Weekly Painting #5 - Fire in the Sky

Last Thursday's sunset was spectacular. It seemed like something exploded and the whole sky was on fire. I was in a hurry to run some errands but couldn't resist getting out of the car to take some quick iPhone clicks. The colors lasted so long. There was a pink hue everywhere after sunset and it was magical. I couldn't resist painting it this week.

Here is a painting of the sunset as seen from my front yard.

Some more iPhone photos of Thursday's sunset.

Color & Light - Solo Art Exhibition from Sept 22- Nov 16

My first Solo Art Exhibition at Phantom Gallery in Milpitas will run from Sept 22- Nov16. The opening reception is scheduled for Monday, Sept 24th, 6-8pm. If you can make it, I would be delighted to see you there. There will be coffee and refreshments. Hope to see some of you there :)

Ed Levin park morning - A Plein air study

My first Plein air study after almost 5 years..
One of my goal for this year is to paint on location as often as I can. And I realized last week it's more than eight months in to the year and I haven't done anything. Many of you know that I am a painter and photographer. Though I carry my painting kit and my camera, what get picked as a first choice is always the camera. Who wouldn't right ?. It's easy, quick, captures the moment I want and I can always comeback home with a great reference to paint later. Photography is a distraction to me when I want to paint plein air. So, I left my camera, tripod, lens, filters all back at home to avoid any distractions :-). I did carry my trusty iPhone just in case if I need any reference pictures..

When I arrived at Ed Levin park, it was still a bit hazy. The sun just started to peek out, clearing the clouds from the hill and it looked beautiful. Swallowing the regret about the lack of my camera, I took a quick picture with my iPhone before I began and set the timer for an hour. Here is the scene.

Started quickly painting the hills first as I wanted to capture those clouds on the hill while it was still there. Boy, it was a challenge. A western scrub jay kept me company while I painted. I think he ( she?) was more interested in eating the paint from my palette than socializing. Anyway after about 45 mins, I got to this stage. The scene in front of me has changed quite a bit from where I started. The clouds were gone, the hills were shining from the sun.

I felt the painting was flat and grabbed my knife to add some texture. Here is the finished painting in an hour.

I like it but not necessarily happy with it. I thought a smaller panel might help to finish the painting quicker but it was way too small to capture the beauty of the scene and I lost the reflections of the sky in the water. I feel it's not painted in my usual style - no punchy colors or textures. Perhaps more practice will help me get there. I'm motivated to do more plein air from this location but not on small panels on the lap. I'll be carring an easel and atleast an 8X10 panel next time.