Old Landscapes

Immediately below we have my first oil painting. Obviously I have learned a lot since then. The clouds aren't supposed to be yellow, I just used the wrong paint. (Who ever heard of gouache anyway?!)  Regardless of the many flaws, I fell in love with oil painting after this one so I'll always like it. I'll explain the rest of them as I go.

"Cape May Lighthouse"

2005 I believe

"Mexico beach"

This painting started as a realistic painting based on a photo my parents took in Mexico, but I couldn't get anything to work.  After repainting the clouds over and over I finally grew frustrated and pretty much attacked the canvas, smearing everything around. It was therapeutic and the painting looked better too.  Completely different than what I planned, but a good lesson nonetheless. 

This is the only unfinished painting I have, and I'm content with it staying that way. So I suppose it is finished- only lacking a title. I painted it in one sitting one scorching Sunday summer afternoon. Its a view of my neighbor's backyard and I painted until I was dripping with sweat and sunburnt. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore so I went inside and that was the end of this one. I remember I really wanted to paint something, and it felt good even if I never finished it.

"Snowy Lake" or some generic title like that

This was part of the 'painting binge' that I indulged in after my mission.  Throughout my mission I would get intense urges to paint and I kept a list of ideas. Once I was home I finally got to pick up the brush again.  I love the right half of this painting, and despise the left half.  Mostly because of the trees I think. Overall I was quite happy with this one.

"Those dirty clouds"

I painted this one mostly for the clouds. Here's a quote I wrote in my sketch book prior to this painting concerning my 'cloud epiphany'.

"Water isn't blue and clouds aren't white. I've figured that out but I still can't get rid of my preconceptions, and my painting struggles because of it. Somehow I need to figure out how to use color and how to paint what I really want instead of what I think I want."

Now I would change it to "paint what I really see instead of what I think I see", but this remains the biggest challenge for me.  I love looking at clouds, especially in the summer, they fascinate me. They can be quite distracting when driving on the freeway.... yeah a couple of close calls.

"i don't remember the title" 

This was a birthday present for my friend Cait, based on her horses. My favorite part- rusty barrel and distant clouds. Biggest challenge- the horses! Especially the shadow of the white horse's head. I thought it turned out alright.

"St. George Golf Course"

I was very happy with how this one turned out. I painted it for my Grandparents as a Christmas gift. They have a house in St. George and my grandpa loves to golf. I felt a lot of pressure with this one, I wanted it to look nice enough for them to possible hang it in their house down there along with the many pieces they've purchased.  To my delight they bought a nice frame for it and its on display in their house (although I haven't seen it yet).  This is one of very few paintings that are hanging up instead of collecting dust in my old closet.  

Painting the red cliffs was incredibly fun, and I plan on painting them many more times. And I was quite pleased with the clouds in this one :)