February 21, 2014

Today was windy, but warmer, and that made all of the difference in the world.  In fact, it was much windier than yesterday, when I about froze, but we hit the upper 50's most of today.  I saw about 8 eagles in a park in town.  A couple of them were soaring, but moving backwards for a bit!  The ducks on the lakes didn't look like they were too happy to be floundering in the white caps either.

I went back to Sawhill Ponds right  away this morning, painted the 'Windy Shore', and said that's enough of that!  The cool breeze coming off of the water in 40 - 60 mph gusts was too much.  Thinking of somewhere that I could find a wind break, and still have something to paint, I headed back to the ranch, where I live.  There are several out buildings, a couple of old fences, and weeds and trees to paint.  It was the right choice.  The last three paintings were all painted in what is basically my backyard.

It's very likely that this month is going to end and there isn't going to be a "nice" day to paint!

Thanks for checking in...

2-21-1 "Windy Shore"

Oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

2-21-2 "Backyard 1"

Oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

SOLD

2-21-3 "Backyard 2"

Oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

2-21-4 "Backyard 3"

Oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

February 20, 2014

As my dad used to say, "If I was a betting man..."!  And, if I were, I'd take odds that on March 1st I wake up to blue skies, calm winds, 72ºF and 20% humidity, with birds chirping and some green beginning to show in the sunlit areas of the pastures.   Wait... that was a dream I had!  Never mind...

I had a plan today, to paint.  Actually, I'm going to make anyone who is reading this, and would like to paint more than they're able to due to what ever is keeping them from it... jealous.  Because that's the only plan I have had every day of this month.  Get up, have coffee, b-fast... and go paint!

What I didn't have planned, was to get so chilled today that I would find myself approaching being hypothermic.  Especially since I've had a fair amount of wintertime outdoor experience in the way of skiing (x-cty skiing and winter camping), hunting, fishing and of course... painting.  And especially since the temps today were not too low, mid-20's to mid-30's.  But it was the wind, that drove the chill right through all of the layers I had on.

I went to a near by wetland area and wildlife sanctuary pretty early this morning, after taking care of some personal and family business.  My thought was that since the winds were howling already, in the 25-30 mph range, with higher gusts, I would stay at this one location and paint all of my daily paintings there to save the hassle of loading it all up more than once.  By about 1:30 I had finished up 3 paintings, and thought, "Great, I'll get at least another one or two done.".  By the time the 3rd one was done, I knew I was colder than cold.  I was all set up, had the easel weighted with the bag of tire chains, the brush caddy weighted with a big rock, easel legs splayed out with a wide footprint to keep it from tipping over.  But I had been beaten up by the wind, and chilled enough to feel the need to go sit in my van with the heater, and radio, on to warm up my body.  Not just to warm the toes and fingers, I was chilled to the core.  I sat there for about 30 minutes, I still didn't warm up.  I thought "What the heck, I'll go do another one.".  But when I got out of the van,  I felt like I remember feeling when home sick with the flu in the past... I was shaking with chills, and couldn't stop.  After sitting in the warm van for a half an hour, I literally couldn't stand to be out of the van.  I may be crazy to be out there painting at times, but I'm not stupid.  I grabbed my painting gear, threw it in the van, and headed to the closest restaurant I could think of, to have a giant bowl of hot soup.  It helped, A LOT.

I tried one more painting in the late afternoon.  It just didn't work out.  I was miserable beyond normal.  That's including painting earlier in the month in -12ºF temps, and in the snow.  That felt warm, comparitively speaking.  I wiped out the last effort and accepted that I had a good day, and called it.

I just heard on the local weather that it's going to be as bad, or worse tomorrow.  We'll be looking at 40-50 mph gusts tomorrow.  I learned my lesson, and will take some "sitting in the van with heater on" breaks in between paintings.

Now I'm home, with more hot soup on the stove, and a glass of a good, blood warming, Malbec.  I'm satisfied with the effort today, even if it fell slightly short of my own expectations.

Thanks for checking in... Enjoy!

2-20-1 "Sawhill #1"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase. 

2-20-2 "Sawhill #2"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase. 

2-20-3 "Sawhill #3"

Oil - 8x10 

SOLD

February 19, 2014

I'm buying a kite shop!  That's all I'm saying about that.

This morning, until about noon, it was gorgeous!  I can't wait to paint in March, April and May.  If it's going to be anything like what the last couple of days have been like, minus the wind, it's going to be fantastic painting!

I'm afraid that it was not a very news worthy day on the painting frontier.  Yes the damn wind was blowing hard, but other than that, pretty uneventful.  I think I'll leave it at that.  Other than to say that the last 6 paintings I've painted, yesterday's last two, and the four today, are painted on the acrylic primed hardboard.  I like the absorbency of this surface, for now.  I have all of the Centurion OP Dlx panels ready to go, and will probably be back to them tomorrow or the next day.  Like I mentioned yesterday or the day before, I am one who likes to change out materials once in awhile.  Especially when painting this intensely.  Keeps me on my toes because every surface has it's own peculiarities and ways it needs to be handled.

The last painting today was painted very fast, less than 30 minutes.  The wind had shown up and was blowing in full force.  I didn't have the interest in fighting the rocking of the panel holder for long, so I pulled up in my back yard, next to my studio, and painted it.

Thanks for checking in... Enjoy!

2-19-1 "Lightning"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-19-2 "Calm"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-19-3 "Goose Ice"

Oil - 8x10

SOLD

2-19-4 "Long View"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

February 18, 2014

And I thought yesterday was windy!  I'm going to stop complaining about it, because one thing I've learned about the wind here, it may never go away, so I'm going to have to deal with it. 

This morning I just didn't think I wanted to stand out in it.  We awoke to gusts in the 30mph range and higher.  So I grabbed the acrylics and thought I may spend the day in the van, with the windows open, painting from it.  I did that for the first one this morning, couldn't stand doing it for many reasons, like being cramped and not being able to move my arms freely, so painted the rest of the day standing out in the crazy winds.  It was so windy that I used a cinder block hanging from my tripod, to steady it.  The wind kept unscrewing my panel holder from the quick release plate underneath it.  I've never have had that happen before!  

I painted two in the afternoon, had a good start on the 4th one of the day, but ended up chatting with some passerby's so long that by the time I returned to the painting, the entire lighting situation was gone... not just a little different... gone.  Considering yesterday's number of paintings, and the extreme conditions today, I decided enough was enough, and scraped the last one off.  

Funny thing is, even in all of this crazy, annoying, difficult to paint in weather, I always go home with a big smile on my face.  I mean, how much better can it be than spending all day, every day, out in Mother Nature trying to find a way to express how wonderful you feel she is???  It can't be any better!

You may see some sand and other debris in a couple of these paintings.  It will come off once the paint is dry.  Also, I painted these on acrylic primed hardboard today.  And will again tomorrow.  Not sure why?   I like to switch things up to keep it interesting. 

Thanks for checking in... Enjoy!

2-18-1 "St Vrain Farm"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-18-2 "Ditch Gate"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-18-3 "Animal Farm"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

February 17, 2014

Another day of wind, but not quite as bad a wind as yesterday's was.  I was about to head out this morning when I realized that I was almost out of toned panels.  I had toned about half of the 120 that I purchased, and now was close to running short.  For what I'm doing this month, I like a dried, neutral toned surface to work into.  It saves the need to get the 'white' covered, it already is by the tone, and it means that I can scumble or apply direct color and any white showing isn't an eye sore.  I use Raw Umber and French Ultramarine Blue, and OMS, to do this.  Apply a wash of it, wipe it with a rag, then put them in the horizontal drying rack.  A rack that my friend and fellow non-stop, very good plein air painter... Rene Plein Air... kindly sent me.  It works Great!

At this point, every day begins with the challenge of 'what to paint?'.  I am not traveling to do this project, I paint in my neighborhood.  I haven't even traveled as far as Boulder, only about 8 miles away, to paint.  One of my goals in doing these kind of intense projects is to find out what I know about where I live, in my hood, and what the possibilities are for interpreting it with paint.  If I get in the van and head out all over Colorado, it's defeating my reason for doing this.  But... at times it's hard to see the possibilities near me.  Especially when the weather is 'blahhh'.

Today it started as blahhh... and before long the wind was an issue.   I decided that it was going to be hard to finesse a painting at all while being battered by the wind's irritating banging on my panel holder, again.  What to do?  First thing was to find somewhere to paint that wasn't as affected by the wind... my choice... Roosevelt Park... in the heart of downtown Longmont.  Okay, so it's a city park, not the most organic of places to paint.  But... it's surrounded by an older neighborhood, and it had a rose garden, albeit not real nice looking right now.

Location solved... My solution was to give myself a challenge.

These things I do, like switching up palettes, and today's challenge, are only taken on for my own education and advancement.  I'm not sure that they're good things for anyone to do, but I find that giving myself a job to do out there is an advantage for me and my growth as a painter.

I decided to set a time limit for my paintings today... thank goodness for iPhones.  I set a 30 minute time limit for each painting.  I started the timer, began painting, and when the horn went off, I put the brushes down.  These paintings are raw, only showing what I could do in the 30 minute time frame.  But what it showed me is so much more valuable than spending the day doing them.  It's an exercise in being in a place and finding a subject to paint, in making decisions without dilly dally, in getting to the big picture,  in putting down the essentials, and in being able to stop at the end of the painting period.  They're not completed paintings, they're quick impressions, but they're all very honest and accurate notes about what I was seeing out there today.  I painted 4 in Roosevelt Park in Longmont, then headed out into the country, where I thought the wind had died down (it hadn't), and painted 4 more.

Saw a nice fox and a rough legged hawk on a kill today... and a nice lady who thought it was nice to see "A Thomas Kinkade painting in their park!". :)

Thanks for stopping in... Enjoy!

2-17-1 "30 Mins #1"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-2 "Winter Rose Garden"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-3 "Roosevelt Park"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-4 "Winter Rose Garden #2"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-5 "Behind An Old Fence"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-6 "Flood Victims"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-7 "Hawk's Perch"

Oil - 8x10

Click here to purchase.

2-17-8 "Ending"

Oil - 8x10

SOLD

February 16, 2014

I wouldn't bet a wooden nickel on what the conditions will be tomorrow!  This morning it was nearly idyllic, almost boring, temperature started out at about 52ºF, sun with some clouds softening the harsh blue sky, and providing some interest up there.  No major wildlife events, other than the Boulder equivalent to the Serengeti Plains massive Wildebeest migration... Here we have a strange herd animal that is adorned in very tight skin, usually black with Italian or other advertising graphics branded all over them, that have very odd looking round legs that spin constanly... Boulder area bicyclists were out en masse.  That's how it started...

It ended with winds that were blasting at a steady 25-30 mph, with gusts hitting the 45mph mark!  I had to use my bag of tire chains to weight my tripod down from the center post.  That held it still, but it was flapping like a card on a bicycle tire!  I managed the last two paintings while it was like that, fortunately it was a nice warm 63ºF.  Even with the wind, that temperature felt so good that I really didn't mind it that much.  Only problem was trying to put the brush where I thought it should go.  Best part of it all was the Golden Eagle that was perched up on a knoll, close to the last one I painted, that would every so often raise it's wings to launch into the strong wind, flying barely a few feet above ground level, and chase prairie dogs all around their 'town'.  I also saw it try to take out a raven, chasing it in the high winds, the raven could barely move forward, the Golden Eagle only slightly more able to.  I guess it was too much work as the eagle slipped back up the hill side and perched on a rock until it's next little jaunt chasing dogs.  That made the wind worth it.

Today I decided to use another favorite limited palette of mine.  You may know of the great painter, Ned Jacob, who lives in Colorado.  He's been a favorite of mine for 30 years.  I knew he used a limited palette, but had never seen what it was until another fabulous artist and friend, Robert Lemler, told me to give it a try.  I have used it quite a bit over the last two years.  The version I use is slightly different than the one Ned uses.  It's a perfectly abbreviated spectral palette.

It is... Cadmium Yellow light (Ned uses cad yellow medium but I like having the slightly cooler yellow for things like turning a sky slightly green), Cadmium Orange, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White.  That's it, but if you mix the missing secondaries you will see you have a full spectrum palette to work with.  Below are a couple of charts I made to show the chromatic range of the palette, and to show some of the grays that you are able to achieve with those 4 colors, plus white.  What I've also discovered is that there is another aspect to the color you can achieve with this palette. That is that the transparency of the mixes can be very different than the same mixes used opaquely.

Thanks for looking in... Enjoy!
ps... Sorry for the glare on some of these.  I had to rush tonight.

Some possible grays from the palette used today.

The "Ned Jacob" palette showing the full spectral range, and some neutrals.

2-16-1 "A Field With A View" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

2-16-2 "Wind Coming Up" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

SOLD

2-16-3 "Wind Blasted" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

2-16-4 "Last Stand" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

SOLD

February 15, 2014

My overview of today, as a day to be out painting... Well, at least it wasn't snowing!  Low ceilings, chilly temps, and almost no snow left, didn't get me real excited out there.  I really found it hard to like what I was looking at this morning.  Without the snow cover, the dead grays of the landscape under the low overcast were less than interesting.

Like I've told students, sometimes these are the kind of days when you go out to school yourself.  One way to do that is to minimize the palette to study and paint the tonal relationships without as much concern for color... because the color there is minimal at best.  Let me put that another way... at this time of year, if there is sun on the landscape, even the dead grasses and 'winter landscape' usually has a wonderful visual treat in store for the painter.  If not... then it's like today.

I almost went with straight value studies, black and white paint, which is a great way to study.  Instead I decided painted with the so called "Zorn" palette of Ivory Black, Cadmium Red Light (Zorn used true Vermillion) and Yellow Ochre... plus white.  Zorn did use this palette, but not for everything he painted.  He had tons of tubes of color in his studio when he passed, and it's obvious looking at his work that he painted with other colors on his palette.  Still, on a day like today, it was a challenge yet a very appropriate selection of colors to use.  I might have liked a blue... but after the day of painting with those three colors... I really didn't miss the blue at all.  It's all about color relationships, this palette shows that in spades.  The violets and cool bluish colors are only looking that way because the black, white and red in mixture is next to a yellowish or an orangish color, causing the visual effect of complimentary contrast to help out.

Since the snow has melted off, there is a lot more road surface to see to pull over on.  Today was a road painting day for sure.  No weirdos, no animals.

Thanks for checking in... Enjoy!

2-15-1 "Low Ceiling" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

2-15-2 "Easy Gray" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

SOLD

2-15-3 "Old Dark Ones" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

Click here to purchase.

2-15-4 "Ouray Up" - oil - 8x10

©Marc R. Hanson 2014

SOLD