13, 14 (and 10)

It seems like I forgot to post landscape #10, so here it is

 This one was done with a Zorn palette again (50/50 Flake/Titanium White, Yellow Ochre Light, Vermilion, Ivory Black, and a touch of Burnt Sienna). Old Holland brand paints, again.

I like how the water turned out in this one. I enjoyed painting these overcast river/lake landscapes, so expect to see some more.

I tried some new things with the trees in the background. All the leaves have fallen, so we are left with trees made up of only sticks and branches. Difficult to paint without going into a ton of detail. I looked at how some plein air painters tackled the subject before I dove in. After some thinking I mixed a hue that was halfway between the sky color and the branch color, and painted broad strokes for the majority of the branches. Then I went in with a liner brush, along with some extra medium, and painted a few stray branches here and there, along with the trunk. The idea was to give the impression of detail without actually painting all of it. The trees on the left are farther away and thus have less branch details. I think it ended up being pretty effective.

Next up we have #13:

I haven't included any man-made things in this series yet. In fact, I rarely paint buildings in general, so this was a nice change of pace. I was able to get some pretty crisp details using a Flat #2 nylon brush. I stuck with that brush for the buildings, and used mostly #2 Filbert bristle brushes for the rest of the landscape. I referenced a photo I found online, taken in the German countryside.

Palette: Titanium/Flake White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Burnt Sienna, Green Earth, Sap Green (Rembrandt), Cobalt Blue, Ivory Black. I also used some of the leftover purples and turquoises that I had mixed for landscapes 11 & 12.

Next up is #14:

Some parts of this painting I really like, others not so much. I like how the trees turned out. Especially the texture of the bark. I'm pretty happy with the background mountains too. The strokes used on the grass/brush in the mid ground (just beyond the three trees) looks too repetitive. I'm not happy with that. I need to work on the foreground grass more. I tend to paint that last, and by the end of the painting I am usually losing patience and rushing things. I need to improve that habit...

Same palette as #13. These were both painted the same day.

I've been thinking about sharing some music on this blog too. Music is something really inspires me, and I am always listening to it. I have Pandora radio going all the time and I love coming across new artists. I think I will post a YouTube clip of what i'm listening to each time I post. Could be a classic, could be something new. Maybe I'll post something that interests you.