Summer Colors

 Beginning of Summer in upstate New York.

Backroads Inspiration

      This birthday design was inspire by cruising around the backroads,

      on these lovely June afternoons.
 

My Summer Garden

Balancing the dynamic mountain view & the ephemeral quality of light.

summer garden at dawn

summer garden at dusk

Magical Summer Evenings

Two versions of summer evenings. As much as I enjoy experimenting on photoshop, 

nothing beats working with real paints & paper.

Meditation on the Process of a Sketch

Another morning of trying to capture the light & atmosphere outside my window. Oil turpentine on watercolor paper is perfect for a rapid study. Limiting my palette to just a few colors is always good discipline.

Laying down soft white & pink pastel on blue sky is all I need to convey the tonal feeling of mist softening the morning light. The texture from the watercolor paper makes all the difference. 

a little purple to define the foreground 

Painting in My Garden

Grass is always greener on the other side. Which is a big reason I don't paint my own garden that much. But sometimes, it's so pretty...I'm compel to get my paints out.

The trick to painting a perfect garden is to combine different parts to reinvent the perfect composition!

PLEIN AIR WITH PASTEL

Always searching for ways to express my reaction to nature's beauty. The best part of plein air painting is that I don't get caught up in details. 

I like to use pastel to express a misty morning. I love the spontaneity of the medium. Pastel tends to evoke rather than inform.

I was not far from home, so I can easily clean up. I'm at a stage where I cant decide if I just want to play with pretty colors or experiment with some color combo to express the mood of a foggy morning...

with the fog burning off, it's a different scene!

MEADOW WEEDS, EN PLEIN AIR

Ten thousand pictures come & go every day. Just dont have the time to paint every picturesque corner of Delaware County. It's always a treat to be able to set up my easel to start something. This is an easy scene, since Summer is all about greens.

an excuse to play with pretty greens

mostly strokes, that's how grass grows

I usually rely on my memory to finish the painting in my studio

finish!

PAINTING SUMMER FOG

Another morning of trying to captue the light & atmosphere. I use clear blue & soft purple hues to convey the tonal feeling of how the fog softens the whole landscape.

A LITTLE TUBE OF INSPIRATION

Inspiration shows up in many forms. Came home with this new Cadmium Orange. Art supply is better than toys. We want to play with it, even when there are ten projects going on.

Planting the rich orange Dahlia against the greens & blues was just an experiment. Mother nature does not always cooperate. But when the color scheme comes together... it's a very good thing!