Sunny Market Day

Sunny Market Day - 6x8 inch
oil on panel -click here to purchase

Light falling on form is just about my most favourite subject to paint.  I get caught up in the shapes and tones of what's going on, that half the time I dont really pay much attention to exactly what it is I'm painting. A black and white photograph of a sunny day at the Kingston market, and I zoomed in on one little corner...where the light was playing on the activity.  the resource I was working from was only 1.5 x 2 inches...so I took liberties with the people and shadows. 

Imagining what's not there

This is gessobord with a warm toned oil ground. I thought that colour might add vibrancy to my palette of fairly muted tones. My plan is for this to be an urban scape that takes the viewer on an imaginary flight. (magic carpet anyone?)  I begin with an actual photo I took a few years back, which I dug out of my resource files last week; you can see it on the upper right.  I liked the shapes of the steeple and the skyline, but I don't like the grey sky, bare trees and I dont want a copy in paint(boring). My goal is to take it a step or two further. I sketched my idea adding a background that I have imagined(basically my idea of what the cataraqui river might look like if I was flying over it).  I want the focus to be how the urban scape relates to the landscape in my mind.   I dont have a real plan other than this, no other images to work from...so I am tapping how I think it might look (imagining).  It's play in a way, but also a building of shapes and tones in an abstract manner.  One brush only for establishing these elements, because I want to keep it loose as possible at this stage.  

Summer Eve

Summer Eve - oil on linen - 18x14"

It was a little cooler in my studio today; not so humid as yesterday.  The sun didn't really make an entrance until about 2pm so it didn't have time to heat up...which was nice as I was itching to get painting.  I made a start on this a couple of days ago, but ran out of steam, so it was a good feeling to get working into it again this afternoon. I really wanted to work in unexpected (but somehow believable colours)...so chose a palette that was short on blue.  I didn't want boring blue water.  I was eyeing the raw umber in my paint drawer and decided that might change things up.   I would like to ground that sailboat in the front a bit more with some dark at it's base but otherwise calling it done.  I really like working on 18 x14 size, I think it's becoming my new favourite size, especially for my Kingston paintings.