Don Bishop Studio

Black Wrap

2012-01-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

New figure work, Black Wrap 10x20 in oils on board.

Tiare Trance

2011-12-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

New figure painting, Tiare Trance. This one is 11x14 in oils on board.

Hood River Farm, 12x12 plein air

2011-09-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Another recent plein air painting. The first day on this one I did a fairly complete block in with a lot of texture. It was a good start but not quite locked in on the lights and darks so I came back a few days later and did a second pass to finish the painting.

Plein air, Soft Blue 9x12

2011-09-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Recent plein air on a warm summer day.

The Bright Tree

2011-07-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

The Bright Tree, 9x12 oils on board. Working on the backlit landscape with this one.

Flower Farm

2011-07-09T11:09:00.001-07:00

A new plein air piece from last week. Flower Farm, 11x14 oils on board.

This is a beautiful spot to paint and the weather was wonderful.

Pearl District

2011-06-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Pearl District 30x40, oil on canvas. SOLD.

This is the first cityscape I have done in a long time. Nice to be back into one of these; everyone likes them. I don't know why I don't paint more of them. This piece is also the first large cityscape for me. Most of my earlier ones were smaller pieces.

New plein air from last week.

2011-06-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Iris Path 9x12 oils.
Country Road 9x12 oils.
Around The Corner 12x16 oils.

Some new plein air paintings from last week.

All in oils.

New plein air from last week.

2011-05-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Warm Afternoon close up.

Warm Afternoon, 16x20.

Spring Path, 11x14.

Afternoon Shadows, 9x12.

A few new ones from our sunny days last week.

California Poppies

2011-05-25T09:52:00.001-07:00

California Poppies, 16x20 oils on board.

Outside last week

2011-05-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Sunny Day 16x20, oils.

Small Pond 11x14, oils.

From last week painting outside in oils with thick paint and palette knives.

Thick paint 16x20

2011-05-09T11:43:00.001-07:00

Spring Runoff, 16x20 in acrylics. Using A LOT of paint and my set of knives for some heavy texture on this one. Actually starting to sculpt the paint in the foreground field. I am still working out how to handle the edges.

Plein Air from last week

2011-05-07T11:34:00.001-07:00

Country View, 9x12 oils on board.

Another one from this week, Down The Road 9x12

2011-05-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

More thick paint with a palette knife out in the field.

Down The Road, 9x12 oils on board.

Soft Day 12x12 plein air

2011-05-06T13:07:00.001-07:00

From this week, Soft Day 12x12. Another piece from this week painting with a knife for the main foreground and the sky.

Spring Trees plein air 9x12

2011-05-06T12:50:00.001-07:00

From this week out at Sauvie Island. Spring Trees, 9x12 oils on board.

Working on nice natural greens out in the field. Again painting a lot of this with a knife and adding heavy texture where I can.

Plein air from last week

2011-05-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

New 11x14, Spring Blossoms. This was mostly palette knife and thick paint again. Detail highlights were added later back in the studio. I also made the road a nice country meadow, I do this often in my plein air paintings. Sometimes I like to make the setting more natural.

Plein air, dodging showers and moving paint

2011-05-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

Another from a few days ago, Springtime, 11x14 oils over acrylic on board.

Well I needed to get some even thicker paint down and it was going to be another day of dodging rain showers so I brought out some acrylics today and out down some PAINT.

You can see from the outside photos how things can change fast when painting plein air. Started out fairly nice with some sun out. Ended with a storm cell coming in for a visit but I had most of what I needed in by then. Speed painting at its best, well for me that is!

This one was also mostly knife work. Back in the studio, I finished this with oils.

Plein air fast before the rain comes!

2011-05-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

From last week, Distant Trees, 9x12 oils on board. Had move quick on this one as a storm front was moving fast. I was able to get most what I needed before getting rained on and I finished up back in the studio the next day.

This piece was mostly palette knife in the field using thick paint for a heavy texture build up. I always think down heavy paint but the next day it looks medium at the most. Don't get me wrong, this has a lot of paint texture and nice juicy areas but I think I might have to get out the small shovel soon. I want to do some HEAVY work, need to buy the BIG tubes of paint.

I use sticks and stuff I find in the field for my brushes these days too. Hard times yeah, but it is more of a finger you to all the hard correct academics and staying in bounds! And galleries that don't pay and all that stuff. Don't worry, I still like all those beautiful technically correct paintings ..... and the artist that paint them. I'll go paint with anyone but I might end up pushing paint around with a bunch sticks that day!

Dancer 11x14 oils

2011-04-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

Recent figure work. Dancer, 11x14 oils on board.

I really the dark dramatic lighting on this dancer from a Salon L'Orient show I went to last spring.

Wet Day 9x12 plein air oils on board.

2011-04-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Plein air from last week between .... you guessed it ..... MORE rain!

9x12 in oils on board with mostly palette knife for the main painting.

Trying some thick oil paint on this one.

Plein air from a couple days ago

2011-04-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

A little 12x12 I did outside using a palette knife and a lot of thick paint. Again mixing directly on the paint board.

More texture painting, plein air this time.

2011-04-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Close up, Green Fields.
Green Fields, 16x20 oil over acrylic on board.
Golden Field, close up.
Golden Field, 16x20 acrylics on board.

A couple more from last few days. I went outside between rain showers to try these out in the field. Using big tubes of acrylic paint and mixing directly on the painting as I go. For the Green Fields piece, I tried some oils on top of the acrylics back in studio.

2011-04-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

Oak trees, 11x14 acrylic on board.
Distant Gold, 12x12 acrylic on board.

So now I'm trying something a little different, laying in the paint heavy with knives and mixing direct on the painting. These are in acrylics, going for the thick lush paint.

New plein air ...... in between rainy days

2011-04-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

In between storms I managed to sneak out for a quick paint trip outside.

I did the major block in and painting outside then added the finishing details back in my dry studio a few days later.

Sooner or later it HAS to get nice again!

Early Spring, 11x14 oil on board.

The Distant Light

2011-03-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

Another new piece, The Distant Light. This one is 18x24 inches in oils on board.

New large Oil painting

2011-03-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

Still Evening, 36x60 inches. Oil on canvas.

Innes skies

2011-02-03T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well it's been forever since my last post. Getting over a nasty cold when I looked out my window and saw what looked like a good George Innes style sunset setting up. Grabbed my camera went out for a while to see what I could find and was glad I did. Here are a couple shots from this evening.

Black On Red

2010-10-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

A new figure work, Black On Red 16x20, oils on board.

As we come into fall, I am going to start doing some more figure work again ........

along with some more fall landscapes!

Distant Glow 11x14 inches.

2010-09-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

From late summer. Plein air out at Sauvie Island, 11x14 inches oil on board.

Another new work, Summer Gold.

2010-09-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

This piece is 30x48 in oils on canvas. Soft tonal atmospheric painting.

I am going to keep painting these; for personal pleasure if nothing else.

New work, Summer Oaks 18x24.

2010-09-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

A new painting. The main part of this was done plein air and then finished in the studio.

This one is 18x24 inches in oils on board.

Another large plein air, Warm Summer 30x40.

2010-08-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

Had a chance to get out again and work on a large plein air painting. This one was out at Sauvie Island where I worked with the block in on a hot 92 degree afternoon. I was able to get most of the basic painting done that afternoon outdoors. I finished this in the studio adding in the detail work and the sky where I could take my time.

Plein air, LARGE!

2010-08-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Summer Light 24x36.

My large plein air set up out at Sauvie Island, Oregon.

Went out with my new BIG easel for some large outside painting.

Worked all afternoon on this one and added final highlights and field flowers after it dried.

Going back out for another large one soon.

New plein air from last week

2010-07-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Cooper Mountain View, 12x16 oils on board.

This painting was done at the Cooper Mountain Nature Center. The park has beautiful valley views looking south and I hope to return to do some more of these.

I did the majority of this piece plein air, to get the overall colors and composition then finished the details in the studio.

New plein air from last week

2010-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Summer Green 9x12.

Summer Farm 11x14.

A couple more new ones, both oils on board.

More plein air works

2010-07-02T13:01:00.001-07:00

Summer Day 11x14
Looking West 16x20
Morning Light 9x12
Lavender Hills 8x10

Recent paintings from my field trips.

Outside painting

2010-06-30T11:42:00.001-07:00

From my plein air trip a couple days ago.

Hope all you local Portland painters are getting out there too!

Poppies!

2010-06-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

June Poppies, 16x20 oils on board.

Well this is a rework of one of my earlier plein air pieces. Sometimes I go back in and just change everything! This was the piece titled "Clover Fields" from a couple weeks back. On this one I decided to go with some brighter more dramatic wildflowers for the foreground. I also redid the trees, changing the overall shapes and adding more detail.

Another plein air from last week.

2010-06-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Looking South, 11x14 oils on board. I like the way the small ditch leads you through the scene at this spot.

New plein air ...... in between rainy days

2010-06-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

Green Spring 12x16 oils on board.
May Gold 11x14 oils on board.
Peaceful Valley 12x16 oils on board.

Well more rain today, I am sick off rain. Did I mention I am sick of the rain. Anyways, we had some nice weather over the last weekend so I was outside painting. Did these three at various local places around the Banks / North Plains area west of Portland. I try and work fast outside, just getting enough of a block to bring back to the studio to finish.

My goal in the finish is to add as little as possible to get the plein air painting complete. Of course can I change or add whatever I want on them. As some big haired painter guy on PBS TV said, "it's your world, you can add as many happy trees and clouds as you want".

Anyways, I have been working on green earth tones lately, trying to them soft and natural but still rich and beautiful.

Color work in the field

2010-06-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

From today's afternoon plein air. Working on greens in nature, these are much more warm and earthy than we think. In this piece I am trying to get the field colors as close as possible to what I was seeing. With my painting set up high on the easel, I am able to step back and compare the colors I put down on the edge of the board with the actual colors in the field. You can see the distant green grass on the right edge of my painting almost blends right in with the actual field. This gives me a nice close green which I can then use for the rest of the field. Same with the foreground grass on the right side. Give it a try some time.

Cheers, Don B

New figure painting, Trance

2010-06-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

Recent small painting, 9x12 in oils on board.

From Salon L' Orient tribal dance performance in Portland.

This is a painting of performance artist Irish Collins who always looks like a work of art when she performs.

Plein Air Steps Golden Field

2010-06-08T15:37:00.001-07:00

I found these beautiful golden fields and decided this would be my plein stop for today.

The start of this painting was same as always, laying in the basic shapes and general color tones.
This is about 20 minutes later, still working with getting the colors and layout correct.

At this point I have the foreground base a bit more saturated than the actual filed. I did this on purpose because I wanted to lay in the softer golds and white flowers on top of this brighter base, letting some of the underpainting show through.
My block in is complete and now I have put another layer of paint down over parts of the base painting. The golden fields in the foreground now have some more neutral golds and off whites placed creating more color harmony in the painting. Decided not to add the barns, my main focus was the golden fields and I'm just not a big barn type guy anyways. I will stop and do the final details back in the studio. My total time on this one outside was around one hour and thirty minutes, just enough to get the basic color notes and composition down. The studio finish will be a snap from here!

New plein air paintings

2010-05-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Clover Fields 16x20, oils on board.
Distant Yellow 14x18, oils on board.
This is a photo of the canola fields in bloom now near my home.
Canola Fields 16x20, oils on board.

More nice weather last week, of course this week it is raining again!

So here are few plein air pieces from last week.

Ceramic Vases

2010-05-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Something new for me. One of my collectors wanted a set of urns showing winter and early spring as a circle of life theme. They are also into birding so I did a blue jay for winter and a goldfinch for spring on the lids. Painting on these worked out well for me and it was fun once I got the hang of it. So now I am thinking of trying a few more of course.

Both of these are in oils. The urns are about 14 inches tall.

Peach Lace revisited

2010-04-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

New figure painting, Peach Lace 12x16. This time in oils on board.

I did the original version of this about a year ago when I was just starting out on my figure painting journey. I though it would be fun to do a new version a year later. I used a slow build up of thin layers to bring this piece to finish.

New portraits.

2010-03-11T16:21:00.001-08:00

Tiare 12x16 inches, oils on board.

Sivonna 11x14 inches, oils on board.

Kara 11x14 inches, oils on board.

Some new portraits from the last month.

New figure painting, Soft Light

2010-02-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

This one is acrylic, 9x12 onboard. Working with soft lights and tones.

I want to paint like George Innes damn it!

2010-01-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite painters is George Innes. Everybody loves Innes landscapes and so do I. But I want to paint like George Innes. Not just do the same style compositions but really paint like he did. All that tonal texture and light to make those wonderful dreamy landscapes. So every month or so I do a few small paintings to check on my progress and my need to try and paint like .... well, George Innes.

Here are two from this week both in acrylic, for now.

Latest progress

2009-12-16T16:35:00.001-08:00

The next phase on the Tiare 24x30 painting. Adding more glazing for color and details in areas such as the shell necklace.

Tiare, the painting so far .....

2009-12-05T19:21:00.000-08:00

A few shots showing the steps on my latest painting, Tiare 24x30.

I started with a mono base painting, taking everything to a fairly finished level.

The rest is thin transparent glazes, building up color slowly. Not yet finish but getting there.

Fire Goddess

2009-11-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

Mystic Forest series continues.

Mystic Forest series

2009-11-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

Mystic forest series continues. I am working on a series of these starting with digital to get a sense of the concepts and themes. Then on to creating some of these in oils which should be a real challenge.

I worked with Tiare Tashnick on these. We are both fans of JW Waterhouse and I have always wanted to do some of that style of art so this was a great fit. I have some wonderful source material to work with now : )

Ravenwood

2009-11-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Something a little different, Ravenwood. Digital collage from many many photos of mine.

New figure work Dark Stare

2009-11-16T21:04:00.000-08:00

Latest figure work, 16x20 inches oil on linen.

New plein air 9x12

2009-10-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Another piece from last week, Corn Fields 9x12, oil on board.

Nice tonal style piece, with long shadows.

New plein air Sauvie Island, Oregon

2009-10-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Country Brook 11x14

Fall Road 11x14

A couple new plein air works from this week out at Sauvie Island on the Columbia River in Oregon. We have had some very nice fall days lately so I have been going outside to paint. These two pieces are both 11x14 in oils on board.

Pearls And Lace

2009-09-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Pearls And Lace, 16x20 inches. Oils on linen.

This is the latest in my figure paintings. I did this one with many transparent layers to build up the color, a more classic approach. My base painting was done in warm mono tones for the most part. Worked out pretty good so I may try this again on the next one.

Why I like plein air painting.

2009-09-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

From last week, about 75 degrees out. Birds singing, calm sunny day and here I am painting in a field.

New figure painting, Red Wrap

2009-08-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is the second of my 15x30 figure paintings, Red Wrap.

I love the beautiful curves that flow from her hair line, down her back and the matching flow of the crimson wrap. I am fortunate to have a wonderful model to work with and we both enjoy getting all these lines and shapes just right. We end up creating beautiful photos with great compositions to work from. I love the vertical format of this very classic style pose. Now I just need make the paintings as nice as the real life pose!

New figure work Crimson And Black

2009-08-28T13:17:00.001-07:00

The latest piece from my figures series is a larger work, 15x30 inches. I felt it was time to get serious and start on some larger figure works so here is the first larger painting in oils. I am already working on the next painting which is the same size at 15x30 inches.

More figure work

2009-08-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Still 11x14.
At Rest 11x14.

These are the latest from my figure works. I started with the figure as my new subject for this summer. Still working with a very limited palette on these. Both of these are in oils this time around. The At Rest piece has a very heavy texture base which was fun to work on. For the texture I used acrylic heavy gel medium on a toned board then painted in the figure with thin layers of oils.

More figure studies

2009-07-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Head Study 9x9 inches.

Sargent Girl 4x6 inches.

A couple more figures. Sargent girl, 4x6 inches is from a John Singer Sargent portrait. Head Study, 9x9 inches is from one of my model shots. Both if these are in oils on board.

Tonal 9x9

2009-07-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Another Urban 9x9 tonal piece, Street Level in oils. Same process here, putting down paint over the whole board and wiping out the light areas. I then added some yellow ochre and raw sienna to some places to add a bit of richness.

Urban study, Looking South 9x9 inches in oils on board. This one is basically a wipe out painting. I put down Raw Umber to cover the entire board then wiped off the paint with small towels and old stiff brushes to create this piece. I added a touch of ochre in the distant buildings and added a few small highlights at the end. Click on image for a larger view.

Peach Lace 11x14

2009-07-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Another figure piece, 11x14 in acrylics. I did many layers to build up the tonal flavor of this piece. I am working on figures this summer, a new area for me. Very fun but challenging.

Afternoon Rest 16x20

2009-07-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Rest 16x20 in oils. More figure painting working with soft neutral colors. Click on image for a larger view.

Tonal texture Misty Day 9x12

2009-07-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Another small one, Misty Day 9x12. This piece is in acrylics with many transparent layers on top of the base palette knife painting. The focus of this piece was to get soft greens that were not too hard and build up the light in layers. Please click on the image for a larger view.

Summer Lupine 9x12.

2009-06-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today's painting, Summer Lupine is 9x12 in acrylic. Working on soft greens and keeping the overall color harmony consistent on this one. I like this approach because I can achieve a nice rich retro flavor to the painting.

Deep In Thought 16x16

2009-06-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

Something a little different from me. I have been working on figures for while now and I am going to try and start posting some of these from time to time. I goal is to really focus on the figure over this summer along with my landscapes. I like doing the dark moody tonal thing with these, keeps them romantic and mysterious. This one is 16x16 in oils on board with a very limited palette of three colors plus white.

Plein Air Peony Fields 9x12

2009-06-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

A recent plein air piece from a couple weeks ago out at a peony farm on a cloudy day. I punched up the sky and background back in the studio for the finish. Please click on the image for a larger view.

More Recent Places In Oregon Wine Country

2009-06-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Some scenes from today, Saturday June 13. Don't worry, I am actually doing some painting out here too. I think some of these shots will make for some great larger studio paintings.

Places I Have Been Recently

2009-06-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

Some recent finished plein air works

2009-06-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Some recent works from from my earlier posts, now finished ( And I use that term loosely).

The Old Truck 9x12 oils.

Summer House 12x12 oils.

Clover And BArn 9x9 oils.

Afternoon Light 9x12 oils.

Misty Light 24x36

2009-05-29T16:26:00.001-07:00

A recent studio piece. Moody evening light painting in oils 24x36 inches.

Plein air by day, studio by work by night. In the evening I can take my time with my favorite microbrew ale or a glass of Merlot.

Click on image for a larger view.

Plein air for Thursday

2009-05-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Now I have the main color shapes of the barn and the truck so I am ready take this one home to finish. I have a pretty good base study to work from now.

Next I have added the sky and ground areas. From here, I add the mid tone shadow areas on the roof and the truck.

My block in start is about getting the tree shapes and barn down for my composition.

Also starting to indicate the darkest shadow areas.

Here is today's scene. I am going to work on a 12x12 square board for this one.

Found a great old barn with an old truck in the front so this was today's stop.

Please click on the images for a larger view.

Plein Air May 27 Wednesday

2009-05-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

The final quick field study. From here I can finish this piece in the studio.

In the next step, I am adding in the base colors for the shapes in the composition.

This is my rough block in. Only about 10 to 15 minutes into this study. I am using basic lines for the house to divide the shapes and large areas of color for the trees. This gives me a fast layout of the composition which I can refine and add more color to in the next step.
This is today's farm scene. I just love this setup; there are many paintings I could pull from this one scene. I am thinking today will focus on the house with the nice shadows.

Today is a 12x12 square format oil painting. I am starting to work on some country farm house paintings for something different. The square format is nice for these paintings, I think it helps give the piece a nice contemporary feel. I am also trying to paint this series with a little more high key color.

This scene had some great shadows happening so I thought a quick study would be fun to work on. These shadows wouldn't hold for long so I had to move quickly and I only wanted a quick rough base painting anyways. I will do the finish in the studio.

As always, you can click on the photos for a larger view.

Plein Air May 15 Friday

2009-05-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Out and about again, a 9x12 on a beautiful afternoon.

New Large Oil painting

2009-05-18T11:11:00.001-07:00

Some people have been wondering what my larger works look like so I am posting a new one I finished a couple days ago. This painting is titled "Coastal Evening" and is 30x48 inches. The piece is done in oils on canvas and you can click on the image for a larger view.

Country scene

2009-05-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

And here he is, a really beautiful woodpecker.

A beautiful country scene I came across the other day. I didn't have time for painting but thought this could make for a nice studio piece. While I was sitting here taking in the view I noticed something flying down to that tree stump on the left at the base of the trees. I quietly moved over to that tree stump, it was about as tall as I am and there was a small hole in the side where a bird was working on a nest. So I just stood still for about three minutes hoping it would come out and I would get a decent shot. I was about to give up when he popped out. Check him out on the next photo and you can click on these photos for a better view.

Plein Air From Thursday May 7

2009-05-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

This is the location for today's painting.

And here is the plein air painting from today's trip.

A small 9x12 plein air piece, Hillside. A nice afternoon so I headed out for a quick plein air trip.

Plein Air Demo From May 1st Friday part 2

2009-05-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

STEP6 Studio Finish:A couple days later I was able to work on this piece in the studio. Working from a photo I took of the scene I added the smaller details to finish the piece. I often use a flat screen computer monitor to view my photos. This shows the light and color much better than a print out would. In my field study I knew I was going to adjust the road and foreground grass colors later; so I just laid in a rough base of those areas. Here's the finished piece, Country Road 9x12 oils on board.

Step 5 Field Study Finish: So here we are with my finished field study for the Country Road piece. I have completed this in about 30-40 minutes by just trying to get the large basic shapes and colors down. I will have plenty of time to work on the details once I get back to the studio.

STEP5 Adding Basic Colors: Now I am adding the basic colors and adjusting the lights and darks to the trees and foreground. I have also painted the sky to get a sense of the atmosphere in the piece.

Plein Air demo Part Two. You can click on the images to see a large view.

Plein Air Demo From May 1st Friday

2009-05-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

STEP3 Block In: Now I have added the base colors into the piece. At this point we can really see where the painting is going. I will show the last steps in my next post, part 2.

STEP2 Composition Block In: In step two, I have filled in the composition with a single base color. In this case it was Burnt Sienna. Now I have a good base for laying the lights and darks. At this point I am only a few minutes into the piece.

STEP 1 Composition: The first thing I wanted to get down on the board was the basic feel of the composition. Here I have used just a few lines to show my road map for this painting. With just these quick steps taking a couple minutes, I can already get a feel for the the piece.

This is the first part of the demo steps for the Country Road painting. Once again I have worked quickly to create a basic field study block in which I can later bring back into the studio for the finishing work. This is part one. You can click on the photos for a larger view.

Plein Air From May 1st Friday

2009-05-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

This is the finished painting from my Friday post, Road View 9x12 oils on board. The composition block in was created outside and the painting was finished in the studio.

I will show the demos steps for this piece in my next posting.

The reason I paint fast up here in Oregon

2009-05-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

Plein air Oregon style. Gnarly weather coming in fast.

A little guy.

From today's trip. I was up near a local winery in the hills. On that road is a large Llama farm, or is that a Llama ranch. Anyways, the new little guys were out and about watching me paint. I managed to get a quick base painting roughed in as our new storm approached. Had to work fast today and finished just as the first drops started hitting.

Plein air May 1 Friday

2009-05-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is the view I painted for today's plein air study. I liked the strong composition of the horizontal road against the large vertical trees.

A photo of today's plein location. Very nice light today, I combined three photos for a wide view of this location. You can see a larger version by clicking on the photo. As beautiful as this view was, I actually painted the road looking left towards those evergreens. I will try and post another demo of this painting soon.

I am also working on finishing some of these plein air studies and will be posting the paintings when they are finished.

Another day out

2009-04-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

And here I am trying to put together something decent out on a nice sunny spring day. Only had a couple hours so today it was just a quick block in to get the board covered. For the finish I will add all the scene details and foreground trees in the studio. I mean really, who wants to paint all those branches in the field? Not me, I do not have the patience for that kind of action in the field.

Well here we are at today's stop. Time to get going on something. I mainly stopped here because there were a lot of birds singing in the nearby trees. The scene I am going to paint is looking out to the left of those bird filled trees. This wasn't the best scene I found today but sometimes you find a spot that you just want to hang out in for a while. All those birds told me this was it.

A nice spot on a country road close to home. Today however, I am heading a little ways further down the road.

With rainy weather on the way for tomorrow, I decided to take a short local day trip for a quick paint hit. I did a quick block in that is only about half finished but it was a beautiful day to be out.

New plein air 11x14 April Pond

2009-04-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Plein air piece from a couple days ago April Pond, 11x14 inches. And let's do this one in ...... and the winner is: Acrylics! I like using acrylics outside because you get fast dry times and can build up paint layers on the fly. Once again, I painted a solid base study plein air and then brought the piece back into the studio for the finish.

New plein air 11x14

2009-04-25T13:06:00.001-07:00

OK Here is the finished plein air piece from my post a few days ago. Country Road 11x14, this time in oils. Click on the image for a better view.

Plein air demo part 2

2009-04-23T20:15:00.001-07:00

STUDIO FINISH: Once back in the studio, I worked on the finishing details like sky holes and distant tree highlights. I also finished the berry bushes with some fine highlight work and added some more tree highlights to the main trees. I felt the painting was a bit too gray even though it was a cloudy day so I decided to warm things up a bit to make the painting have more life. I did this by adding some warm highlights in the sky creating a more golden afternoon light to the piece. This photo was taken in the studio so the photo is a bit warmer than the outside shots of the piece. Anyways, here is the finished piece, Afternoon Light 9x12.

STEP 5 FINISHED STUDY: After a few more details in the tree mass and some slight highlight work in the sky and bushes I am finished with this study. From here, I can go into the studio and refine this into a finished painting at my own pace. The total time on this study was a little less than one hour. It really goes fast; just think in terms of the large simple shapes and you are half way there! Now let's see the studio finish next.
STEP 4 REFINE COLOR: Here I am cutting in more small details but still keeping it loose. I have added a hint of some tree trunks and worked on the tree canopy adding in the lighter ares of leaves. On these cloudy days with fast light changes I find it is best to just go for the overall lights and darks. Once those were in, I used a short bit of sunlight that hit to add in the tree highlights. Notice the this stage I am adding in a bit more color as well. So now we are about 30 minutes into the painting.

STEP 3 REFINE SHAPES: So now it is time to refine main shapes. At this stage I am adding in some of the smaller objects such as the distant trees and berry bushes at the base of the large trees. Notice I also divided the field planes where the dirt is showing in the distance.

Afternoon Light plein air demo Part 1

2009-04-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

STEP 2 BASIC LIGHTS & DARKS: Ok now I fill in each main shape with the basic color and apply a darker version of that color to the shadow areas. Again I am working fast here just getting the whole light mass and the shadow mass. The goal is to get a basic color map that shows the scene with light and atmosphere. I have also added the soft warm gray sky to help unify the painting so far. From here I already can get an idea of where this piece is going. I step back ten feet or so to compare my painting to the scene. At this stage we are only ten minutes into the piece. PART 2 is on the next post. Let's go!

STEP 1 BLOCK IN: So now I am blocking in the same shapes we saw in grayscale in the previous photo. I mixed a warm neutral green earth tone for my tree mass, a soft gray blue for the hills, and a wash of a lighter base green for the field. This stage is less than five minutes and as simple as following the those basic shapes we did in grayscale. Don't even worry about the details at this point. We are on to the next step!

COMPOSITION: here I have blocked in the basic shape composition using solids. Even though this is just single solid shapes you can still see the layout of the piece taken from the scene photo. This gives you an idea of how to be looking at the landscape when deciding what to paint. Now we can get going on the canvas.

COMPOSITION: From the overall scene I decided to pull in on the main trees and distant hill for my painting. Noticed that I have just three main solid shapes for this painting the trees, distant hills and the foreground. This is what you should be looking for at this stage.

START: So here is my location for today. A very nice country scene with rich colors. The cloudy day with shifting light is going to be tricky but if I work fast, I can still get a decent study out of this. A lot of people do not know what to paint once they are here, there is SO MUCH out there to take in it can overwhelm you. So here is the overall scene. Now let's pull a painting composition out from here to work with.

A cloudy day with a front moving in is going this one a bit tough. Hey, at least its not raining right? So here are the steps showing my basic process while painting plain air.

As I said before, I generally just work on quick block ins outside and finish them up in the studio. So here we go!

For a larger view of these demo photos just give them a click.

Plein Air with demo April 22

2009-04-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

New painting from Tuesday, Afternoon light 9x12 acrylics. With the recent nice weather I went out for another plain air day. I have had many requests for demos of my work so I am posting a demo of this piece showing my basic steps. Hopefully some of you will get something out of this. The demo will be in the next 2 posts.

Plein air day April 21 2009

2009-04-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Orchard in bloom.

Field Pal.

Today's paint stop.

Sorry it has been a while since my last post.

Well FINALLY we have some nice weather up here in the pacific northwest so I headed out for some plein air fun. Thought I would post a few photos from my day. The painting will get posted later after I finish it up in the studio. Typically I just do a fast block in outside. That way I can do several in a day (although today was just the one because I had to get back early).

Today's paintings was of the country road scene, a nice composition and lots of rich green fields to play with. While I was out there a pal cruised by out in the grass field, just wanted to check things out I guess. After painting the road scene I found this old orchard with spring bulbs in bloom. I think there is a larger studio painting waiting to be created from this shot.

-The SJ Studio paint guy

Have A Kiss

2009-03-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

My son and I were talking yesterday about art. Why not try a photo realistic painting sometime dad? Sounds like that could be cool he added. I figured why not and off we went going around the house looking for our first victim. We found this kiss, I partially undress it and went to work in acrylics on a small 4x6 canvas board.

This was a fun piece to paint so I think I will try and go after some more of these soon.

Click on the image for a larger kiss.

Raven

2009-03-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I just paint landscapes ALL the time right? This one is acrylic on board with lots of texture in the background color. A very graphic clean composition on this 9x9 inch piece. I love the black against light contrast of this piece. To see a larger version, double click on the raven.

Wetlands hike and photo

2009-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well today was kinda gray and cold. What else is new, its Oregon in February after all. Still I needed to get out today so I grabbed my camera and a nice large telephoto lens and headed out to a wetlands preserve. I was able to sneak up on this Great Blue Heron and took some nice photos of him before he had enough and flew off.

Maybe tomorrow will be a paint day.

2009-02-26T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to my artist blog. I will post new paintings which are created almost daily when the creative spirt is flowing correctly. If it is not flowing, I will go fly fishing or enjoy a fine ale instead. Along with my paintings I will include some postings on places I have traveled to around the northwest. I plan on also including some postings on my painting process and general painting info.