New Painting: Semi-Abstract Landscape of Sunset

Here is what I've been working on this past week. This oil painting is yet another view of the Newark, Delaware Reservoir. It is 18 x 24 inches on stretched canvas, part of the series I am currently working on every day.


I chose Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson to be the stars of this painting. It seems like the brighter springtime weather in DC calls for a brighter color palette.

This painting was giving me a lot of trouble at first. I wanted to try something new and it just did not satisfy the painting in my head, so I left it when I went to Newport and returned to it when I got home. Now I am very happy with the result because it incorporates how I am feeling now and how the Delaware landscape made an impact on me 4 years ago when I took these reference photographs.

Happy June!

Please excuse my lack of new work lately, as I am making the move from Newark, Delaware to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for the summer.  I am not sure exactly where I will be after that, but probably in the DC area.  Moving and packing does not give me a lot of time to paint, but I will start again once I am settled in to Portsmouth.  I have joined the New Hampshire Plein Air group so I'm sure there will be lots of work to share with you this summer.  Please be sure to check out my last painting and hopefully I will post about other things this week as I make my move.

Now on Exhibition: Landscapes/Dreamscapes of the Delmarva Peninsula

Here is my painting from the last post, "Dreamscape- View of the Newark Reservoir" on exhibition at the Newark Arts Alliance:

The Artist's Reception on Friday went well.  I loved meeting the other artists and seeing different depictions of the beautiful landscape that makes up our wonderful Mid-Atlantic region of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.  My painting is at the end of one wall in the gallery's exhibition space:

If you are in the Newark, Delaware area at all this month, I would recommend you come see the exhibition, especially if you are partial to landscapes as I am.

New Painting: Dreamscape- View of the Newark Reservoir

I finished this painting last Friday, the emotive landscape/dreamscape painting of the Newark Reservoir in Newark, Delaware:

My brush took me somewhere special.  I just kept painting and painting wherever I felt was right at the time.  I sketch for general composition, but not for details, so I did not really plan where I was going.  I am really satisfied with how it turned out.  To me, it was about depicting the emotional response I have to the landscape in the paint.  The saturated colors and exaggerated lines reflect how I view the landscape.  Even though it is abstracted and exaggerated, to me it looks realistic of the landscape as I know it.  Again, it is in oil on 24 x 36" canvas.

This painting is now on exhibition at the Newark Arts Alliance in Newark, Delaware.  It is part of the open juried show, "Landscapes/Dreamscapes of the Delmarva Peninsula" and is on exhibition until May 30th.  Come stop by to see it!  It's a great exhibition full of beautiful landscapes.

WIP Update: Newark Landscape Painting

Thank you all for the wonderful comments!  While I think I am pretty positive about my work, as I am an eternal optimist, these comments certainly encourage me to continue producing work and uploading pictures.  For that I thank you!  

Here is an update on one of my WIPs (Works in Progress).  I worked on the upper half today, trying to get the sky done first while the oil paint is still dry.  I definitely want the paint to create a mood of awe.  I am trying to create a smoothness and fluidity throughout the composition, introducing more and more colors, and mirroring the landscape below in the cloud formations.  I wonder where this dreamy landscape will take my brush next.

New WIP (Work In Progress): Newark Landscape Painting

I just started another one today, so now I have several paintings in progress.  It will be an "emotive landscape" of Newark, Delaware.  The Newark reservoir will be a little sliver in the background.  It is an oil painting on 24 x 36" canvas.  I would love any feedback.  Right now I'm just trying to put down main colors and tweaking the composition as I see it in my sketchbook.