Water Is Coming...

Ovals Are Coming...

The Progression...

...of my latest painting.

I've Restarted The Habit...

...of working on several paintings at once. This way, I always have something to work on while another is drying, or simply to change things up. 

Pictured here is a few nights work on the under painting for the waterfront fountain at night. 

It's nice that it is just a few steps from my studio, so I can wander down the street when I get stuck on a section.

I am starting in a monochrome of browns to build in the stark differences between light and dark inherent in the painting.

When A Day Starts...

...before sunrise and ends on a boat, it is usually a day of work, but it is hard to think of it that way. Thanks to generosity of a friend of the gallery in Ed Shehab, I spent a pleasant three days out on and around Kiawah Island photographing.

Here I am out on the beach in front of the Ocean Course clubhouse just after sunrise, with my trusty but awkward photo science bucket tripod contraption.

This a view of Kiawah and Seabrook Islands taken from the 16th hole at Cassique.

I'm not sure where this is, but it will most likely end up being a long skinny painting.

A view from a tree stand that is set up to show prospective owners the view from their future home, used here for art type purposes. 

And deep on the backside of Kiawah Island, a panoramic of a pond.  With luck, there are a few paintings in here to be had. Thanks again Ed!

When I Explain To People...

...that part of my process is sanding down my painting between layers of paint, I often get confused looks. I don't remove all the paint, just the bumps in the surface. 

In sanding by hand, I can control exactly how much I take off. This makes the surface smooth by removing the brush strokes, so when things change in the second layer, there is no trace (or "ghost") of the first layer of paint. 

In the bottom photo, you can see how much pigment was left after sanding. Where the paint was thin, the pink of the ground layer pokes through.

The First Image...

...is of the last of the marsh grass being painted in. The next image is the first layer completed. 

Now I will sand it, removing all of the surface texture and as little as possible of the pigment, to prepare it for the next layer of paint. 

I'm not sure I can do a better job with the grass, but the detail in the sky and water should greatly improve with another layer.

After The Water...

...gets painted, I move on to the spartina.

As I Mentioned In The Last Post...

...I use the razor to cut in details and shapes. Here, I am making space for clouds in the pretty gradient created by a low sun. 

I paint in the clouds, smoothing and blending them into the sky already painted.

Then once they have been painted in, I cut in the singular blades of grass. This way, when the grass is later painted in, the surface stays smooth and pictorially unified. 

In other words, it is one picture plane and not looking like they are pasted on top of what is painted behind them, in this case the sky.

I Forgot To Post...

...my final painting from the elements show. 

To capture the detail and not drag dark colors into the snow, I used my usual technique of painting and scraping away paint to create channels for the fence to fill. 

This way, the detail stays crisp, the snow stays clean, and the entire surface stays optically smooth. Hanging on the wall, I am very proud of how they turned out!