30-30 Challenge #29

2"x4.5" acrylic SOLD

 

There is a pond behind my house that has a creek running into it and creek running out.  It provides the lovely sound of babbling water and frogs in the summer.  My grandkids love to fish there, although actually catching a fish is secondary to just standing or sitting on the dock with a fishing pole!  We get interesting visitors to that pond , including an occasional heron and ducks and geese.  I have seen a ermine and on rare occasion a moose or bear.  This photo reference was the product of wildlife photographer Dale Waack, whom I really appreciate giving me permission to study it and use it for this painting.

30-30 Challenge #24

2"x4.5" acrylic

This is #24 in the 30 day painting challenge.  I am so glad I decided to do miniatures as I have learned a lot including the importance of composition.  I missed that a bit with this one as the top bird is not quite positioned at the most advantageous place.  But my main concern with this one is that it looks like the wings are moving and I think I got that.  Value is so important in painting and I continue to see that when something isn't working, frequently it has something to do with the values (light and dark) against each other.

30-30 Challenge #23

This is painting #23 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  It is from a photo reference taken by wildlife photographer Dale Waack.  He generously gave me permission to use his photos to paint from for this challenge.  I chose to do 2"x4.5" miniatures.  On top of that, I am going to 2 workshops this month.  So, I put myself in the awkward position of painting in 3 different styles this month.  I am feeling like a total amateur....but I am learning!  It is good to be on a learning curve, but I think I just made a lot of confusion for myself this month.  Can you relate?

Raven Mad

This is the second raven I did with an abstract background.  It was a demo for an art class I taught this week to beginning artists.  I have put a couple of their versions here as well.  This was about color mixing and experimenting with ways of applying paint.  For some it was there first painting since elementary school!  We have 2 hours to do a complete 16"x20" painting.  I think it is rather a daunting task, but it is always fun!