Too Long

It's been way too long seen my last post. Here are some paintings that I'm currently working on, some drawings I did while studying at the Bridge Academy, and some drawings from this past semester teaching figure drawing at BYU.

New Portrait

This drawing is for an oil painting that I'm starting.

Tree Study

This is a little tree study I did in Hunter, NY. The roots were that gnarly, there was no embellishment.

Yet Another

This is a 6"x8" study I did of North Lake. I decided to paint for the same location Thomas Cole had painted from. They had a plaque that marked the location. It was interesting to see the liberties that he took with what he saw and what he painted in painting that location of North Lake.

This is his painting.

En Plein Air

My attempts at painting weren't as successful as my drawings. I spent the first couple of weeks painting on panel that was too slick, luckily I had a friend who was able to bring me back some canvas from NYC.

Rainy Days

A day into the workshop my $7.00 folding chair broke. So, I was left to find a rock or log for support for several days until the new chair I ordered arrived. Unfortunately it rain several of those days I was waiting, oh did I forget to mention that I was waiting for my umbrella as well. One of the days I was waiting it happened to rain. I remember it fondly, sitting on a towel on a rock, slightly sheltered by the branches of the trees, with my sketchbook and only my poncho to cover me in what seemed like a monsoon. Despite the circumstances I felt like I was able to produce a fair drawing. Note: The dark specks are were the paper was wet and I drew into it, making it impossible to erase.

For anyone wanting to see photos of the workshop you can check them out here

Take Courage

As I mentioned before, attending the Hudson River School for Landscape Painting (HRSL) was a great experience in large part because I was introduced to so many talented artist that shared similar desires to paint the landscape. Here is a link to a list of those artist here

I am posting a couple more of my drawings from HRSL. It was humbling to be around such talented artist and display my meager attempts. But I took courage in Durand advice in his letters on landscape painting. He advised students not to get discouraged with failed attempts but to "meet with courage and perseverance every difficulty in the progress of your studies, and patiently endure the frequent discouragements attending your failures and imperfect efforts."

Tree Studies

This summer I had the chance to attend the Hudson River School for Landscape Painting. It was a great experience to be surrounded by talented artists and a beautiful landscape (when it wasn't raining).

On the recommended reading list was a series of letters that Asher Durand wrote for inspiring landscape artist. In the first letter he advised the student to "master the pencil first" and "draw with scrupulous fidelity the outlines and contours of sych objects that you select". He further advised the student to begin mastering the components of the landscape such as rocks, trees and foreground plants as a prelude to painting finished landscapes. These are my attempts to follow his advice. There will be more forthcoming.