Daily Painting Practice - North Woods Bridge Progress Painting

You may have noticed I have not been posting as much lately. That is because I am changing my focus, away from the small daily paintings to larger studio work. I will still post a small daily painting from time to time, but I will try and sell these off the blog rather than through Ebay. Ebay seems to be slowing down with the economy and since Congress is about to charge $700 billion on the national credit card, I thought I better start saving where ever I can. Selling the paintings on my blog or web site eliminates the fees.....One small step!

I will also start writing and showing more of the painting process rather than waiting until I finish one....because as you know, I am the worst finisher there is. I can delay the finishing strokes on a painting for up to a year, even then I can find a way to delay it.

To continue with the North woods of Wisconsin theme:
(Can you tell I fell in love with the landscape up there?) Here is a study I did while we were on our vacation last month. I set up and was standing in the back a our friend's boat. We parked ...or rather tied off the boat in the middle of this waterway that connected two lakes together. I did this study in about 20 minutes. As with the study in the last posting, I only wanted to use this sketch as a reminder of what attracted me to this view so when back in the studio I could recall the day. It was hard to leave it as a sketch and not to try and to make a finished looking plein air painting.

This is the block in for the studio painting. It is on a 24"x18" masonite panel.
This time instead of working from the top left hand side, I am working form the center out. I am also trying to keep the paint thin, using washes like water color.
Using the sketch, I remember how the concrete really caught the warm light of that late summer day...also the intense blue of the water in the foreground. I am hoping the warm underpainting will help add the depth to the shadows. I may glaze the color over the shadow area to keep it really thin.

click on the image to enlarge the painting

Detail - North Woods Bridge
Work in Progress

The title is a work in progress too. All titles must go through my Committee to ensure decent titles/wife. Sometimes I sit back and allow myself to really enjoy the smallest part in one of my own paintings. I have only just started and already the shadows on the concrete really rock my boat!