Sketch of the Day – Feb. 24, 2012

Feb 24, 2012 - Farm On Middle Pownal Road, Pownal, Vermont

Farm on Middle Pownal Road, Pownal, Vermont. Seems that I’ve been visiting Pownal, VT a good bit recently. This small quick sketch was done looking at another farm in Pownal, this one along a dirt road known as Middle Pownal Road. Like my previous two sketches (Feb 22 & Feb 23), this one takes a minimal approach and puts more emphasis on the effect of light and overall design than it does on capturing reality. The color palette for this sketch is a return to the one from Feb 22 with cad red and thalo blue dominant and the addition of cerulean and raw sienna. Although this is a much less finished work than many others in this series, it’s simplicity brings focus to the main theme which is the bright, winter morning light striking the side of the barn. The sketch is built with all of the elements supporting that single theme – light struck trees, long shadows and snowy fields also capturing the bright sunlight.
Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Sketch of the Day – Feb. 22, 2012

Feb 22, 2012 - Winter Farm Scene, Pownal, Vermont

Winter Farm Scene, Pownal Vermont. This started out to be a more traditional sketch like “Marie Hill Farm, Andover Vermont” on Feb. 15, or Taraden Barn, North Bennington, Vermont on Feb 18, but a desire to get away from the winter palette that’s been mentioned so often in these posts lead to a different interpretation of this scene with a different palette of color. The light on this early morning was creating stark and bold shadows that were being cast across the road. That single element became the catalyst for thinking and creating this sketch in a much simplified way. In laying out the pencil layout, the farm buildings were simplified by paying more attention to their defining planes, and to whether a particular plane was in full light, in shade or perhaps catching a shadow. The idea of simplification also led directly to the notion that a vignette – or leaving large portions of the paper untouched – might be a way to emphasize the long, stark shadows. Working with the positive and negative space seemed a way to further enhance design over realism

The scene as it appeared on this sunny morning was very much in the manner of the other winter scenes I’ve created during the course of this series with grays, tans and browns dominating. Since this sketch became an exercise in simplification and design, the color palette was selected with simplicity in mind while also enhancing the overall theme. The brilliant light created deep blue shadows on the ground suggesting something other than the normal “winter blues”. It didn’t take long to decide to use thalo blue – a deep, dark, very cool and intense blue – for the shadows. In keeping with simplicity, a good complement to thalo blue was needed, so that there would be the capacity to mix some good darks and neutral grays. The choice for the complement was cadmium red light, a warm, slightly orange, red that works well to neutralize the intense and staining thalo blue. Along with these two, three other colors were included on the palette: cerulean blue – another cool, but light and very sedimentary blue, raw sienna – a trusty color from the “winter palette” and great for mixing light neutrals, and permanent rose – an somewhat intense cool red that, when mixed with cool blues, creates low intensity, dusky violets which are perfect for the shady side of a red barn.

The sketch developed rather quickly. The initial focus was on creating an acute “horizontalness” by essentially painting positive shapes from the left to the right border. This included the snow shadows at far left, the shaded side of the barn at upper left, distant mountain and dark foliage in the middle left, the “main” barn complex and silos in the middle right and the small dark piece of mountainside and lightstruck building to the right. At the same time, the horizontal sense was somewhat offset by tilting the large horizontal, positive shape slightly to the right.

It was a conscious decision to leave the few strong verticals – tree trunks and utility pole to the left and treetop in the middle right – unpainted, negative space, in order to create balance for the overall composition.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Sketch of the Day, Feb. 18, 2012

Feb. 18, 2012 - Taraden Barn, North Bennington, Vermont

Taraden Barn, North Bennington, Vermont. I started this sketch during the lunch break of a weekend workshop – Wet into Wet Watercolor – which was being held at Taraden B & B, in North Bennington. This view out of one of the finished barns toward the entry of another is familiar to me and I have painted it several time before. Most recently it was painted last winter during another weekend workshop. This particular February day was un-typically sunny and snow-less – this whole winter has been sunny, snow-less and relatively warm.

Despite the lack of snow and the plentiful sun on this day, the winter palette – ultramarine and cobalt blues, raw and burnt sienna dominate this work as well. The green of the barn shingles is created mostly with cerulean blue with some raw sienna.

This quick sketch was done in the Canson Montval Watercolor Field Sketchbook.

For comparisons sake, I’ve also posted this sketch which was done just over a year ago, at another weekend watercolor workshop. The

Feb. 6, 2011 - watercolor demo for workshop of Taraden B & B, barn, North Bennington, Vermont

most notable difference between the two is probably the depiction of the weather conditions. In very stark contrast to the current winter, the winter of 2010- 2011 was very cold, snowy and gray. While the vantage point is the same in both works, this one focuses on the structure of the building and the deep snow cover piled on it.

This sketch was not done in a sketchbook, but on a piece of 140 lb. cold press, Kilimanjaro brand watercolor paper.
Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Sketch of the Day – Feb. 15, 2012

Feb. 15, 2012 - Marie Hill Farm, Andover Vermont

Marie Hill Farm, Andover Vermont.  This farm sits on a hill along the north side of Vt Rt 11, between Londonderry and Chester, Vermont.   I travel along this route often and notice the farm everytime.  On this day, the scene struck me as being particularly “wintery” during a year when we’ve really not had much of a winter.

The sketch itself was done with very fluid washes applied quickly and directly.  The colors are from my four-part “winter palette” plus a little cerulean blue.

I did this sketch in a Canson Montvale Watercolor Field Sketchbook.  It’s the first time I’ve used this sketchbook for this series, and had forgotten how much I really like it for plein air sketching.  The paper is not all that absorbent, but has a soft, slightly textured surface which is terrific for flowing washes and direct work.
Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Sketch of the Day – Feb. 10, 2012

Beechwood Road, Looking South, Hoosick Falls NY. I’ve painted this location twice in the past – both times as autumn scenes. This time the scene also resembles late autumn even though it was actually painted in mid-February. There should be lots of snow on the ground, covering these farm fields but, as I have reported in earlier posts, it has been unusually mild and snowless all winter long.

I found this scene both dramatic and simple, with clear sky, bright sunlight and large expanses of field and woods. In one way, this was a watercolor painters dream scene, with all the elements laid out in large, simple shapes, and a nice balance of warm and cool hues.

My aim was to transfer the simplicity to paper. I tried to emphasize the large shapes and warm/cool contrasts with simple, flat and hard-edged washes.

The warm burnt orange of the fields was pushed in both the foreground and distant fields. The actual local color was more in line with the color seen in the left part of the middle field. Why do that? Catching light on the middle field required that it be contrasted with similar elements. Depicting light striking one object requires a visible difference in intensity, temperature or both. In the case of this sketch, the foreground field is also catching light but painting it in the same manner as the middle field would have left this very large simply painted shape with very little visual interest. By “pushing” the color – increasing its intensity –without cooling the color – changing its temperature. The contrast in intensities between the fore and middle ground convinces the eye that, while both are lit, the middle ground is catching a great deal of intense sunlight. At the same time, the foreground stays warm enough and light enough so that it has visual interest and so the addition of fence post shadows in the foreground left are visually credible as well.
Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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Feb. 10, 2012 Beechwood Road Looking South, Hoosick Falls NY

 

Preparing for an upcoming exhibit – “Sacred Vessels & Vantages”

"Mid-Summer's Day"

Working hard getting work ready for an upcoming exhibit at the NAACO Gallery. This exhibit with the theme “Sacred Vessels & Vantages” opens Thursday, July 28th and runs through August. It is a two-person show featuring the work of ceramic artist Jessica Phillips and my watercolor paintings.

This exhibit will include a series of paintings created especially for this exhibit and this theme.  The paintings themselves are all in format of wide panorama – with lengths more than three times that of their height. “Mid-Summer’s Day”, shown above has dimensions of 8″ x 29″.

Knowing that the exhibit was scheduled well in advance, it was  goal to create work that was new and fresh for me, in one way or another.  The first challenge was in deciding how to approach the theme of “sacred vantages”.   Being a plein air painter, much of my painting time is spent outdoors – an experience that is almost always enjoyable just to be able to take in all of the sight, sound and smell from nature.  The balance of nature and human activity is at least solemn if not sacred.

In addition to the challenge of theme, I wanted these paintings to be something of a technical challenge as well.   In the end, I ended up with two technical challenges.  The first was in composing in a panoramic format that seemed to be a way to emphasize “vantage”.  The biggest challenge for me was in creating panoramic compositions while maintaining focus, movement and balance in the works.  In “Mid-Summer’s Day”, above, the barn grouping to the left along with the large tree serves as a visual focal point.  The sweep of the fields and the mountainside that angles down from the left  both serve to keep the eye moving across the scene.  For balance, there are the distant farm buildings  and the weight of the mountainside to the right.

The second challenge was to create a variety of greens that are evocative of the summer landscape. Most of my landscape paintings depict either fall or winter. Since I tend to mix my own secondary colors – orange, violet and green, it has been a challenge and a pleasure, working with the yellows and blues on my palette in various mixtures to create the various greens.

All of the paintings in the series depict Vermont landscapes and include both studio and plein air works. More of the series can be seen on my artists website – www.tonyconner.com.

The exhibit “Sacred Vessels & Vantages” opens with a public reception on Thursday, July 28, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm  at the NAACO Gallery, 33 Main Street, North Adams, MA.  The exhibit is on view through August 22, 1011.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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“End Of Season” – New Watercolor Painting

“End Of Season”

My latest landscape painting  began as a demonstration for my current “Landscape Painting in Watercolor” class. The class focuses specifically on the most efficient and effective techniques needed for painting watercolor landscapes.  Since the class is held indoors, we are working from photos.  The two reference photos  are shown below.  In this particular class, we combined images from the two photos while simplifying the subject and focusing on large shapes and in applying three basic kinds of watercolor washes – flat, graded & variegated.  By the end of class, the large foundation washes had been applied. I finished the painting in my studio principally by adding the touches of value, color and especially the textures needed to depict that time in autumn when the fields have been harvested, the leaves are gone and frost has removed the life and color from any remaining vegetation.

The reference photos are from scenes that are near but across the road from each other.  The sweeping, quiet rhythm of the fields from the left photo was attractive to me but I felt it needed more focus.  Adding the farm buildings and road from the right photo added the point of focus needed.

As is my tendency, the color in the finished painting has been enhanced with additional “chroma” or intensity and the field shapes along with the road enhance the feeling f movement.  I’m attracted to both the rhythm and contrast of open fields – both cultivated and uncultivated.  As mentioned above, farm fields – after the harvest – and open fields in the time after frost have unique textures.  Suggesting these textures is a visual cue as to the season – despite the color that is more expressive than realistic.

The content of the current class, plus some additional information, will be offered again in “Watercolor – the Essential Techniques” on the weekend of November 6 & 7, 2010.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my Studio Gallery. It is open by appointment – please contact me to arrange a visit.

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"Barn Snowscape" – new watercolor landscape painting

"Barn Snowscape"

“5 x 7″

This small work began as a study for a larger composition and took on a life of its own.  The main challenge for this work and for the larger painting was in balancing the warm and cool areas and in unifying the colors.  The background went in first with yellows, oranges and mixed violets for the forest and the trees.  I wanted to use blue  for the snow shadows – primarily cerulean and ultramarine – which I did.  The problem was that the foreground and back ground did not relate.

The solution was to pull background color into the mid and foreground, while bringing the cool blues up into the sky areas.  The barn itself contains colors from all areas of the painting.  Because of this and because it is the focal point of the painting,  it created a great deal of harmony and unity on its own.

There are three other significant locations where color was added specifically to create unity – the silo, where an intense spot of cerulean blue was added high, so that it would overlap the background, while using the deep violets from the woods on the lower parts;  the left forground snow cover has both violets and a spot of warm orange mingled with the ultramarine; and the fence post to the right, which anchors in the foreground and overlaps the mid-ground and background.  The post was the last item painted and received cool blues where it overlaps the background and warm orange-grays where it overlaps the cool snow shadows.

This and other works on this site are available for purchase. Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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"Rural Route" – watercolor landscape painting

“Rural Route”

5″ x 22″

This watercolor painting is unusual in several ways.  It began as a warm up excercise using  an oddly shaped leftover piece of watercolor paper and leftover paint from the mixing areas of my studio palette.  Using a single brush for the entire painting – one of my favorite 1″ flats (Winsor Newton Series 295 aquarelle) and drawing no lines first, I picked up some palette gray.   Palette gray is a term I use for the pools of leftover pigments left on the palette during and after a painting session.  The colors tend to mingle freely creating areas at the edges of the pools where multiple colors have run together forming unusual grays and browns.

The first stroke placed on the paper ultimately became the facing wall of the small, dark gray farm building near the center of the picture.  Once placed, both the color and shape reminded me of a weathered old barn and of a previous winter farm composition – http://tonyconner.com/2008/11/18/new-work-designing-winter/ – and that  became the point of departure.

Trying to stick to the original exercise, I continued to use only the 1″ brush and the gray and brown leftovers from the palette.  The building roofs were created by painting the negative areas of sky and trees around them.  Wanting to add some color punch to the forground I did pick up some cerulean blue for the left foreground and some Ultramarine mixed with some of the “palette brown” for the muddy road.  By the way, I have recently begun using Ultramarine Blue by M. Graham & Co.  I find it to be a terrific watercolor paint, with great color character and intensity.

I finished up the painting by placing the falling down fence in the forground and glazing on some deeper and darker color on the faces of the building that were not catching direct light.
This and other works on this site are available for purchase. Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

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