Learning & Exploring & Loving It!

I am really loving my art quick studies experience. I find that I am fearless with composition and color application with my mini one hour paintings!

Little Red Barn 4 x 6"

The Red Barn was toned red (lower half) where there would be a lot of green and orange (upper half) where there would be blue sky. The hardest part to paint was the pole in the middle as it was light and bright but very very narrow Also, it was hard to indicate the phone lines--I ended up using a palette knife as even my small brushes I could not get straight lines. Still, I like the result and am happy with what I was able to get done in an hour.

The hardest part of the quick study for me is finding reference photos to work from, I have many photos but it takes the right one for me to be inspired.

Once I decide to do a quick study, I set up my screen /image (to paint from), I layout my paints and brushes and then set the one hour timer. Ready or not I always stop at one hour.

I have learned that I love complementary color toning canvas. My last few paintings I have painted orange under blues and reds under green (light turp washes) and I love the results.

This quick study I liked so much that I used it as a reference to create a larger painting. Both canvases were toned orange before I painted on the whites and blues. I loved the thick layer of snow after the storm and the long blue tree shadows falling across the snow and house.

Snuggled - 4 x 6"

Nestled - 9 x 12"