Gibralter Rock

Yet another landscape started on site. I am still working on the values in the center. What a cool place for an outing if it didn't take a half hour to climb. On a side note, I got my scooter way up here! :)

Stages of Painting

Decided to photograph the progress of this painting.  It's a view of the Mississippi River from Dubuque.  I did this this in three sessions: the underpainting / sketch, then the first pass of painting (I could have left it at this stage except for the very rough foreground), and then the final painting.  In the final step I decided I needed to punch up the contrast but in comparing it to step two I think I lost some of the mood and atmosphere that inspired me to paint this scene in the first place.  I never really know where my paintings are going to end up and it's interesting to see the progression.  I just wish I could go back a step when I overwork a painting.

Tom

Summer Dreaming

Sometimes (when the weather is terrible) a little summer dreaming helps get through the winter.  Here's a painting I finished recently from a photo I took while camping at Kohler Andre State park this past year.  Does it show that I repainted the clouds about eight times (I think it does).

Tom

Pink. It's like red but not quite.

I'm down to less than a dozen paintings to finish or fix. I don't throw many away like I really should. We had an outing at Longenecker Gardens in the Arboretum last May I'm guessing. I imagined something like this only better when we started. :)

The Exiled Sculpture - Olbrich

Started this last fall. Warm better come soon. My pile of unfinished paintings is getting thin. For those that don't know the story, this sculpture was commissioned for a lot of money and sat outside the civic center uptown in the late 70's. Some city leaders disliked it so much they had it removed and put in a much better spot. It used to be shiny but has a cool patina now.

Random Triad

Inspired by David's use of randomly chosen pigments I did a quick study with random primaries of the Schoebrunn Preserve in Door Co.  It is impossible to get that spring green with ultramarine which is a good thing to know with spring coming up eventually.

Winter Studio Work

This weather has made it easy to get into finishing/fixing paintings and not feel I'm missing being out there. I had a few commissions that plein air painting really helped improve my work.

Umami

Last fall I was heading out to the lake to paint and driving down Willy St. I saw this splash of color. I did a uturn, parked and got a good under painting done before the light was gone. I waited and waited to come back and get the true color. Photos did it no justice. It turns out that was one of the last days they used the umbrellas so I added the color here. I did my best to ignore details and just pretty it up. :)

Random colors

Here's something that I have been trying to get more familiar with all of my paints (40 of them!) and to learn what colors work together. I randomly select 4-6 pigments (with a random number generator) and then only use those colors. I typically do this with smaller images. I allow myself to add a primary if I say don't have any blues and the painting will not work without it. (But randomly pulling a blue) 

5 x 6.5 study. Watercolor on paper. using new gamboge, Quin Scarlet, Sap green, Mars yellow, Ultramarine

Derivative Work

A few days ago I posted a painting I did based on a photo I saw in the newspaper.  It was pointed out to me that this is what's called a derivative work because I'm using someone's else's photo, and since I didn't get the photographers permission, I could even be sued.  When I painted it I just thought it was a scene that would be fun to paint and didn't give any thought to copyright issues or selling the painting.  To me, it was just a painting exercise.  But, I agree, I can't say it's "my painting" because it's based on someone else's photo.  I'm always careful about this and have never tried to sell or pass off any derivative work as my own.  I guess I didn't think a simple blog post was a big deal.  But I've now removed the post just to be "proper".

What bothers me about this is that as a person living in Dane County, who doesn't travel all that much, I'm missing out on painting so many exotic or interesting landscapes from around the world.  I've always wanted to paint mountains, deserts, the Maine seashore, etc. and it would be nice if I could lay claim to ownership of the resultant paintings.  There is, however, one way around (at least partially) this dilemma.  It's provided by Google Earth which in my opinion is one of the greatest inventions ever.

It's so cool to be able to ponder the entire surface of the world, then zoom in on one particular spot, and then enter the "street view" mode and see actual photographs of views from a street.  And, guess what, Google has confirmed that there are no copyright issues with use of these images.  So I could sell a painting that I paint from a Google image.  But, still, since I didn't come up with the image, can I say it's "my painting"?  I think I'm getting confused.

Here's a painting I did a few years ago from a Google image.  No, it's not a scene from Stoughton!  It's from the Google street view of Rome, Italy.   Note I didn't sign it because it wasn't from my photo image, but I can post it and even sell it.  I guess it's a Google-Gilbert collaberation.

Tom

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to DCPAPA members!!  Hope you are all staying warm and painting in your studios (except the intrepid Jan Norsetter who is probably out there right now but she is made of sterner stuff than me!)

This is a watercolor monotype based on a photo a friend took last Christmas in Lutsen, Mn.  I learned this technique at the Clearing in Door Co. this fall and have been playing around with it in the studio.  I like it because it is still involves painting but you get effects that you could not get with just painting with watercolors.  I've also printed some based on black and white sketches so that my memory has to work harder to come up with the colors and mood.  It's really fun to pull back the print and see what happened.  The paper is still wet so you can make little adjustments with a brush before you let it dry.  I've tried a few different papers and I like Strathmore Aquarius II.  It dries flat and is a nice bright white.

11x14 watercolor monotype-Lake Superior, Lutsen, Mn.