Still can’t paint that damned garden.

 My husband is a gardener. He’s amazing. And, I keep thinking I should (there’s those “should” words) paint some of it, but there’s so much going on that it’s hard. 

However, this weekend, I decided to give it a shot. I pulled a 16x20 canvas out of my closet, and pulled up a picture on my iPad. There’s one on a cloudy day, and one with the sun out. I like to have both on hand, because the bright, but cloudy day photos give you more of an idea of the local color, while the sunny ones tell you where to put the shadows. 

 

I started with wetting my canvas with water. This is a thing I’m doing now, and so far it’s working okay, I think. The beginning lay-in is kind of water colors, since I’ve made the switch to water-miscible oils. 

I started sketching the lantern in, and—auuuggghhh! That is wwayyy to big. 

It’s water-y. So I took a paper towel and wiped it out. 

That’s better.

I started putting in some of the structure of the waterfall, and the shadows under the charisma. I use a mixture of alizarin and Virginian for those shadows. 

Chamisa flowers are almost a perfect cad yellow medium. 

Originally I started with the shadows coming from the left, but then the sun came out, sooo.

Then I added in some more shadow back under the chamisa. 

I also decided I hated that conical plant and decided to get rid of it, or minimize it. I think I’ll turn it into a sedum, but not under after I have more of the waterfall and rocky area in. 

Now I need to let it dry before do any more work on it. 

Some newish paintings.

 

What I’ve been working on in September/October: These are all 12x16 on canvas board. Not my favorite substrate, but I had them for a class I’m taking, so I’m using them up. 

 1. As of yet, Untitled. 

This painting is one that I started some time back…and then painted over. For a class I’m waking right now in landscapes I started it again. The subject is an asequia north of Los Poblanos in Albuquerque, where I was supposed to be doing a training run (rather than, say, taking pictures).

What I like about it: The left side of the ditch, and the reflections in the water. What I don’t like: The color of the ditch. It’s kind of a sick yellow white; I think I was to make it a big pinker. Or, maybe the shadows need to be bluer

2: Oak creek. This is a view of Oak Creek near Sedona, Az, in the spring. What I like about it: The shadow of the trees on the rapid. This was my teacher’s idea, and he painted them on my canvas. I was taken by surprise, as I don’t normally like people painting on my canvases. So I painted out what he did and then repainted it, but the shadows are softer this time. It’s kind of a dark moody scene, and I think I captures that. I might make the sky a little greyer. 

This was just a spur of the moment painting I just started this weekend of the 13th hole at Kahnoi Bay golf course. It’s a little ridiculous to paint a golf course hole. I took some artistic license, however, and made it less smooth. I’m pretty happy with. My waves and the sea. 

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