One Autumn Maple

Now I remember why I love oil paint:  you can walk away from it for a while and find it right where you left it when you return.

For a reason I don't understand, the moth mother series called for watercolor (one never knows which medium a subject's going to ask for), and so I didn't think in oil for weeks, literally weeks.  Using different media is like playing different musical instruments:  one mode of interpretation is possible with the oboe whereas another is possible with the mandolin and the miracle of this is that the same tune can be played on either, but its expression will differ.

Same is true for painting media:  a fall scene in watercolor will express its content differently than when painted in oils.   This particular little maple, one of the few having any color this year, is asking to be expressed in oils.
  

Here is its initial block-in.  A thumbnail gouache study of it is HERE

Enjoy your Monday before Thanksgiving.
Dianne

New Series Beginning

Finishing the moth series, I have found myself stymied until I awoke this morning with a hankering to do an oil painting for no other reason than just to push paint.  Settling into the studio, I looked out my window and saw that after all the dullness of this season, fall colors are bathing my front yard.  Ah ha!

To get warmed up, I did a five minute 3" x 4" gouache study in my sketchbook.  So here comes another series, this time in oil.

 Happy Friday.
 Dianne

What If?

I'm fascinated by figure skating, especially pairs.  This genre is one of the few requiring the mastery of both athletic and artistic skills.  Are there others?  None come to mind at the moment.

Take a look at this video of Russia’s Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov.

I wonder how the world of visual arts would look today if its painters and sculptors were required to obtain this level of mastery of skills and expressiveness before gaining world wide acclaim.  I just wonder.


Happy Friday.
Dianne

Alpha Omega

The last in my series of moth paintings is finished and signed. 

"Alpha Omega"    20" x 28"   Watercolor on Cold Press Paper

Enjoy your Monday.
Dianne