Up for bidding!

Yes, yes. I know you just saw this painting recently. But I got curious about the whole EBAY thing. So I decided to put it up for auction. Call me a sell out, but I just wanted to see if I'd get a nibble.

You can bid on this painting here.

Creek near the house

There is a spot I drive by almost everyday coming home from work. It's one of those roads that, in it's day, was the major route of transportation. These days it has been replaced by a four lane divided highway that runs parallel to it. But I prefer to take the old road. It takes you down to a very old bridge that is only wide enough for one car. My neighbors and I wave each other across when we approach it.

Under this bridge is a beautiful little creek. I having been driving by it for the last seven years. As you can see (if I have done my job right) it is a wonderful little place. I wanted to capture it to share with all of you.

I learned a lot about landscape painting from doing this painting. It was like painting a room with four walls. I was trying to capture the three dimensional space within it.

More to come!

The Rock

Rocks seem to be a theme here, huh? Unlike the one from two posts ago, this rock is only bout fifty feet long from left to right. This is a farm near my house that has been a subject many times. I just love this place. The owner is wealthy enough not to have to sell his land to developers to raise more McMansions. It is pristine with barns, stables and a plantation style home. I hope to paint that sometime soon as well.

Oil on canvas 5" x 7"

On the South Rim Trail

Along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon are these beautiful wind swept trees. Their bent shapes give away the number of years they have yielded to the constant pressure. This sketch doesn't do them justice.

On the way to the Grand Canyon

We were rolling up some back road from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon in our thirty foot RV. Being from the East coast, the landscape was alien, but beautiful. We must have driven 200 miles with this large looming rock to our left. There was nothing but open space and fence between us and the mountains. I looked out at the vastness of it all and wondered who came out here and put up a fence? It seemed kind of silly. But I guess not if you're a rancher.

A little more light

Here's the next step.

Step 5 - first highlights

Some roof tops and cool shadows

Everyting still is pretty simple. Broad shapes of different colors...

Add a little foreground and blend...

Barn step two

I was able to spend a little time on the sky tonight. Just a background layer. I'll continue to work my way forward. At this satge it's easy to fall into "Bob Ross" type tricks. I must stay alert. I will paint what I see! No knife tricks!

Barn raising

Oil 36" x 12"

Underpaiting

My son's first oil painting

For Christmas my 14 year old son received his first oil painting set. After the holidays died down a bit we finally had time for his first lesson. We did a little bit of everything. Color mixing, bush techniques, "drawing" with a brush and a bit of knife work too.

I know I'm his Dad but I think he did a great job for his first time out. It was a wonderful way to spend New Year's Eve.

Happy Holidays everyone.

My little brother and I

My little brother and I
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Little brother is coming for Christmas. Thruth be known, he's taller than I am but I lucked out and retained my hair. He doesn't really look quite like this. Niether do I. But this is a fun caricature of the two of us together. I framed it and am going to give it to him as a Christmas present. The rest of the family will think we're off our rockers, but that's not so unusual.

Oh yea, he's on the left. I'm on the right.

Progression

Progression
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Well, we had our office holiday party over the weekend and it was a great time like every year. This painting was my secret Santa gift for one of my coworkers. We were encouraged to make our gift but only a few of us did, so I was a little embarressed. But she sent me a photo of it hanging in her house so I guess she liked it.

I took a look through my photos of it and thought it would be interesting to view the progression in one image. Hey, did I just make new art out of old art?

I figured it out!

I figured it out!
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

The foreground on this was really bothering me. A lot of you made helpful suggestions so I could tell it wasn't really jelling with you either. The background and foreground were too disconnected, but I think I fixed it. Let me know if you think otherwise.

Sorry I've been away.

It has been a while since I posted anything. My day job has me quite busy lately. But over the holiday weekend I managed to sneak this one in. It's larger than the other ones. This is 8" x 10" on canvas. I kept the foreground pretty loose but I'm not sure if that's the right approach. It might be to disconnected from the focal point. What do you think?

Third day on the farm

Third day on the farm
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

It was another rainy weekend so I headed back the same farm. This is another 4" x 6" oil. The problem with shooting these little guys is that when you upload them they tend to render larger than the original painting, and then start to fall apart. It's like what happens when you take a photo from the newspaper and enlarge it. All the dots from the half tone show up. Here, the weave of the canvas gets too big.

So do me a favor. When you have this on your screen, stand across the room to look at it. :-)

Number two in a series?

Number two in a series?
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

It was 10:00 last night. I was really tired because it was a long day at work. The TV was on and it was tempting to just plop down and veg. But I didn't. I went down stairs and did another little one. This might have been better had it been earlier in the day and my brain a bit fresher, but that's OK. It was just fun to do.

Oil on canvas board 4' x 6"

Better Color

Better Color
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

That's better. The color of the last post was bothering me. I shot it last night indoors. This one I took outside in the day light and the color is much more accurate. Please pardon the multiple posts.

Rainy Day on the Farm - Oil on 4"x 6" canvas board.

Rainy Day on the Farm - Oil on 4"x 6" canvas board.
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I went out this past Saturday (during our rain storm) looking for the perfect overcast landscape. I took a lot of photos but this is one little study that I jumped on right away. I had trouble photogrphing the finished piece however. It's still too wet to scan, so the color harmony is a bit off, but I think you get the idea.

You can see from the title that it is small. I'm taking a lesson from Amanda on how we can make small paintings important. I hope.