Mount Manaio, New Zealand

My second attempt to do a master class exercise by Richard Robinson. I completely redid this painting as my values and perspective were way off!!!. I am much happier with it now. I also limited my palette to the three colors, C. Yell. Pale, Aliz, crimson, Ultramarine blue plus white, per Kevin MacPherson's recommendation. I feel like all the reading, viewing and painting is starting to pay off as I seem to be more conscious of value, temperature and perspective. My husband and I will be leaving for New Jersey for a month.... so I am hoping not to lose my skills I have gained so far. I have set a goal of continuing my sketch books work on the human figure. I am now on the muscles!!! As a nurse it should be easy and I can visualize them but to actually draw them is other story. I will be keeping up with everyone's blogs but doubt I will get to post. We shall see. Have a wonderful end of summer

Ruakaka Beach Australia

Thanks everyone for your comments. My back is back in full working order. I tried a new technique, at least, for me it is new. I downloaded and watched Richard Robinson's http://www.newzealandartist.com Master Class on Ruakaka Beach in Australia. He recommends establishing the values and premixing them before painting. For example, the dark, mid, and light values of the sky, then repeat with the clouds, the mountains etc. I know I have seen it done by other artists on their blogs so I gave it a try. Lo and Behold it did make it easier!! I tend to get lost in all the color mixing when I try to do it one at a time. This simplified the values and also allowed me to adjust as I went along if I needed a warmer or cooler. I was pleased with the painting. This was done on a 5x7 canvas panel. Will try more of his master classes and force myself to premix.

Sunrise St Augustine

This is my second sunrise of St. Augustine. I plan to so a few more as I think it may help me. I have not been painting as much as I my back is being contrary right now so I am taking it easy. Hope everyone has a great day.

Reworked

After my critiquing session at the art salon, I decided to rework parts of the "Wooden Model" I posted a while back. Here is the final, the additional color helps a lot. I am constantly amazed at the amount of information on the net. Sooo much and sooo little time. I am knee deep into color and found some great ideas on doing my own color charts. I had done them when I first started three years ago but now I think I am finally starting to internalize them. Mike Rooney and Kerin McBride gave me great ideas on the free lessons that you find at http://www.jerrysartarama.com.

Summer is winding down and my favorite season is approaching. Why I favor fall over the others is a mystery to me, but Fall evokes smells, colors, crispy air that invigorate me. I love the smell of the wet earth. Hope everyone has a beautiful day and has an extra moment to "smell the roses"