Soft Sun Setting

"Soft Sun Setting" as the title suggests is the best way to describe this lovely sky prior to sunset. It was Tuesday evening at Braddocks Bay on Lake Ontario. View is looking West. A favorite spot for avid bird watchers it sports a great migratory flyway as the birds typically follow the shore line rather than cross open water. Especially popular seem to be the raptors.

Due to illness this was the first painting I have done since last time. I was joined this evening by Todd, Josie and Enrique. Each did a great job. Todd had a unique and very impasto style painting. Click on his name to have a look and comment to let him know you stopped by.

This painting is 6" x 8" on canvas.

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"Begin to Glow", a Plein Air Study

"Begin to Glow" is oil on board and measures 8"W x 16"H It was painted on the portico of Cobbs Hill looking south to Pinnacle Hill. The evening was gorgeous and this lamp in the forground had just begun to glow.

Painting with me tonight were Todd Ryan and Josi Etter. Enrique Stopped by to say hello and many other people gave us their compliments. Below are a couple of photos of the site and my fellow painters.
To the left is my easel and show a bit of what I was viewing.

To the right you can see Todd working with palette knife in the foreground and that is Josi behind him working on her own rendition.

This is a wonderful place to paint. So much sky, the city skyline and reservoir, all to inspire.

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Wave Study One

Here is a study I did last Sunday morning near the Coast Guard station at Charlotte Harbor. Beautiful clear crisp morning with much brilliance on the water. I had to squint just to keep looking at it.

Of coarse painting moving waves is a big challenge and the reason for this study. I need to look at the wave for awhile and think about what color and position was the darkest shadow, reflected light, highlight, etc.

The splash over the rock is never the same twice. Even in the 1 or 2 seconds that the rock is visible it changes dramatically. The green plant algae goes from a wet sheen to a flat sheen in less than a second.





Here is a photo of the site and conditions to give you an idea of what I am up against when I paint this way.

Josi Etter painted with me on this morning. She paints fish because of her love of that subject. She and her husband are avid in their pursuit of the elusive trout by fly fishing. Sketch and Release is her web-site and you may find it interesting.




Josi also is currently exhibiting and interesting portrait of a modern Madonna at the Memorial Art Gallery. The show is called 2007 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition. She calls it "Die Gedanken Sind Frei…" or in English, Thoughts Are Free.

On June 24, 2007 the Rochester D & C newspaper suggested the following regarding Josi's work, "Perhaps the most striking fusion of past and present can be see in Rochester painter Josi Etter's Die Gedanken...."

It is a pleasure to paint with Josi whenever the opportunity arises. Congratulations on your acceptance to this show in order to display your fine work!

I leave you with this quote from A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean.

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy."

Josi and I both know... Art never comes easy!

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Independence

Portrait in progress by David Darrow
© 2007 David R. Darrow - Used by Permission - All rights reserved

Go here to see the finished portrait. See the difference?

Why not stop by his blog and comment on his beautiful work.





"Painting, in general, which happens over time, may be more truthful than photography, which extrapolates its truth from an instant. In painting, the whole gradual process is still visible even in the final result." Geoff Bouvier

Above is excerpted from an article about fellow artist David Darrow. Enjoy it.

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter." Oscar Wilde

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Below, I leave you with the following thoughts for today.

On the 4th of July celebrate the independence of a nation, celebrate the fight for individual liberty.

An artist paints, a liberated artist paints what he sees, what he feels, his dreams, his aspirations.

He puts them out there for the world to see, or keeps them locked in a closet, only for him to see.

A painting is like a lamp. It lights up the soul of an artist. It is a guide to his world within.

A great painting is his guide of promise for the world, of hope, of true possibilities.

There is a language used to convey in visual image the thought of an artist. The trained hand his main tool, paint and canvas the medium of exchange.

Sometimes for a thought to share, sometimes to remain privately within.

Let him remain free.

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"Cross-Rivers"

"Cross-Rivers" is a name derived from the more common cross-roads. Here the Genesee River crosses the Erie Canal. In the Genesee Valley Park are many arched stone bridges and here is one at the intersection with a railroad bridge beyond. The view is West and the canal continues toward Buffalo, New York and the Lake Erie.

The painting, oil on canvas, measures about 8"W x 9-1/4"H.

"Cross-Rivers" was painted on a hot, hazy evening with Todd Ryan and Enrique V. joining the paint out. My wife and son brought along a picnic basket with fantastic treats. It brought the thought that summers painting in France with Renoir and Monet would have been great.

Thanks for looking.

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