Fall Branches II

Fall Branches II-12 x 18 watercolor and gouache unframed $150

Last one in this Fall series...12 x 18 on Canson 140lb paper.  

Fall Branches

Fall Branches-watercolor and gouache-unframed $125

Watercolor on Canson 140lb 12 x 18.  

Saplings near the Clearing

Here is another 12 x 18 watercolor and gouache on Canson 140 lb. paper.
I am on an autumn kick!  The colors are so breathtaking and so I looked back to 2009 and found another beautiful scene to work into a painting.

Saplings near the Clearing-watercolor and gouache- unframed $125

Last October

Last October-Transparent Watercolor- Unframed $150

This morning I started painting as I usually do each day (that is if I have the time) and drank my morning java with flavored cream and ice.  Three cups are usually my limit.

I have been messing around with acrylics and I am far from mastering that, but learning how to work with the medium. I started an 11 x 14 on canvas board of a large dahlia with a dark background.  It has a long way to go, so I will post when that one is completed if it is worthy of seeing.

And my watercolors are sometimes frustrating, but I continue to go back and try and work a full painting using transparent watercolor only.

Today, I did a scene that was from last October of a photo I took I believe in Libertyville, so of course, I call this one "Last October".  It is a transparent watercolor on Canson, 12 x 18, 140 lb. paper.  I used a variety of colors, which include: burnt alizrin, sepia, paynes gray, violet, indigo, hunter green, quinacridone gold, cadimuim and lemon yellow.  I usually mix my hunter with the indigo to get a darker green.  The violet, paynes gray and the indigo to get a dark deep color for depth.  And to give me my whites back, I scraped the surface of the tree trunks to brighten them.

Fall Scene IV-Acrylic and Gouache

I made an exciting discovery today!
A very good artist friend of mine intrigued me into trying some acrylic paints.  So, I went out and bought a limit color palette and started messing with them a few days ago.  After doing a few paintings, I just didn't feel they were right.  So on the third one, this one, I added some gouache paint and sealed it with a UV gloss protection so that it can be put into a frame without glass.

I call this one Fall Scene IV 2011.  It's 11 x 14 on a canvas board.  

Crossing-Gouache on Hot Press

Got a few good photographs from a plein air session a few weeks back and gave this scene a whirl.  I used hot press Arches paper and is about 6 x 9 in size.

What attracted me to this scene was the perspective of the distance you see beyond the bridge and the challenge of painting the crossing gate.

With each painting I try and challenge myself with something that I have not done before.  Sometimes that can be difficult if I have no reference material to use to work from.  I had hoped to get more subject matter that day, but found the colors to be somewhat simple instead of exciting.  The camera just can't capture some of the values and brilliance that life gives you when you paint, that's why I love plein air painting so much.

Crossing-$60 unframed-gouache 6 x 9

Fall Colors III-Watercolor and White Gouache

Fall Colors III-Unframed 12 x 18-$80

Fall in Illinois can be very unpredictable.  Some years we have lots of red others lots of yellow.  This year is the year for yellows.  But, with a little imagination, I can see those other colors coming out everywhere.  The greens are especially interesting mixed with the yellows.
Here is a watercolor and white gouache that I painted a few days ago.  I shot the original photo on the way home from a plein air session in Lake Bluff.  This was a group of trees in Libertyville, IL on St. Mary's road and Rt. 176.