Kayak

A kayak moving down the river in the spring is a cool refreshing picture.  This was painted on a 16X20 stretched canvas using acrylics.  As I become more experienced with acrylic painting there is a luminosity I can see.  It is rare to get this much punch with watercolor.

I did have a disaster with plein air painting of a farm scene.  It was very warm day with a strong breeze.  My acrylics quickly dried despite spraying with water and using a wet palate.  I am not giving up on them quite yet, and will try using a retardant when doing plein air since it gets so warm around here.

Fast Food

This acrylic painting was done from a photo of a painting of a half eaten hamburger.  My attempt to paint an abstract left me wondering what would work.  My approach to painting is to sketch a scene and play with modifications of the sketch before painting it.  While looking at my recently completed painting of a hamburger and coke, I took a picture with my cell phone but while snapping the shutter, I moved the camera quickly across the subject.  The hamburger had onion, lettuce and tomato and was on a white napkin.  The photo came out as a long blur of color, just what I wanted.  The drops showed the effect of gravity.  Pretty slick, huh?

Morning Light

This harbor in HarwichPort is one of the most photographed places on Cape Cod.  This venue is a popular wedding spot.  I do a lot of my clamming out here in the early morning.  The light is spectacular on the Cape but especially in the early morning.  The water is still and there are long cast reflections.  I painted this with acrylic paint on an 18X24 canvas.

Great Pizza

My favorite pizza comes from George's.  It is located on Main St, HarwichPort.  I tried painting several things on this 8X11 canvas board and each time jessoed over the painting.  I did not sand down the bumps that came from pallet knife applications of paint.  I gave up on my early paintings and painted this scene from memory and previous paintings.  My ventures into acrylic are becoming less frustrating and this is an advantage; you can use the same canvas over and over.  I think this has a total of 4 paintings.

The Marsh

My focus has continued on acrylic painting and this was an assignment from my teacher.  It is a modification of a black and white photo.  I still have reservations about the blending and color in my acrylic attempts.  Being so used to watercolor and its qualities, I find acrylic more difficult.  There is no bleeding and the paint dries so quickly, that color mixing is critical.  Anyway, it has been fun and I will continue with this new challenge.

Rocks

I ventured from my favorite watercolor painting to trying some acrylics.  It is a big adjustment for me but because they dry so fast, there is a way to complete the painting in one sitting.  This is a large painting (20X16) but I thought that I would leave it at stages and work on it as I saw fit.  This is not something that I do with watercolor.

One Tree Hill

Painted yesterday at the Rominger farm in Winters, CA.  We were taken to a hill that overlooked the entire world.  It was spectacular.  The hills were like huge moguls and were green from the the recent rain.  One can look across the vista to the city of Sacramento (just behind the tree on the hill).  It was a bird's eye view.  I had an urge to ride a motorcycle across all of these wonderful cushy hills similar to skiing down a mountain.