A Very Successful Day

Today was the most productive day I've had in a long time.  I was able to start and finish a painting and get a very solid start on another.  The first was a complete discovery for me.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  The second was a planned outing.

Woods on Quarter Line Road, Clarendon, VT 08/17/2011
11 x 14 Oil on Masonite

It was around 8:30 AM and very foggy.  I was driving Quarterline Road, and came across a wooded pasture.  So to set the scene, here is some info.  Quarter Line Road runs along the east ridge of a low mountain.  Half of it is a class 4 road, which means it is a public road, but not maintained, especially in the winter. So even though it is a class 4 road, I found it to be in good repair and well traveled despite the fact that it was rather narrow.   As I was traveling south on this road, I looked to the east and saw the sun seeping through the fog and foliage in the forest to the east and I just had to paint it.  I found a pull off spot with a nice view and set up right behind my Jeep.
I started the painting with a Gessoed 11 x 14 inch masonite panel toned with a wash of Ivory Black.  I then used my Payne's Gray mixture to draw in the major shapes of the trees and bushes.  I then added some color to the ground with an earthy mixture of Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Orange. Then I used various mixtures of Burnt and Raw Umber, Cobalt, and Titanium White to get some color on the trees.  Then I used my mixture of Cadmium Yellow Light and French Ultramarine Blue for my darker green and Cadmium Yellow Light, Titanium White and small dab of Viridian for my highlight green. I mixed the two greens to get the middle green. that was used for the bulk of the green masses.  Then I started to get stuck. The sun was really starting to show through now and some spots were becoming very bright.  That's when I remembered pieces of info that I read from George Allen Durkee's book, Expressive Oil Painting. If you wish to learn more about his art, visit George Allen Durkee's Website.  One of the paintings in the book was very bright in places and very shadowed in others with both having high chroma; little grays.  That is what gave me the inspiration for the bright orange, red and yellow in the center of the painting.   I finished the piece by highlighting some leaf areas and the bark of the trees.  Then I did the most important thing of all, I stopped myself from doing more, which would have ruined the painting. 

The start of A Boardman Hill Farm 1, West Rutland, VT 08/17/2011
16 x 20 Oil on Masonite.

The inspiration for A Boardman Hill Farm 1.

The next piece was a farm that I discovered on Boardman Hill in West Rutland.  I initially found this place a few days ago.  While I was doing my initial study, the owner of the property walked down to see what I was doing.  She seemed quite pleased when she saw that I was painting the barns. She then informed me that the barn and silo would probably be torn down at the end of the month.  They were becoming too run down and a liability to keep.  This is what motivated me to really focus and do a great job on this piece.
When I initially started painting three years ago, one of my motivations was to capture the many barns on the many farms in my area before they all disappeared .  This piece has helped to reignite the fire for continuing with that project.

I started this piece with a Gessoed 16 x 20 sheet of masonite toned with Ivory Black.  As in the first piece, I also drew in the major elements of the painting with my Payne's Gray mixture.  I used that to block in the shadow parts of the barns and silo and the field and trees in the foreground.  Then I blocked in the sky with a mix of Cerulean, Titanium White and a hint of Yellow Ochre.  I followed that by blocking in the fields and trees with my green mixes.  Then I got the sunlit red of the barns with Cadmium Red Light with a touch of Permanent Alizarin Crimson and the shadows with Crimson and Viridian Green.  I started the roofs of the barns with a silvery mix of white, French Ultramarine Blue, Crimson and Burnt Umber.  The older barn and silo gave me the most trouble today. I had such a hard time getting the faded and aged wood to look right.  This is when I had to stop and call it a day. 
The next step is to go back and finish the barns.  They need to be given some personality.  They need a little more life.
Check in later for more posts of this finished barn.

The Grabowski Farm on Boardman Hill, West Rutland, VT 08/17/2011
16 x 20 Oil on Masonite

And here is the finished product.  I added some details to the barn and silo along with some contrasts in the the foreground.

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It's Good to Be Back.

Today, for the first time in months, I was able to get out there and paint.  I did a 12x16 in about an hour and half and it was great!!  The piece was definitely not one of my best, however, the act of painting itself was its own reward. Here is a thumbnail of the painting.  You can, of course, check out a larger photo on the Facebook page  View from Edmunds Road #4 and you check out all of my works at Keeler Paint Studio on Facebook. 

                                      

View from Edmunds Road #4, Danby, VT 5/27/2011
12 x 16 oil on Masonite

 I started this painting with a quick wash of my own Payne's Gray which is a mix of cobalt blue, ivory black and titanium white.  Then I used the same mixture to draw in the rough placement of the the main elements of the hills and mountains and the trees in the foreground.  Then I painted the sky and moved down towards the bottom by painting the hills and trees and fields.  I went back to the sky to add in the cloud detail and continued down again adding in the details from top to bottom. 

What a good afternoon.  

My First Series of Works

I started my painting adventures when I stumbled across a photo that was taken of the farm up the road from my house. This painting was the result. It a first attempt for me at painting an actual landscape instead of something I made up. It took but a half hour with acrylic paint.



A day or two later, I created another from the same photograph. I remember the trouble I had with the background trees, but I also remember how intently I was focused on the fine details. Soon after it was posted, a friend loved it and bought it. With these two paintings, you can begin to see how I work . I start with a study, usually painted, and move on to final piece.
The same principle applied when I transitioned from acrylic to oil. I started with a study and then some final pieces. Following is my first oil painting, ever. Until I got a set of Winsor and Newton Winton oils, I had never touched the stuff in my life. I again used the same photo for this painting.
It was truly an experience to work with paint that stays wet to the touch for days. I was definitely not used to it. It mixed like crazy on the canvas where as the acrylic was dried in minutes, which allowed me to layer on different colors sans the mixing.

The next painting was my first plein air experience. It was a sunny mid-spring day in the northeast, so I set myself up in the field next to the same farm that provided me with a similar view and this was the result.

Finally, a year later, and around the same time of year, I went to the same spot in the same field to paint this farm yet again. You can see some differences in style and content, most notably being that the silo is no longer there.

The fact that the silo is no longer there leads me to the reason for painting what I do. I want to paint farm-scapes so I can capture the heritage of southern Vermont. It is my way of remembering the self sufficiency that made this place great. And its a little nostalgia, as well.