A Painting A Day

I have taken quite the hiatus from painting. But I guess if you love something you will always come back to it.
I started easing back into it by starting an online course with Dennis Perrin on painting the flower portrait. The past couple of days I've painted some rather past their prime pink roses in a blue mason jar.
This is day one - "Having a Ball" will post day two next.

 I spent most of today reading Brian Keeler's book, "Dramatic Color in the Landscape." I'm so glad I did. He's a fantastic artist, and because I am on a mission to improve my landscapes, I thought some instruction was in order. I was planning on painting in the late afternoon, but I went out and took reference photos instead.

So around 10:30 at night, I started this. Not sure what size the painting is, I think a 20x20, but it's definitely larger than what I usually do. This is the result - Keeler style!

 Today I ran out late in the day for an hour or two to paint. I looked online and found a nice park nearby. It had an amazing fountain, but it was the light of the green grass in the distance and the interesting colors in the water that drew me to this spot. My technique was very messy and I had to leave very fast when a sudden thunderstorm sprung up but overall I was happy with this effort.

 I felt very in tune with my painting. My palette was so simple. I used alizarin red, cad yellow, ultramarine blue, white, permanent green light and burnt umber. I had also bought myself a round brush and experimented with the thin lines of the tree branches.