Dusk Again, Or Dark and Dense

Dusk Again.  Watercolor and Crayon.
9.5 x 12.5 inches.

I've mentioned before that my husband is a tough critic.  I'll show him what I've been working on, and I'll get, "hmmm."  Or, a high compliment would be, "I kind of like that." He took a look at the first version of this painting, and said, "You're in a dark, dense place." He may have a point. Hate winter, and it's been miserable, and the conditions flow over into my paintings.

Dusk In Indiana, Revised

Dusk in Indiana, Revised.  Watercolor and crayon.
10 x 12 inches.

Well, my painting morphed.  You can see the previous version here.  I was trying to integrate the barn using an overlay of Caran D'Ache crayon, and things got way, way out of control.  Then, I managed to rein them back in to reasonable, but it required sacrificing the barn and silo.  I kind of like this version.  I especially like the texture I was getting when I applied crayon, wetted the crayon down, and then drew into it.  It almost looks grooved like a wood cut.

Dusk iv, or Dusk in Indiana

Dusk in Indiana.  Watercolor.
9.5 x 11.5 inches.

The fourth dusk painting.  Two others are up here and here.  The third, I'm less certain about, so it's sitting behind my computer, half in view, and I'm thinking on it before I post it.

Winter Pine

Winter Pine.  Watercolor.
Approximately 8 x 7 inches.

This past weekend, my husband and I drove to Chicago for a wedding on Valentine's.  It was bitter cold (they said the coldest Valentine's in quite some time) and there were gray skies and gusting snow the length of Indiana.  (The wedding was fun.  My husband danced, which is rare and awesome!)

I snapped a pic with my phone as we were leaving a gas station (below)--you've probably noticed, the midwest is, ah, flat. Ohio's quite flat too, once you get north of Cincinnati.  I wanted to paint the pine and horizon line, and somehow went kind of askew in the process.  Once again, I haven't seen the reference photo for a couple of days, so I'm riffing on mood.  I'm thinking cold can be a mood.

It's a three color palette--indigo, indian yellow, and permanent yellow deep.  All Daniel Smith. Painted on  Fabriano 300 lb rough paper.  I'm going to need to buy more paper soon.  I'll put it off as long as possible....

Another Day, Another Dusk

Quilted Dusk.  Watercolor.
12.5 x 19 inches. 

Without giving it much forethought, on some level, I've decided to paint a time of day. This is my second dusk painting this week.

Mountain at Dusk....

Mountain At Dusk.  Watercolor & Crayon.

I just got back to painting after a week off for the Northminster Fine Arts Show.  The show was a lot of fun--I get to meet a lot of interesting people and then go home and collapse.  I saw this quote recently, and it's very true for me, "Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide." -- DW Winnicott  Winnicott, if you're interested, was a pediatrician and psychoanalyst.  Interesting.

The above painting is fairly large, and is the same palette as Cross, An Untitled Abstract .  There is a touch of crayon on the structure and at the edge of the mountain.

I'm not certain about it.  I'll either ignore it (always safe), or edit (not as safe, but more fun.)

Northminster Show and Photographing

Tomorrow (2/7) is the Northminster Fine Arts Fair. It's the tenth anniversary of the fair, and I believe it'll be the 4th time I've participated.  I've got all my work matted, and this morning I need to finish wrapping my unframed work in acetate and get things in frames. If you're in the Cincinnati Metro Area, stop by and say hello.  (It's hosted at the Northminster Presbyterian Church at 703Compton Rd. in Finneytown, OH)