A Walk in the Park

Yesterday I took the dog for a nice long walk in a beautiful park that’s not too far from my home. It’s in an upscale neighborhood, so it’s clean and has a better class of dogs (the owners are another matter entirely, and I’ll just leave that alone).

One of the really nice things about the place is that there are beautiful specimen trees all over the grounds, and they have placed nameplates on most of them so you can tell what they are. Two of the best finds yesterday was a Cape Chestnut (which unfortunately is a victim of either termites or some other borer) and a Camphor tree. I’d seen trees like this for years all over the area, including my neighborhood, and always wondered what it was. It was a nice ‘aha’ moment.

Since I had the dog and he’s pretty much a handful around other dogs, sketching or painting with him is out of the question. I did take some good photos, and when I got home, used one I really liked for a painting; the memory of the light and colors were still very fresh in my memory.

When I was done with it, I was absolutely amazed at how well it came out. This, I thought to myself, is the kind of work I only dreamed of doing a few years ago. And I know it is a reward for painting more often and spending time with color mixing and brushwork.

The colors are far richer and deeper than I used to do; my work always had a flat quality that I hated; there was absolutely no sense of depth and light. In the past, my pigment application was too pale, too timid.Now I put the color down boldly and with more confidence.

I still have a long way to go to get where I really want to be with my work, but right now I am very happy with the results I’m getting and it spurs me to do even more. I’d like to give a nod to David Tripp for his excellent blog, which not only inspired me to blog again, but also has recommended some great books (more about those in another post!)

Thanks for stopping by and having a look. And if you are an artist just getting started: Paint, Paint, PAINT!