WINTER MARSH V

 

I began working on this painting of the evening marsh some years ago. My sketchbook has a few studies that I did of the subject but nothing much came of them. This is often the case and a idea can remain in my mind for quite some time until finally becoming reality - in this case expressed in a painting. I spent a bit more time on this one especially working on the grass as I wanted to capture the receding marsh grasses and textures, also on the water which leads the eye into the mid-distance and then on to the distant water. I'm relieved that this one came to fruition and hopefully this will lead to a greater range of evening paintings. Size is 10 x 8 inches (25x20cm), oil on canvas.

MARSH EVENING STUDY

 

In this study, I have returned to the nearby marsh but am now looking across the expanse of grasses to a distant treeline. This angle is much lower down and no water is visible although it is there hidden by the taller marsh grasses and cattails. The setting sun has finally broken through the heavy clouds creating a starburst pattern and illuminating a central pathway over the marsh - a rare effect but one that I was hoping for. A little later on, this was even more extreme and I may try to capture how that looked too. I have done a few small studies of the marsh from this side but this one is so far the closest to what I had hoped to capture. All there so far seem to be somewhat of an experiment - trying to capture the correct tones between the sky and the marsh. Oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches.

GIRL IN A KIMONO

 

Deciding to change direction for once, I returned to my travels in Japan as I had always wanted to do something like this. The model for my painting was wearing an exquisitely patterned kimono full of flower patterns - real and imagined. Even the charcoal-grey areas had a slight texture and small details created with embroidery. Her hair had been twisted and arranged into a bun-like shape which cast its own shadow on her nape - an area long considered erotic by the Japanese. The waist band featured silk bows of different colors along with embroidered cords - the whole a delight to paint! With a subject like this, one is faced with a dilemma. What should one focus on - the kimono or the model? The way I got around this was to arrange a composition with the model facing away and most of the kimono cropped but with enough left to give an idea what the rest of it would look like. Overall though, I was especially attracted by the highlights in her hair so I focused on that first.

Here you can see how I started with a first pass of oil color after transferring my drawing onto the board. With this stage done, I drew in the details of the kimono then gave that area a first pass also. Returning the the head now that the paint had dried, I slowly brought the hair and arrangement of flowers on the left to a finish before moving back to the kimono and adding the final details there. Finally I could call it finished - a long project but a rewarding one! Size is 12 x 9 in (30 x 23cm), oil on board.

AMERICAN ROBIN STUDY

 

It has been a quiet winter around here bird wise, just a few of the more usual species present. During the very cold snap we had a few weeks ago where temps never got above freezing, a lot of the river froze over with only a few areas of open water. These were surprisingly filled with mostly Common Mergansers (Goosanders) with a high count of around 60 or so birds together one morning. I think that many of their usual wintering areas had frozen over pushing many birds south which was to my gain as I had plenty of chances to view these birds close up. Not just the females with their reddish shaggy crests but also plenty of simply stunning males in their picture-perfect breeding plumages. I love how the the sharp iridescent green and black head contrasts with the bright red bill and white of the body. Anyway, now that it has warmed up a little, I don't see them so often but yesterday for the first time this year I heard robin calls. A single male has been hanging around the rather large lawn area nearby so certainly we are beginning to see some migration. Looking over the distant landscape this morning, I saw a staggering flock of blackbirds - probably in excess of two thousand birds heading north just over the Deleware river. Cormorant numbers have risen too and I'm looking forward to many other species arriving sometime soon. The robin shown here was present feeding on some left-over berries, its plumage well puffed out due to the cold. Done in my sketchbook, this watercolor is about 11 x 8 inches.

LAST LIGHT STUDY

 

Some paintings come together nicely and at times, without too much effort - this was not one of them!! I saw this scene some time ago one evening when the setting sun broke through a dark layer of clouds creating a stunning vision. My initial attempt looked okay but seemed to be missing something. That was when the real work started - trying to capture on canvas what I had seen and envisioned in my mind. t think I must have repainted the sky at least three times, the foreground twice, but finally I got close to what I had hoped it would look like and I am calling it done. I still find it difficult to decide if I should give up on a painting, or whether is it worth the effort of repainting it in the hope that it finally works out in the end. Thankfully it was in this one. Size is 8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas.

WINTER MARSH IV

 

This is the fourth one in the winter marsh series, painted from almost the same spot as winter marsh III. Obviously it is set much earlier in the day than the last one, in fact, the sun has yet to rise. I focused on the dawn colors in this painting keeping the landscape part of it closer (and darker) in value where the sky is mostly mid-tone. I like the way the marsh seems to recede as your eye gets drawn towards the horizon. A few faint clouds help to give the sky a little more definition. I think I could take the sky even darker and it would still work - perhaps even more so than this one. One benefit from doing a series of smaller painting like this is that one can draw on the experience of working from a single area and finding new ways to portray the surrounding landscape. Each one builds on to the next and as I have access to this area almost any time of the day, going there for fresh ideas is always easy (and helpful). This is another 10 x 8 inch painting (20 x 25cm), oil on board.

WINTER SNOW STUDY

 

I was lucky to discover this farm not far from where I used to live and have done many studies and paintings of it over the years. Here, I walked around to the back early one morning and painted this view from across a low valley. These buildings are attached to the back of the farm and the silos and larger barns are out of the picture on the right. I focused on this section because of the more subtle rooflines with the melting snow that created patterns coupled with the bare trees that acted as a foil to the sky. Of course, the light was paramount as usual and contained a lot of warm tones due the the lower position of the sun that had just risen. I'm sure in the future I will continue to explore this area and try to capture more of its many changing moods. Size of this one is 8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas.

EVENING LIGHT STUDY

 

Walking back home one evening just before it got dark, I looked across the fields and saw a thin strip of light breaking through the clouds. This was a wonder to me and is this kind of thing that really resonates with me as an artist. So when I got back to the studio, I tried to capture what I had seen in this small painting. Even now, when looking at the study, I can still remember the scene clearly in my mind and it brings back vivid emotions of that moment. Size is 8 x 10 inches (20 x 26cm), oil on board

HOUSE SPARROW STUDIES

 

Downstairs from where we are staying is a small party of around 10 to 12 House Sparrows. We see them everyday no matter the weather (we have been getting some incredibly cold temps lately). So from time to time, I go down with my sketchbook in the hope of getting a few more studies. I think I wrote a while ago that I prefer the males in their winter plumage with their somewhat muted plumage. Their black bibs are mostly hidden by lighter breast feathers and their heads a little more diffuse than in summer. I think this is the first time I have painted a female. Anyway, I did these watercolor studies recently trying to capture their individual characteristics and especially their form which is usually puffed up on colder days - a look I like a lot! Size is around 12 x 9 inches (30 x 23cm).

WINTER MARSH III

 

This painting is one in a series of works that I have planned. The viewpoint is looking east across a nearby marsh and will focus on the quality of the early morning light from sunrise until around mid-day. This particular scene is around 11:00 or so with the sun behind higher clouds that are slowly breaking up. I'm hoping to capture a particular mood in each of these paintings with the receding marsh grasses and reeds being of a secondary importance. The marsh is only short drive away so I can be there at just about any time of the day, quickly set up my painting equipment and capture whatever the day has to offer. This oil on canvas is 12 x 9 inches (30 x 23 cm).

BAY OF FIRES

 

I have been working on this watercolor for some time and recently spent a day putting the final touches to it. I think I am happy with the painting although I'll probably find a few other things to do to it then I'll upload a better image. Studio work has been a little slow of late but now I am back in the swing of things and have a lot of work planned for the year. Hopefully this time I'll be able to condense a few of the ideas that have been held most important in my mind during 2024 and finally come to fruition - that will be reflected here on my blog. This one is a 10 x 8 inches.

SNOWY OWL

 

I did this small watercolor for a greeting card design, something I used to do quite a lot of. Luckily I have seen quite a few snowy owls so I have quite a bit of reference of them. We usually see the more-heavily marked females around here which is fine by me as I do prefer this plumage. While I enjoy all the markings, it is of course the eyes that are really the focal point here and in this study, its gaze really seem to penetrate. Size is about 6 x 9 inches.