Carrie L. Lewis ~ Horse Painter
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ACEO Landscape Painting A Day
ACEO Landscape Paintings
by Carrie L. Lewis
One new painting almost every day
Week 2, 2007
January 13, 2007
Landscape Study #13 2007
High, Pink Light
Here is an image that is all about light and distance. Good subjects for the Flint Hills!
This oil painting was finished today, but it took several days to complete (most them drying time) because I used a glazing technique after the initial color lay-in.
Working from a misty photograph with lots of atmospheric perspective in play, I began with the sky colors that leaned just the tiniest bit toward pink. That paint layer covered most of the surface and required nearly a week to dry. The most distant hills were painted wet-into-wet into the sky and, in a few places, the edge between land and sky was actually blended almost out of existance.
After that, I glazed in darker, but still pale blues. Not much brushwork, just a few strokes to establish the shapes of the hills and create the suggestion of shadows. Then that was allowed to dry.
Today, I glazed and rubbed Naples Yellow, Raw Sienna and Sap Green into the foreground hills, adding the first warm color to the painting, and bringing those hills much closer to the foreground. For the deepest shadows, a bit of Cobalt Blue was just what was needed.
A few trees sprinkled across the landscape, a stroke or two of Titanium White to lighten a few hillsides and "High, Pink Light" was complete.
The complete title that came to mind as I finished this painting was The High, Pink Light of Early Evening. That is quite a mouthful for such a small painting, though, hence the shorter title. This is a scene I would very much like to revisit both physically and artistically, so perhaps the full title will await a larger version.
3-1/2" x 2-1/2"
Original oil on triple-gessoed, archival 4-ply mat board.
January 12, 2007
Landscape Study #12 2007
I am continuing to learn about acrylic paint. The first time I ever picked them up, I was in high school or earlier and I did not like them at all. I tried one painting and threw them overboard.
In December, however, I turned back to them in search of a medium that is similar to oils, but dries more quickly and is less toxic overall. I had also been exposed to some absolutely gorgeous paintings done in acrylic and I have to confess that my curiosity was aroused.
This ACEO landscape is the sixth acrylic painting I have completed since buying those Golden acrylics early in December. Each painting has focused either on duplicating the look of oil or exploring the unique qualities of acrylics.
To add interest, I decided to paint tallgrass in the immediate foreground so that the background was visible peaking through the stems. I used a mixture of Hansa Yellow Medium, Ultramarine Blue, Zinc White and magenta to mix various shades of green and the smallest, sable round I have to paint in the blades. The finishing touches were applied where I started with some white, windswept clouds in the sky.
3-1/2" x 2-1/2"
Original acrylic on triple-gessoed, archival 4-ply mat board.
January 11, 2007
Landscape Study #11 2007
Approaching Storm
Back to the oil paints for tonight! I had two ACEO Landscapes in progress and I managed to work on both of them, in addition to finish an ongoing portrait project. All of that AND my state tax paperwork finished and ready to mail. Wow!
"Landscape Study #11, 2007" is based on a photograph taken in Michigan. On this particular day, a bright, sunshiny day turned suddenly dark wth a boiling thunderstorm. The stark contrast between the sunlit trees and land in the foreground and the dark thunderclouds in the background is what made me want to paint this scene. It is, in fact, the very reason that I took the photographs in the first place. There is just nothing like God's creation to provide the best possible subjects!
3-1/2" x 2-1/2"
Original oil on triple-gessoed, archival 4-ply mat board.
January 10, 2007
Landscape Study #10 2007
More Michigan Memories
There have been three so-called winter storms through south central Kansas in the last three weeks. It seems to have become the norm to have winter storms move in on Thursday night or Friday. Today is Wednesday. Tomorrow evening, our fourth winter storm is expected.
For all of that, we have had snow just once, briefly, a Sunday or two ago. It was beautiful. At least I thought it was. I stepped through the front doors at church that morning and someone greeted me by saying "This must make you feel right at home." Indeed, it did!
Kansas snow is not the same as Michigan snow. For one thing, I have seen a deep blanket of snow only once. For another, snow hardly ever drifts lazily down to the ground here. The breezes that are the standard operating procedure in Kansas mean that most snow has some horizontal movement to it. Again, I have seen that other kind of snow only once.
So I have decided to make my own snow. Last night, I also decided to dip into my new acrylic paints for the first time this year and painted a winter scene patterned after an old painting I did many years ago. It is called "Winter in White" and can be seen on the landscape painting page of my web site. That painting was a figment of my imagination enhance by over 40 winters in Michigan. "Michigan Memories was the result.
This evening, I sat down with my acrylics and with that image again and painted another version. I used the same basic palette but replaced the Ultramarine Blue of last night with Phthalo Blue (green shade) tonight. Mixed with white and Carbon Black, this blue made for a darker image. Heavy snow, a leaden sky and approaching evening. That's what it looked like to me as it took form on the mat board. All it needed was that wonderful Michigan snow fall. Enter a well worn toothbrush, a palette knife and lots of snow spattered onto the drying paint. Wa-la! "More Michigan Memories"!
3-1/2" x 2-1/2"
Original acrylic on triple-gessoed, archival 4-ply mat board.
January 9, 2007
Landscape Study #8 2007
A Winding Road
I first painted this scene as an 8x10 image nearly two years ago, when I began teaching myself landscape painting. It is loosely based on a scene along one of our more frequently traveled 'off road' routes through the Flint Hills.
Again, it is distance that drew me into this compositiion. Distance fascinates me, especially the type so prominent in this part of the world.
But there are also the repeating elements of sloping hillsides and the curving road. It is, in fact, that long and winding road that enhances the great distance in this scene.
But the thing that piques my curiosity the most about this scene is what cannot be seen. What lies just around the foreground curve in the road, hidden by a hillside, but quite close at hand?
And what might encountered in the distance between that nearby hillside and the next one? Or on the other side of THAT hill?
And just where does that road go, anyway? Why, it appears to be headed off into the middle of nowhere beyond that third hill.
3-1/2" x 2-1/2"
Original oil on triple-gessoed, archival 4-ply mat board.
January 8, 2007
Landscape Study #7 2007
It's Monday and back to work again. You would think me extremely disciplined if I could tell you I went directly to the studio after the morning routine and got busy!
I can't report that, though, since that is not what happened. I spent the day preparing for income tax time. It took most of the productive, day light hours to get all the paperwork up to date and to run, check, correct, and print reports. It's not a difficult job, it's just tedious and it's not one of my favorite things to do!
I did get to the easel eventually, though, and I really had a lot of fun when I did. I worked on three different ACEO Landscapes. You will see two of them in the next couple of days.
Landscape Study #7 2007 is the one that I finished today. This is another experiment with long distance and with attempting to portray long distance with the use of value and color. I have seen the Flint Hills under conditions similar to this painting and have always been intriqued with the views, as well as the lights and darks. I do not expect to grow weary of this particular, ongoing experiment for some time, yet. Every time I look through my photographs, for example, I find something new that I hadn't noticed before.
Driving through the Flint Hills results in much the same thing. They are as changeless and changeable as any place on earth I have seen. The challenge, I suspect, is a never ending one.
3-1/2" x 2-1/2"
Original oil on triple-gessoed, archival 4-ply mat board.
Thank you for your interest in my ACEO landscapes. I hope you have enjoyed browsing them as much as I have enjoyed making them.
Email me for details and having your favorite scene or landscape painted as an ACEO original.