Blog

I've been back into my painting for almost ten years and I've been doing a lot of reflecting and looking back at older works of my art.  In September 2021, I did a 30 day Strada painting challenge where I painted from life every day.  I was kind of shocked to see that I had painted almost 20 of those days en plein air at a pond behind my house lovingly named Willow Pond.  It's been a source of beauty, peace and inspiration for many many years.  For the Strada challenges, I usually painted more indoors from still life setups. So to be reminded that I made it outside to paint for 20 almost straight days was pretty amazing.  Below you can see those plein air studies, all of Willow Pond. 

Some were painted in sketchbooks, but mostly on panels with oil. 

Willow Pond, at that time, was lush and surrounded with trees that provided the most beautiful scenes of tree reflections.  It looks a lot different now due to some menacing beaver and I'll share more on that in another post.  

I am very proud of all these little studies and learned so much about trees, reflections and water.  I'm so glad that I keep my plein air studies.  They're always a source of inspiration and learning. 

It was hard to select  but I chose my top  paintings from that month long challenge.  Below is a water reflection scene that had glowing sunlight and the trees seemed to just bubble and boil out of the water.  You couldn't tell which was more real...the reflection or the actual trees.  I did make some alternations to this back in the studio and was happy that I did.  

This little gem below is so special to me. I really came into my Tonalist love combined with Impressionism and this study just came together so easily.  Big shapes, subtle value and edge changes, details in the water and foreground grasses that I love to paint.  

This study was of the bushy Willows and had a fantastic, tonal underpainting that I left some showing through.  By leaving pure color, it makes a reflection shine against water that looks white(ish).  Some scratchy marks with my palette knife and trusty wood skewer finished it off.  

This study of the Willows was from a marshy area at the back of the pond and was a complete study of color and shapes.  A much more Impressionistic approach with more visible brushstrokes and more saturated color used than normal. This one was totally immersive and I can still remember painting it.  

Once I began looking back at all of my Willow Pond studies and social media posts, I decided that Willow Pond would be a great subject for my next series.  I'm almost finished up with my Creekside series so this inspiration hit at just the right time. I'll be sharing more soon on how Willow Pond looked now and then, my plans moving forward and artists that are inspiring me with this new series. So stay tuned and thank you for visiting my blog.