Light to My Path, 6x12

"Frustration is the driving force for creativity."

-Dan McCaw

 

"Light to My Path"*

6x12, oil

sold

I certainly hope that quote it true. I think it is.

To paint the light and it's effect on the landscape on a 2-dimensional surface is incredibly frustrating. What the Creator of the Universe simply spoke into existence when He said "Let there be light" and there was light, I spend hours upon hours and days and months striving to capture so inadequately.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

But I do feel that quote by Dan McCaw is true. The reaching for something and the frustration when the thing is unattainable gives rise to all sorts of ideas of how to create illusions with my paint. 

Click to see the blog post of the larger version of this painting:

It's such a privilege to do what I do. Today I feel blessed.

* The title of this painting was taken from Psalm 119. It says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”.

Light to My Path 12x24

 

1. Underpainting in burnt sienna.

 

  

2. Painting in the "distance" (the sky & land behind the trees) and starting to add color to the leaves of the trees.

 

3. Next the tree leaves, establishing the darkest areas. I tried to use primarily "transparent" colors to make them appear as if they're glowing.

 

 

4. Next painting the light green leaves.

 

5. Finishing the leaves & starting with the foreground. Again I used a burnt sienna for the underpainting of the foreground.

 

 

6. More color application of the foreground.

 

 

7. Adding the dusting of snow 

 

 

8. I continued to use a process of applying paint and removing it until I got that feel of the morning sun on the snow-dusted grass.

9. Last bit was painting the tree trunks, dead leaves on the ground and retouching the trees on the far left.... and finished!

"Light to my Path"

12x24, oil on canvas

 

I had the piece framed in a "blond" wood floater frame. Here it is on my window sill prior to delivery at For Art's Sake at the end of April

The Grove Shaft

I blogged about it before. It's finally finished.

I've been calling it "the big one" for the past several years. Now it has a name.

The Grove Shaft

located in the Midlothian Mines Park

Midlothian, Virginia

46x34"

oil on canvas

A little history about this stone structure:

The village of Midlothian developed as a coal mining settlement in the 1700’s. Founded by the Woolridge brothers, originally from East Lothian and West Lothian, Scotland, the coal mining company was named Mid-Lothian and became the first commercial coal company in Virginia. Coal was transported to the James River for shipment along a dirt road that is now Midlothian Turnpike.

Later the Chesterfield Railroad was built to aid the coal distribution.

The ruins of several of the coal mining structures can still been seen at the Midlothian Mines Park. Three granite walls of a building that may have housed steam boilers and hoisting equipment above the Grove Shaft remain. The arch at the center of this structure housed the ventilation fan that forced air into the 600-foot deep shaft below. 

I set out to paint the ruins of the Grove Shaft in a manner that depicts its age and history. While it wasn't started in the 1700's, it was begun quite a few years ago. 2008. My senior year at VCU. I work on it once or twice a week for half the semester:

I began using only (1)Titanium White (2) Ultramarine Blue and (3)Burnt Umber. I applied them in their pure forms, let it dry and sanded the canvas, and then mixed to build the painting up to a black, white and gray state, sanding in between layers.

The semester ended and I still didn't know what to do with it -- whether to add color or what to do with the foliage. 

It ended up sitting in a closet at my parents' house until last year. 

I took a nice sanding block to it. Wish I got a photo directly after the sanding.

Then I went for it! COLOR:

(click to enlarge and see the sections that were sanded)

Over the last 6 months or so I've worked intermittently on this painting. A layer or a wash of paint and then several weeks or months of time to let the paint dry before the next time I sand it with sandpaper or apply the next layer of paint.  

Theo didn't quite understand it.

 Then I outlined the stones again with ultramarine blue & burnt umber (deep, almost black, color):

Mark says, hi and are you going to keep working on it?

Painted the "face" of the stones & continued outlining the stones:

Then took the sandpaper to it again:

Close up of the texture. And a ladybug:

Another layer to increase contrast:

And some color washes over the stones:

Theo says, it still needs more work.

More paint, more sanding. I didn't take more photos until it's finished state.

I added more definition to some of the brick areas, added the dead leaves and brush on the ground around the structure, and worked on increasing the contrast of the shadow areas and the the light areas.

The Grove Shaft

46x34"

oil on canvas

(available for purchase)

15 Paintings in 15 Days (and one to grow on!)

On Tuesday I finished my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)

But it was such a pleasant, balmy day on Wednesday I had to get outside. 

Normally I'm not thrilled to paint on overcast days but Carlson's book on landscape painting has given me a fresh appreciation for even (and especially) gray days. More on that later.

Here's a step by step of the piece I painted.

This is a very different process than when I paint larger, more detailed works.

With the larger works I have a clear idea of how the painting will look when completed. With these I'm making it up as I go, seeing what the paint will let me get away with... and I have little idea how it will turn out. 

I moved some of the trees closer to the mine ruins to narrow the "frame".

I applied paint & scraped it off with my palette knife multiple time during this piece.

Gotta get that bright yellow/new wood support beam in there. (Ugh.)

Must tone down the red! 

Gray Day

12x9, oil

15 Paintings in 15 Days (day fourteen)

It's day fourteen of my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)

Morning Swim

6x6, oil

sold

15 Paintings in 15 Days (day twelve)

It's day twelve of my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)

A few years ago there were these three ducks -- a golden-gray, a white, and a brown and white spotted with a blue beak -- that made their home at a lake in Midlothian. They were inseparable. There was a large flock of mallards living on the lake. These three were always on the outskirts of the flock, trailing behind or off to themselves. Like the tree ugly ducklings. 

Only one is still living, at lease as far as I can tell. He's joined the larger flock.

I wish I knew their story. How they came, why they were so close.

An Unlikely Trio

6x6, oil
sold

15 Paintings in 15 Days (day ten)

It's day ten of my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)

First Light / A Dust of Snow

6x6, oil

15 Paintings in 15 Days (day six)

It's day six of my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)

Another Midlothian landmark. This recently constructed structure is an full scale (I think) model of a coal mining headstock, constructed on the actual site of one of the coal shafts. The photo I painted from was taken while the area was still under construction, hence the plastic fencing in the foreground.

Read more about the headstock and the new amphitheater here.

Midlothian Shaft Headstock

5x7, oil

15 Paintings in 15 Days (day five)

It's day five of my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)


More of one of my favorite painting subjects -- the Midlothian coal mine ruins.
This one is obviously from a photo. My husband and I went running through the Coal Mines Park and it was topped with beautiful snow today.

5x5, oil

15 Paintings in 15 Days (day three)

It's day three of my 15 paintings in 15 days challenge. 

(Half of this challenge: 30 Paintings in 30 Days)

So, today I wanted to wrap myself in a heated blanket while I painted, but that would not have turned out well for the heated blanket.

Here's what I got between working on larger pieces & racing against the non existent sun light. I'm quite done with these cloudy, rainy days.

Jan 17.

Trail to the Light

9x12, oil

sold

Process: Mine Shaft Ruins

Each of my paintings live quite an extravagant life before they are finished and displayed in a gallery/on my website/in someone's home. Some of you have mentioned you enjoy seeing the "behind the scenes" of how my paintings come to life -- or rather, to their final life. Here's the evolution of one of my most recent paintings.

Phase 1: On a gray toned canvas I drew the coal mines structure and positioned the trees, stakes & shadows.

Phase 2: After sanding phase 1 with a medium grit sandpaper I refined my dark lines & defined the highlight areas with flake white. (The mustard yellow color is from a failed painting. Instead of ripping off the canvas and re-stretching I started this painting over top of the previous one.)

Phase 3: Giving the stones & tree trunks some color, darkening areas and a thin wash of warm color over the weeds/undergrowth.

Phase 4: More color added -- greens & blues in the background, browns and reds in the foreground.

Phase 5: This was when I was trying to decide if the trees in the background should be lighter or darker than the stone archway. I also added some variation of color to the stones to show the light reflecting around in the shadows.

Phase 6. I decided my previous decision to lighten the background wasn't looking right -- so I pulled out the sandpaper again.

Phase 7: Another attempt to achieve the right background value.

Phase 8: Still experimenting with the background. Building up the foliage as well.

20x16, oil on canvas

sold

Phase 9: DONE. The background goes dark again. Glazed the stones & emphasized the reflected light with cool blues and warm pinks/browns. Gave the tree trunk in the foreground a pretty, sunny vine. Darkened the dark areas a little more. Tried to balance out the rich warm colors (of the archway & the tree trunks) with some rich cools (violet blues in the deep shadows around base & cracks in the stone structure). A little red "a" in the corner & she's done!

I'd love to hear what you think of the final or any of the steps along the way. Thanks!

Midlothian Mine Shaft Ruins

Mine Shaft Ruins

20x16, oil on canvas

Below is a close up & shot of the piece framed.

       

Sorry for the stark lighting on the second pic. I had it framed for an incredible price at the Collector's Gallery and took the photo in the parking lot after I picked it up. I don't think the picture does it justice, but I had to post it anyway. :)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to post the progress shots of this piece. 

It had quite the life leading up to this point. Check back soon!

Green & why it worked.

You may have read my post about summer greens & how to handle a green painting. I've been struggling with three predominantly green paintings over the past few weeks (only two were in the photo from that post) and am grateful for a success. I tried to "paint red into the green" in this piece, but it ended up looking dead. My solution: the saturated burnt sienna (red-brown) of the clay stream bed steals the show. The green is vivid. The fields are alive! You don't get that too-much-green feeling.

I hope to show you the results of my other green adventures soon.

Creek behind Krim Point

The Grove Neighborhood, Midlothian, Virginia

8x10, oil on canvas

detail images: