The Long Promised Nude - slight rev.

I tried to fix faces in past efforts -- trying to make them more realistic or something -- only to loose the look I happened upon and liked.  In this case there is very little to the face -- it does not bear looking at for long -- but I like the impact it has, nevertheless. However, the nose bugged me, so I took my courage in hand and very slightly modified it knowing that  this time the paint was dry, I could wash the new paint off if things turned nasty. I kept my changes to a minimum, so the face still does not bear looking at it for long -- but the nose is a little better and bugs me less.

The Long Promised Nude

Every artist is required to paint 1) a self portrait, and 2) a nude.  (Plus a masterpiece, but that is determined by the secret committee.) These requirements are not waived even if you're a landscape painter.  So here's my long promised nude. Don't blame me, I'm a landscape painter. My self portrait can be found earlier in the blog -- mid-winterish.  I hope the secret Ancient Order of Painters’ Lodge is happy...

16x12" 40x30cm acrylic on hardboard

Above Hamlet Cove (revised)

As promised, the revised version. A little too literal for me, but oh well, enough is enough.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Above Hamlet Cove

I'm not sure about this one -- I usually paint in only two planes -- a foreground shape against a background more or less of light.  In this case we have the headlands in the middle distance that I'm not sold on yet.  I also have to think about the sky. I usually avoid blue skies as much as possible as they seem to darken a picture  instead of providing the light, so I may lighten up the sky a bit as well... Tomorrow.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Upper Shore Road At Dusk (revised)

Friday's painting revised, eliminating a lot of the blue shadows and revising the treeline as well a the sky a bit.  An improvement, but still not exactly what I was going for, but I don't believe I can get there from here...

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Upper Shore Road At Dusk

I wanted this painting to say "summer". Don't think I quite made it.

18x24" 45x60 cm acrylic on hardboard 

Over the Hill

Just a quick study playing around with the flat dark trees behind the hill.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Quiet Water

This morning's piece, improvised on an idea that came to me while staring at the blank board.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Sandy Road, Around Sunset

The moon and sunset sky in the oak tree behind my house was the inspiration for this painting -- the tree on the right is the oak tree, more or less. The rest of the scene is just made up.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Near Twilight, Above Weymouth

These days I paint just to try this or that out. In this case, I painted a fairly large painting with a much smaller brush that I normally use and I was working on painting the sky in some sort of interesting way. I don't think the brush size made much of a difference one way or the other and it is a hard painting to photograph and adjust to make the sky look like it is, but you get the general idea.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

The Denboro Road

Today's piece's claim to fame is that I used a much smaller brush than usual for me to paint. (8mm vs 12mm for yesterdays or 26mm for many of my more recent work)  I intended to paint something rather different, but I was having so much fun painting the sky that I had to change my plans and paint a scene that included a lot of sky.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Trees and Pond Study

I thought I'd do something a little different today. (There are about 745,003 different paintings like this, so different in the sense that I haven't been doing them...)This study is based on a scene along the bike trail I frequent these days. It is not the actual scene, I just have included the features of the scene. I'm not wildly crazy about how it came out: I think to do things like this justice, I would have to include a lot more detail than I care to bother with.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Misty Morning, Lansworth (rev)

Played around with yesterday's work, added my usual delivery van/milk truck and a couple of people -- no doubt the housewife ordering an extra pint of cream...

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Misty Morning, Lansworth

I was bored today, Independence Day is not celebrated locally, so I painted.  This ain't much of a painting, and may well not last, but it's the Day's Work.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

It Also Rains in Pangone

As I mentioned in the last posting, I was not too happy with the painting, so I painted this one over it. A little simpler in composition and I think a bit better.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

It Rains in Pangone Too

Not too crazy about this one -- too many colors without a plan...

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Havlet Hill, Lansworth

I guess I'll just keep painting pictures like these until a better idea comes along...

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Another Rainy Day in Lansworth

I had several ideas to paint from my bike trail route, but I decided that there are plenty of artists who paint those types of scense, better than I could, so instead I did what I do best: start painting something in the upper left hand corner and hope for the best... in this case, another rainy day in Landsworth.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

The Estate Wall

I had a couple of ideas that didn't seem to want to work today, so in the end, I improvised this piece -- a re-arrangement of familiar elements.

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Sunny Morning in Pangone

We're still in that most fictional hamlet of Pangone, amongst the hilly lanes and back allees.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

A Sunset in Pangone

I'll end the week's work with a return to the Allees of Pangone, and the warmer pallet I prefer.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Sun and Shade in Lansworth

Here's today's installment of our exploration of quiet Lansworth. This piece is a bit different than the others in that I knew what I wanted to do before I started it, indeed I had the idea yesterday...

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Summer Morning in Lansworth

I guess these summer street scenes are becoming a habit.

12x16" 30x40cm

Rain in Lansworth

A rainy day here too.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Upland Meadow

I probably mentioned it in an earlier posting, but my goal is to paint impressionist inspired abstract landscapes that do not look (at first glance) like abstracts. They are, however, meant to be abstracts and nothing but abstracts... as in this case.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Afternoon in the Gardens

Today's doodle in paint. This time I started with a clean board so nothing got painted over today.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Summer Street in Lansworth

This is painted over the last painting I posted, Moon Before Dawn.  I tried to put some figures in to liven the scene up a bit, but they did not seem to fit, so it is just the street and only the street.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Moon Before Dawn

This is today's doodle. Not much, but I was painting anyways.

12x16" 30x40 cm acrylic on hardboard

Marsh Meadow

Sometimes you wake up the next day and wonder what you've done -- painting wise. Such was the case with the previously posted picture, Morning Willows. I attempted to revise it, but nothing worked better than what I originally had.  So I had a panel to paint over, and this is the resulting painting.  We'll see what I think about it tomorrow.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Morning Willows

Inspired by my early morning bike ride today -- willows in the morning mist, though I  increased the contrast between the low sun lit mist and the line of trees.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard