Ritter Creek, Final, 24 x 30, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle
Ritter Creek is just down the road from me. Like my last posting of French Lick Creek, this was also painted on a toned canvas. However, this was a very complex subject, lowland creek bottom with many trees. Check out my step-by-step demonstration for further information. Sometimes as the artist, you must take things out to make a better composition. Ritter Creek, Demonstration
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Posted in oil painting
Tagged contemporary impressionist, indiana, kit miracle, landscape, oil painting, painting instruction, toned canvas
French Lick Creek, final, oil on canvas, 24×30, Kit Miracle
Green is one of the most difficult colors for most artists to handle. However, if you’re going to paint landscapes, you’d better make friends with green. I think the biggest mistake inexperienced artists make is not really looking at the color. Green comes in many varieties – yellowish, orangey, silver, blue, purple. Even just looking closely and slightly emphasizing what you see will help you immensely. To learn more about the painting above and to see a demo, check out the page French Lick Creek, making friends with green, demonstration.
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Posted in art, oil painting, painting instruction, plein air, plein air painting
Tagged art, French Lick, green, kit miracle, oil painting, painting instruction, plein air, toned canvas
Often, when we venture into the great outdoors to paint, we are assaulted with visual overload. There’s just too much out there! I find that a good way to approach the problem of too much is to simplify my backgrounds. In this recent plein air painting of June lilies, I could have added a lot of trees and stuff in the background but decided to emphasize the flowers instead. I chose to do this by painting the background with a muted variety of purples and blues. As you can see, this really makes the flowers pop. By the way, the orange day lilies grow wild in great masses along the country roads this time of year.
June Day Lilies, oil on canvas, 12×16, Kit Miracle
The original area with a busy background.
Posted in country living, garden, oil painting, painting instruction, plein air, plein air painting
Tagged art, country living, garden, kit miracle, oil painting, painting instruction, plein air
Main Street House #1, oil on canvas, 12×16, Kit Miracle
I went out painting this past Sunday morning in town. Sundays are usually pretty quiet if you’re painting an urban setting. There is a row of old houses on Main Street which have been renovated and provide some pretty interesting subject matter. The first house, with all the gingerbread and roses is almost too saccharine but I thought I’d give it a stab. I was actually planning to paint it from the other side (south) but since I arrived pretty early, I caught this morning light on the north side. There are some who would like to see every little detail but I believe that you should let the viewer’s eye fill in some of the details. If I tried to paint a photo-realist painting…what IS the point, eh? …then I think the painting would have lost a lot.
Main Street House #1 en plein air, Kit Miracle
Main Street House #2, oil on canvas, 12×16, Kit Miracle
A friend went with me this morning but she had other obligations and had to leave. I wasn’t ready to pack up so I turned around and then painted the neighboring house. I really like the light in both of them. I could probably find subject matter for several paintings in a few blocks of Main Street, especially if I come back at different times of day.
What does YOUR Main Street look like?
Main Street House #2, en plein air
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Posted in art, oil painting, painting instruction, plein air, plein air painting
Tagged art, kit miracle, oil painting, old house, painting instruction, plein air
June Roses by the Woodshed, 12×16, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle
Spring flowers are almost a cliche. It’s difficult to paint them without getting too saccharine. But that is why we love them, isn’t it? Part of my spring busyness, as mentioned in an earlier post, is that I get carried away when I’m at the nursery. I always buy too much and then have to plant everything. This particular flowerbed is out by our woodshed and is probably the oldest one on the property. I think the rock wall was actually a base for a chicken coop, if I remember correctly what the former owner told us. The yucca and the weigila were already there but I’ve planted everything else. It’s always a fight between me and the wild critters who have eaten plenty of expensive perennials over the years. Since this flowerbed is furthest from the house, it generally gets the least attention so the plants have to be pretty hardy.
I painted this 12 x 16 oil yesterday morning. I love the strathing light. There was a nice breeze and low humidity so it was a pleasure to be at the easel again.
Posted in art, country living, plein air painting
Tagged art, country living, kit miracle, oil painting
Beginning around March, outdoor work really kicks up here in the country. This amounts to cleaning up debris left over from the winter, tidying flowerbeds, trimming dead branches, etc. Then preparing the garden patch and beds for planting. While it’s rewarding when it’s finished, at times I wish I lived in a condo near a big park. Well, not really but it is tiring.
This is also one of the most beautiful times outdoors here in southern Indiana. The trees start sporting a haze of pink and purple buds, understory trees like Dogwood and Redbud assault the eyes. Other times of the year, you wouldn’t even notice their scrawny selves. Spring also displays some of the most beautiful shades of greens from lime green to sea blue. By June, the woods and fields display a pretty even state of crayon green. Not my favorite color, I admit. Strange for a landscape painter.
This is also the time of year when I’m torn between my “have to” garden work and my vagabond painter self who just wants to toss the gear into the car and take off. I usually manage a bit of both.
Below are an assortment of a variety of spring paintings, some quite small at only 8 x 10, which is far smaller than my usual sizes. And, I’ll admit, while it’s always a joy to dive into the spirit of painting, the results are not always so great. Well, I tell myself, I always learn something. Even if it’s only something of what not to do next time. As usual, I always welcome your comments and feedback. Don’t be shy.
One of the most interesting colors is the limey-greenish-yellow of fields of wild mustard. I spotted this field one day with a dark grey storm rolling in which really set off the yellow. I did the first one from memory but it looks more like a Van Gogh spin-off. Later I went back and painted it from life. I think I like the second one better.
Abbett’s Field 12 x 16 oil on canvas – from memory
Abbett’s Field from life, 8 x 10, oil
This is a creek that I pass on my drive to work. Mostly attracted to the reflection in the water which is always a challenge. Again, from memory.
Creek near St. Anthony, 8 x 10, oil
And another drive-by painting of a farm with the distant blue hills, hazy sunrise and pond reflection.
Farm at sunrise on a hazy day, 12 x 16, oil
And this painting was started outdoors then brought inside. White oak trees have the most interesting spring green color with racemes of flower/pods. I didn’t quite capture it but it’s a good start. Since it’s near the house, I will try to paint it under other conditions and seasons.
White oak in spring with dogwoods, 18 x 24, oil
The final painting that I just completed is a goat farm that I pass each day. I love the evening shadows. They usually have about 30 goats but I thought that would be overkill.
The Goat Farm 12 x 16, oil
Posted in country living, oil painting, plein air painting
Tagged country living, kit miracle, landscapes, oil painting, spring landscapes
I have a beautiful drive to work every day, through the gently rolling hills of southern Indiana. This is a valley that I frequently pass which changes throughout the seasons. About a week ago, I was so taken with the freshly washed sky after a rain and the glancing sunlight through the valley, that I had to paint it when I got home. This is totally from memory and was painted primarily with palette knife.
Kyana Bottoms from memory, oil on canvas, 12 x 16, Kit Miracle
Then this past weekend, I went out early on Saturday morning to paint it from life. Due to the severe winter, I haven’t been out plein air painting much this winter so I was aching to get outdoors. Plein air painting poses its own challenges – weather, changing sunlight, where to park. In this case the people who live back the lane stopped on their way out to town that morning, then later on their way back in. Also, as you can see, I was really close to the train tracks. And just when I was concentrating, I heard this noise behind me. Some neighbor had spotted me from her house but I hadn’t heard her drive up due to the earphones I was wearing to cancel out the traffic noise. I worked a couple of hours and then finished it up in the studio.
Kyana Bottoms, final, 16 x 20, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle
So…which do you like best? The painting from memory or the one that was done on site?
More of the steps below…including the train!
The valley as it looked early in the morning.
Working out of the back of my car, initial washes.
Uh oh, here comes the train!
And THIS is how close I was to it!
Last painting step before I packed up for the morning, The light had changed too much.
Lucky Red 3 – final, oil on canvas, 18 x 24, Kit Miracle
This is the third in the Lucky Red series. Another jade dragon but not the same one that I posted last time. For some reason, this one took a lot longer. Not quite sure why. There is a fine line between painting every detail of the jade or emphasizing the shape of the dragon. I was having a little more trouble with conveying the sinuousness of the dragon than previously. There also weren’t as many distracting details but total focus on the dragon shape. Check out the link for the step-by-step links. https://my90acres.com/artwork/lucky-red-3-step-by-step/
Posted in art, oil painting, painting instruction
Tagged kit miracle, lucky red, oil painting, painting instruction
Lucky Red 2 – final. 18 x 24, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle
In keeping with the red and good luck symbols, I created this still life after the first one. There are a couple of common elements to Lucky Red the first, such as, the bamboo plant and the small fish glass paperweight.
Here you see a large jade dragon signifying the year of the Dragon and a jade/silver/gold bracelet with the I-Ch’ing symbolizing Ta Yu or number 14. Unfortunately the bracelet wasn’t so lucky as it was damaged in a bike wreck. Humph! I also have a sleeping cat from Provence suggesting my name – and the cat sleeps with one eye open. The gold cup is from my mother and the tea is Yogi brand (Detox). I always like to incorporate a sense of humor or irony in my work if I can do it very subtly. The seashell doesn’t represent anything in particular; I just like it. And the red cloths for the background – one a kind of orangey-red batik and the other a medium dark red.
Lucky Red 2 – initial still life set up. Notice the peach gel to diffuse the light.
Lucky Red 2, initial drawing on the canvas
Lucky Red 2 – first washes
Lucky Red 2 – more blocking in major colors
Lucky Red 2 – adding more colors
Lucky Red 2 – step 6, adding more details, color corrections
Lucky Red 2 – adding more details. This is the 85% mark when all that is left is to tweak the details.
A view of the painting with the still life set up behind it.
Lucky Red 2 – cup detail. Notice how abstractly this gold cup is painted.
Lucky Red 2 – detail of shell. Notice how loose the brush strokes are. It is a real accomplishment to get the effect with just one pass.
Lucky Red 2 – detail, sleeping cat
Lucky Red 2 – final. 18 x 24, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle
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Posted in oil painting, painting instruction, still life
Tagged kit miracle, lucky red, oil painting, painting instruction, still life
Many years ago I read that when Andrew Wyeth was complimented on the realism of his paintings that he responded, “All realistic art is an optical illusion. You’re taking paint, applying it to a two-dimensional surface and tricking the eye into believing that they’re seeing a real object.” Although this didn’t quite sink in at the time, over the years I’ve come to understand what he was saying.
When I paint a subject in a realistic manner, I am literally fooling the eye. My son was looking at the painting, Lucky Red, and went up close to examine it. After a while, he commented that there really wasn’t much there. I just laughed. “You’re right,” I said. “It’s all an optical illusion.”
While I admire artists who have the tenacity to paint every little hair on a rabbit, I really wonder why they are doing that. Isn’t the entire object of the painting to convey the mood and feeling of the artist? Personally I believe in letting the viewer become part of the painting by bringing their own knowledge and imagination to the work. The hard edges certainly define some critical points, but soft edges let one area slide into another, creating a cohesiveness that cannot be obtained photo realism. My personal opinion, anyway.
Go back and look at some of the original paintings that I’ve posted on here – Lucky Red, Grand Canyon at Moran Point, and Blue Bottles with Lemons. Then look at these close-up.
Detail – Lucky Red. Notice how abstractly the fish and seaweed are painted in this glass paperweight.
The golden Buddha is also painted very loosely. Notice the sparkles of the ribbon, too.
This Mediterranean glass paperweight is a mash of swirling colors. Again, the sparkles on the blue ribbon.
Notice the lost edges of this paperweight blending into the folds of the cloth.
This tree in Grand Canyon at Moran Point is very loosely painted when viewed in detail.
Again, the viewer’s eye is blending the colors in this yellow lemon.
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Posted in art, oil painting, painting instruction, still life
Tagged Arizona, art, kit miracle, moran point, oil painting, painting instruction, still life
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