January 2, 2014, Green Key Color Study

I've been having problems working with the color green - tints, shades and various color combinations where green comes out dominant. So I decided to do a key color painting focusing on green to get a better handle on the color.

Not quite there yet. I plan to continue to work on green throughout the month.

Color palette included:
Phthalocyanine Green
Phthalocyanine Blue
Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue
Cadmium Orange Hue
Naphthol Crimson
Titanium White
Mars Black

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

January 2, 2014, Green Key Color Study (18x24)

January 1, 2014, Waterfall

Happy New Year!

Here's the first painting in 2014. I have to confess, it isn't finished but I have decided to spend my time moving forward from painting to painting as opposed to spending great deals of time bringing a work to completion. Last year I tried to do a painting a day but I kept getting waylaid by thinking and obsessing too much on one idea. I'd rather leave something unfinished, and move on, then spend a month trying to figure out how to finish something and then end up over-working it.

Finished last night, posted today. It's an abstraction of a waterfall.

Color palette included:
Phthalocyanine Green
Phthalocyanine Blue
Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue
Cadmium Orange Hue
Naphthol Crimson
Titanium White
Mars Black

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

January 1, 2014, Waterfall (18x24)

November 10

Yes this is out of order in terms of when the painting was completed. November 11 painting was completed most recently but what happens when I'm working on a painting is sometimes I'm not sure if something is completed or not. So I step away for a day or two or maybe even longer and come back to it with fresh eyes.

In my opinion this painting has gone as far as it's going to go and I'm ready to move on with more painting and more studying.

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

November 10, 2013 (18x24)

November 11

Continuing studies of color abstractions.

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

November 11, 2013 (18x24)

November 3, Grove of Birch Trees

This started as a grove of birch trees that I didn't like so I morphed it into an abstraction of a grove of birch trees. I used the split complimentary colors of blue - which are yellow-orange and red-orange.

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

November 3, 2013 (18x24)

Homage to David W. Mayer

Southwest Art is one of my favorite monthly magazines I purchase to see what other artists are doing. In the September issue there was a small section on Arts at Denver showcasing four artists. David W. Mayer had a writeup on what he is currently doing and one of his paintings, Autumn at Hessie Lake. I liked his work so much it inspired me to do an homage to one of the excellent paintings he finished, Autumn at Hessie Lake. This is my take on this painting.

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

Homage to David W. Mayer (18x24)

October 3

I wasn't sure if the painting was finished a week ago but today I decided it was time to consider this painting as close to resolved as I was going to get it. This was a part of the four paintings I started working on in August. It was a simple exploration of the color working with tints, shades and other color combinations with red.

And there's some blue, just for the sake of blue - because I like blue. What guy doesn't like blue?

All photos are Liquitex Acrylic paint shot with a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.

October 3, 2013 (18x24)