Waiting for the Night

We were down on Pier 4 last week to do a nocturne. We arrived at 5 p and the sun didn't set until 9 so we had lots of time to do some warm up paintings. The view on one side was across the bay to the high level bridge and the other way was towards the skyway bridge. I am playing with a new palette and I am determined to get control of Phthalo Blue.  It is very intense and wants to take over everything.



This first painting is looking towards the high level bridge.  This is a very imposing structure that few artists have managed to capture very well.  There is lots wrong with this painting and yet I like it.  This palette may just work for me.




This second painting is of the same scene.  I elected to leave out the forground structures, move the bridge away from dead center and let the phthalo blue show more to its advantage.  I like this one even more.  I am on a roll.



This third painting was done just as the sun was setting and lights were beginning to come on.  I wanted to paint the skyway in the dark so this was a set up painting for my final of the night.  I am excited about this one mostly because I used phthalo in three painting is one night and I like all three.


Bring on the dark.  That is for next post.

I Got Agressive

Catherine Gibbon told me to pay more attention to the light and while looking at my past paintings I reached the conclusion that I have to be less timid when I paint.  My best work, in my mind, is where I was bolder in both brush strokes and colour.  If I am not sure how I want to approach a subject I get cautious and mix little piles of paint and keep reworking it in an attempt to get it right. I need to mix big piles of paint, get the colour right, load up my brush and think about every stroke.

We were at Cedar Haven Farm on Tuesday evening.  I love this place and am always inspired here.  I did three paintings.  The first one took about an hour and a half and was just okay so I wont post it.

This one was done in about 45 minutes and is much better.  I decided to step outside my box and did a magenta underpainting.  This colour was so intense that anything that I put on top of it seemed very dull in comparison.  I also discovered that a glaze of yellow turns the magenta into the  beautiful warm orange seen in the foreground.




This third and last painting was painted in about fifteen minutes while I stood in the parking area waiting for everyone to gather.  The sun was just starting to set and I made no attempt to tone down the magenta.  I am really excited about where this will take me.  Catherine said that she thought that this was my best painting ever.  High praise from my mentor.  I think that I might just agree with her.  I know Debbie does.

This is going to get exciting.