Autumn in the Mountains

 A few weeks ago I spent quite a bit of time hiking, sketching and taking photos in Big Cottonwood Canyon, the biggest canyon in the Wasatch Mountains here in northern Utah.  Using the reference material collected I made a couple different paintings based on a scene(s) in Brighton and I made them the same size and similar style so that could display well together.  They also are painted on cradled panels with the sides painted black and hanging wire already installed so they can be hung without a frame.

"Autumn Spring in the Mountains" Acrylic 20" X 10"

"Mountainside Rock in Autumn" Acrylic, 20" X 10"

Drawing Larger

 I've done some larger charcoal drawings but have never gone larger than 8" X 10" in pen, that changed this week with this fairly complex 11" X 14" rural landscape drawing.

"The Barn Has Seen Better Days" 11" X 14" Pen on paper

This drawing is loosely based on a scene I found in the rural Utah town of Morgan.  I simplified the barn and surrounding space a little.  For example there were about eight or so tires leaning against each other in a row against the barn not two and there was more fencing and junk to the left. The cluster of cottonwood trees were there but they were not behind the barn but rather much farther to the right. I think I about went cross eyed drawing all of that foliage.  Also the distant hill was lower.  The tractor was actually there in that spot.  The fenced corner was there but had beefy, square posts...and a goat. 

I took the reference photo years ago, given the state of the barn at that time I'd be surprised if it's still standing. 

Here are a few detail closeups.

Abandoned Model AA Ford Truck Pen Drawing

 I'm finding I'm enjoying pen drawing more than ever and have completed another one this week.

Most people are not aware of Ford's truck history.  While Ford introduced the Model T in 1908 they didn't introduce a truck version until 1917, called the Model TT.  The Model TT has essentially the same chassis and drivetrain as the Model T except for a worm drive rear axle that was geared lower for more torque and heavier springs to increase the load rating to one ton. Even then Ford didn't supply a full body, just the front fenders and hood.  The buyer had to supply a body himself or send the chassis to a body manufacturer to fit the body type of his choice. Ford did start supplying a full body until 1922, a steel cab with a wood bed.  In 1925 Ford finally offered a light duty pickup body on the Model T chassis.  

By the time the one ton Model AA came out in 1927 Ford offered several body styles.  An abandoned Model AA is the subject of my latest pen drawing.  The truck in my drawing is equipped with a wood bed with removable wood sides, I don't know if this was a bed supplied by Ford.

"Abandoned Model AA Ford Truck" Prints Available

This was a fun drawing to create and I guess you could say I've now got a series of pen drawings of abandoned Ford trucks.

(the original drawing is sold, but prints are available, click on the image)

Painting for Charity

 Kulture Krash is one of the coolest and largest annual automotive events in Northern Utah.  I won't call it just a car show, it's much more than that.  Art is as big a part of Kulture Krash as the cars.  There are many artist booths, most with Ed Roth Rat Fink and monster style art or pin striping, in other words "Kulture" with a "K".   There was also a Hot Wheels swap meet, of which I participated along with having some of my art for sale. This show is for charity for the Angel's Hands Foundation. One of the events to raise money was a custom Hot Wheels silent auction, I donated two of my customs and they did well.  

The big event that ends the show however and one of the main attractions is the live art auction, also to benefit the charity, in fact it is the primary source of the funds raised for the charity at the show.   I decided to paint something specifically for the art auction.

"Custom Blue 1940 Ford Coupe"
Prints Available

I started with a 12" X 24" cradled panel, painted the edges black and toned the surface with burnt orange. After laying out the composition I painted it all using brushes but fairly thinly.  Then I painted over it again with thick paint, adding details and refining it.  The last layer was to apply extra thick paint selectively using knives and even an old credit card to add interest and texture.  The result is a side view of a lowered old school custom blue 1940 Ford coupe with a chopped to and fender skirts against an abstract yellow/orange background.

The Allure of Abandoned Vehicles

 I've mentioned this on this blog before but I love abandoned old vehicles as an art subject but I'm not sure why.  Sure, I love old cars, trucks and tractors.  In my opinion classic and antique vehicles are far more aesthetically pleasing than modern ones.  Sure, modern designers are very limited nowadays because they have to work within a streamlined envelope to minimize fuel consumption at speed, I even acknowledge that modern cars are superior in every way to classics...except in appearance. But that's beside the point. Why are rusty, abandoned wrecks so interesting?  I guess it's the combination of classic design and the aesthetics of imperfection, often referred to as "wabisabi" (ya, I know this is a westernized term for an Asian concept.)  That's my best guess anyway, and is also the subject of the two pieces of art I made this week.

"Abandoned 1959 Ford Fairlane" pen and watercolor, 8" x 10"

This line and wash painting is based on a photograph I took in a wrecking yard nearby that sadly is no longer existing, currently being replaced with housing developments. 

"Abandoned 1965 Ford Pickup" Prints Available

This detailed pen line drawing is based on a couple different photos and my imagination.  The 1965 Ford pickup had a background I did like a lot except for the dying tree, so I pulled a derelict wood barn from another photograph and the background to the right of the truck is from my imagination.

Playing With Classic Cars

Often times I start a painting, get frustrated with it, take it off the easel and set it aside, put it back on the easel a few days later, get frustrated, set it aside again and so on.  Most often these frustrating paintings eventually get covered and the surface used for a totally different painting.  Occasionally I'm actually able to make the painting turn the corner and turn into something worthwhile, that is what happened with this one.

"Yellow 1953 Buick", Acrylic 12" X 16"

This is a 1953 Buick classic car.  I started this painting a couple months ago and it did a couple stints on the easel, the third time was the charm. The car in my reference photo that I took at a local car show was actually kind of a pale green, I decided it needed to be something more dynamic and painted it yellow. I painted this one mostly with brushes with highlights applied with a palette knife and thick paint.  I kept it loose and impressionistic.  I also added some splatters at the bottom.  I kept the background abstract in blue and violet.

Revisiting an Old Canvas

 A few weeks ago I dug an old painting on canvas out from under the stairs.  I guess I had put it there with a bunch of stuff just to get it out of the way.  I was doing some reorganizing and cleaning up in the basement, a project that seems to be permanently ongoing.  This painting was an abstract, the first non-objective abstract painting I had ever painted and I only did it as a class assignment as I wasn't really interested in painting abstract at the time, and even now only do that on occasion. However, I had never thrown this painting away.  Why not?  I've thrown many other paintings away, so why not this one, why have I been keeping it around all these years?  

I carried the painting up to my studio and stood it up at the end of the table where it would be out of the way but easily accessible...and then promptly ignored it.   That is until this week,  I took the old painting out, looked it over and decided it was worth a good work over.

"Red and Blue Make Violet" Acrylic 20" X 20"

I started by adding texture using heavy gel medium.  The painting already had texture but I felt it could use more.  After the medium had dried I started adjusting the painting.  I mostly kept the same composition and colors, though there is more dark area in it now and I increased the size and brightness of the light area in the lower middle.  I also intensified the colors a bit as the painting was somewhat dull but not too much because I wanted to keep it dark and moody overall.  Another thing I did was spray water on it while paint was still wet to cause some runs, the painting didn't have this element before and I do think it was an improvement.

I'm glad I picked this old painting up and played with it again, even though abstract isn't really my thing I might do some more in a similar vein.

Palette Knife Evergreens

 It's been a while since I got the knives out, I managed to do just that this week and created a pair of related paintings. 

"Evergreen Hillside" acrylic, 12" X 16"

I wanted to keep these paintings very loose, almost semi-abstract.  I started by blocking the painting in with large brushes.  I do this not only to lay out the composition but also to cover the surface with colors that fit the composition so that I don't have to totally cover the surface with knife applied paint.  I think this works to create a bit more interest, even a little vibration in the painting as the slightly different colors peak through the knife strokes.

The subject is based on a photograph I took while walking around in the Middle Provo River restoration area in the Heber Valley of northern Utah.  The contrast of the green pine trees and the yellowish-browns of the high mountain desert hillside interested me, however I also added some brighter greens for the younger trees and plants.

"Two Evergreens on a Hill" Acrylic 7" X 5"

The second painting is a much smaller one based on the same concept, in fact I used no reference for this one, just painted the same idea from my own head and the experience of the previous painting.

A Morning in the Mountains

 It's been a long time since I've visited the mountains, over a year I think, I decided it was about time to make another visit and I took my sketchbook.

I went up Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains. One of the nicest things about living in the Salt Lake Valley is the mountains are a short drive away no matter where you live in the valley. There's a downside however, it means these mountains are very heavily visited.  Really the only good time to go to the canyon is early in the morning on a weekday.  I left home shortly after 7:00 and arrived at the Mill B trailhead about 7:45 and already the parking lot was 3/4 full. I wasn't planning on hiking the trail, I just wanted to get up to an interesting section of the creek and sketch it.

I don't think you could call this a waterfall but rather just an especially fast and rocky section of the creek.  I decided to go with charcoal for my sketches today.  I used my Stonehenge sketchbook which turned out to be difficult to erase so my usual techniques didn't work as well.

After the creek sketch I decided to got to the top of the canyon and take a walk around Silver Lake. I got to the parking lot before 9:00 and there was plenty of parking and I saw few people on the trail.

I changed my process slightly for this sketch.  I started by applying a large amount of vine charcoal since it's easy to erase and then used an eraser to create the lighter areas and then went back in with compressed charcoal to reinforce the darks.

After finishing my walk around the lake I sat at a picnic table and sketched the bottom part of a large evergreen tree that was next to the trail and close to the picnic tables.  It was now after 10:00 and the parking lot was full and there was many more people, so take note, make sure you visit Silver Lake before 10:00 in the morning.

I don't know why I've stayed away from the mountains this year, there's just no excuse.  This was a very enjoyable morning, I need to make sure I make it up again at least a couple more times before the snow flies.  Here are a couple more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Getting back into Pen Drawing

 I took a sharp turn from the impressionist and abstract acrylic painting and picked up the pen this week. 

"Rural Horse Shed Pen Dwg" Prints available

To warm up my pen drawing skills I started with this small sketchbook drawing of a simple rural landscape.  The drawing is based on a photograph I took in Eden, Utah in Ogden Valley during autumn. The old horse shed appears to be no longer used as there is no path leading up to it and it's somewhat in disrepair.  I modified the composition a bit from the photograph by moving the light colored tree to the left so the shed overlapped it.

"Abandoned 1963 Ford Farm Truck" Prints Available"

For my second drawing this week I chose a more complicated composition and drew it a bit larger.  I don't remember where I took the reference before but it was basically a ready made subject, I changed very little from the photograph.  As usual, I'm never sure what I find appealing about such subjects but these old abandoned trucks just call to me to be painted or drawn, especially when surrounded by such interesting debris. 

A Six Day Blue Art Challenge

 Last week I participated in an art challenge put on by an administrator of an art forum.  The challenge was to produce one piece of art, start to finish, each day for six days and each piece must contain the color blue.

"Small Autumn Tree Study" acrylic, 8" X 6"

"Autumn Bushes Study" acrylic 6" X 8"

For the first two days I kept it simple and just painted two small acrylic autumn landscape studies with blue skies.  The first one is an autumn version of a summer landscape I did for the green challenge, the other just on an old photograph I took in Wanship, Utah.

"Tall Blue Trees" acrylic, 12" X 9"

For the third day I revisited my abstract trees series.  I started by adding texture using pieces of tissue paper wrinkled and fixed to the surface using gel medium.  Then I applied high flow paint and water and let it drip, then refined the composition and colors using heavy body paint applied with brushes and then added a bit of line work using acrylic markers.

"A Big Blue Barn" acrylic 9" X 12"

This one is a little out of character for me.  Ya, it's a rural landscape, and it's an autumn scene, but I've never painted a barn blue before, I don't believe I've ever seen a blue barn but I wanted more than just a blue sky for this one to comply with the theme of the challenge. The reference was a photograph I took in Liberty, Utah.

"Abandoned Blue Chevy Dump Truck" acrylic 11" X 14"

It's been a while since I've painted an abandoned vehicle so I picked one for the fifth day.  The reference was actually green but it's no big deal to make it blue.  The truck in the reference was actually in a junkyard in Nephi, Utah, I put it in a field backed with bushes.

"Blue 1935 Buick Sedan" pastel 12" X 16"

For the last day I really pushed my skills.  This painting was popular with the other participants but I'm not especially happy with it.  I decided to use pastel instead of acrylic for this one.  The painting is very loosely based on a vintage black and white photograph of a 1935 Buick driving in traffic on a highway somewhere in California. I focused on the Buick, removed the traffic and modified the background.

I've been doing a lot of challenges lately and am now rather burnt out on them.  I think this last one especially pushed me.  Time to do something a little different I think, maybe some pen drawing.

Back to the Cars...I Mean Trucks

 I've been experimenting with a slightly different style using thick paint and brushes instead of knives on landscapes lately, I figured it was time to try it out on a car...I mean truck.

"Blue 1940 Ford Pickup" Acrylic, 12" X 16"

This was actually a paint-over, meaning I had painted this years ago but wasn't happy with the painting so I painted over the original painting in an attempt to recover it.  I had painted it with knives so the texture was especially thick so I had to sand it down first but I left enough of the original painting to guide me for the paint-over.  The main problem with the original painting is the drawing was way off.  While the drawing still isn't perfect it's not bad and far better than it was before.

I'm finding now that with this technique I'm working on I'm able to get quite a bit of texture without using knives, this might become my go to style from now on.

Speaking of thick brushwork texture you might want to check out this blog post by James Gurney about The National Gallery using OTC scans to assist in restoring a painting by the artist Adolphe Monticelli who was French impressionist and even painted with Cezanne.  After seeing the video in the blog post I had to look this artist up.  His brush work is very aggressive, highly textural, making his paintings almost abstract, I find it very interesting even though I'm not a fan of his color palette or compositions.

Five Day Green Painting Challenge

 This past week I took part in a themed five day art challenge, meaning all participants needed to make a new piece of art every day for five days straight that fit within a theme, in this case the theme was "green".

While I've made green paintings in the past my inclination is really toward autumn colors, so I decided this would be a good motivation to experiment more with greens.

"Small Summer Tree Study" Acrylic "7 X 5"

All of these paintings were based on charcoal sketches I'd completed previously, in fact many of them had been posted in a previous blog.  This is one of those, just a simple study based on a single tree in a field during summer.

"Summer Shed in the Hills" Acrylic 5" X 7"

I actually simplified this one a little bit.  The charcoal sketch had two trees, I reduced that to just one.  I used somewhat different techniques for making these paintings, more or less the same as the two paintings in my previous blog post.  The palette knife was only used to mix paint so the paintings are made entirely with brush work.  I used three layers, a thin layer just to block in the composition, a thicker layer to refine the composition and color and the final layer using very thick paint with modeling paste mixed in to finalize the color/composition and add texture.

"Irrigation Canal Study" Acrylic "5" X 7"

I found this scene in Box Elder County in northern Utah a few years ago and only now got around to painting it.  I think there's potential for a larger painting of this subject.

"Path Through Spring Meadow" Acrylic, 8" X 10"

I especially like the results of this painting.  Not that it's perfect but I think it does set the mood and create an inviting scene, someone even commented that the painting made them want to be there which I think is the ultimate compliment for a landscape painter. I added a few dots of color to represent wildflowers.

"Spring on Beaver Creek" Acrylic, 9" X 12"

The reference for this painting was also collected years ago but in Cache County showing a little known creek in spring though my original reference was in autumn, however since I worked from my charcoal sketch the colors of a reference photo did not influence the colors I chose for the painting.

This was a good challenge for me. I think the paintings turned out pretty well, though I think I could have used a little more variety in the color, especially on the warmer side of the color wheel.

From Charcoal Sketch to Acrylic Painting

 Last month I did a lot of charcoal sketching, even before last month I was often making charcoal sketches first thing in the morning.  I have been doing this primarily for practice but also for trying different subjects and compositions.  This week I decided to turn a couple of those charcoal sketches into acrylic paintings.

For this sketch I wanted to experiment with a square format for a rural landscape and I wanted a ditch to wind through the landscape, as well as contain an abandoned barn.  This sketch is not based on a particular photo, but rather from elements from several photos and from my imagination put together to create this composition.

"Abandoned Barn by A Ditch" acrylic, 12" X 12"

I used only the charcoal sketch and my imagination to make this acrylic painting.  I tried a new technique I came up with as well that involves three layers, each one using thicker paint than the last, in fact the last layer includes modeling paste in order to enhance the texture.

This sketch is based on a photograph I took at a pond in a nearby park, I go on walks by this pond a couple times a week.  Only a small portion of the actual pond is visible, just occupying the lower right corner of the composition.

"End of the Pond, acrylic 12" X 9"

Even though I made the sketch from a reference photo I set that aside and made the painting using only the charcoal sketch for reference. One reason I ditched the photo is I want to be more free with color, I didn't want the photograph to influence my color choices too much.  The result of this painting is closer to the loose, colorful style I am shooting for, I intend to push that even further.

Duo Tone Studies

 I participated in a short, three day challenge with some other artists recently and decided to use that challenge to try something new.

I'm not really much of a watercolorist but I would like to improve my skills with that medium. I also saw a YouTube video recently about painting with just two colors.  I decided it would be a good idea to experiment with watercolor and duo tone to keep it simple.  The following three paintings are the result.

Rural Ditch Duo Tone Study

For the first painting I used only burnt sienna and payne's gray both of which are grayed down colors and complements on the color wheel which allowed me to get some deep darks but with subtle coloring.  The reference photo came from a trip to the Heber Valley, this ditch is in the small, rural town of Charleston.

Evergreen Hillside Duo Tone Study

The second painting is also based on a photo I took in the Heber Valley, a scene along a trail just below the Jordanelle Damn along the Middle Provo River.  The two colors used for this painting are french ultramarine and green, (cobalt blue plus hansa yellow).

Abandoned Wood Barn Duo Tone Study

The last painting is based on a photograph I took somewhere in rural Utah, I believe in Sanpete County.  The composition features a small abandoned wood barn in a field with trees behind.  The two colors I used were cobalt blue and quinacridone gold.

I don't know if I'll ever become a true watercolorist but I did enjoy making these small studies and do feel I learned some things that will help with future studies and sketches. I may even some day try duo tone color schemes with acrylic paintings.

More Experimenting With Line and Wash

 I picked up the pens and watercolor brushes again last week.  I decided to try doing things just a bit different, play with different techniques, change the amount of inking vs what I'd normally do.  Here are the results.

Abandoned 1950 Ford Truck, pen and watercolor, 8" X 10"

This is a front view of an abandoned vintage 1950 Ford truck sitting in a field of grass and weeds.  In particular in the foreground I experimented with using salt and drips to creating interesting texture.

Abandoned Chicken Coop, pen and watercolor 8" X 10"

This painting is based on a scene near my home that I often walk by when I walk down to the park.  There are still pockets of horse property in my suburban neighborhood and this is one of them, this disused structure however appears to have been used as a chicken coop, that's my guess anyway.  My experiment on this one is to use only small amounts of line in the foliage, rather than identify all the foliage with pen I let the watercolor paint itself do most of the talking.

Sketching and Painting a Kamas Barn

 Some subjects just seem to grab you.  I don't mean a whole genre, but rather a particular subject within a genre.  Anybody that has paid any attention to my art knows I really enjoy rural scenes, scenes that feature old barns in particular. I can't say specifically why I find old barns so appealing but affection for such things seems to be pretty common. There is one barn in particular that has received more of my attention than most others I've seen. 

There is a large, old, seemingly abandoned barn with rusty corrugated metal siding along the Mirror Lake Highway in Kamas Utah.  Kamas is often referred to as the gateway to the High Uinta mountain wilderness area as what is commonly referred to as the "Mirror Lake Highway" originates in the middle of town and leads to a land of lakes, mountains and hiking trails.  Shortly after leaving town on the highway, if you glance over to your right you just might spot this iconic barn.

One summer day in July I stopped at a wide spot on the highway near the barn and got out my sketchbook.

Kamas Barn Sketch

As you can see I used pen and watercolor to make this sketch, I did it while sitting on a chunk of concrete that was part of piles of it that were dropped there apparently to help retain the road bank as the road elevation was quite a bit higher than the field below at this point.  Prints are available, click on the image.

More recently I did a sketch of this same barn from a different angle in charcoal as part of a 30 day, daily sketch challenge.

Kamas Barn Charcoal Sketch

Prints are available, click on the image.

I decided I liked the charcoal sketch enough that I would make a painting of it.

"Kamas Barn Study", Acrylic, 9" X 12"

I decided to stick with brushes on this one and use lots of layering to build up texture and color.  I like the result enough that eventually I'll mostly likely paint a larger version. The original painting is available on Etsy, click on the image.

Sketching the Rural Landscape in Charcoal

 This week my theme for the daily charcoal sketches as been "rural landscapes".  There are plenty of interesting rural scenes to find along the back roads of rural Utah and I've explored and photographed many of them so I had plenty of references for this week's challenge.

I don't remember exactly where I found this barn and old style silo but I'm pretty sure it was somewhere in western Utah County. The composition is a study in contrasting elements, the play of the vertical against the horizontal.

I've now taken so many photos over the years I can't remember where I took all of them.  I'm pretty sure this one was somewhere in Cache County.  This is an interesting arrangement of old wood barns, and backed by my favorite contra-element, trees.  I love the play of natural organic shapes against the geometric hard edges of man made shapes.

This composition is a bit different.  In this case the barn is behind the trees and you don't even see the whole barn which is nestled in rolling hills.

This scene is more intimate than the others, almost a close up of a pole barn or hay shed, I'm not sure what these are commonly called. It's also full of those large size rectangular bales, and backed by lots of trees of course.

If you've ever driven up to the High Uinta Mountains on the Mirror Lake Highway out of Kamas chances are you've seen this barn.  It is just off the highway, is large and covered in rusty corrugated  metal panels, just the kind of thing I love to sketch.

This one is very different from the others.  For one thing I only used a charcoal pencil, no blending, no willow charcoal, no compressed charcoal sticks and no trees which resulted in a much lighter image.  This scene is in Spanish Fork if I remember correctly.  I'm not sure what it is exactly, maybe it used to be some kind of coop, or maybe a granary for a very large operation.  Whatever it is it does not seem to be in use anymore except as a parking lot for grain hauling trucks.