Orchard and Pasture

During my morning walk I noticed that the white and red blossoms of a wild growing apple tree along the trail looked lavender in the light overcast light and so we have today's painting: a rather minimalist painting, cooler colored and with a lower tonal value than usual for me.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Market Garden, Early Onion Plot

As predicted, I started over. I probably should have gone with my first instinct and not bothered with a larger scene -- but oh well, I've painted worse...

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

New, Larger Market Garden Painting

I suspect that this will turn out a lot different than it is now.  It had better...

Market Garden, Spring Morning

I had originally intended to paint this on a larger 18x24" board but decided that I didn't have enough to say to use that much space, so this a 12x16" (30x40cm) piece. I like the way it turned out, so I may so the larger work after all...

Walled Garden and Crabapples in Bloom

Just painting -- the wall was added this afternoon it give the piece a little structure.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Crabapples in Bloom in the Park Across the Way

Very similar to the piece "Quiet Corner, Rainy Day" -- in part because I painted it with the same lack of an idea as to what I wanted to do.  In addition, since I'm right handed and paint at a desk, I tend to start in the upper left hand corner and work my way more or less towards the lower right hand corner so as to avoid dragging my cuff in wet paint as much as possible... Starting in the upper left I have a choice of trees (or something) or sky  and with trees I like dragging my brush to make the foliage rather than pushing it, so it makes sense to start with the trees on the left... It's all quite logical...

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

An Avenue in the Fog

I worked on this off an on today -- I knew what I wanted as far as the subject matter -- just could not quite get it to work the way I wanted. Oh well.

12x26" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Top of the Lane

Another improvised piece -- not quite sure about this one though -- a little to literal for me.


12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Quiet Corner, Rainy Day

It is rather hard to paint something if you don't know what to paint. And it is rather hard to know what to paint if you can't think about it for more than a minute or so before you're off on to something else.  Luckily I do like to put paint on the board and see how things turn out, and that is the way this piece was painted -- just by putting paint on the board and seeing where it was going and what I could make of it.

12x16" 30x40cm acrylic on hardboard

Blue Gate

Today's little effort.  This is a 8x12" piece of hardboard and is too tall for this type of painting -- take 2" off the height how you want.... (I just paint to the edges... don't blame me.)


8x12" 20x30cm acrylic on hardboard

Spring Morning, Moon Crescent

Well, this is today's version  of yesterday's painting.  I wanted to get more green in -- it is spring, after all -- and I used a bigger brush as well. 

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard

Spring Morning, Moon Crescent

This is neither different or better than what I've been doing for a while, but I've come to the conclusion that there is no revolution in store for me -- will just have to evolve things.  This is painted over the last two (Hornsport Rd) paintings. I'll probably stick to smaller works for a while to get up to speed again.

18x24" 45x60 cm acrylic on hardboard.

Spring Along the Hornsport Rd rev 2

Well, here's today's version of the painting.  This will be revised tomorrow...maybe.

Spring Along the Hornsport Rd

I can't quite figure out which is the cart and which is the horse.  Old age. I want to paint something different -- something better than I've done before, but I still haven't an idea as what that is.  So do I paint the old stuff and hope something else comes along or do I wait until it does?  Right now I'm splitting the difference: painting a little old stuff and hoping something better turns up. 

18x24" 45x60cm acrylic on hardboard.

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