Another Sunrise

The local city-wide Studio Tour was last weekend so my studio was open on Saturday and Sunday, and I had no time to paint, but did sell 3 paintings.  I went again last Thursday and painted. It's getting downright civilized -  I only had to get up at 6 AM which isn't too bad. The only painting panel I had ready (I am in the process of making more) was a 12x12 so I used it. I liked working on the square format so perhaps I will do more in that size. This one is called Warm Sunrise, not because it was especially warm it (it wasn't- I'm starting to dig out the base layer clothing for early morning forays) but because the sky had a really warm look to it.

More Changes

After reading an article about making an art website work better (and theoretically sell more paintings) I decided to change the template of my new site to get more pictures of paintings up front.

According to Alyson Stanfield in her Art Biz Coach blog, http://www.artbizblog.com/2015/09/website-no-sales.html, it's important to not make people click multiple times to get to see the art. So I've changed my template to one that shows more art upfront. And I adjusted this blog also to sort of match. Which is actually kind of fun to do. But I have started the new blog on the website, and I will be phasing this one out in a bit. Here is the new website/blog.

Mountains

We went up to see the aspens in their fall color, and I intended to paint some aspens. We were near Brainard Lake, which we haven't visited in a while. There were many great views of the mountains surrounding the lake and I ended up painting the mountains instead of the aspens. It was a beautiful afternoon but there was a stiff wind gust now and then so I had to keep a grip on the tripod just in case. I'll have to try painting aspens another day. Mountain Lake, 9 x 12.

Painting at Sunset

Since I have been doing so many sunrise paintings I thought I'd try a sunset painting.Here's one from on top of a hill at Sandstone Ranch looking west toward the city and the mountains. I think it's a bit harder to paint a sunset than a sunrise. The sky stays relatively the same until all of a sudden it really changes quite rapidly as the sun gets closer to the horizon.  Colors change rapidly and it gets darker. You want to change all the parts you've already painted, change the colors, but there's no time, light is fading.  It's a race.  Evening Glow, 9 x 12.

A Rainbow-Colored Morning

I was back at the lake again for another morning paint session. This was a dramatic sunrise, very impressive with the clouds and all. It is so nice in the mornings - very peaceful and quiet, the sunrise is always interesting and different each time and it's getting cooler in the mornings. This time I painted toward the southwest partially behind a duck blind, hoping to keep the bright sunlight as it came up to my left out of my eyes and not falling on my painting. I don't usually bring my umbrella with me in the mornings.

 As a new experiment I started with an orange toned board figuring it would work with what I usually see at sunrise. Its often kind of dark when I start and although I know where my colors are on the palette, it's often more of a values sort of painting at first, where I am not exactly sure what color I am putting down, because there's not enough light to tell yet. In the semi-dark, alizarin looks exactly like burnt sienna,  and sap green looks identical to ultramarine.

 As it gets slowly brighter from the sunrise the colors I put on the canvas are revealed to me. Sometimes they aren't what I expected; an orange can end up being more pink or more yellow, a dark area can end up being dark purple or dark brown or dark blue-black. Then I have to work with what's there, either going with it or changing it as I paint in the other parts.  I kind of like how it turned out.  Rainbow Dawn, 9 x 12.

Red Hills

While travelling across Nevada we camped among these red hills. I worked from photos on this painting, photos that I took early in the morning before packing up the camp. The arroyos and rocky gullies were fun to hike around in, as long as you kept an eye out for rattlesnakes.

 This place is a rock collector's dream.  There are a lot of small shale-like rock slabs strewn everywhere, around an inch thick, and when walked through, they sound very porcelain-like, like kicked shards of broken pottery might sound. We found that if we gathered up various sizes and tapped them we could make a virtual rock xylophone, producing ringing tones of various pitches and playing simple tunes almost. That was our evening campfire amusement.

 In the morning it was very pretty. Cactus were just starting to bloom here and there and one could come across an occasional yellow or pink bloom while hiking around.  Red Hills, 10 x 14.

New website

I have the new website set up and here is the link for it. It's one of the FASO sites.
http://kathreilly.com/

I still have not set up the blog part, but when I have it up and running my blog will transfer to the new site also. I'll let this one run for a while to make sure the transfer goes well. Meantime I've changed it around a bit to sort of match my website.

Morning Lights

I liked the last sunrise and the spot I chose for painting so I thought it was worth going back to the same spot and doing another with a slightly different view. The weather conditions were similar, the lack of wind,  quantity of clouds and so forth so I went for it. Here's the resulting picture from this second trip. When I get there, the lights in the distance are usually still on, people getting up early for work in the morning darkness, car headlights travelling up roads, distant traffic signals seen through the trees. By the time I am halfway through the painting and the sun is starting to come up, the lights go out one by one. So I called it Morning Lights, 9 x 12.

Web site

I am working on a website which should be ready in a couple days. It will have a blog attached. Once that is all set up I will probably transfer over to the new blog. I'll leave some links here when it is ready to go.

Painting the Big Tree

I went painting last Saturday but couldn't get out till later in the afternoon. It was one of those days when inspiration was missing - too many other things vying for attention over a weekend holiday, too much going on, and I debated about going out at all. The garden was desperate for weeding, I had to deal with a bunch of produce, etc., etc. But I went eventually, figuring a late start with any painting is better than no painting. I originally thought of doing something along the river but nothing I saw there inspired me. After wandering around Sandstone Ranch I chose to setup next to this tree with the bent-down limbs. A startled blue heron flew off after I started setting up, complaining at me. The park was quiet, dark clouds slowly forming in the west, not many people around - all off at their labor day weekend picnics whatever. Here's what I ended up painting. Bending Low, 9 x 12.

Moon Over Nevada

Here's a studio painting I just finished that was done from reference photos I took when I travelled through Nevada in early May. We had camped out near a dried salt lake next to an old ghost town and the ghost town's old cemetery, when the full moon rose over the mountains to the east just as the sun was setting. It was quite spectacular, scenery-wise. I had a few 16 x 20 canvases handy and decided to try using one of them, so it is a bit larger than the plein air ones I have been doing lately.
 Moon Over Nevada, 16 x 20.

Cottonwood Reflections

I went back to Hamm's Pond again at sunrise and painted on the other side of the water.  I set up next to a decorative duck blind they have there and faced toward the rising sun. The cottonwoods across the water provided a nice screen against the brilliance of the sun as it rose, at least for a while. The reflections were very nice. I'll have to go back to that spot again and try another picture another day. The sun is now rising around 6:30 and that's not too awful early. I see lots of dog walkers and joggers out and about.  Cottonwood Reflections, 9 x 12.

Rocks along a stream

Decided to take a break from dawn paintings and went to Heil Ranch, a local county open space property, and tried painting the rocks in the stream. The light changed dramatically while I worked, rocks going from shadow to light and the reflections changed completely in color.  Here's the resulting picture.  Streamside, 9 x 12.