Work In Progress: Withlacoochee Flight Update 1 Most of my nature paintings are of scenes outside my home state of Florida, either in the Appalachians or other far off, but equally appealing locales. However, there are some very beautiful natural areas here in Florida and I decided it was time to do...

Work In Progress: Louisiana Iris, Update 3 After completing the leftmost standard (petal), I completed the smaller petal in front of it. It is very light in color and required much less work. As with the previous petal, I started with lavender and defined the contours, creases and shadows, applying ...

Thanks for the wonderful compliments. I try not to let sleep get in the way, only when necessary! There is still so much more room for improvement.

Work In Progress: Louisiana Iris, Update 2 Colored pencil painting is, by its nature, a slow process, especially if the goal is a lot of detail and density of color. Teaching a class in colored pencil painting, limited to a set number of hours, has to take these qualities into account. The Intermedi...

Work In Progress: Louisiana Iris, Update 1 This summer I’m teaching a number of classes in colored pencil technique at On Top Of The World, a community in Ocala, Florida. The classes are part of an adult education program called Master the Possibilities that features hundreds of classes on a myriad ...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 17 Just received the painting back from the printer, who made a digital image for me. There was little to finish up from last week, mainly in the lower right corner. There, the snow was piling up at the base of the trunks of the trees. I also complete...

Sometimes I feel a little crazy while in the middle of a painting. Thanks for the comments.
R.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I've finished the painting. The bad news is that I have no image to post here. I've sent the painting off to the printer who is preparing a digital image for me. That should be ready in a day or two. So, as soon as the image is available, I will p...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 16 Nearly finished! Much of the foliage of the hemlock has been added, as well as the trunks of the other two trees. When the background woodlands and sky were added way back I the beginning, I masked out the trunks and most of the branches of the tre...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 15 I got a bit further than I thought I would over the past week. I made changes to the evergreen trees on the left, completed nearly all of the waterfall, added more of the frozen creek near the bottom and began painting in the hemlock tree on the ri...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 14 I was finally able to get some time in this past weekend to do some work on the painting. I finished up on the conifers on the left and made some progress on the snow, rocks and frozen creek on the bottom left. More paynes grey was washed in over t...

Thank you Elizabeth. I want everyone to see what I see and, hopefully, feel what I do as I think and paint my way through it. R.

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 13 In the last week I’ve begun work on the fir trees on the left. I was anxious to get them in because they impact the mass of shrubs under the bridge. The abrupt stop of the shrub mass on its left edge was bothering me and influencing my opinion of t...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 12 After getting in most of the waterfall, I felt that I would get to work on the left side. The bank of the creek as well as the evergreen trees would be the focus of my efforts for the next couple of weeks. The mass of shrubs on the bank below the b...

You're welcome. I think the process of painting and analyzing it as I go along helps me a great deal also. Writing down my thoughts helps me learn more about myself.
Richard

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 11 Last week I discussed detail in my paintings and put forward an argument for why detail needs to be saved for the most important areas. Detail in the main subject is important because it keeps focus in that area. Detail elsewhere can be distracting...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 10 Using the full scale drawing as a guide I first drew in the large shrub in front of the Mill. Then, I masked out some irregular splotches to indicate snow. When the masking fluid was dry I painted in the foliage of the evergreen shrub using a small...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 9 Painting the Mill is definitely the most interesting part of the project so far. It’s the focus of all the work. It’s the focal point of the painting – the main reason for the painting. It’s the subject that will have the greatest detail and – I hop...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 8 Now that the background sky is in, the next step is to add the background trees. The background trees are important as a backdrop for the Mill but not important in themselves. Therefore, I don’t want a lot of detail in the trees. I want them suggest...

Work In Progress: Glade Creek Grist Mill, Update 7 I’ve spent at least twenty hours developing the composition, including value and color sketches, layouts and drawing the final composition in pencil before going to the painting. I transferred the pencil drawing to 300 lb Arches watercolor paper. Th...