Acrylic paintings revised

I brought these three paintings into my art class and revised them slightly according to the comments of my teacher. Noon Peak (top painting) got a few more spots of red color for flowers and a little bit more light on the bottom rock.

Joe fishing at First Connecticut Lake (second painting down) was much harder. I'm not really sure that is done yet. The proportions were off and I had to make Joe and the tree skinnier to go with my view which was above and down. Working from a photo doesn't always give the correct proportions. I had a hard time with the water.

Spring at Grace Church was easier. I just added some of the lighter wood on the window to make it more interesting and a few spots of white on the flowers. I think I am ready to varnish this one and call it done.

Cedar Swamp Trail Manchester NH

Some photos from a very enjoyable walk on the Cedar Swamp Trail on the Hooksett/Manchester border (Hackett Hill Road/Countryside). Easy walking trails, interesting flora, fungi on rocks and trees, wild rhododenrons, moss, glacial erratics (big granite rocks), all under shady canopy of pines, hemlocks, deciduous trees too. Trails are well marked and there are 3 loops.

You can click on the title of this post and it will take you to the Nature Conservancy website with more information about this trail.

Acrylic painting experiments2

I'm not sure if this painting is finished yet. I plan to bring my last few acrylic paintings with me to my July classes. I'm hoping the teacher can help me with finishing them, then I will varnish them.  This one is acrylic on canvas panel. I painted it from a photo of Joe fishing at the First Connecticut Lake in Pittsburg, NH (that's at the top of the state of NH on Route 3 that continues on to the border station with Canada). I think I need to work on the background trees some more. I'm not happy with them. It is 11" X 14"

I was experimenting again, this time with acrylic paint on 300 lb cold press watercolor paper, using the acrylic paints like watercolor (transparently, with water). You can buy sample packs of various watercolor papers online. This came from a sample pack bought several years ago at cheapjoes.com. I had not used all the sample papers up and had some left. It is 11" X 14" too.

I didn't like my initial pass through with the pigments thinned with water so I left the water and sky that way, but I used the pigments without water for the other parts of the painting. It is looking better, but not done yet. I still need to darken the area behind the gazebo. Then, I'll think about it some more. I think the water needs to be darkened too. I found that mixing the pigments with white to make them opaque did not work well on the paper, so I just used the pigments as they came out of the tube.

This painting was composed from two photos taken years ago in New Brunswick, Canada. It is the view from the hotel room in Chance Harbor. We did see a beautiful sunrise there, but the pictures I took were of a later time in the day. I was trying to remember what the sunrise would look like. I think I need to add more rose color to the sunrise.  I'll keep working on it.

Tower Hill Pond

Beautiful walk Saturday around Tower Hill Pond in Auburn. Having a quiet 4th of July holiday, although there were lots of noisy fireworks in our neighborhood last night.  Getting close to finishing up another painting. Will post it soon.

This was a memorial garden we came across on our walk around the pond.

The water level is high which is a good thing. This pond is part of the watershed which serves the lakes that give Manchester its water supply. There have been years when we've walked around this pond when the water level was too low. This year we've had lots of snow and rain, so the community's water supply should be fine.

Hiking in Lakes Region NH

Beautiful morning yesterday. We went hiking West and East Rattlesnake in Holderness (Lakes region of New Hampshire.) Did not see any rattlesnakes, just one little garter snake on the trail. Lots of mosquitoes out too. This was our first real hike of the summer and we enjoyed it. Took our time going up and down the trails. This took us about 3 hours with a lunch break, but could be done much faster by those who are younger and speedier.

That big rock in the top picture is called a glacial erratic. There are lots of these in northern New England. We saw many on Mount Pisgah in Vermont when we hiked there many years ago.

Spring at Grace Church/Acrylic

I am definitely having fun with acrylics. This is a 9" X 12" canvas panel. I did the painting from a photo I took in the spring with the trees in full bloom. I don't know what kind of tree that was. Grace Church is in downtown Manchester, NH. I think this is almost done, but I may touch up a few spots as I continue to look at it. I'll wait a while before I varnish it in case I decide to change anything.

I'm in a color mixing workshop now. I completed the first one last week and have two more to go. Hopefully I'll learn more about making the acrylic paint colors mix the way I want them to. In July, I'm taking 3 more acrylic classes. I can't do the full summer schedule since I'll be traveling, but Kim Roth is flexible as well as being a terrific teacher. I'm looking forward to the classes and hope to finalize some of the paintings you've seen on this blog.

Wedding

Attended beautiful Chassidic wedding in Manchester last night. The rabbi's oldest daughter was the bride. The groom was from Australia. Apparently they met in Israel and this was not an arranged match. Lots of food, music and a beautiful wedding ceremony outside. The rain held off for the ceremony. I think this is the first time Manchester has seen a wedding like this, although I've been to some in NYC area. Good time had by all.

Acrylic lessons

Just learning. I'm enjoying the art course on DVDs that I bought (mentioned in earlier post). I haven't started a new painting yet and I haven't finished my zentangles portrait yet. (To see larger image, just click on it.). This easel is on wheels and I just wheel it around  in my studio. I put it in front of the monitor to paint along with the instructor. The taboret is also on wheels.  My second easel can be used as a table easel or as a stand. I like using that one on a table. The table has north light (from window) and I also have a lamp with the special bulb for artists.

We hope to walk the Audubon trails tomorrow in Concord. I'll bring my camera and perhaps I'll have some nice photos to post.

Artist of the Month/June 2011

My oil pastel painting of the bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho won one of the certificates for the Artist of the Month at last night's Manchester Artists Association meeting. The painting will be posted at the Bedford (NH) Library this month. See May 6th posting for photo of the painting.

View from Noon Peak finished

I think this is finished now, I just have to varnish it. I will put it up on my website for sale or you can contact me directly if you are interested in buying it. I have Paypal on the website, but I'm not sure what the shipping would be if you are outside the USA. I would have to find out. This is an acrylic painting on canvas panel 9" X 12" (22.9 X 30.5 cm)