Light & Atmosphere with Oil

This foggy morning painting happened pretty fast, 

mainly because I have similar colors on my palette, from yesterday.

The last part is always the most fun. I get to use my intuition to finish up the landscape. By not copying exactly what I'm painting, I get to push myself to see new colors & new light effects.

SUMMER VIEW

There's a kind of hazy beauty in the air …love these breezy summer mornings!

CLOUDSCAPE

Cloud is just a region of space that's cooler than the regions around it, so that water vapor entering it condenses from the cold, then evaporates again as it drifts back out.

SUMMER COLORS

Sweeping horizon from my window…taking in the untainted air, unadorned view of my mountain.

ASPARAGUS SEASON

It's alot of time & work, but I get so much inspiration from my garden. From garden to table…I get to use my asparagus for floral arrangements, still life sketch & lunch, of course.

asparagus & egg fried rice

FLEETING LIGHT

Another blustery weekend, fleeting morning sunrise over the valley.

HEAVY CLOUDS

Another wet country weekend, the sky still looks very stormy. Good time to play with pastel & oil turpentine. I lay down the page with pastel, rub it in with tinted turpentine. More back & forth with pastel pigments & turpentine wash. A touch of zinc white in oil for highlight. This is my favorite way to paint clouds.

KITCHEN PANEL

Not from my sketchbook, but I consider this kitchen panel as a sketch, cause it really did not take that much time to decorate these panels.

SUMMER GREEN

Leaves are turning fast from the cool evenings. This might be the last time I can use my green paints. This Provence Lavender was added on when I was back in my studio. Which seems to contrast pretty good with the warm greens. This watercolor technique I use with my oils, works nicely on this texture paper. The wet medium sinks into the texture of the paper, which gives an impressionistic effect. I love happy accidents.

SUMMER EVENING

The wind off the pond, cool & crisp, charms the night. Perfect sleeping weather.

SUMMER LIGHTS

This sketch started out at sunset. I dont usually sit down with paints till I can abstract a scene. It got dark, & the delightful fire flies came out with the sky full of stars. I layered on  some pastel to break up the dark shape. The last stage of using my imagination is usually the most fun. I've always prefer to study sketches for the more unfinished look, more exciting for the viewer??

NORTH VIEW

With our milder days, looks like spring is here to stay. Lots of new colors whenever I come home for the weekend. With all the explosion of dots of delicate colors, it's easy to create impressionistic touches in my sketches.

SOLITUDE

Weekends at artist retreat are way too brief. Feels like a real luxury to have the time to look out my window. The clouds were particularly interesting today. Solitude definately  brings out my painter's eye.

MAGICAL

It does not happen that often, full moon shining over snowy landscape. Reason enough to play with my various blue pigments. Finding the right color relationship can translate into a magical tonal landscape painting.