This is Destin, Fla. and the Panama Beach area. If you look at these clouds you will see a different look than those I posted yesterday. There is more moisture in them from the ocean and the bottom of the clouds are flat. I wonder if it is because of the water and the air pressure pressing on the clouds.

Also if you notice the water is darker where the cloud is strongest. The fore ground water is more of a turquoise or teal color. So the shadows play an important part in the painting I did as I sat near this spot with my watercolors.

Plein Air painting is where you can learn so much about your subject.  Monet said, "Why are we in this studio? The world is out there!" not long after he and his friends met in Paris. And that's true all of our subjects seem to be out there. Whether in our minds or the out of doors. Let capture them and put them on canvas.

Lets continue to study our subjects and keep our brushes wet!

More Clouds and Water

9:40 AM

Kathy

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This picture was taken in summer at the historic Civil War battle field near Sharpsburg, Md. at Antietam creek.

The day was very hot 90 degrees plus and the clouds were on the move, boiling and later that day a very mean thunderstorm came thru. I saw these clouds and wanted to catch them for a painting later.

You can take your camera and get some amazing pictures for reference. Light at the bottom and bluer at the top because as we look up we see the sky open into the outer space region. Of course that's were its truly dark.

Paint it with light colors then add your darks. Painting in oil you can add dry titanium white to build your clouds but always add a touch of Cad red or Cad yellow for a more interesting look.

In winter the clouds seem more gray cast, I suppose it is because of the lower sun level in the Northern hemisphere.

Take more pictures and then use them for your reference material.

Cloud Formations Summer and Winter!

2:09 PM

Kathy

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I was talking about George Bellows the other day and I though I could give you more information. He was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio in 1886.

He was not allowed to go out side and play on Sunday as a child so he stayed inside a drew pictures from magazines, like the "Gibson Girls".

Later he attend Ohio State University and was very athletic even playing baseball. Then one day making the hard choice to continue in Art he left for bigger horizons.

He moved to New York City and his eyes were open to more possibility in his new field. Artist Heni and the group of eight became his new mentors, that is when Bellows began to paint the people around him and the struggle of the working man!

He is considered part of the Ashcan movement in art. One of his most famous paintings is that of the two boxers!  This painting is the snow removal squad in New York pulling the snow to the river.

Ashcan School / George Bellows

10:34 AM

Kathy

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The French were taken with the early 1800's Japanese painters and their spirit of open wind paintings.

No one more so than Monet, his house was covered with these prints and paintings. This lead others, the impressionist, including Van Gogh to begin to pattern some of his paintings after the composition of these classical masters of oriental paintings.

This little painting I have here is in that spirit of the open wind of early spring the sky colors have lots of movement. the branch of the tree lead your eye around the painting.  I have tried to keep balance in this painting with limbs moving up, down and around for a feeling of wind.

If you have a chance to visit a studio of an artist I would encourage you to do so. The influence of his or her creativity will spark something in you. If you can't do that go to a street art fair, Buy a painting it will make your heart feel good and it will bless the painter!

I remember selling a painting one of my first, I was so happy that someone some where wanted to see what my world looked like!  See you at the art fair! Bless someone!

Japanese Influence via Monet and Van Gogh!

10:17 AM

Kathy

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This one of my first acrylic paintings. I used a dark green and brown for a third of the painting, and then used a cream color of left over house paint on the top half of the painting.

Pulling out some of the green and yellows for the leaves and vines in the back ground creates more interest. The blues and yellow are in harmony with the top half of the painting and the darker browns and reds pick up the lower half of the painting.

The white daisy's and baby's breath pop the other colors, with a rigger brush I pulled up some vines and weeds.

The last thing you do in a painting is the first thing people see and the accents on the yellow flowers and the white daisy are the last things done.

For a first try I think it was okay. I now see so many things I would change and do differently.

The point is just start!!!

Dark to Light Flowers

9:27 AM

Kathy

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This artist is famous for many paintings he did about boxing and city workers. And people in snow.

George is a Cincinnati and Cleveland artist according to my information. He studied at the Cincinnati School of Art and I believe a teacher. Later he went to New York to paint and experience the big city.

This painting was on view at Columbus Art Museum. They have a hand full of these paintings. This example of a snowy day is so interesting because of the deep shadows and the far distant horizion.

The People are on their way even though the snow is deep.  In fact the paint of white snow is thick as well.  There seems to be so much texture and movement in this painting. I like the tracks of the folks walking in the deep snow.

This is not quite a monochromatic painting but almost. Again I will encourage you to go to your local museum!

George Bellows Ohio Painter

9:47 AM

Kathy

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I started this blog in the summer and we have moved as a group thru late summer into fall and now in a  few weeks it will be Winter.

If you are a painter you notice the changes. Colors become muted and more browns, tans, and earth tone greens as the trees withdraw their sap and freezing weather comes along. Now if your in another hemisphere than our northern one then you have a different pattern.
But still you too should be observing the changes as you move into your Spring and summer.

The color wheel we did a while back is really split in half with cool and warm sides as well as accents and opposite sides. A painter can take a few colors and indicate heavy shadows on one hand. Then on the other hand you could show brilliant highlights.

I didn't talk about white and black too much, because as those colors are added to paint it changes value and tints. Monet decided to leave black out of his pallet, and many of the other Impressionist followed his lead, but some did not.  I notice Van Gogh used dark blue for his outlines of houses and people.

Well the point is Notice what the seasons are doing around you and use color accordingly. Enjoy this next season!

Fall and Winter Color!

9:34 AM

Kathy

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