Nutcracker Still Life

We still have our holiday decorations up and before we start taking them down soon, I wanted to try and paint a still life from one of the displays.

My wife likes to collect nutcrackers and we have them interspersed throughout the house.
I particularly liked this grouping and the low lighting, with the shadows and reflected light on the wall behind. The only lighting comes from some minimal ambient light but mostly from the lights strung around the top of the cabinet they are standing on.

I was feeling a bit ambitious around midnight when I started this one and worked on it for about an hour or two while the house was silent. I rigged up a small light over my easel to get things going.

After getting the kids off to school this morning, I waited until the sun was on the west side of the house and opened the curtains to give me a little extra light to work from without the overhead.

Finally, I had it about where I wanted it and took it into the studio where I resolved some edges and other little details around the focal point.

"If Ever There Were A Rag Tag Bunch"
9"x12" oil on linen panel

Below is little bit of it in progress and a shot of my view with my little cigar box easel.

Can't Do Without It

Sitting here in the studio having my hot tea, got Widespread Panic in my ear, and was just noticing my dirty ol' backpack sitting on the floor. Dutifully awaiting it's next assignment, whether it's packed to the gills with painting supplies or cheese, crackers, and beer...or extra clothes for the kids...or, Well, you get the idea.

I have other packs, but this one seems to be the go to guy. Has yet to fumble after over 11 years of service.

Yes, see, this pack has special significance to me because I purchased it at Wild Iris Mountain Sports in Lander, WY. during my time living there in 2002-03. If you are a friend of mine or know me at all, I have a love affair with that town.

I needed a pack smaller than my full on backpacking pack to use on day hikes up in Sinks Canyon and around Lander to carry my watercolors and other supplies. At the time I was just a budding artist, if that, and getting out in the great outdoors of the American west, particularly Wyoming, had been a dream of mine for a long time. So, maybe you can imagine why that period sticks with me so.

Today, I use this pack for all of my plein air outings and now it sees more oil paint than anything else, which is beginning to leave an archive of color marks all over it. It also serves as my grocery bag when I ride my bike to the store. Dang, it's almost to me like the little blue blanket is to Linus from the Peanut comics.

So, when I think of what is probably the most necessary piece of equipment I use, my paints, or brushes, or solvents, or canvas, or even my easel may seem to be it. But, without this pack to get those things out of the studio and into the outdoors where I love to paint, then it sure would be a cumbersome attempt at doing anything but painting in the studio.

New Years Day

Today is New Years day 2014 and I decided to kick this year off right, with a painting.

I drove out to Carpenters Lake in eastern Daviess Co, KY and found this spot by the boat ramp. I liked the sycamore hanging out over the water, so I positioned my easel on the dock and went to work. I also liked all the muted color, which forced me to work on my greys. All mixed from my three primaries. I have no black on my palette.

I spent about an hour and a half before the light and sky started changing too much to keep going there. I packed up and came back to my studio here at the house and finished it up.

"Carpenters Lake"
8"x10" oil on linen panel

Updated, 4Jan2014
I wasn't happy with the first go. So I made some slight changes. I did away with the reflection of the tree trunk and made a small spit of land to give the tree an anchor and some context.

Below is what I finished on the day at the lake.

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