Super Moon

I decided to do the supermoon again last night from a different location.  This is near a golf course overlooking the elementary school.  It is hard to predict where the moon is going to pop up so I picked a vantage point that had a wide view.  Also the moon came up later than the night before so could barely see my palette in the dark.

Late Evening Over the Sacramento Mountains

After doing my first Nocturne, I've been wanting to try it again. So went out last night to paint the super moon.  I wasn't sure we would even see the moon because of the clouds, but it did appear.  I've posted both paintings so you can see how much cloud cover there was.  (Note - I discovered that the lights used for the photos were too yellow, so I've replaced these photos with natural light.)

Gillespie County Fair

The Gillespie County Fair is one of the highlights in Fredericksburg, TX every summer. All the Future Farmers of America (FFA) members can compete in showing their goats, pigs, and cattle for prizes.  The judge gives a running commentary for each entry and it is always a relief when he has moved on to the next competitor.  They also hold quarter horse races at the fair and the winner gets to compete in the American Futurity in Ruidoso, NM on Labor Day.  I was looking at my photos recently and thought I would try to paint some of these events.  It has been hard to concentrate on painting with all the other things going on this summer, but every now and then I have been able to get a day in here and there.

Quarter Horse Race

FFA Goat Competition

Back to Basics

When I started painting a number of years ago, I always used to paint my cats.  I have been feeling stuck lately so I decided today to go back to basics and paint a cat.  I used to paint a cat every time I took an art class as a way to measure how much I had learned.  I've gotten away from that and also moved on to different subjects.  Maybe Jack here will help me find my way back.

Nocturne

On my recent trip to Santa Fe, NM I attempted my first nocturne painting. What a disaster!  I got set up too late so almost missed the sunset; I couldn't see the color of the paint on my palette; and my bright headlamp obliterated the values in front of me.  A fellow painter told me to turn the light to the red so you can at least see the value. Needless to say, I just started throwing paint on the canvas to capture the fleeting image.  I was surprised that anything came of it.  I almost didn't post this because it is so rough, but I thought in the interest of learning about nocturnes it was a good learning experience.

 This is what I learned:
1) Get there early so you have time to set up and think about your composition.
2) Have a headlamp that can be switched to the red light as well as a light for the palette.
3) You only have time for the big shapes so get them down quickly.
4) Use a big brush.

Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  I loved the challenge of trying to get a painting of a sunset.  It was so much more thrilling than painting from a picture. Now that I have the right equipment I'm ready to try a full moon painting.