Paintings – Page 3 – eibhlin, artist

Sunlight in the Trees – 11 Feb 2011

Lately, I’m drawn to the wooded landscape on one side of our home.

During the afternoons, the sunlight gleams through the trees. Often, it’s almost a pure white light, with just a hint of yellow.

It can be so bright, I have to look away almost immediately.

However, the shadows — especially on a snowy day — are shades of blue and lavender, yellow and orange.

Last Friday afternoon, I decided to see if I could capture this image on canvas.

The painting is an 8″ x 10″ oil landscape on archival canvas board. The paint is fairly thick, as I painted the trees first and then painted the light over them. In a way, that’s how the light looks: As if it’s in the foreground and the trees are in back of it.

This is a rich, juicy painting with lots of texture and color. For me, it captures the intensity of the light and the landscape, and the nuances of subtle color in the snow.

Snow by Streetlight

After reading Whistler’s defense of his Nocturne series*, I was inspired to paint exactly what I saw outside my living room, after dark.

The sketch isn’t elegant or detailed, but it does convey the impression of the scene that night.

My husband commented that it was probably the best that streetlight had ever looked.

Okay, it wasn’t quite night. Late in the day, snow clouds loomed like huge, dark, angry dust bunnies across the horizon. It looked like night, so the streetlights turned on automatically.

A patch of light sky remained, and it’s at the upper right corner of the painting. The light from it highlighted the snow toward the foreground.

All in all, it was a very moody scene and it reminded me of Wuthering Heights: Dangerous, windy, and wild.

I’m still trying to tweak the color in this photo, because it’s not quite accurate when I compare it with the painting. However, it conveys the general idea of this sketch.

For me, this was one of those paintings that I couldn’t not paint. I saw the yellow-orange glow of the lstreetlight and the blues and purples in the scene, and I was almost irresistibly drawn to my easel.

Fortunately, my paints were already set up so I could capture this landscape quickly.

I like it. It’s moody and urgent at the same time. This is a small work, 8″ x 10″ painted in oils on canvas board.

—

*From the trial in which Whistler sued critic John Ruskin for libel (after Ruskin published harsh criticism of a painting in Whistler’s Nocturne series, shown at right):

Holker: “What is the subject of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket?”
Whistler: “It is a night piece and represents the fireworks at Cremorne Gardens.”
Holker: “Not a view of Cremorne?”
Whistler: “If it were A View of Cremorne it would certainly bring about nothing but disappointment on the part of the beholders. It is an artistic arrangement. That is why I call it a nocturne….”
Holker: “Did it take you much time to paint the Nocturne in Black and Gold? How soon did you knock it off?”
Whistler: “Oh, I ‘knock one off’ possibly in a couple of days – one day to do the work and another to finish it…” [the painting measures 24 3/4 x 18 3/8 inches]
Holker: “The labour of two days is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?”
Whistler: “No, I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.”

Evolution of a Painting – Spring is on the way

This painting began as a sketch on March 2010. It was okay… but not great. A couple of weeks ago, I decided that it wasn’t a complete waste of a canvas, but it could be improved. With a few tweaks, revising the painting, I was pleased with the results.

Then, during this past weekend, I looked at it again and saw even more improvements.

Now, I’m happy with it.

For me, this work is about color. In the doldrums of winter, it’s easy to look outside and see just blue or gray skies… and that’s all.

However, even in a blizzard or on the most ho-hum day, there are flashes of color, highlighted by the snow. (If you study the colors in snow, they often reflect the sky and the surroundings, sometimes almost as well as water does.)

As I’ve said in my artist’s statement, I’m obsessed with color… as well as balance, light and shadows. I’m drawn to the sensual nature of oil paints, and how I feel when I’m painting, up to my elbows in luxury and rich textures as I work at my easel.

For me, a painting works when I express the emotional connection with whatever’s inspired me, as opposed to the details in the scene.

That’s why this painting works for me, and why I’m pleased to say that it’s completed.

Spring Is On The Way, Revised
5 February 2011
8″ x 10″ oil painting on canvas board
Signed by the artist on the back of the painting

Private collection

Peach sunrise – 3 Feb 2011

Sunrises in NH can display the most amazing colors. The peaches and sherbet-pink colors from the rising sun… they’re often astonishing.

This is an 8″ x 10″ oil painting of the sunrise on February 3rd.

For just a few minutes, the clouds seemed to come alive with color, like a daytime aurora borealis. When I saw that starting to happen last Thursday morning — the day after a massive snowstorm — I headed straight to my canvas to capture it.

Blues are my favorite colors. However, the play of color — such as the pinks and peaches of clouds against the blue sky — there’s a moment of magic when that happens, and that’s what inspired this plein air painting from our front porch.

Peach Sunrise
3 Feb 2011
8″ x 10″ Oil painting on archival canvas board
Unframed

Color Study 1 – Sketch to Painting

Sometimes I forget that others — even those who work with color studies — may not “see” the art in some of my more urgent, sometimes fragmented works.

Here’s how one color study is leading to a series of landscape paintings.

The large photo shows my nearly-finished oil sketch. I painted it this morning.

It’s based on Sunrise – Snowy Skies, painted on January 14th. (That color study is shown at the foot of this article.)

The original color study was painted in about half an hour, but it captured the important colors — and variety — in the sky and the snowy foreground.

(Color studies are useful because they capture the energy and impressions of the landscape. I also work from photos, particularly if they’re vivid and extraordinary.)

However, there was an additional step between the original color study and today’s painting. That extra step is shown below, on the right.

Using the January 14th color study as my inspiration and reference, I worked on a traditional painting on an 11″ x 14″ canvas. Paintings like that are sort of visual brainstorming.

At one point, I paused to photograph it. When this photo (on the right) was taken, the colors were still too isolated; that was fine in the color study, but not for a more formal work.

What I’d learned at that point — and improved after this photo — was to limit the colors and connect more of the masses.

I put that canvas aside to dry before I continue working on it.

Overnight, I thought about the original color study and the creative visions that are emerging from it. As usual, I woke up at 4 a.m. with a very clear mental picture of what I wanted to do.

After another hour of sleep, I was at my easel and painting by the light from my Ott lamp, waiting for sunrise so I could really see the colors in my work.

My only canvas with the correct proportions was an 8″ x 16″ canvas board that I hadn’t sanded enough before using it. So, this painting appears to have brushstrokes that aren’t actually part of the finished work. (Unless the painting is illuminated with a harsh, angled light, the extra texture isn’t very obvious.)

Nevertheless, it’s a truly lovely work of art with lots of softly blended colors. I’m very pleased with it.

I want to heighten the whites in the sky and soften the foreground tones. After that, it’ll be finished and — when it’s dry — it will probably be for sale. However, first option will go to whomever buys the color study that inspired it. I like the idea of someone owning both this painting and the color study that led to it.

In addition, I plan to base at least two more paintings on the original color study, and get them started before the current eBay auction closes.

Here’s the original color study that’s inspiring these works:

After the Storm – 28 Jan 2011

Yesterday during the late afternoon, a snow storm brushed us. It didn’t leave much snow, but the clouds had looked ominous as they passed overhead.

As the sky began to clear, revealing a very pale pink sunset, I grabbed an 8″ x 10″ canvas board and quickly captured the colors in oil paints.

The photo is fairly accurate, but the foreground colors aren’t quite as vivid as they look on my monitor, and the sky is more softly blended.

All in all, it was a good sketch and I’ll probably is it to inspire a larger painting on this, as well.

Though some brushwork brings the hills and foreground toward the viewer, most of this painting is almost glassy smooth. I’m using sable brushes in more of my work now, and I think I like the effect.

My color studies and hasty sketches will probably continue to include thick paint and obvious brush strokes.

However, I want to experiment with more Luminist and Tonalist influences in the immediate future. That means a softer overall impression in my work, with smoother surfaces and very blended colors. (See my discussion of this in my post, Sunset – Sunrise Paintings.)

After the Storm
created 28 Jan 2011
oil painting on 8″ x 10″ canvas board