. I whipped this piece last night just to make an attempt to meet my 2 paintings a week budget. I wanted some different colors and feel this time around, hence the reds and gloom.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Sheds at Lilyfield (revised)

Minor revisions, mostly to the buildings and wall just to bring them out more.