on the easel

2) This next mock up is a little further on. I have darkened some of the lighter areas and placed in the basic shape of the trees that will be in the foreground. The bright colors that you see will be the top highlights just skimmed on with the knife over the various shades of green. The valley won't be that bright it will have highlights in that bright Raw Sienna though. I have also decided to use oil paints instead of acrylics. I just feel more comfortable doing a landscape in oils. I will be mixing the oil paint with a quick drying impasto medium. I will post when I have made more progress.
1) This is the mock up that I am working on now. It's a 30"x40" canvas. The finished product will be a view of one of the many of Huntsville Valley from Monte Sano Mountain.It will all be done in thick impasto knife work. At this stage I am looking to find the colors that I want to use and the overall proportions.

The Flowers

As suggested, I painted some more little flowers to go with this double petaled daisy.
Here is a daisy on a blue background.
And, here is a pink cone flower with a praying Mantis.

Double Petaled Daisy

This little painting came about yesterday as a result of the need for my hands to find something to do. It's just a little thing really at 8"x8"x1 1/2" gallery wrap. I tried to pack a lot of punch in this painting with colors that like to show each other up. Fiery red and yellow petals pop against the yellow green of the background. Do you like it? Should I paint some more little flowers to go with each other?

Exuberance

This painting had been formulating in the back of my mind for a couple of weeks . I had the design worked out and the colors came together today, now all that was missing was the music. My friend came by and supplied that in the form of African music. As the music played I got a kinda shakey feeling in my hands that was soon steadied when I picked up my knife and made my first diagonal slash of color across the canvas. Wow, what came was a sense of exuberance! I look at this painting and see the colors raining down on someone , happy and overcome with joy. I was also describing to my friend that sense of "all is right, all is under control" feeling you get when you close your eyes and lift your chin and let your cheek feel the warmth of the sunshine's caress. that too is a part of this painting. So imagine someone doing just that, lifting their upturned face to the sun then breaking out in a happy dance drenched in a shower of colors. That's Exuberance!

Cityscape

Here is the completed painting I have been working on this week called, "Cityscape". It's an abstract impression of a city street with moving cars on the roadway showing up as white headlight and red tail lights streaming up and down the avenue. Busy night in this city! The structure of the city buildings reminds me of building blocks I used to play with as a child. Because of that I was going to call it, "City Blocks". Since I had referred to this piece in the construction phase as "Cityscape" I decided to stay with that. To view it up close you would see all the texture and natural reflections from those textures made with the knife. Those sort of things just don't show up in the photograph. It's a painting you really have to see in person to get the full impact.

On the Easel

Here is the skeleton or underpainting to the next painting , "Cityscape". I haven't done the knife work yet, this is still in the construction phase. I've decided to go with the time released car lights on the road going through the city. So on the right will be the tail lights (red) and on the left will be the head lights (white). I will mix a heavy medium with different colored paints and begin adding texture and more colors to the buildings.
Should be done by tomorrow.






I've been real busy and traveling some too and have not had the time to paint these last couple of weeks. I do have one on the easel though, ready to paint. It's in the evolving state right now. The underpainting is being done. It's a 48"x36"x 1 1/2 in gallery wrap. I have been "romancing" this canvas all week as I try to settle back into a routine. It has evolved from a fall colored knife work to what it is now becoming, a night time cityscape. I will of course be doing a lot of the work with knives and some in brush work. I think I will paint the night time sky a deep purple with a real bright half moon shedding light on the city below. Still deciding if I want a reflective river running through the city or a road with time released car lights, thereby making that same water space a road instead.
Any suggestions?
I should be done with it this weekend and will post then.