Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.112

Welcome back.

This week we'll be continuing with our 5x7 painting of Arizona's Grand Canyon. The photo of our subject is seen in the photo directly below. (For those new to this series, I will be using my usual acrylics.)



When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo directly below.



Since that time I have continued to work on the painting. (But not to the extent that I would have liked.) I have concentrated my efforts on the central dark shadowed area. I have now painted in most of it but there will probably be a thin layer over it. The elements are now starting to look tied together. The "islands" are now starting to live up to that title. It is interesting how a relatively small change has had a large impact. Of course, there are many things still left to do. Maybe I'll have some clouds next week.

The current state of the painting is shown in the photo directly below.



That's about it for now, see you next week.

Paperless

Now that the entire New York Times is free, I've decided to make the jump and give up my subscription to the paper variety. It has had some surprising results. In addition to being better for the environment, I've found that I can read the paper more quickly with no loss of content. No flipping and folding of pages, just a click of my mouse. No dirty newsprint, no paper to drag out of the mud. No papers to bundle for recycling. Originally I wasn't sure about doing this but I'm quite pleased so far. I highly recommend it.

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.111

Welcome back.

This week we'll be continuing with our 5x7 painting of Arizona's Grand Canyon. The photo of our subject is seen in the photo directly below. (For those new to this series, I will be using my usual acrylics.)



When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo directly below.



Since that time I have continued working on the painting.

I had mixed feelings about that foreground butte. It seemed a bit cartoonish, so I've repainted it, although that may not be readily apparent in the photo below.
It's a bit less stiff now, somewhat more natural, and the colors are slightly altered.

I've also gone over the "islands" with a reddish color leaving them closer to what their final color will be. Also new is the heavy shadow to the extreme lower right. I will still need to alter the shape of lower foreground butte toward the center of the painting amongst other things.

The current state of the painting is seen in the photo directly below.



That's about it for now, see you next week.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

In addition to meeting famous blogger buddy Man Eegee (link in sidebar) during my trip out west, I met this old (very) friend (on the left) in Holbrook, Arizona. Holbrook is home to the world famous Petrified Forest National Park. Onlookers remarked about the resemblance. I didn't ask his politcal affiliation, but with that toothy grin he could only be a Republican.

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.110

Welcome back.

This week we'll be continuing with our 5x7 painting of Arizona's Grand Canyon. The photo of our subject is seen in the photo directly below. (For those new to this series, I will be using my usual acrylics.)



When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo directly below.



Since that time I have continued working on the painting.

I have concentrated my efforts on the foreground of the painting. The butte on the right now shows a series of highlights and shadows. Although it does not directly mirror the butte in the photo, I have attempted to paint mine in the spirit of the original. The roughly parallel highlights/shadows of the top lead down to the vertical section, and the down to the darkened section closer to the center of the painting. I have yet to fully darken the small triangle of shadow to the extreme lower right.

The current state of the painting is seen in the photo directly below.



That's about it for now, see you next week.

Coming Soon: Talk Like A Pirate Day

Avast, maties! There are just a few shopping days left. Talk like a pirate day is 9/19. Get your swords, eye patches and parrots ready. The festivities will start early. Be there or, umm, one of those bad pirate things will befall ye. Arrr!

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.109

Welcome back.

This week we'll be taking a one week diversion from our Grand Canyon painting, to which we will regurn next week. I recently returned from a trip out west which included a few days in Sedona, Arizona. Once again, I brought along a small 5x4 canvas. Once again, I would be using acrylics.

I attempted to paint the same scene as last year, the view from my hotel room. It wasn't working for me. I painted over those initial brushstrokes and started again. This time I began to paint one of the well known local buttes, Courthouse Butte. And so began a painting with a frustration factor far outpacing its tiny size.

While I was happy with my painting of the butte itself, the foreground proved to be a problem. It has actually gone through several generations/versions. Finally I decided that less is more and painted the 4 plants seen in the photo below with a textured green area to the left side.

As to that sky, not particularly well represented in the photo below, I was quite pleased. At least with the first version. Unfortunately, I tried an experiment with it and the result was ruin. It was painted over several times since then, finally morphing into what is seen below, a faint shadow of its original incarnation.

And here it is for all to see. (Yes, we show life's high and low points here at Painting Palooza.)



That's all for now. I'll see you next week with the next phase of our Grand Canyon painting.

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.108

Welcome back.

This week we'll be continuing with our 5x7 painting of Arizona's Grand Canyon. The photo of our subject is seen in the photo directly below. (For those new to this series, I will be using my usual acrylics.)



When last seen, the painting appeared as it does in the photo directly below.



Since that time I have continued working on the painting.

Once again painting and posting on the run, I have concentrated what little time I had on the red/orange rock formations. I've gone over the orginal paint but there is still much to do. With this change there is now a bit of the islands in shadow illusion apparent.

The current state of the painting is seen in the photo directly below.



That's about it for now, see you next week.