SuperMoon Over the Yellowstone, 45

5: thoughts between paintings
What do you think of when you see the moon? I often think of William's Shakespear's lovely line from Romeo and Juliet:
"O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb..."


4: the finished painting
Here it is. I took this painting into my studio to make some changes. It's now more colorful with more tonal contrasts and with some compositional changes too

MOON OVER THE YELLOWSTONE, original 20x9" oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
Again, since the painting was done directly from nature, I didn't create a preliminary composition. Many of the painters in the group knew about the super moon and were excited to paint it. I chose to head on down to the Yellowstone River, not far from our place. My beloved husband was with me as we watched the moon rise.  I had a tall panel ready to paint on, thinking it might be an interesting shape.

2: capturing the selected image

This is a Google Maps view of the area where I was painting, facing south.

1: planning the destination

I guess you can call this a companion post to the previous #44. This painting was also done as part of the outdoor painting event in Livingston MT.

The Absoroka Range~Montana, 44

5: thoughts between paintings
Montaña means Mountain in Spanish. This mountain range, The Absarokas, is a name referring to the Crow Nation, or "Apsaalooke" in their own Siouan language and more specifically means "children of the large-beaked bird".


4: the finished painting
I definitely didn't labor over this little painting. The color tone of the foreground grass helped me to quickly establish all the other colors. This painting has been sold.

ABSOROKA RANGE, original 7x9" oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop) 
Although I don't have a pre-painting composition because the painting was done "en plein air" (in the open air), I do have a photo I took of the scene I painted. (I was seated at a picnic table looking south.) A good-natured passerby stepped into my line of view as I was painting, took a funny stance and said "painting bomb". We laughed. 

2: capturing the selected image

This is a Google Street View taken near the painting site, Sacajawea Park in Livingston Montana.

1: planning the destination

We recently moved to beautiful Southwest Montana, and I took part in an annual outdoor painting event. In this post, I'd like to share a bit of the experience with you.

Sea Turtle, 43

5: thoughts between paintings
Interesting fact: The Ridley Sea Turtle is the smallest species of sea turtle.


4: the finished painting
Kind of a heroic pose, don't you think? I especially enjoyed painting the sunset reflection on the shell.

This painting is one in my personal collection (not for sale).

RIDLEY SEA TURTLE, original 8.5x11" oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
I chose to paint the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle, endangered due to various types of human interference. This sunset photo is a good visual, but not quite what I have in mind.

2: capturing the selected image

This is a Google Satellite view of the area where sea turtles nest, and the hatchling baby sea turtles are known to make their pilgrimage towards the ocean. The greatest activity of nesting sea turtles along Gulf beaches is between June and August, with newly emerging hatchlings arriving about 2 months later.

1: planning the destination

Sea turtles are fascinating, and many are unfortunately endangered. Let's travel to the Texas Gulf Coast and see if we can spot any...

Golf, 42

5: thoughts between paintings
Turns out that painting and golfing are not so different after all:
" The ability to separate your visual and attentional focus is an essential skill for playing golf. Why? We have to look away form our intended Target to execute. The good news is that your visual and attentional focus are independent brain functions."  
~from Target-Orientet-Golf


4: the finished painting
I'm pretty happy with this. I muted the colors overall. (The actual painting has better color harmonies; hard to photograph). The deepest contrasts are in the pond, which I thought I had destroyed/overworked but finally got it right.

This painting has been sold.

GOLF, original 7.5" x 10" oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
I moved the man & his reflection, created more pathways, and changed the background bushes. 

2: capturing the selected image

I took this photo recently through the metal fence. The reflections in the pond hooked me. (I guess this area is called a "golf hazard"). I tried to find the exact spot via Google Street Views --after I took the photo, but no luck. This Google image capture was shows you part of the golf course though.

1: planning the destination

We are in Liberty Lake WA. Lots of golfers around here. In fact, I'm sure the golf carts on the city sidewalks have priority over pedestrians...

Road Through Denali, 41

5: thoughts between paintings
"The Mountains are calling, and I must go."    ~John Muir


4: the finished painting
Trying to balance the warm & cool colors, lights & darks, hard & soft edges, brushstrokes, line directions...
Whew, it's like climbing a mountain!

This painting has been sold.

Road Through Denali, 7.5x10" original oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
Not sure how to approach this painting. Hate that...

2: capturing the selected image

An interesting view. That sign to the right says "Nenana River".

1: planning the destination
The challenge arose to paint a mountain. For some unknown reason, of all the mountains in all the world, this particular chain of mountains within Denali National Park surfaced.

San Francisco Ocean Beach w/ship, 40

5: thoughts between paintings
FOG by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.

it sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches and then moves on.


4: the finished painting
I tried my best to use intuition about tone & color relationships, as well as the shapes of the waves as they break. I was going for a tranquil scene yet with some movement. Ocean Beach is rarely this calm, so I took some artistic license with the shoreline.

This painting has been sold.

San Francisco Ocean Beach w/ship, 8.5x11" original oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
Not much difference from the captured image: raised the horizon line and omitted the street light.

2: capturing the selected image

Again, I've included a photo from the live web cam of Ocean Beach. The cam shows the same view of the beach just off Balboa St. and The Great Highway. As a kid, I used to watch those big cargo ships pass along the horizon line --just like this one.

1: planning the destination
Continuing my experimentation with color tones, values & color temperature, this

blog post #40 -and the previous post #39- both feature selected images --not from Google Street Views but rather-- from a streaming-live web camera of Ocean Beach in San Francisco CA, USA: http://ob-kc.com

San Francisco Ocean Beach w/sunglade, 39

5: thoughts between paintings
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." 
~RIP Maya Angelou (1928 ~ 2014)


4: the finished painting
Going so easy on the color contrasts was foreign to me. Even these hard edges are soft. This painting was a lesson in subtleties & acquiescence.

This painting is for sale in my online store (with more photos too): https://www.etsy.com/listing/191435199

San Francisco Ocean Beach w/sun glade, 8.5x11" original oil painting by puci

3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
I raised the horizon line, widened the ocean & sand area and evened out the tones. 

2: capturing the selected image

This is a photo from the live web cam of Ocean Beach I enjoy so much. Although the cam never changes position, it captures the ever-changing views of the beach just off Balboa St. and The Great Highway: http://ob-kc.com

1: planning the destination

I've been studying the how other painters I admire use color tones, values and color temperature. I've decided that intuition and skill work together. So, I continue working towards improving my painting chops while praying for intuition…

This blog post #39  and the next #40 both feature selected images from virtual photos --not from Google Street Views but from a web camera streaming live images of Ocean Beach in San Francisco CA, USA.

Steps, New Delhi India, 38

day 5: a day (or more) of rest
Where The Mind Is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up in to fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake
Written by Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence, this poem represents Tagore's idyllic dream of the new, awakened India.


day 4: the finished painting
Even after I tried to convince myself that the painting was finished, I knew it wasn't really finished. My color harmonies were too forced and uncertain. So, I played around with the color temperatures until something clicked: a night scene. (The hint of stars also serves to remind us what this structure is all about.) 

Also, almost immediately after the night-scene idea emerged, I thought of an album cover I had loved from back-in-the-day. The way our brain encodes and stores certain images, sounds, smells, etc, is so wondrous! 

This painting is for sale in my online store (with more photos too): https://www.etsy.com/listing/188710968

STEPS,  8x10" original oil painting by puci

The first "finished" painting

The window & night-scene image from an old album cover

  

day 3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)
I cropped closer-in to omit the "noise" beyond, and added another visible step.

My composition using Photoshop

day 2: capturing the selected image
We're at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India.

The Jantar Mantar is a collection of 13 architectural astronomical instruments, built around 1724 by Maharaji Sawai Jai Singh ll. The primary purpose was to predict the times & movements of the sun, moon and planets. (And I'm thinking that the whimsical & wondrous structural shapes were purposeful as well.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jantar_Mantar,_Delhi

The image as scene from Google Maps, Street Views

day 1: planning the destination
I want to portray another, more wondrous, view of India.

A New York Minute, 37

day 5: a day (or more) of rest
"A New York minute is an instant. Or, as Johnny Carson once said, it's the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn." ~from The Urban Dictionary


day 4: the finished painting
You'll find my painting (using my full name, Darlene Pucillo) among lots of lively & lovely other paintings on the Daily Paintworks page. This painting has less value contrasts than I had initially intended, but I kind of like the way it appears as though the sun has momentary broken through some clouds to shine upon this New York minute.

This painting is for sale via Daily Paintworks: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/challenge/the-busy-city-challenge/229

A NEW YORK MINUTE, 8x8" original oil painting by puci

day 3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)

I moved some things around a bit and created some pinkish tones to suggest approaching dusk.

My composition using Photoshop

day 2: capturing the selected image
This image was not taken from Google Maps/Google Street Views, but was taken by the wonderful painter Carol Marine. Further, she's using it as the basis for her painting challenge called "The Busy City Challenge", where any artist may enter an interpretation of this photo in their own style. Pretty cooll!

Photo by Carol Marine

day 1: planning the destination

We're in the Big Apple, Baby!

Puci's Vermeer, 36

day 5: a day (or more) of rest

"In a gentle way, you can shake the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

day 4: the finished painting

I'm kind of excited about this painting. It's a good example, I think, of what this blog project is all about:

transforming inspiring images from virtual world travel into original paintings (with lots of room for experimentation too).

This painting has been sold

"Puci's Vermeer", 8x10" original oil painting by puci

day 3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)

One of the things that attracted me to Mr. McCloud's image was the the light streaming in, "Like a Vermeer painting", I thought. Then the idea hit me to place the girl, child and dog INTO a Vermeer painting!
Vermeer's painting: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Vermeer_van_Delft_008.jpg 

day 2: capturing the selected image

Somehow in my online searches about India, I came upon Kevin McCloud's documentary video called, "Slumming It": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im0tHRs9Bng and you can see the still shot (below/bottom) from this video that caught my eye. 

Then I found similar Google Street View images. (even the dog looks the same --can you see him in the upper right image, laying in the shade?) and decided to go with Mr. McCloud's more visually rich image to base this painting on. 

day 1: planning the destination

We're on our way to India, a rich land of much diversity.  

The Stones Speak, (Joshua Tree National Park), 35

day 5: a day (or more) of rest

"I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion."
~ Yohji Yamamoto

day 4: the finished painting

Although my goal was to finish this painting in one session, it required two. I just couldn't seem to get those shadow rock "folds" looking bulbous-yet-solid. So, I let the oil paints dry long enough to paint on another layer. (This is one of the pleasures of painting in oils; oil paints are very yielding and forgiving.) As I painted, some lesser areas of interest called out for more attention. Overall, I think it works.

This painting is sale in my online store (with more photos too): https://www.etsy.com/listing/185937454

THE STONES SPEAK, 8x10" original oil painting by puci

day 3: creating the pre-painting composition (using Adobe Photoshop)

I cropped in fairly close (avoiding the "big bum" rock). The most intriguing area to me is where that one stone appears to be folding in on itself, sorta like Jabba The Hutt of StarWars fame.

day 2: capturing the selected image

I took many screen shots of various views within Joshua Tree, and finally settled for this one I found along Indian Cove Road in the Mojave Desert of California USA. Here's the link that will get you there: http://goo.gl/maps/rzOVY

day 1: planning the destination

My husband spotted some amazing land formations while searching for a specific locale within Joshua Tree National Park. He called me to the computer, knowing that I'd be excited by these magnificent stones.