Last Days of Fall, 8" x 10" - sold

This year I had a ball painting fall scenes.
I used to shy away from yellows, ochers and reds because I did not know how handle those colors, but as with almost anything you try, you gain confidence after a few failures.

A Glorious Autumn Day, 14" x 11"

This Fall has been one of the most beautiful to me. Maybe I'm seeing things in a different way but I know I'll be sad to see the last leaves on the trees being carried away by the wind... Although I have not done any decent plein air this season, I have been painting a few fall scenes from photos and reworking some old ones.

I had started this painting during the Susan Ogilvie workshop back in May, but I had issues with the shadows on the road. This time around I reworked the shape of the shadows and their color, lightened the red of the house, and finally cropped the painting at the bottom. I'm happy with it now.

Autumn Willows, 10" x 20" Sold

This pastel received a Merit Award at last weekend CNY Art Guild Show.

The reference photo is from Ley Creek, in Mattydale. vI took artistic license with the photo by creating a waterway (the foreground was totally covered by tall grasses) and changing the time of day from early afternoon to early evening. Even if the channel looks more like a wet path to you, I do not think it detracts attention from the focal area and the overall mood of the scene.

Meadowbrook in Summer, 9 x 12

This painting was started and practically finished on location one August afternoon. However, back at home I started to have doubts about the dark trees that were originally on the left. After several attempts at reworking the trees while trying different greens, I had to stop and think. At this point I had also looked at other photos taken at this same spot under slightly different light conditions and that confused me even more. Finally, I decided it was best to try and convey a mood, and it was smooth sailing from then on. I hope you get the feeling of a warm and lazy afternoon.

As an afterthought I added three seagulls.

Lavender , 9 X 7

It's a sure thing now, I'll be having a solo show at a popular restaurant next March. Years ago I would had been in a rush to start painting but I'm actually fixing some paintings that I did on location this summer. Somehow it doesn't feel right to start new work when there are paintings begging to be finished. This also gives me time to think what I would like to paint from the tons of reference photos I have, and hopefully a theme will emerge.

This painting is from Lockwood Farm in Skaneateles. By chance, this past spring I learned that there was a lavender farm in the area and without waiting too long I contacted the owner, Karen, who very gracefully invited me to paint at the farm. She also has sheep, and a very friendly barn cat who almost knocked my pastel box when he jump on it! Check out her blog and enjoy the beautiful photographs.

Jim's Old Place (Payne's Marina), en plein air, 12"x9"

This painting was done during the Old Forge paintout on Sept 3rd.

I had already painted another pastel at a different location but was not satisfied with the results because I had painted it with me under the shade of a building. Once finished, I noticed that the colors were different from what I thought I had when looked under different light. This was the third time this happened to me, so with that in mind I went out to paint another location.

These old buildings in Inlet had called my attention earlier on but at the time they were totally back lit. At 1:30PM I was on the parking lot across the street, in full sunshine with only my hat and sunblock for protection and ready to start. Now that I look at it, I wish I had had more time to tweak it a bit, but at the time it looked fine and I was in a hurry to have it framed for the auction before I left Old Forge.

The Outhouse at Leetonia, en plein air 10"x10"

For the last 5 years our family has been invited to spend Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends at a friend's camp in Leetonia, in northern PA. For me it's time for relaxation, bird watching and painting.

This is my second attempt at this outhouse. I wanted to include some dead trees but was having such a hard time with them that I had to stop and think whether they were important or not. Since the painting is about the outhouse, I decided to leave them out and I'm happy with the results.

I used watercolor paper prepared with Golden's fine pumice gel and iridescent bright gold. The surface doesn't offer as much tooth as regular sanded papers, but it forces me to be more careful with the pastel application.