12" x 16" watercolor

I had started this painting en plein air but ran out of time in the field and decided to finish it in the studio. The sheep were very curious as to what I was up to and stood watching me very attentively. I also made a new friend in some kind of mutt that day.  I’m thinking I may try an oil painting of this same scene as a large painting. So far about the largest work I have done is 16″ x 20″, but I’m thinking much larger which is possible now that I have a studio that I can leave set up all the time at home. I hope you all have had a great Christmas and blessed new year.

12" x 9" oil on canvas

This was a plein air study painted last Saturday. It was a beautiful Saturday morning but a little chilly and the wind was blowing pretty steadily. I don’t have an umbrella to use yet so I didn’t have to worry about that blowing away, but i did wind up with full sun on my canvas by the time I was finishing. That and the wind got stronger later in the morning so I decided it was time to finish. This farm is near Byer’s Woods in Ashland County. The twin aluminum silos are what caught my eye. (I think those are silos.) They seemed like mini rockets about to launch. I don’t really care for the composition that much. A perfect example about why you should be doing sketches prior to painting to work out the composition. As a creative director at Red Red Design, I am adamant about doing thumbnails of ideas before starting on actual layouts. You would think I would follow my own direction when in the field painting. Next time I definitely will.