SLOVAKIA VIRTUAL PAINTOUT

This painting was done for Bill Guffey's VIRTUAL PAINTOUT

Saint Martin's Cathedral,   Bratislava, Slovakia

(16X12 oil on canvas panel)

 

This was a very difficult reference site to find tucked on the north side of the Church. I was attracted to the light/dark composition, and the weathered look of the old stone walls. There was a white box to the right of the statue which was impossible to define, until I brought up the monitor brightness, and discovered it was a cross. We are using this image for our Christmas cards.

 

CROATIA VIRTUAL PAINTOUT

This painting was done for Bill Guffey's VIRTUAL PAINTOUT blog.

Railroad Crossing (16x12 oil on canvas panel)

I hiked all over Corsica and finally found this site just north of Donja Dobra. [Ref photo]

I liked the way the tracks fade into the fog. I drew the crossing closer to the crossing guard, which brought more ties into the composition. The painting is not finished. The ties need more grays, the power lies at the top need to be darker and I may want to add darks in the railroad bed.

THREE RECENT PAINTINGS

 

FOGGY BOTTOM II (16x12 oil on canvas panel)
This image is from Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, I used a Panoramio photo on the Google Map. I drew two versions of this photo on to canvases and liked the second drawing better. It can be seen in the previous post. I liked how it came out so decided to paint this as well.

OIL CANS (12x15 oil on canvas panel)
This was done from a jigsaw puzzle on shockwave.com. I used Burnt Sienna, Ivory Black, and Raw Umber to get a warm background, which brings out the bright colors of the cans. The table top looked like marble so I used Ultramarine Blue, Ivory Black, and Raw Umber to get a cool black.

 PARKED (12x9 oil on canvas panel)
This is another high contrast image I found in the Costco magazine. I wanted to do a larger painting, but the image was rather low resolution. I used the same colors for the background as in the Oil Cans.

FOUR RECENT PAINTING

FISHING COUSINS

(14X11 oil on canvas panel)

This painting was done from a photo. I simplified the background removing tree reflections on the water.  I enjoyed painting the boys and dog on the back of the shirt.

SOGGY BOTTOM

(16x12  oil on canvas panel)

This one was done from a photo I found at Peggy's cove, when hiking though Nova Scotia on the Google map. The ropes were bright red, green, and yellow nylon. I used my artist licence to change them to old fashioned hemp rope.

Railroad Workers

(9x12 oil on canvas panel) 

This statue is at the San Luis Obispo railroad station and was painted en plein air. The sketch turned out looking fairly good. I worked on getting a good composition and capturing the variation in the colors of the bronze. The buildings in the background were intentionally left out to bring out the statue. Final touch ups were done in my studio.

WELDER

(12x16 oil on cavas panel)

The reference photo for this painting was one of the many old time photos floating around on the Internet.

LATVIA UPDATE

Ladies of Vilandes Street

I have finally finished this Painting, getting all the grunge on the lower wall, more definition on the blocks, and finishing the doors.

LATVIA PAINTOUT

This is my June entry to Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout blog.


Ladies of Vilandes Steet
(16x12 oil on canvas panel)

I found this old building at 11 Vilandes Street, Rega, Latvia. REF-IMAGE. I liked the cool gray figures against the warm yellow orange wall, and am always on the look out for patina that comes with age.  I am only about half done with this Painting. The stones on the right side need details like the ones on the left, the lower half of both figures are have quite a bit of detail work. You can see some of the pencil drawing on the doors, you can see what they will look like from the reference photo. Also the gray lower walls have a lot of brown tones. I will probably leave out the graffiti. I will  repost the image when completed.

 

JERUSALEM PAINTOUT

This is my May entry to Bill Guffey's blog VIRTUAL PAINTOUT.

Harod's Gate (12x9)

I enjoyed hiking through the historical Old City of Jerusalem. My reference for this painting was on the South end of Harod's Gate. The contrast of the dark arch and the sun lit path made and interesting composition. The second arch provides a repetition of shape, and the man provides a focal point.  There are a lot of subtle colors which are a challenge to paint.

ONE OLD & TWO NEW

Verdigris Turret (14 x 11 oil on canvas panel)
This painting was done in January from a "Google map street view" in Boston [reference].
I just finish cleaning up a few things and now feel it is worthy of a frame.

Clothespins (14 x 11 oil on canvas panel)
This painting was done from a photo I found at one of the art challenge blog sites. Capturing the glass jar and the distortion of the clothespins seen through the jar was quite a challenge.

Padlocks (12 x 9 oil on canvas panel)
The reference photo was from the Google map at Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy. I simplified the walls and made them darker to bring out the locks. I believe a lot of the white on the locks was due to the use of a flash. So I used a lot of yellow ocher, gold ocher, and raw sienna on the locks. My wife suggested the changing the text on the lock at the bottom to represent our two granddaughters.

I have included the reference photo here since it is no longer available on the Google map.

NEW ORLEANS update

I am not sure how much improvement you can see in the finished New Orleans paintings below.

On Pat O'Brien's the shutters have been completed, the iron work and shadows on the lantern have been improved, and all edges have been improved.

Here the hanging HALL sign, and the sign over the door have been finished. The window with iron work, radiating spokes, and porcelain beads is also complete. This painting with all it's details was quite a challenge. But I really enjoyed working with all the subtle colors.

NEW ORLEANS VIRTUAL PAINTOUT

This painting was done for Bill Guffey's VIRTUAL PAINTOUT blog.
I wanted to do a painting in the French Quarter, but it was hard to find good lighting. The Google car photoed this area at the crack of dawn so most areas were either very dark and all shadows, or very bright and washed out.


Pat O'Brien's (14 x 11 Oil on canvas panel) Ref Photo

We visited New Orleans a couple of years ago, and were in Pat O'Brien's for one of their famous Hurricanes. I was surprised to see this site was one of the few with sun light. The diagonal shadow line was lowered to bring more light on the sign. I still have a little work to do on this painting but wanted to get it posted on Bill's blog.


Preservation Hall (12 x 16 Oil on canvas panel) Ref Photo

Preservation Hall is next door to Pat O'Brien's, but the Google picture was not very good. I found this user photo in the Google System and just had to paint it. I love all the subtle colors on the walls, and letters on the trombone case sign. I still have to finish the HALL sign and the widow, both of these are just roughed in. I will post it again when finished.