Old Road in the Woods

Spent the other day at my boyhood home visiting my mom. While my two kids kept her busy, I went out and did a little painting.

It was a bright, clear morning and I was not sure what I wanted to attempt with such harsh lighting and ended up on the old roadbed that marks the southern boundary to the property.

I always knew this old roadbed, played around it for many, many years. But never knew the name of it or any history. So, I just did a quick search for old roads in Warrick Co, IN. and found a 1910 Rural Delivery Map that shows this road and from the best I can tell it was called Robinson Rd. There is a dwelling shown on the map, which approximates a spot I found as a kid playing in the woods of place where a home likely was. A further search of a map from 1936 shows the road no longer there. So, sometime between these dates I would have to assume the road was abandoned.

So, I set up and painted this spot with the old persimmon tree and another dead one with it's debarked limbs all akimbo and hanging down to the ground. 

9"x12" oil on linen panel

 

Painting in the Snow

Over the weekend our area received a nice early winter present and I was finally able to get out today and do a little painting at one of our local parks.

This morning began with a nice dusting of about an inch of snow over what we already had, but the skies were supposed to clear and be sunny the rest of the day. I wanted to get out before any of it started melting, which it has done quite a bit as of now.

I went to Yellow Creek Park on the east side of Owensboro, KY. They had the access road back to the trail head closed, so I parked and walked in the extra 1/2 mile or so to where the trail begins at an old iron bridge. I took some photos there, but wasn't feeling anything, so I went on down the trail. Snapping photos along the way I finally came to a spot I've sketched in watercolor before (and not to happy with the result) and decided to set up and paint it.

The trail here is elevated a little above the bottom land that is right near the creek and winds through some tall trees and over a little bridge before climbing a slight rise and disappearing over a hill. This spot also has ivy growing over everything and up the trunks of the trees.

Below are the photos of my efforts to capture the scene.

 A snowflake that was blown from the tree tops and landed on my canvas

I will need to work on it a bit in the studio and then I will post up the finished work.



 OK, after a little tune up in the studio, here's what I have.

"Snowy Path In The Woods"
9"x12" oil on linen panel

Buffalo Fest Plein Air Paintout

The Owensboro Museum of Fine Art held a plein air paint out in conjunction with it's Buffalo Festival this past weekend.

It turned out to be a drab, wet weekend, but I managed to get three paintings completed and turned in.
I wasn't as successful this time, but had a great time and the museum puts on a very good event.

The first day I painted at a lovely farm in eastern Daviess Co.

"Beech Tree Hill"
10"x8" oil on linen panel

That afternoon the clouds had been building up and sprinkled some rain. I kept painting and eventually the sky and sun peaked out of the clouds a little.

"Here Comes the Sun"
12"x24" oil on linen panel SOLD

The next day I waited for the rain to let up then headed downtown to try and find someplace I may be able to hide out of the rain and paint.

I decided to tackle this composition of buildings and construction equipment.

"Under Construction"
16"x12" oil on linen panel

Ohio Valley River Plein Air Paintout

Two weekends ago, the Ohio Valley Art League held a paint out in Henderson, KY. I participated and had a great time creating three pieces of work.

I won what could be called 2nd place, the Best River Scene. Best of Show went to someone else. I was very pleased to have won anything at all.

This is the award winning painting.

"Commerce Crossings"
12"x16" oil on linen panel

The second painting I did was of an abandoned railroad depot.

"No Stops Here Anymore"
12"x16" oil on panel

The third painting was of a fountain in a park downtown.

"Fountain"
14"x11" oil on panel

Plein Air at the Orchard

Went out to Reid's Orchard today and scoped out this scene to paint today.

Here are some progression shots and then the final image.

The scene I painted

Underpainting in burnt sienna and ultramarine

Getting some color blocked in.

Where is this thing going? I was starting to worry about this point...what had I gotten myself into?

I stopped at this point, about two hours, and will finish it in the studio.

And this is what I came up with.

"Down by the Pond"
11"x14"
Plein Air Oil on hand prepared smooth panel

Sky Study

Just felt like trying to come up with an interesting sky. I had a reference photo, but mostly just made up everything.
Trying to get the luminosity in the clouds...maybe better if  I built it up in glazes vs. a straight forward alla prima.

"Sky Study"
5"x7" oil on canvas panel

Painting at Reid's Orchard

Well, nothing says autumn much better than pumpkins and today there was ample opportunity to paint them out at Reid's Orchard.

I set up right at the store that was surrounded by all kinds of great, colorful subjects. But, it was also busy with people, particularly school children on field trips. So, I was adding some ambiance to their experience.

Completed this about 90% on site and fiddled a little with it at the studio.

"Punkins"
9"x12" oil on canvas panel

Owensboro Art Guild Member Show

The Owensboro Art Guild, of which I'm a member, had it's member show at the Ralph Center on the campus of Kentucky Wesleyan College this past Thursday evening.

The theme of the show was portraits, figures, or the figure in the landscape. There were many wonderful entries from paintings in oil, watercolor, pastel, acrylic, and gouche. Drawings in pencil and charcoal. Pottery, metal, and other sculptural pieces. It's really a great show of work from our members.

We all voted for our top three pieces (no votes for our own work) and the votes were tallied and amazingly my piece, a watercolor, "Into the Sink" was awarded 1st place. It was kind of a shock to me, from seeing all the wonderful work there. So, I am humbly thankful to my fellow members for their votes.

Below is the painting that won.

"Into the Sink"
14"x11" watercolor

This is a scene of the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River as it plunges under the base of this canyon wall and disappears. The spot is called "The Sinks" and is located in Sinks Canyon State Park, outside of Lander, WY.

Painting at the River

These are from a few days ago. Rode my bike down to the riverfront one morning to try and beat the heat and get in some painting.

I always like the view looking up river to the bridge from English Park, so I did that one first. Then I rode downtown and was intrigued by the shadows and morning sun illuminating the canvas covering draped over the bridge while crews are repainting it.

 If you are interested in owning an original painting, please contact me. Sold work will be marked.
Email: derrt33@yahoo.com
phone: 812-306-1699

"Morning From English Park"
7"x10" watercolor

"Shrouded Bridge"
7"x10" watercolor

Velo Plein Air

Today I spent 6 hours out on my bicycle doing some plein air watercolors. Every image is from spots I chose along the Adkisson Greenbelt Trail around Owensboro, KY.


If you are interested in owning an original painting, please contact me. Sold work will be marked.
Email: derrt33@yahoo.com
phone: 812-306-1699

All of these were done in less than an hour each.

"Swamp Oak"
5"x7" watercolor on 140lb. paper

"Blackberry Pond"
5"x7" watercolor on 140lb. paper

"Walking the Dog"
5"x7" watercolor on 140lb. paper

"One More Development"
5"x7" watercolor on 140lb. paper

A Sunset

I wasn't quite ready to go to bed last night, so I whipped out this quick little sunset painting.

The reference came from a photo i had shot while down at Barkley Lake.

If you are interested in owning an original painting, please contact me. Sold work will be marked.
Email: derrt33@yahoo.com
phone: 812-306-1699

"Prizer Point Sunset"
5"x7" oil on canvas panel

Old Ford Truck

Just across the Tradewater River that marks the boundary into Crittenden Co, KY. ,on Hwy. 132, sets an old 1949 Ford 1 ton truck. I pass it every time I drive down to my in-laws and keep telling myself I'm going to paint it. Well, I finally did. Working from a photo in the studio.

If you are interested in owning an original painting, please contact me. Sold work will be marked.
Email: derrt33@yahoo.com
phone: 812-306-1699

I started on a blank 9"x12" canvas and sketched it in directly with a view of the truck pulled up on my computer screen.

From there I just started building up the rusty color and texture on the truck.

And farther along

And the finished piece:
"Fishtrap Ford"
9"x12" oil on canvas panel

Abandoned Farm

So, I had a painting that I wasn't too happy with from a while back and decided to paint over it, as I needed a canvas at the time and didn't have a blank one.

If you are interested in owning an original painting, please contact me. Sold work will be marked.
Email: derrt33@yahoo.com
phone: 812-306-1699

There was an abandoned farm that I passed the other day and shot a quick photo. This one was done in the studio.

"Abandoned Farm"
11"x14" oil on canvas panel