100 plein air paintings in 100 days - #58/#59

#58 - "Summer Solstice"
Original Oil 8x6"

10/06/21 (8:30pm)
This painting was done in exactly the same spot as #57, just turned 45 degrees to the right. I was actually finished and packing up for the evening when I remembered discipline, and started looking around for something I could paint fast as there was about 45 minutes of light left. I really loved the soft evening light on the trees, so this was it. No drawing, just blocked it in quickly, wiped out the trees, and started painting in negative and positive shapes. I was just starting to put some branches on when Lily started acting weird (wildlife in the area weird), and I realized it was about 15 minutes from dark, so I called it a day.

#59 - "Above the Bow"
Original Oil 6x8"

10/06/24 (11:30am)
I really was compelled by the soft light filtering through the trees and sparkling off the river below in this one. Such a tricky scene to simplify, especially from branch level on the trees upward.

Someone recently emailed to ask, "I was wondering if you would comment on whether you will execute larger paintings in your studio from these studies, which ones, and why?"

I am planning a show with my gallery in Canmore,  The Avens Gallery, later this year that will be a collection of larger works inspired by this project. The show will run from December 9th to 19th, 2010. I will choose which pieces after the project is over, but there are a lot of factors that will dictate which ones, such as whether they will transfer well to a large canvas from a technical perspective (sometimes what's interesting on a small canvas becomes a whole lot of space to fill on a large one), how excited I am about a cerain idea, and how much of an impression a particular painting experience left on me.