Attempting to capture fleeting light

This is of course from the Weds. night figure session. I feel like I continue to improve. with the figure. I hope to graduate to more than just the portrait before too long.

I've painted this old house twice before. I think this may be my best yet. The light was moving fast, but I forced my self to keep the shadows where they were when I started.

I painted this Sat. after noon  the storms were rolling in so the light was constantly moving with the clouds and all. I saw the light briefly shinning on the background mountain and stuck with that thought. It started raining, so I called this one done after only an hour of painting.

This is from this morning. There where clouds about, but all in all it was pretty sunny. My main focus here was to capture that glow in the back ground mountains. The locals call those mountains the slumbering giant. 

I painted this in under an hour. the clouds were moving so fast. I was practically throwing paint at the canvas to try to get down what I was seeing. I think I got a little lucky. Plus my friend Sharon was there to tell me when to stop. I think she was right.

This is another one done almost as fast. I really wanted to hold onto that sunlit mountain contrast over the in the shadows of the cloud mountain behind.

portraits and pleinair

Today we painted at a place called Sawmill ponds. Our friend from class, Jim joined us. This is a view west of the Arapaho Glacier. I'm thinking it turned out pretty good.I can see now that I still have to be careful with my values. The back ground is just a tad too dark. 

I am including this photo so you can see what we had to paint from. It's not such a bad place to spend a Sunday Morning.

This is a portrait of my friend Randy. It doesn't look very much like him, but the point of the painting was to see if I could incorporate what I have been observing painting from life into a painting done from a photo. It turned out far different from what I would have done a year ago. The colors are much more pure and the values aren't as washed out. In this painting I also tried to work on my edges, trying to soften them in places.

This portrait was done Weds. night in figure drawing. The edges are a bit sharp. I also want to improve on my brushstroke quality. 

more pleinairs and a portrait

Sharon and I went back to Veili lake this morning. We stayed long enough for me to get two paintings. This one I didn't quite have enough time. The sun went away and it loked like it was going to storm.

This is my first today. I think you can see the bright morning light on the flatirons.

This portrait was done this past Weds. Our model was having a hard time staying still. So I had a hard time getting her eyes just right. However I think I am slowly getting better.

pleinairs in July

I'm trying something new, that is working out pretty good for me. I am doing my under painting in one color concentrating on value. When I'm happy with it I add color. I did this last night from a photo. It is a view from in front of our house. This is done with burnt umber and paint thinner.

When I start adding color I am better

 able to see if it is the right value right away, because the rest of the values are already there and I can compare them to this new color's value immediately. I painted this this after noon near the South Boulder Rec. center.

This one I painted this morning from the same place in South Boulder. I was under this nice big gazebo with my friend Sharon. We didn't have to worry about rain or glaring sun. This after noon I had a few people stop and want to see my painting and talk a little. I am getting better with this. I figure if I want people to see my work I need to be where people can see me. Most of them could give a flying #*?%. But the ones that do are very nice and complimentary.

three paintings this week

It's been a stressful week with all of the fires going. I was able to get out a couple of times as well as painting on Weds. evening. I Did this one this afternoon. I found this nice deserted picnic area on the peak to peak with a nice view of Mt. Evans. The building is the restroom. 

This is From Weds. evening

I painted this Fri after work. I found this nice pull off just west of Wonder View, set up my easel and painted as the cars and motorcycles zoomed by. Maybe you can tell by the painting, it was kind of stormy. I got rained on a bit, but I didn't mind.