Daily Painting Practice - Completed Northwoods Paintings

Well I'm back! Just completed the Northwoods series..(is it really a series with only 2 1/2 paintings?) I think both benefited from the color studies I did on site in Wisconsin. What do you think? I am very pleased with both of them because I really went after the light and I think I got it.

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The Bridge
"haven't got a title yet"
24"x18"
oil on masonite panel

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The Swing
"no title yet for this one either"
18"x24"
oil on masonite panel

You might be wondering why I have been so absent from the blogging scene. Well the reason is, I have been on a little quest. I have been very busy soul searching. That is, searching for the soul of my work. ..(does that make sense?) The daily paintings I was turning out began to feel very empty. So I stopped. I needed to examine what was missing. During this break from the daily paintings I have been reading a lot of art books and magazines and a few biographies of artists...( my favorite so far Andrew Wyeth A Secret Life by Richard Meryman). What I admire more about Wyeth after reading the book is his devotion to striving, to trying to connect the dots. His struggle to be his own interpreter of what he feels he must paint. ( strange man but a great artist)

I have also been reaching for a better way to interpret what I feel and what I see. You know the feeling when you do paintings which don't hold your attention longer than a TV commercial? Lately, this really bothers me... This is either a sign of age or a sign I need to change my approach to my art.

This change may not make a whole lot of sense in words but I hope that my new approach will be seen in the work. Of course, I will bring you the results in the blog as I stumble down this new path... Stumbling, that 's a sign of age too!

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.

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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!

daily painting practice- North Woods painting in progress

Here's a new work in progress from our trip to the North Woods.
First, I did a painting on site in about 20 minutes. It simply is done to help me capture the light and first impressions so when I get back to the studio I can remember what attracted me to the subject. I also took plenty of photos for reference.

Of course when I got home I was ready to jump right to it but my first attempt didn't get too far.

Using a canvas with a rejected painting on it (probably an omen) I started the underpainting. I thought the square format would work well... but after I got this far I rejected it. The swing was too crowded and the layout left little room for the viewer to look deep back into the woods.

So I scrapped it and started again.


Here's the new composition. I like how the composition gives you space to walk back into the woods with your eyes.
I remembered the warm glow of the light in the pine forest so I started with a very warm underpainting.
Working from the top left to right, I have to keep talking to myself..."keep the colors muted and the paint thin"
I think I kept the darks thin enough..... we'll see how I did as the painting develops

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North Woods Painting in Progress
18"x24"
oil on masonite

Here's where I am at today. I really like the light in the center of the painting. I have a long way to go but so far so good.

Daily Painting Practice -Intermission

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Intermission
original by Peter Yesis
8"x10"
oil on masonite
(Click Here to Bid on EBay)

Sorry about the shortage of posts. I have been painting though, just not blogging. This painting is a version of a composition I have been thinking of redoing on a larger canvas. I wanted to test the color and play with the wood too see if I could get a good texture. I am pleased with both so I will put this on my list.

Daily Painting Practice - Walk in the North Woods

Back from the show in Texas and vacation in the North Woods of Wisconsin. The show was fun. My piece, Cowboy Dave, even won an award of excellence. I flew down to Texas, went to the show, had dinner with the American Plains Artists and, the next morning, flew back to Omaha. I quickly got changed and drove to Northern Wisconsin with my wife/travel companion. The long drive was sooooo worth it. We had the best vacation..... I even tried painting a bit.
Do I look like a painter on vacation or what? I borrowed the shoes.
I don't think I could run out of places to paint up here. The light was truly beautiful, and there are so many lakes and trails that I could spend the rest of my painting days hiking and painting without getting bored. This is my assessment after staying up there for only a week.
I must confess that my reputation as the world's worst fisherman was on the line. I couldn't paint him because he was too small to keep.

click on the image to enlarge the painting

Walk in the North Woods
original by Peter Yesis
8"x10"
oil on masonite

This is my gift to our friends who invited us up to share their piece of paradise. This is them, walking and talking on one of the many hikes we took through the North Woods. Carole and Peter, thanks for a wonderful time, and look for your package in the mail.