Throughout art history, artists in addition to their main body of work, have completed smaller works, sketches, compositional studies etc and many of these are complete works of art in their own right.
With that in mind, I’ve started doing some small 5″x7″ landscape paintings in acrylic on Arches watercolor paper and have found them very enjoyable to do. They’re sort of like warm up exercises for my artistic mind. They get me thinking about design on a small format and if I like the design well enough some of these works may become the basis for larger studio paintings. Even though they’re more impressionistic than my normal style, I find I like the departure.
The first is a scene that I captured with my camera in what I like to call drive by shooting. This is generally when it’s not convenient or safe to pull over. Therefore, while my wife was driving I was scanning the roadside along a pretty stretch of highway and saw this scene and clicked my camera. The foreground was in light and the middle distance in shadow. I intensified the effect and added more color, but it captures my intent of focusing on the light in the foreground which to me is the subject of this small painting. It’s rather fun, doing these drive by camera shootings, because I never know exactly how it’s going to turn out or if it’s going to be one big blur! But so far, despite the blurriness of some photos, they turn out pretty good.
This is another camera “drive by shooting” of a scene in Arizona. Very dry and hot, but had it’s own beauty in creating a somewhat triadic color scheme of blue violet in the distance dull orange and red orange and yellow green in the foreground and middle distance.
The scene below is from an area near Fredericksburg, TX that I had visited on other occasions and provided source material for other paintings. This particular day had cows and this particular day, I didn’t feel like painting them. So by way of the brush I sent them off to another area to graze.
Breaking out of the routine is a good way to spark your creativity.
Bill, I’m thrilled with my small landscape painting! I love the small size but it reads big! It’s so gorgeous! I dearly love the Texas hill country and hope to move there one day, but for now, your little painting takes me there every time I look at it. A real little jewel!!
Annie, thank you for purchasing the small “Spring Flowers” painting and that you’re thrilled with it and that it transports you to the Texas Hill Country when you look at it! You’ve grown into such a good artist as well and I’m glad that I had opportunity to give you some early art direction. Your talent was obvious even way back then. To those who may read this, if you’re ever in Fredericksburg, TX check out her elegant still life paintings at insight gallery starting with their fall show in 2013.