Category: Composition
-
Covered Bridge
American Electric Power used to surface mine coal in McConnelsville, Ohio. Then, in the 1940’s, AEP Stopped mining and turned the land back to nature. Over the next sixty years, they planted 60 million trees, and built dozens of camp grounds, each with dozens of primitive camp sites. They maintained the entire area, reserving it…
-
Gesture Practice
A big part of my recovery is focused on doing things. I spent a lot of time trying to reset by taking time away from things, and just slowing down a bit. Now, part of my next steps are getting back into things, though I’m trying to do so without putting so much pressure on…
-
Farm Road: End of Year Four
This year I posted fewer paintings than any of my previous years. There are a few reasons for this. First, I painted less. I spent a good bit of effort this year on practicing drawing. I tried learning more about perspective in particular, because I want to be able to depict the things I’m trying…
-
Proko Challenge: Landscape #5
I wanted to write up each Landscape thumbnail that I painted, but I ended up needing to dedicate the time to the challenge itself in order to finish on time. I am very pleased with the results that I got from doing this, and I think I’ll be working thumbnails like this into my workflow…
-
Proko Challenge: Landscape Thumbnails #2
This is the second post about the Proko Landscape Thumbnails challenge. The challenge was to submit five landscape paintings, each 2 inches wide by 2 inches tall. I started this painting off wanting to paint trees in the distance using wet-in-wet. I tend to do this often, but in my mind, there is this technique…
-
Proko Challenge Landscape Thumbnails: #1
Proko has a challenge going right now, and I decided I would try to enter. I hope I can finish in time. The challenge is to paint 5 thumbnail landscapes. They can be painted in any medium, but they must be 2” x 2” large. The biggest focus of the challenge is to learn how…
-
Nostalgia Blossom: #1
I have decided to take a brief two week hiatus from watercolor. I think a small break will help me bump past this plateau I’ve been stuck at for the past few months. In the meantime, I’ve been working on some other creative endeavors. I think by exploring other media, I’ll improve at watercolor by…
-
Crappie Weather: #1
I have been wanting to get out and go fishing for quite a long time, and this past weekend, I finally did. The ice has thawed, and they are letting Nimisilla fill with the ice melt. So, on Saturday, I dropped my kayak from the ceiling, loaded it on the car, and drove to the…
-
Buttermilk Falls: #3
I hate this painting. No… I loathe this painting. This painting actually made me mad at it when I was finished last night, because I knew it was ruined as soon as I laid down the first wash in the sky. I kept going likes dummy, hoping it would somehow fix itself. It didn’t. I…
-
Spiker Park Bridge: #1 & 2
I drive through a park on my way to drop off Norah at swim practice, and I pass the same park when I take Winne to dance class. After we cross a small bridge, I like to go straight where Rachel turns right. Every time I do, the girls tell me not to, because they…
-
The Tree You’re Looking For: #2
I decided that I’m sick of painting the same kind of thing over and over. Or rather, it’s not that I’m sick of it, it’s that I am stagnated because I’m always doing the same thing. So I decided to try something abstract. Ok – what a righteous failure. Yeah. It’s awful. it says nothing,…
-
Wave Crash
Ok … GUYS! I’m proud of this one. That means if you don’t like it, shut up. Because I’m fragile. Call me a snow flake, a wuss, whatever. I don’t care. I just know that I like this painting, and I almost never actually like my work. If you tell me why it sucks, I…
-
Collette’s Happy Place
My mom has a friend in Arizona who wanted a painting of a photograph that her daughter took of a place where she likes to camp. It was a challenging photo, but I’m pleased with the final results. The photo is beautiful, and a really interesting composition. This is very different from what I normally…
-
Barn in Walhonding: Studies
I think I’ve learned my lesson by now… before I paint, I need to study my subject. And, what’s the point of doing all these studies if I don’t take the time to reflect on them to better evaluate what I’ve learned by doing them? That’s the purpose of this post – I want to…
-
Fundamentals of Composition: Rule of Thirds
Easily the most challenging thing for me is composition. I have to hunt and peck, twist my shoulders and cross my eyes in order to find a composition that’s interesting and occasionally beautiful. I look out at the world around me and see beautiful subjects, unique subjects, intriguing stories, but capturing that in a photo,…