Under a Summer Sky

More Pointillism!

This painting was done on a larger sheet of paper than my earlier ones as my sketch book was filled and finished with the painting of the other day. I began with a thin wash of gouache, putting in the basic colors of the sky, fields, house and trees. From there, I began the dots. And more dots. And even more dots. Paint went from thin to thick, and thin again. Dots were bigger and smaller. The closer I came to the completion of the painting, the more I began to use the paint to shape the different areas of the subject. I tried to use some complementary colors in shadows, such as red in the shadows of the trees, and bright yellow to enliven the lavender. Altogether, this painting took about 3-4 hours to complete (I lost track of time), but in the end, the dots were worth the effort.

I think I could live here.

Flight

The other day I just had to get out for a bit of a walk, this time without the dogs. I headed out to an area that is reached by a tunnel under a busy road. From there, a school is to the right and a trail heads out to a canyon behind a number of houses. It’s rather wild back there, but it is also a view into people’s back yards. In one spot, I heard the cooing of doves or pigeons, and then a sudden flap of wings. Looking up, the birds were circling around and around. I managed to catch this after a lot of misses.

Storm on the Prairie

Strange weather afoot – rain, wind, tornado.

If you have never lived on the prairies or traveled through the vast middle section of the U.S., you have missed some majestic land and sky. The weather can change in an instant, you might see it coming, you might not. Flat, lonely, filled with a terrible beauty.

Gouache, of course!