Autumn Birch Forest

I'm still working the autumn scenes. This one is a 16x20 wrapped canvas. The deer was done in acrylics first. Then masked. I masked off Five foreground trees for later. Next came sponging in the dark foliage in acrylic and laying down a dark forest floor in acrylics. Everything to this point was various mixes of shaded wood brown, black, and white. Then I added some distance birch trees with moon blue. With the acrylic base done, I added a clear glaze  medium. The tree leaves were done with a transparent color, using the clear medium and the desired color to tint the sky area. Colors used were cadmium yellow, burnt sienna, and some van dyke brown at the fringe edges. The sun beams were titanium white; brushed on with a fan brush edge and then soften with a mop brush. The ground cover was put on using color harmony. The masking tape was then removed from the foreground birch trees and they were glazed and painted. Finally, the masking was removed from the deer to add clean glaze and various highlights. Overall very happy with how this one turned out. Lots of fun.

Lili Pad Pond

This painting was my attempt at exploring more with painting water reflections. It included some submerged rocks in the foreground shallow shoreline; essentially "pushing" them under the water using blending techniques. The lili pads were a final add-on touch. I questioned whether to add them, as they would mess up the overall painting if the experiment went sour. Next time I would add some shadow under the water of the closer lili pads. I think that would add some needed depth to the painting.

Evening Falls

My painting for today was a small split waterfall; something I envision from our local Beaver River. I went with an evening setting with the sun fading behind the pines. 11x14 wrapped canvas. 

Oil Painting "Watchful Mom"

This painting is a doe and fawn in a summer setting. The canvas is a panelboard 11x14. The frame is a nice deep oak frame that I scored at a garage sale. The matte was already with the frame. I removed the glass plate and backing.

And in the frame...

Canoe oil painting

I wanted to paint an old canoe like the aluminum Grumman canoe I grew up paddling on the Black River. Since we're coming into autumn, I of course needed to throw in those fierce fall colors. I started by painting the canoe in acrylics.

The full painting is a 16x20 wrapped canvas. I definitely learned a few things that I'd do differently the next time around. But that's all part of this experimentation. Below is the final result of the full painting and a close up of that same canoe area. B

Repurposed ceiling fan painting

What do you do with an old ceiling fan? Make a unique canvas from the blades. I was asked by my mother-in-law to paint Five fan blades for decoration in her home. She wanted to hang them by the existing mounting holes. So a thin portrait "canvas" was in order. She also wanted four of the blades to be something representing the four seasons. Below are the results.

Winter Barn --- Spring Thaw --- Summer Birches --- Autumn Goose

And for the non-seasonal scene I did a Lighthouse Sunset