oil painting

 Yesterday I went back to the farm that supports Farm Burger and Farm 255. I got to meet John and Holly Ivy, who own and live on the farm. They were super hospitable and I got to learn a lot about the place I've been painting lately.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

 Well, the last two paintings I attempted were two more forays into speed painting. The first, which is shown here, was done in about twenty minutes. We were at the Rocky Mountain National Park on the Ute Trail. The view was sublime and the spot I was at was over 12,000 feet above sea level. I think it was my first

painting above the tree line. 

The temperature was cool but very nice. The mountains reminded you of a scene from The Sound of Music. I talked to a couple of park rangers about my work. Kate and her folks were going to hike the

Ute Trail, so I had a good couple of wonderful painting hours in front of me. Except for those dark clouds off in the distance. They had me a bit concerned.

The clouds came up quickly. I adjusted my painting speed accordingly. I furiously mixed paints and slung them across the canvas. I saw Kate and her parents coming back on the trail after just being away about ten minutes. My brush was flying across the canvas and as soon as Kate got to where I was set up, I started packing up.

About the time I got the last few items into my pack, a crack of thunder struck. Then it started to rain. Kate and I ran down the trail. Before we got to the car, it began to hail. Alas, the perfect painting session was cut a bit short by Mama Nature. They aren't common, but this was another day that I was very irritated at Ma Nature's mood swings.

The next outing didn't produce a painting, at least not yet. I may work on it later, not sure. The last day, Kate and I returned to the Rabbit Ears Pass Trail where we had hiked earlier in the week. There was a particular spot that had an incredible vista.

Kate painted with me this time, and I was very happy that she was starting to paint with me. We both got set up, and I was excited because there was not a storm cloud to be seen. Perfect sunny day, great light, lots of beautiful wildflowers, perfect temperature and we had the whole afternoon.

Then a couple of mosquitos bit us. We had sprayed ourselves with repellant before we came out, but these two suckers found the spots that weren't sprayed. Then about the time I had a few strokes on the canvas, eight billion mosquitos attacked us. Not the huge Texas or Georgia mosquitos, but little bitty S.O.B.s. 

At first I was going to fight through it, but then they started biting through my clothes. Kate packed up and walked around to shake some of them off. I then threw in the towel and packed up. As I was packing, tens of them were on my face. It was as if they were saying "Get the hell out of here! We hate plein air painting!"

We ran back to the car and decided just to go hiking (if you were moving, the pests didn't seem to attack you). I was slightly disappointed, but the vacation was so great it really didn't bother me. I was very pissed off at the mosquito nation. And made a note of yet another outdoor painting device I need - a bee keeper's suit.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

For the second time, I painted on a boat. Last week, Kate and I took our summer vacation in Steamboat Springs, CO. We met her parents up there and one day rented a pontoon boat. We rented it at the Steamboat Lake State Park, which is a great deal and Kate had to make the reservation well in advance of our trip. I sat at the helm and painted away while Kate's dad Bill maneuvered the boat so that I somewhat kept the view. Kate and her mom Judy grilled brats and we all enjoyed a day in the sun at 70 degrees. 

That is, until the storm clouds came up. At that point, I finished up quickly and we headed back to shore about 45 minutes before our rental time was up. The weather in Colorado this time of year is mostly perfect. Around 70 degrees during the day, zero humidity, and cool nights. The only problem is that you have to dodge storms most every afternoon. More on this later.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

Back in 2008, my friend Marc Taro took a speed plein air painting workshop from Xiangyuan Jie. I really like what Marc did that week, but unfortunately, Jie hasn't done another workshop of the sort. I also haven't set aside time to practice in that manner, as I usually set out to get in more finished work when I'm in the field. 

However, I've had a few outings lately where speed painting was the only way I could get any painting in. Still not quite as limited a timeframe as Jie's workshop (I think they worked on 5

 minute paintings), but quick nonetheless. In fact, I seemed to have just enough time to mix different colors and get them on the canvas. I did spent about half the time on the cows, as I wanted to practice cow painting for my Farm to Canvas series.

Why did I have a limited window? Well, this painting was done in Gerton, NC during a weekend getaway June 20th with Kate to celebrate our one year anniversary.  Gerton is just outside Asheville, in th

e heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had a great time. Asheville is a fantastic place, and we hiked at Chimney Rock State Park, dined at great restaurants, and visited some very excellent art galleries.

I found time to sneak away while Kate napped to do this sketch. It was at a farm just down the road from our cabin. I'm not sure if this farm is organic or if these cows are exclusively grass-fed. However, Asheville is very much into local produce and meats, and is an excellent place for Farm to Table lovers.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

The weather was so incredible the last few days, there was no way I could let the weekend go without painting in it. The light, the temperature, everything was fantastic. And it is the last few days of the Fall colors. So I took Illy out to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. At first I was going paint from a similar spot as the work I did during the Paint Out back in August. I was going to paint a fall scene to contrast with the same design with summer greens. But then behind me I saw a view that I've had on my list for a long time - a dense forest with lots of illuminated colors. So I turned my paint box around and painted this hill with the light coming through the trees. Illy was on her best behavior, and I was assuming it was because she was as anxious to see how it turned out as I was. This is the third densely wooded forest piece I've done (the other two being in swamps), and I've learned a lot each time. One important part of landscape painting is to simplify, which is a tough task on such a complex subject. 

"Fall Forest"

10x8 oil on lead primed canvas

SOLD

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

After all the Paint Out paintings I did last week, I came up with several things I wanted to work on. So last night I did a black and white exercise so that I could experiment with the different types of white, and to focus on the painting without the complication of color. I did this piece from a photo I took back in 2007 somewhere near Llano, TX. There are actually some bluebonnets in the field, but you can't really tell since in this piece they are grey. I suppose that is what Spring in Texas looked like back before they invented color, like in the days of Gunsmoke.

In addition to my values, I worked on the composition of the tree framing the scene, and also paid some special attention to my edges. That is an aspect of my painting I want to improve. I have been reading a superb blog by Stapleton Kearns. Mr. Kearns is a fantastic artist and he is kind enough to post some of the best content on landscape painting that I've ever seen. Wonderful stuff, and his most recent posts are about the history of landscape painting.

 "Black and White Study"

8x10 oil on lead primed canvas

SOLD

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

I finished up the Paint Out Thursday and Friday with these two pieces. I chose the first one ("The River ") and the piece I did Wednesday ("Fishin'") to submit to the show. The reception is tonight at the CNREA Island Ford Headquarters from 7:30 to 9:30. There was a ton of artwork there this morning when I dropped my pieces off. It was a lot of fun to meet the other landscape painters and to see what they did.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

Yesterday was the first day of the Great Chattahoochee Paint Out, and I went to the Island Ford unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. Since the Paint Out is about the river, I chose the river as my point of interest. I really liked how the sky made the water so light and how it contrasted against the trees on the shore. Then about halfway into the painting, I saw a guy out there fishing. It was the perfect thing to throw in to really highlight how cool this river - which is in the Atlanta metro area - is.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

Kate and I are currently in Hana, Hawaii which is on the island of Maui. Yesterday was a long day as we flew from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, then to Maui. Then we rented a car and did the 3 hour drive to Hana. It is a famous drive, as it is only 44 miles, yet takes a few hours even if you don't stop. It winds around like a sidewinder and parts of it narrow down to one lane. Needless to say, we were pretty tired when we finally go to our hotel. So this morning, we took it easy and as Kate laid out on the beach I did this painting.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis

One of the many fine things about the Chattahooche River is that you get to call it "The Hooch". You also can enjoy it within the Perimeter of Atlanta (I-285). Today was a great day to be out there. Kate and our bluetick Illy joined me for a fun day hanging on a little beach area in the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. There were several families and dozens of dogs for Illy to meet and charm with her easy going hound dog personality. I was able to catch her in a typical pose of hers while wading around.

• Don Thacker's Online Art Journal
• Add new comment
• Read more
• ShareThis