Quarry Rock Hike

Woodland Falls

16 x 16" acrylic

Yesterday I hiked to Quarry Rock in Deep Cove with a group of friends. There was a lot of uphill climbing involved, but we came out to one of the most spectacular vistas that I have ever seen in the city. The photo for this little painting was taken on the hike.

I'm trying some new approaches to brushwork lately. Have taken several of my old brushes and mutilated them with an exacto knife. They make very cool marks for texture and foliage. I like the looser look.

Hold your Horses

  "Coming Home"

24 x 30" acrylic

I'm back to acrylics for this painting. I considered painting oils over the acrylics to finish it but it didn't seem necessary. There were lots of layers and  I love the fast drying of the acrylics for those kinds of techniques. I found painting the horses challenging- partly because the drawing has to be so accurate  and also because the horses were mostly in shadow, which made for very subtle value changes.

Tweaking

Its amazing what shows up when you photograph your painting. I thought this one was done when I did the top photo. A few things jumped right out when I looked at the photo- the shadows from the middle group of trees were way too symmetrical, and the shadows in the right foreground were too black. Ten minutes spent and the painting looks quite a bit better.

"The Path Beckons"  24 x 30" oil

Long Beach sky

 

Here's one of my recent paintings that came from my trip to Tofino a few weeks ago. I worked really hard on the sky and then painted the sand part very quickly.  The sun came out for a window of about 3 minutes and then all the light was gone. Timing is everything when it comes to good reference photos.