Friday, May 27, 2011

Summer in Vermont, oil on canvas, 20 x 24


A very influential teacher once said to me, "blue, green and yellow an interesting painting does not make." Well, living in Vermont, the "Green Mountain State" it is often hard to find a way out of all of the greens of summer. I try to vary the greens pushing a lot of red and umber into the mixes to warm them. Also, I try to have much variation with regard to warm and cool tones. With this particular painting, I realized what caught my attention was the interesting composition. So in addition to variation of green tones, warm and cool tones, compositional interest can also add some variety in an otherwise overly green painting. Regardless, this was a lot of fun to work on and I hope that I conveyed the scene as a warm, humid, late summer day in Vermont.
Summer in Vermont
oil on canvas
20 x 24
artsteph1@aol.com
www.andreworr.com

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Lazy Days of Summer, oil on canvas 16 x 20


Rain, rain and more rain....makes for some great days in the studio! This is a piece I recently completed and I am pretty happy with the result. With each painting, I try to find some lesson which I might try to learn. This piece was a culmination of many of the lessons or ideas I have been working on as of late. Specifically, I wanted the distant hill to read as a hill with distance, but not far distance...so I did not push it completely to blue hues. Also, I have been working on some pieces where I tried to show the stones and rocks at the bottom of a creek bed. I am still playing around with this and will do some more pieces in a similar vein. Above all, while this is a fairy green scene, I tried to play up the difference between warm and cool greens and used some stronger colors in the shadows other than darker greens. It was good fun and I am looking forward to getting outside to put some of the lessons I have been working on in the studio, into practice. Guess its time to say, "rain, rain...go away!
Lazy Days of Summer
Oil on canvas
16 x 20
Brandt-Roberts Gallery, Columbus, OH
www.andreworr.com