Friday, January 14, 2011



Please, No Tire Kickers ! ..9" x 12" ..O/P

A GMC ghost from the past, a field mate to the car in the painting, "End Of The Road". I have a feeling that the owner of these relics was and is a loyal General Motors Company fan.

As my painting life marches on, I have increasingly discovered that my backpack and painting supplies have gotten gradually heavier. As you know, we all carry those little extra 'things' that we just know we will need at the next painting site, and never do.

In order to lighten my load, I have decided not to include the heavy 150 ml (5.1 fl. oz) tubes of paint in the bottom of my bag. Yes, the ones that you can not buy when you are painting in the field. Those extra ' favourite ' tubes we just can't do without.

So, before leaving home, I prepared my palette by laying out enough paint in the usual order, to last for the next painting.
In so doing, I discovered that I could do three paintings before I had to replenish the palette. ...And no digging around in the bottom of my bag for that one missing colour ! ..I should have thought of this before..

In this particular painting, I made up my mind to use only larger brushes and my "putty knife". These brushes were two long flats, numbers 8 and 6 and one 'round' for laying in the composition . I felt that this selection would be good for the 9" x 12" panel and comp.
Many of the missing nuances that make up the final touches are , in my opinion , due to the larger brushes while painting. Those that are seen are the result of the 'knife' .( grasses, etc.) I suppose other details could have been added later with smaller brushes.
With the materials that I had at hand, I think, at the time, I said all that was necesary to say about this particular painting .

A quick, fun piece !

'til next..



7 comments:

Linda Popple said...

Beautiful painting! Thanks for sharing your process of getting there!

Frank A. said...

Thanks Linda, My pleasure.. :)

Unknown said...

Hi Frank,
glad you lightened your supply, makes for an easier going, and sometimes novel and unespected discoveries! I think lately you are inamored with the reds! A difficoult color to muster. Very powerful . Did you ever try the Zorn pallette? Red, Ochre, Black and White? Try see what you can came up with?
This is a very expressive painting, the tree line is fantastic as is the foreground and the main subject. Keep worm!

Carol said...

I love your work Frank. I am new to this plein air painting but absolutely love it! It was lovely to read the well written blurb,thanks for sharing.

Frank A. said...

Carol.. Thank you very much for your very kind compliments and comment.
It is nice hear that you have been "bitten by the plein air bug", so to speak. I wish only the best of luck to you as you continue with your painter's journey.
It is my pleasure to share and I only hope that the sharing is a help to you.

Stay well ! :)

Meowlissa said...

The paintings are beautiful :)

Frank A. said...

Meowlissa, Thank you ver much. I appreciate your compliment.