Ranchita Arroyo Grande Morning

Moving all over the canvas…I adjust the finest details, adjust the shadows and more importantly, the warm sculpting glow of the morning sun on all the objects it touches. I signed the piece and then mounted it on my desktop Best easel.  Then I always move the completed piece into my house from room to … Continue reading »

I reached for my favorite brushes..numbers 2, 1 and 0.  Now comes the reward! I moved from middle to foreground laying in all the details and modeling all the finest elements. As I move around the painting, I am also making value changes in darks and lights. I layed the form layer for the foreground … Continue reading »

It was finally time to lay in the foreground road… As I needed to protect the foreground fencing, after each layer (3), I would ‘clean’ all the way down to the underpainting on each post and rail.

I worked the details on the oak tree trunk using the darkest values.  I mixed burnt umber and burnt sienna for the darkest darks.  Then I added a touch of titanium white to accentuate the bark high spots.  After this dries, I will come in and accent the finest details with the lightest value, or … Continue reading »

  I began putting the dark and lightest values in the middle ground.   Then I needed to paint the light green and lavendar leaves that were behind the main oak tree.  After they were in, I layed in the darks on the tree. This will cure over the weekend and then I can start the … Continue reading »

 Next I start working on the middle values. First is the background.  I pull out my number 1 filberts, rounds and flats to put in the shapes. Working back to front, I move toward the middle ground and then lay in the first layers of the pasture.  As I move forward…the brushes get bigger. After … Continue reading »

The underpainting is done and just in time for the weekend.  I will let it dry for the next few days before I begin again. I made sure I was pleased with the distance mountain range and the far edge of the property on the horizon before I quit for the day.  These areas must be … Continue reading »

I finally get to enjoy the wonderful smell of my oil paints and feel the brushes in my hands.  ;)   I begin the underpainting. Oak trees are the most amazingly shaped trees on the planet and probably the most fun to paint.  It almost looks like I have tried to finish the foreground tree trunk…but no.   … Continue reading »