There was something about this image that really captured my attention so I painted it. My first attempt is one I really love. The coldness of this scene was entertaining to capture, but I didn’t quite get the warm contrast I was looking for. Also, the towers feel diminished by the butte behind them and…
Tag: alla prima
Everything I Painted in November 2022
It’s nearly December already. November was a crazy busy month for me, but I still managed to sneak in a handful of finished paintings. I’ve clearly been on a panoramic kick this month since nearly all of these paintings are in that format. The first painting is from a photo I took earlier this year…
Value Sketching
I’ve never been a painter that spends a lot of time mapping out or planning paintings. I tend to just dive right into a painting. The majority of the time this tends to work out decently for me, but not all paintings work as well as I’d like. During a recent plein air class, I…
My First Plein Air Workshop
In anticipation of the upcoming Red Rock Arts Festival, in which I’m competing in the plein air competition, I decided to participate in my first plein air workshop. The 2022 Red Rock Arts Festival (RRAF) is a four-day multimedia, participatory arts festival inviting creative connectedness and activating public spaces in vibrant Moab, Utah. Designed to…
Sennelier Limited Palette Challenge – Week 4
This final week was definitely a challenge for me. I just didn’t want to paint. Once I started, I was fine, but getting started was difficult. I painted a few images from a trip to Wilson Arch last year and I absolutely loved painting them! I did so many because I was really enjoying creating…
Sennelier Limited Palette Challenge – Week 3
This week’s paintings have been very pleasant to paint. I’ve been managing to get them done in just an hour, and really loving the results. I need to go through my reference photos again and print some more out. I feel like it’s getting harder and harder to settle on a photo each day. While…
Sennelier Limited Palette Challenge – Week 2
Despite my desire to actually paint waining, I feel like this week’s paintings are where I started to hit my stride. With moving and preparing my house to sell mostly done at this point, I think the rest of this challenge will be a bit easier. Note to self, don’t start a painting challenge during…
Sennelier Limited Palette Challenge – Week 1
Hey, I’m back with another 30 day challenge. I’ve been wanting to paint landscapes again for a while so that’s where this challenge will focus. In addition to landscapes, I’m also limiting my palette to the Sennelier Test Pack which includes Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson (substituted for Permanent Alizarin Crimson), Ultramarine Blue, and…
January 2022 STRADA Challenge – Complete
Here it is, a complete month of daily painting. I really love/hate these month long challenges. I love that they prompt me to pick up my paint brush and paint every single day and at the end of that month I have a lot of awesome art to show for it. I hate that it…
January 2022 STRADA Challenge – Week 5
And… DONE! Thank you everyone for your support and comments through this challenge. As always, it’s a relief to be done. I’ll be posting something on Thursday to sum up, so look for that. Good night, it’s time to celebrate.
January 2022 STRADA Challenge – Week 4
This week I struggled almost every day to get myself into the studio. So I’m extra proud of myself for making the effort to show up each day. I’ve done several of these 30 day challenges and I know how difficult they can be, but I always find myself struggling more than I anticipate at…
January 2022 STRADA Challenge – Week 3
I love alla prima painting, but keep running into the situation where my paint no longer layers. In the past, I’ve just scraped off the paint and put whatever color I wanted in its place or let the painting dry and go over it with another layer. However, these days I’m trying to be much…