Wiki paintings

http://www.wikipaintings.org

This is a great site! You first find the artist that you like, and you can choose to view all of his/her work chronologically. This is a great way to see the change and progress of an artist, sometimes over the whole career.

End of the month

Wow just realized today is the last day of February. I set the goal to attempt one painting a day, and I almost did that due to one sick day, but on some days I painted more than one. Today's painting is a failure, perfect way to end the month?

socre:
threw out: 5
kept: 30

I guess it's not too bad, plus I have learned a lot and had fun.


I did this one a couple days ago and I ran out day light so I wanted to come back for another session.

But I came back on a wrong day. The sun was too bright today, creating too much contrast and lines and complexity, and I got frustrated and didn't end up with a good painting.

I did find another nice spot on paint on this trail with beautiful back lit fern, so it's not all bad.

plein air and changing light

Unless I paint on a gray day or cloudless high noon, I have to deal with the changing light. Since the day time is shorter in the winter it changes faster as well. In this case I started around 3:30 after visiting friends, in 2 hours the view is bathed in orange with longer shadows. You can see how my colours are more towards the 3pm neutrals but with accents from the 5pm orange and the longer shadows. Since I started painting late, I had to embrace the changing light. If I wanted a more constant light I should be out painting before noon, but in this case I couldn't.

Shadows moving in - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

3pm light

5pm light

almost done

Melting snow

I made up for my sick day and did 2 paintings yesterday at Kits Beach. It was still chilly but the sun was very warm. It felt like spring, especially hearing the Black birds squabble in the back the whole afternoon.

I looked for an interesting design instead of a grand view. There are many grad views at Kits Beach and I intend to return to do more, but not yesterday.

The patterns of the light and shadows on the snow, grass and pavement caught my attention.

Design of the melting snow - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

Another angle from just up the road. Again not a grand view but a simple composition and it makes me feel cheerful.

Spring at Kits Beach - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

Frank Benson “Advice to Artists”

Came across this recording of Frank Benson's Advice to Artists.

I wish to find more wise words like these.

snowy days!

When I first started to paint, I lived in Toronto. It's winter there almost half a year, so there was always a snow scene to paint. Snow here in Vancouver is kind of a rarity, not to mention the continous snow we have been getting the last 2 days, and it is still snowing now.
Snow is kind of like fog, it reduces visibility, heightens the sense of depth, lowers the contrast, desaturates colours as well as softens the edges in the distance.
When I went out looking for a snow view to paint last 2 days, I looked for little sky, since it's all flat and boring; I looked for a vanishing point with clear definition of depth to take advantage of what the snow brought me.

Pale ale - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

The city beneath - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

I painted both of these in the car as it was snowing pretty hard, I didn't want them to hit the palette and melt. I have a suspicion the oil pigment I have mixes with the water, next time I will try a grade up, they just get so expensive so fast. Painting in the car is quite comfortable, though I had to roll down the windows a bit so the windshield wouldn't fog up. I also had to leave the power on to run the windshield wiper once in a while.

catching up

This is from 2 days ago.
Looking for a motif to paint in the dark is very different than during the day. Usually I am looking for silhouettes, and big shapes that give me distinct colour variations. I drove by this little creek next to the airport. Cypress sky resort had its bright lights shining into the cloudy sky and the creek reflected it.

Cypress lights up the sky - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

Yesterday we went to Deep cove. It's my second time there and still so captivated by its beauty. Almost anywhere I looked I could paint it. This view is facing north east, so I had the sun on my back shining on my painting and palette. It's the first time I tried not painting in the shade. I have always wondered about how that wouldn't make you paint the painting too dark since ultimately the painting will be viewed indoors, but I have read about people painting like this with success including Marc Hanson. I did put on my sunglasses so I wouldn't be blinded by the bright canvas the whole time.

The painting process was fine, smooth, and whenever i took off the sunglasses to check for real colours they always seemed right, but when I brought it home it does look darker than how I intended, and it actually looks bluer too. As I said I checked periodically without my sunglasses so I don't think it was them, I believe it was the sun. I still want to try painting with the sun on my back again and see if I get the same result, because it really frees up where I can setup without having to look for shade.

Deep Cove calm - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

My cellphone pictures doesn't do it justice at all... The sailboat in the picture is anchored, but it kept spinning. I wanted to paint it facing right but I had to wait for it to spin to that direction on about a 5-10 minute cycle.

 

It's hard to just do one painting at a place this beautiful, so I found another motif to paint (5 meters away looking east.) In order to paint this I had to check the tide to make sure it's going out not coming in because I was standing below the tide line, glad it was going out.

Playground for all - oil on panel - 9" x 12"