Spring Color Study

Having taken so much time off, I'm now re-starting rather slowly too. This is just a small study using a familiar scene to explore colors that I could use to paint some misty spring scenes. They're not quite the right colors however... but that's ok, next time...  At least I'm painting again.  (The 12" height is too high -- I display this size in a 8x10 frame (w/a mat), but the 12" size saves me from another cut on the board...)

8x12" 20x30cm acrylic on hardboard

The River Marshes at Low Tide

A rather dismal scene to start off painting after my extended holiday, but, oh well,  I'm just happy to have something to post.  Some canvasses and boards seem to defy all but the most determined attempts to get something acceptable on them.  This board was one of the worst. I'm just going to close my eyes tomorrow and let this painting be good enough, as I'm sick of painting over it again and again.

For the most part I spent my time working on my 'romance' called "Yours, someday, maybe --  A romance in an undetermined number of pieces." painting with words rather than paint, so I was having fun and keeping creatively busy this past month.  I would really like to paint something different than I've been doing, but can't seem to think of anything too different and have doubts that I actually can paint anything too different as well...  Taking a month off has not given me a clue as to what I would like -- and what I am able -- to do differently. I don't know what I will do tomorrow...

 18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Haven't a Clue

Just a quick update to say that I don't really know just what I want to paint, so I'm not painting -- writing a short story instead and discovering all the music I've missed -- millions and millions of tunes -- on lala.com   I have my work cut out for me if I'm to make amends.

I might also add that I painted over that last painting, the straw that broke the camel's back.

Pasture in Snow

 

This is another plan B painting. Draws a lot from the small painting I did earlier in the week. It's been that kind of a week.  

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Square Blue

 

This is just another place holder -- though I must have worked on this particular board for two days and had nothing but scraped paint to show for it. This is a minor improvement.   My main project this week is to do a snow scene on a sunny day -- last week it was during the snow storm which I had no problem painting. It's just that sunny days are not my thing.  I have an idea for tomorrow, so we'll see. Otherwise its a watercolor style painting for the rest of the week.

6x8" 15x20cm acrylic on hardboard

A Fence Line in Winter

 

What a difference a week can make. Last week I had ideas to paint and I was mostly able to paint them. This week I haven't a clue. This little sketch was just to keep from really feeling bad about not having done anything...

8x12" 20x30cm acrylic on hardboard

Sledding at Windford

 

The law of averages will catch up with you sooner or later, and had me by the short hairs today. After several paintings that went nice and smoothly this week, today's work did not work at all -- at least the planned one, which this is not.   This is a plan B painting and I'm not sure it will last, but it is at least something done and something to post.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

The River at Wovenlay Park

Another in what seems to be a series of  'along the river in the snow' paintings, another in the 'Soft World' or 'Quantum World' series, or in short, another one of my usual paintings.

One thing I am happy about is that I once had trouble scaling up paintings like this from something like an 8x10" to this size, but I think I've got that down....

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Mailbox in Sleet and Snow

I knew what I wanted to do with this piece and what I wanted was to keep in simple. Very simple. Did it this morning: this afternoon is devoted to Apple's tablet coverage. (Not that I'd be likely to be able to afford it.)

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Snow Along the Strand

Well, not that I've demonstrated why I'm a landscape painter to myself and the world and its dog, I'll get back to painting landscapes. Portraits were fun, and I enjoyed writing the captions, but painting people is not something I will ever be good at, if only because I'm not interested in doing it.

18x24" 5x60cm acrylic on hardboard

The Incomparable Dejah Thoris

 I’m a bit pressed for time, so just a quick word of advice to any itinerate Barsoonian painter who happens to find himself in the Court of Helium.  Should you be asked by the Princess of Helium to paint her portrait,  very politely give the gig a miss unless you're a very competent painter in the Pre-Raphaelite style, or are a far, far better swordsman than you even imagine yourself to be, or own -- or can quickly borrow -- a very, very fast flier. The Lady's husband seems to hold extremely narrow views of proper art, is touchy and given to jealousy in that old Southern gentleman’s sort of way, and damned bloody minded like only a Warlord can be...  I’m not all that sure my borrowed flier is fast enough...

(Painted this mostly yesterday, but it was too late to photo. Revisions today. 12x8" 30x20cm acrylic on hardboard)

Artist in Winter, slightly revised

Worked on the eyes a little more, and the mouth a bit this morning.

Artist in Winter

To become a full member of the secret Ancient Order of Painters’Lodge requires one to paint 1) a masterpiece, 2) a nude and 3) a self-portrait.  Now the masterpiece is determined by the Secret Committee so that is out of my hands. I have put off painting the other two, but one can’t count on living forever, so I best tackle at least one of the other requirements. The only bare naked lady I believe I can safely paint is my wife, but my wife teaches at a high school deep in the rural middle west of America and the prospect of a painting of a naked Mrs. Litka on the web being discovered by the students or staff of this high school boggles the mind. And, well, posting it on the web would be half the fun...  However, she’ll be retiring in June, so we’ll just let that slide a little. That leaves the stupid self-portrait, I mean, what did they invent cameras for anyways? But rules are rules, no matter how stupid.

First off, I would like to state that I didn’t get to where I am on good looks. Secondly, I could not  paint a straight up and down portrait even if I wanted to. Which I didn’t.  So I called on my inner Vincent, put on my artist face and didn’t comb my hair and went at it. You will note that I have two sweaters on over my shirt. It is do damn cold in this garrett that even the rats with their fur coats want to cuddle with you to keep warm and you don’t shoo them away.

SPECIAL BONUS

While I’m primarily a painter, I have written one poem, and this seems like a good time to share it with you.

old man in the mirror  (to be read aloud in a very whinny voice)

who is that
that old man in the mirror?
where did he come from?
why won’t he go?

c litka

12x16” 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

DISCLAIMER:  Since it is possible that the above might be read in places in this world where it might not be clear that much of the above is an attempt at humor, I will state this: please take nothing I say, or paint seriously. I don’t. (Especially the part about the Ancient order of Painters -- they’d kill me if they found out I let the cat out of the bag...)

Girl, Darkly

Something different today. I lightened the background somewhat after I took this photo, but it is altered little from this shot.

8x6" 20x15cm acrylic on hardboard

Winter Thaw

Painting the world in the midday sun is not my strong point. I do better at the margins of the day. I had to paint the scene in a rather abstracted way-- with the dark outlines -- to get something that sort of works.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Winter Thaw in progress

Not a very good photo, very uneven lighting, but since it is not finished, I'll let it ride. Not sure just what needs to be done, but something needs to be done. Tomorrow.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Doodling today

Sunrise: a finger painting -- just a doodle today.

8x12" 20x30cm acrylic in hardboard

Before Dusk - done

The finished version.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Before Dusk

I don't have an education in art, so I may be bring coals to Newcastle here, but I believe that the lines within a picture play an important part in the emotional response to a picture. In this case, my original sketches had a curve to the alley that was lost in the finished painting. I felt the straight lines of the finished painting (last post) made the picture cold and uninviting, so I decided to repaint the same scene, but with a curving alley instead, the result is above. Of course, doing the same basic painting again allows one to smooth out and improve the painting, but still I think this is an improvement, a much more inviting scene. I am not quite done with this painting just yet, but the work is mostly in the details and perhaps a bit more toning on the shadows... tomorrow morning's work.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on watercolor canvas

Before Dawn

Just to be on the safe side, I should say that I did not give up this morning, even though you might think so. I rather like this piece, perhaps more for the promise  I see in using the colors in the future than for this painting itself. I had to do a lot of painting over and experimenting, which makes for a somewhat rough painting, but on the whole, and considering my goal to paint what is basically a boring setting, I'm happy with it.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Work Shops, Stables and Sheds

Finally done. My original plan for this week was to paint the same scene twice, once in my watercolor style and once in my oil style -- both of course being done in acrylics. However, seeing how unimpressed I am with this piece, and having played around a bit with an oil style version this afternoon, I don't think that is going to happen, though I am not quite ready to give up just yet. I'll do that tomorrow morning.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on watercolor canvas

Work Shops, stables and sheds 2

Above are the thumbnail sketches I used to design this scene (the final one is inserted in the upper right).  I use only small 1"-2" sketches to develop a painting as it is the fastest and most efficient way to explore options and ideas -- and I'm not good at big drawings... Somehow they seem a whole lot cozier than the full sized painting, which is still not quite finished, below.  Though they have led me sadly astray, I'm trying to make the best of it.  The final version will not be much different from this; only a matter of adding a few more details and lines, and a few people and such. It is always a question of how much time should be devoted to project where it does not seem that any significantly improvement can be achieved.

Work Shops, Stables and Sheds

It seems that there always comes a time during the painting of a picture that I have to wonder just what was I thinking when I though this idea would work. I'm finishing work on today's piece at that point in the process. Right now it is hard to see how I will be able to generate any sort of mood at all with this scene. Stay tuned.

Country Lane, Deep in Winter

One of the main reasons why I'm giving finger painting a try is that I thought it might be an easy way to alter my style of painting -- just to see what I could do. So far, however, I don't think it has changed it a bit: everything I've done so far with my fingers I could have done with a brush. Still it is fun and worth exploring more.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

More Finger Painting

I am very fond of pastel artists who paint soft landscapes, and I'm thinking that painting using very thin paint with my finger that drys fast might produce paintings similar to pastels . These are my first attempts at using acrylics like pastels.  Above, Autumn Morning Study 10x8" 25x20cm acrylic on hardboard  Below, Snowy Day Square, 6x8" 15x20cm acrylic on hardboard.

More Finger Painting

Above, Long Sands Island in Winter  12x24" 30x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Below, Mountain Valley Under Snow 8x12" 20x30cm acrylic on hardboard

Finger Painting

Decided that yesterday's painting was not worth salvaging. Perhaps cutting it down to a 12x16" might warrant an effort, but I've not the heart today. Instead, I just doodled with paint, exploring the art of finger painting.  "Currents" above and "Mountain Study" below are both 12x8" 30x20cm

Along the Ravine Road (Night) Unfinished

Most paintings turn out to be less that I hope for -- and then, sometimes,  they turn out to be total disasters. Today's work is one such case. I opted to go for the night scene though I had some misgivings, and it turned out my misgivings were justified. The question now is do I keep working on this, or cut my loses and move on. I've decided to try it as a day scene --scrubbing off as much of the sky as I can, I'll have one more go at this tomorrow. 

Creek trail begining

My original idea was to do a moon lit scene. I'm having second thoughts about that, but at this point I don't have to decide. The rocks are in and the trees will be tomorrow's work. We'll see how it goes: I'll start with a day scene and then consider making it moon lit (basically adding a lot of blue shadows...)

Passage to Northwind Close -revised

The great thing about using watercolor canvas is that you can scrub things off and redo them -- in this case I cut down the wall on the right hand side of the passage: it just cut off too much of the scene and tended to dominate the scene without adding anything to it.

The difference in color is just due to how I processed the photo -- the last one was too red, this one is more accurate.