Turquoise House, Lewes, DE, 14″ x 11″, UART 320

Here is the third painting that I worked on yesterday. It’s my newest and is also from our recent trip to the Delaware Bay.  We finally had sunshine late Monday afternoon and we took a walk around the neighborhood where the hotel was located. I found some interesting back alleys in light and shadow and, of course, I couldn’t resist.

The first painting is the finished one. The other was the painting as I left it the night before, thinking that it was done. But when I looked at the photograph I thought that the grassy strip was too blotchy, the large building with red roof was too blue, and the fence in the foreground was too bright and not well done.

I attacked the fence first with a Sennelier light violet that gave it an overall look that was cooler and less turquoise than what I had.  (I love the angle of the fence at the bottom, which helps invite the eye into the picture.) For the grassy strip, I used a combination of Senneliers and Unison greens (which I had just brought to the studio from home).

On the barn, I added brown, then grayed violet into it and was much happier with the color–softer and less strident, I think.

The title refers to the tiny sliver of turquoise way at the end of the alley to the left. You’ll also see a little car there.  I’ll probably try one more alley painting from Lewes, then might do a few from our trip to Cody, WY last summer.

Dordogne Reflections, 20 x 16 (revised version)

Original version

The easiest of today’s changes was to a painting that I did back in 2015 for the 2016 Pastels en Perigord show.  I loved the painting when I did it but I was reluctant to over blend the water reflections.  When I saw the picture in the show, I was immediately  unhappy with it!  So today I got my finger working and blended the water.  I was instantly happier with it. Not sure how clear it is to you, but I think you can see the difference–there was too much underpainting showing through in the original, which was a distraction.  It’s a very busy picture with no sky or breathing room and having water that was too busy didn’t work well.  Now I feel that the top and bottom parts of the painting are significantly different enough to work together.

I also added a little brighter red orange to the roofs and added some of it in the water.  That’s not as apparent in comparing the pictures.

I’m going to frame this one now!

Marsh Greens, 16 x 20, Pastel Premiere white

Flying in (original painting)

Today I spent the entire day at the studio fixing up paintings!  One that I thought was done yesterday, one from 2016, and the one I posted last!  That one was by far the most difficult.  I’ll post the others separately and tell you about my changes.

While I put my original version of this painting on Facebook and showed it to visitors in my studio on Friday night, I told them that I planned to change it.  I was NOT happy with it!  The primary problem was that the midground and foreground didn’t work with the background colorwise and with the addition of the bird, the dark bush was now competing for attention.  I’m including both images the same size so you can compare them.  There are a lot of things I didn’t like but the dark bushes were the main thing. However, I also didn’t like the orange grasses.

So I began by brushing out the bush, putting the water in behind it, then developing the lower green bushes. I used a combination of cool and warm greens in the bushes, to keep them in harmony with the background.  For the grasses below them, I used some warm and more cool greens, and cooler pinkish colors to replace the orange.  I made other changes, as well, such as filling in the little tree at top right and adding branches in a soft brown.  I also added a sense of reflection below the middle strip and then added the sky color on top so that there would be a combination of greens and lighter colors.  I also softened the dark areas under the grasses, which I didn’t like in the first version.

The bottom third was a challenge as I really wasn’t sure what to do with it. I brushed some of it off, layered various colors on top.  I ended with a warm green, given that this is the foreground, and I added a hint of the pinkish grasses into it.  I like the basic shape of it and think that it works OK.

You might notice the difference in light. I think that I forgot to enhance the original by adding a little more light to it, as I always find necessary. I did not make any changes to the background trees and they definitely appear darker in the original.

Finally, I changed the title!  I never liked the original one (John just suggested “For the Bird”!!!).  I like the new title and I think it more aptly suits the picture.

I’m happy with this picture at last and will probably frame it and include it in a show next spring.  It’s often the test of “am I happy enough to frame it” that makes me realize that changes are needed!

I welcome your comments!