Lake Cabin Watercolor

9" x 12" Watercolor

Ted and I went on a fishing vacation to a nearby state park with a beautiful pond. He fly fished and caught 7 trout while I painted this from the boat and scooped up the fish in the net. I finished up painting the trees while sitting on the covered porch after lunch. This weekend, I spent a day painting plein air (oils) with a friend out in front of my house. It was fun to paint with someone else, especially a friend! She is a more experienced painter and it shows! Her painting was wonderful and very lively. I feel that mine is lacking in that liveliness. I am not finished yet, but will do some more work on it and post it soon.

Oil Painting: Vineyard

9" x 12" oil on canvas panel

This is a view of a vineyard in California in the early morning. Well, it was late winter, so it wasn't too early. But the sun was highlighting the budding trees and the mustard flowers. I started this in my class then finished at home. We were working on matching colors to our photo references. I used three photos, because one had pretty accurate colors for the mountains, one looked good for the trees, and the mustard flowers were best in another. So that reminds me to take several photos of the same scene, since the camera doesn't get all the colors and lighting correct in any single photo. It was interesting to work on matching the colors for the mountains and realize just how orange the lit parts are. I had the hardest time with the greens. I have heard that other painters have trouble with greens as well. I layered some of the tree colors into the grass in the foreground, which toned it down a bit. I am planning to do some color charts of different green mixes to help in mixing greens in the future. I am happy with this painting and my instructor complimented it!