Wednesday, January 2, 2019

30 Paintings in 30 Days, Part 2


This post covers paintings 11 through 20 of last year's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. I talked about it in a previous post. For these paintings I continued to explore tonalism, but I also was inspired  by Corot. Once again here are ten paintings with some commentary on each piece.

8 x 10, Oil on Masonite Panel
This one was the first of larger paintings during the 30 Day challenge. Up to this point I was painting 5 x7 and 6 x 8 paintings. In fact the day I painted this one I also painted a 5 x7 which is the last painting seen in my previous post. For this one and the 5 x7 I began to use Rublev Colours Wilson's Medium. I think I continued to use it for the rest of the paintings. I'll talk more about that medium in a future post.

5 x7, Oil on Masonite Panel
This one was inspired by George Inness. I didn't talk about my palette yet but some of the key colors I was using for many of these paintings was Rublev Colours Chrome Green, Cinnabar Green, Chrome Yellow Primrose, and Chrome Yellow Medium. The Chrome Green was used to create the green/blue skies and dark green foliage. It is a green I recognized in many George Inness paintings.

8 x 10, Oil on Masonite Panel
Most of the paintings were from my imagination, inspired by rural Virginia. This one is of City Point, Virginia based on a plein air watercolor I painted in April 2017 and memory. It shows a view on the James River looking south towards Jordan's Point. I wanted to get more atmospheric with this one. I did repaint it last summer, and I'll post that one as an update to this post in the future.

6 x 6, Oil on Masonite Panel
I had just received Rublev Colour's Orange Molybdate which I had never tried before. Two of my painter friends recommended it and I decided to give it a try. It quickly became a staple on my landscape painting palette, replacing Rublev's Minium. I'll talk more about this lovely red-orange in a future post.

8 x 10, Oil on Masonite Panel
More Orange Molybdate in this one. 

8 x 10, Oil on Masonite Panel
My first nocturne, another painting inspired by City Point, Virginia. This time it's a view looking north showing the James and Appomattox Rivers along with the factories in Bermuda Hundred. Rublev's Maya Blue and Blue Black dominated this painting.


6 x 6, Oil on Masonite Panel
With this little painting my landscapes veered off into a different direction inspired by Corot. I became interested in painting cloudy, rainy days depicting the dampness of the landscape.


8 x 10, Oil on Masonite Panel
This one was among my favorites and I would like to paint a larger version in the future. The gray of the sky is warmer because I used Rublev's Black Roman Earth.


8 x 10, Oil on Masonite Panel
Missing fall in Virginia because most falls in Seattle have been wet. I do admit fall 2017 in Seattle wasn't too bad and among the driest falls since I've lived there. The lone figure with his dog reflects the solitude we can find in nature. Though the person in my painting carries a rifle for hunting, I think of the hours I spent metal detecting during falls in Prince George.

9 x 12, Oil on Masonite Panel
I began to paint larger at this point, still inspired by Corot and cloudy days in cloudy days in Virginia.
 It wasn't until recently I had begun to appreciate the beauty of rural Virginia, even on a cloudy day. This painting expresses that sentiment.