Yesterday was unofficially the first day for planting here in the mountains – Mother’s Day. If you have lived here awhile you learn that it is tantamount to suicide to try and plant anything before that date. We tend to get at least one maybe two killer frosts before spring officially settles in after Mother’s Day. Just one of those Appalachian unwritten rules that you pick up after getting bit once or twice! To prove a point, it was 80° last Friday and suddenly last night gale force winds swept down the mountains ripping through the trees, dropping the temperature to the wee 40’s and drenching the ground! The winds are around 7 to 30 mph this morning. They were often loud enough to wake the dead all night! There was no frost this morning but any new plantings would have been pounded to the ground had we been tempted to plant them before yesterday.
I was planning to hit the studio early this morning but that would mean slipping off my jim-jams and bundling up against the wind and rain to battle the gale trying to reach my studio door. So, I settled for an extra cup of coffee instead.
I did get a little done on the painting yesterday. I’m continuing to add background, building up the painting using the negative spaces around the Forsythia and the boulders littered about the landscape. Here is an updated photo:
I decided to add part of a lake just beyond the foreground scene. I’m not sure it will stay, but I like the idea of open water beyond the shore with the creek flowing through the painting. I’ve begun painting the large boulders to the right of the painting. Stacking them up so to speak. My technique for painting rocks is pretty simple. I lay down some earthy colors, browns, grays, and dirty blues. Then I bleed brighter colors into the wet glaze. Rocks are full of textures and colors in nature. I’m always finding more to them than first meets the eye. Seriously, take a long look at a large rock sometime. They are fascinating. Nothing lays around in the out-of-doors for long without developing some real character – especially rocks!
L8ter,
Wetbrusher
I was planning to hit the studio early this morning but that would mean slipping off my jim-jams and bundling up against the wind and rain to battle the gale trying to reach my studio door. So, I settled for an extra cup of coffee instead.
I did get a little done on the painting yesterday. I’m continuing to add background, building up the painting using the negative spaces around the Forsythia and the boulders littered about the landscape. Here is an updated photo:
I decided to add part of a lake just beyond the foreground scene. I’m not sure it will stay, but I like the idea of open water beyond the shore with the creek flowing through the painting. I’ve begun painting the large boulders to the right of the painting. Stacking them up so to speak. My technique for painting rocks is pretty simple. I lay down some earthy colors, browns, grays, and dirty blues. Then I bleed brighter colors into the wet glaze. Rocks are full of textures and colors in nature. I’m always finding more to them than first meets the eye. Seriously, take a long look at a large rock sometime. They are fascinating. Nothing lays around in the out-of-doors for long without developing some real character – especially rocks!
L8ter,
Wetbrusher
Beautiful work Joe! No problem with the mix up. I got to see more of your work! Enjoy the day!
ReplyDeleteBest, Suz