Bouguereau "Little Brother"

In March 2011 I spent about a week in the Missouri Ozarks studying under Portrait Artist Karen Murphy.  I wanted to learn how to capture the look and feel of some of the "Masters" works as well as learning portraits and fabric.  This is obviously not an original painting but an opportunity for me to expand my approach and painting skills.  The Bouguereau painting provided not only one, but two faces to deal with along with the deep shadows, muted tones and fabric folds!   Here is the unfinished painting.  I will be completing it in the future and will post the finished painting.  (Kudos to Karen Murphy and the staff at Dorothy Dent's Studio!)

Study of Bouguereau's "Little Brother" (Work in Progress)

Foamy Shores Revised

After looking at Foamy Shores and the low hanging cloud, I couldn't stand it anymore and got out the sandpaper.  I sanded off the big clouds that looked like a giant cotton balls hovering over the ocean and repainted the sky with more subtle clouds higher in the sky to provide a better perspective.  This exercise also helped to confirm that pigment hues really do vary depending on the manufacturer!!

Foamy Shores BEFORE

Foamy Shores AFTER

I'm much happier with the AFTER version.  The clouds in the first edition were actually done practicing a new technique-Needless to say that technique didn't work for me.....

Waves and a Plane

Here is a seascape painting that I recently finished.  For now I call it "Waves and a Plane" (Until I think of something better).  Once again I tried to capture the depth of the water near the shore with the shadows of the foam.  The plane was inspired by the beaches of Florida.

Waves and a Plane (2011)

Doty Park Late Afternoon in September

Doty Park Late Afternoon in September (18x24) 2011

This is my second painting of Doty Park in Neenah, Wisconsin.  There are actually two stone foot bridges.  Each of my paintings features a different bridge.  I took a photograph last Setptember in the late afternoon.  There were alot of shadows and shade, but the sun reflected brightly on the bridge.  I used several new techniques with this painting also that seemed to capture the look and "feel" I was trying for.

Bonfire

Bonfire (18 x 24) 2011

Bonfire used some of the same flame techniques as the painting "Campfire".  However, with this one I used some glazing on the orange/red flames to give them some sparkle and depth.  I wanted to get the feel of dark woods contrasted by bright flames.

Campfire

Campfire (11 x 14) 2011

Campfire above actually started out as a small study for the "Bonfire" painting.  I had never painted flames and wanted to practice.  The paint has been thinned with OMS and blended well.  The background has no detail, but like the flames has been blended by using a brush with OMS.

First Paintings for 2011

I've been working on several paintings since last year. I thought I would try to do 2-4 paintings at a time instead of focusing on just one. So over the past 5-6 months I've started and completed the paintings that will be included in individual entries  In fact, I'm actually in the stages of three more paintings right now.  So in the next few months, expect to see more. 

The newest paintings are shown above (as I don't know how to change the order of posts!!).