Painting

Greetings from the river village of Ripley, Ohio! There’s no rain, but today’s forecast is cloudy. Still lots of pretty scenes to choose from. Stay tuned!

Today I’m in Augusta, ky. A little river village very close to my heart. It’s been difficult picking a spot to paint, but I decided on this scene on 4th street.

I’m interested in the porch with rocking chair, flowering trees, hill in the distance while looking into the morning light.

There’s a lot here, and I’ll have to use my artist eye to edit the scene and put it all together into a painting. This will serve as a great example of how painting from life lets you do things a photo can’t

It’s nice to see friends again…especially other artists. what a treat to get a nice photo of ME while at work on a painting?!!!!

Click above to see close up photo with more deatails- and more information about the painting!
Thanks for watching!

you all will not believe what popped up in my garden today?!?! irises!!!! They are early for Northern Kentucky!They are in a funny spot, and it’s impossible to get a good photo with the distracting background. This session will be an example of how a painting filters and interprets a scene through the artist’s eye in a way the camera cannot.

I’m painting Plein air LIVE. Keep watching this post for updates as the work is in progress!

the original painting has sold, but you can order archival reproductions on cotton rag by clicking above.

thank you

An old warehouse in Maysville, Ky was recently demolished, giving us a new view of downtown.

October 31st weather was sunny and cool, so I loaded my paints in my car, to try to capture the view. 

It is a big, wide view, and I wanted to capture it all!  I used 2 9×12 panels to create a diptych of the panoramic view. 

The closer we get to the winter months, we don’t have nearly as much light in the sky, so I had to race against the setting sun to capture the view.  I am inspired by the impressionist tradition of painting directly from life, without the aid of photography.  It forces me to use loose brush strokes to capture the essence of the moment. 

Another one of my favorite things about working from life, is being outdoors, and a visible part of my community. It can get lonely when I spend a lot of time alone in my studio. My friend, the photographer, Lorraine Marcella stopped by to chat while I worked, and I had her take this snapshot with my camera to document the painting.

This view is so new and interesting, I could paint at least 10 more paintings from this spot. Hopefully, they don’t start building soon.

The church steeple on the right was just a little too big, so when I got back to the studio, I fixed it!

I thought I’d take a short drive south to a view of the licking river from a bridge.

I made a underpainting, studying the values of the scene

I was so concentrated on the painting, i forgot to take photos of any other steps. This was a challenge, because it was an overcast day, so the light was diffused.

the finished painting!!!

Going to try something different today…I’m WALKING to a location to paint. Since I’m carrying all the video and painting gear, it’s forced me to get down to basics. Will try to live stream, provided I didn’t forget my cellphone or brushes.

Going to try something different today…I’m WALKING to a location to paint. Since I’m carrying all the video and painting gear, it’s forced me to get down to basics. I really want to paint this goldenrod (kentucky’s state flower) and ironweed…but not sure how close I want to get to the ticks?!

the finished painting!