Saturday, February 12, 2022

Backstop in Snow

 Oil Sketch of backstop in snow, first time out after fitting my small cigar box pochade with a handle so I could hold it aloft like a plasterer's hawk. The handle came with a #bestbrella but I never had occasion to use it so I ripped out its brella screw and replaced with a 1/4" 20 to fit the t-nut already in place for tripod mounting. @judyendless got a nice shot of me using it. I also made a mini version of a #PaletteGarage from a Rotring pen box (#PaletteCigarage). It all worked well, except that I belatedly realized that my custom of cleaning one palette knife with another palette knife was impossible now that I had to do everything with one hand. So I found a piece of extruded metal with nice flanges and made a one handed palette knife scraper. As is so often the case with accommodations, it turned to also be incredibly convenient even if you have two hands, so I installed them on my other pochade box, french easel, and palette table.

Oil painting of athletic backstop seen from behind, with snow on ground and trees in background


Thursday, February 10, 2022

Van Horn Park Peninsula

The ice is melting and forming puddles on the surface. I tried an experiment with this, putting blue washes top and bottom fading into a rosy wash in the middle, before doing any painting. It had the effect of muting the greens, which is usually a good thing. 

Watercolor sketch of wooded peninsula with icy pond and melted puddles in foreground


Progress shot. Washes are partially visible.

alt="Photo of wooded peninsula with icy pond and melted puddles in foreground and sketchbook with partially completed painting held up in front."


Monday, February 7, 2022

Shed Roof

I love how the wind blowing snow off the roof reveals all the vortices and eddies created by the edge. The swirls and curlicues propagate out into 3-D space and each flake gets a wild roller coaster ride down to the ground. Judy took a photo of me at work, with my pochade box protected by ArtisticInTent, and a video from the kitchen window showing the snow blowing.

Oil painting of house and back porch with snow blowing off roof, creating complex swirls and spirals.

Artist painting in snowstorm, using pochade box and protective tent made of plastic sheeting on metal frame.