Wednesday, September 23, 2009

ARTIST ROW SUMMARY

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who stopped by my booth at Artist Row this past Sunday - it was a beautiful fall day, with a nice-sized crowd...a great way to spend a day! And a special thanks to those who bought paintings - I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed painting them.

My work was chosen for the "Outstanding Achievement in Painting" award. I consider this quite an honor, as there were many terrific painters at the show this year.

I'm looking forward to participating again next year, and I hope to see some of you then! In the meantime, check back for updates on upcoming shows...

Chris

Saturday, September 19, 2009

ARTIST ROW TOMORROW! (SEP 20)

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be participating in the 5th annual Artist Row show at the Rochester Public market tomorrow (Sunday, September 20). I'll be located in shed A, booth 75 which is just past the bend. I will have approximately 40 framed paintings on display (for sale), along with some unframed "bargain bin" works and notecards. The weather looks great, so stop by if you get the chance! The show runs from 10 am to 4 pm. The public market is located on North Union Street, just north of downtown.

This will be the 3rd year I've participated. It's a nice, small show with a mixture of fine arts and crafts. There is food (try the pierogies at "Cherry's European") and entertainment, and there is no admission charge.

Hope to see you there!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Mango y Mango

Returning to the still-life theme...here is a painting of a couple of mangos, which are one of my favorite fruits - both to look at and to eat! They have amazing coloration, often with vivid reds and greens side by side and interspersed. Plus more subtle yellows and ochres. This is an oil painting, 5x7 oil on canvas. It is painted very thinly, more of a stain than a paint layer. In the future I'd like to paint these with thicker paint...well, not these because they've already been eaten (and were very good). I like the way the mangos turned out, but am not sure about my choice for the fabric and background colors...may have made those a bit too warm. Any thoughts about that?I also tried a painting of a cut mango with the slice next to it, but am not happy with the way that one turned out. I will be trying that again.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Studies of Green, Part 2

Some additional studies of green from earlier this year...these were all painted within a week or two of each other, I don't remember when...probably May or June. The first one is 6x8 oil on canvas panel, painted in the morning looking toward the east - so it is partially back-lit. When I brought this one indoors I found that it was a much darker, duller painting than I expected. I didn't get the relationship right between the tree masses and the foreground vegetation. The latter was very strongly illuminated by the sun, the edges glowed...that's an effect that I have not yet mastered.

This second one is 10x8, again oil on canvas board. Here I was looking toward the west around or a little after midday - so the sun is high and to the left. I got closer to the effect I wanted here, but by the time I got around to painting the tree trunks, the sun had moved enough so that they were all in shade

The final painting is a scene looking southwest late in the afternoon...so the sun is lower and to the right, with other trees casting shadows onto some of these trees. I really liked the one shadow across the lower half of the middle tree, and think that effect turned out OK. Not so happy with the foreground. 6x8 oil on canvas panel.

Planning to spend a lot more time doing these kinds of studies next spring and summer. In one of Kevin MacPhersons books, he talked about doing a painting every day of a pond on his property. Basically the same scene, so the problem becomes how to make each painting different and interesting. I don't have a pond on my property, but I've got plenty of trees!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Studies of Green, Part 1

During some painting sessions this spring, I found myself having trouble with all the greens in the landscape. A couple of painting attempts turned out to be disasters...scenes that were not only all green, but very complicated - lots of trees, shrubs, grasses, etc. I realized that I needed to scale back and try something simpler. A clump of hosta in shade caught my eye...I liked the relatively simple composition of the dark foliage against the brighter sunlit grass behind. And it was all green...a chance to practice with a simpler scene. So I painted this little 5x7 oil on canvas board.










Thought it was looking pretty good outside, but when I brought it in I realized there was not enough contrast in the painting. This is something I often have trouble with, especially when I'm not painting a lot outdoors. It's easy to forget that even in shade outside (I was under a tree when painting the above), the overall light is much brighter than most indoor light. This causes one to paint too dark, and it only becomes evident when the painting is brought indoors.

So I tried again on another sunny day...trying to push the contrasts. I think the result more accurately conveys the high contrast of the scene. I had intended to do this scene again on a cloudy day, but never got around to it. Next year!