HHhmm last of winter, Jimmy? Froze my !_#% painting tonight!!!

[LarrySeiler]

9"x 12" oil on pumice panel...

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/05-Apr-2007/532-ctyp_peshtigoriver72.jpg

dang...the sun was so inviting...had to get out...but EEEeyowww was it a chilly....er, um...NO...it was downright ccc COLD!!! :eek:

Forgot to grab my fingerless wool gloves...heh, its not supposed to be winter!

I had polar fleece gloves with a mitt pullover and half the time I had to paint with the full mitt. That wind was something else.

Said it was 22 degrees....but with that wind it had to be in the single digits here.

Painted for about two hours...then half my body started complaining, saying..."C'mon....we gotta go!!!"

I kept saying shut up...just a little bit more, but then I got this argument I could possibly touch up a bit in studio if I needed to.

Well...whoever it was arguing, he finally won out...and I had that heater just blastin' away on the ride home... yikes!!!

The landscape tonight just kept gettn' purtier and purtier as the sun was going down...what a lovely...well, beautiful night.

[LarrySeiler]

oh....wanted to add, I opted to try that neutral mud midgray value block in again. Had the mud lean toward a reddish gray...and really liked how the painting progressed and worked itself out...

:)

[James or Jimmy Jim]

Harry (with an L), my wife and I went for a walk by the lake ... and had to cut it short, due to the frigid temperatures! What's this all about? It's April :D

Anyway, your painting looks very good, so it was worth it.

[LarrySeiler]

Anyway, your painting looks very good, so it was worth it.

that's what I was tellin' my wife while we were at the doctor's office, right after I asked if he could save a couple of the fingers anyway! :D

thanks Jimmy...
yeppers...it was cold.

[Bruce Newman]

Nice, Larry. I really like the texture of the trees!

[LarrySeiler]

thanks Bruce...
backlit subjects are always fun...call for special attention, but fun...

[RandyP]

Very Nicely done, Larry!!

Looks like freezing your a@@ off, paid off! :D :D :D

Really good color, it definitely has a late afternoon quality about it.

Randy

[Shane Keene]

Well, at least your suffering was worth the effort. Love the backlit trees and the lights on the foreground grasses. Beautiful.

22 degrees? God must have mistaken you for Job :D. It was almost 80 degrees here in Southern Oregon today. I even turned my air conditioner on for awhile.

P.S. In case you're wondering, an air conditioner is an electronic device we use to actually cool the air down :evil:.

[Wyn Easton]

Painting such a warm painting must have kept you a little warmer, or at least happier. Good one!

[Wayne Gaudon]

a real nice painting Larry ..
.. it's snow on the ground here this morning. Yesterday was a minus fourteen with the wind chill .. not exactly painting weather. :rolleyes:

[Donald_Smith]

Larry,

I really like your backlighting on the trees, and the way you've captured the warmth of the sun as it creates a golden glow as it slowly sets. It's contrasted very nicely with cool blues and you've got some great shadows from the trees on the foreground grasses.

Very nice painting indeed.
Don

[Shelley Grund]

I understand the draw of beautiful light - you did a wonderful job capturing it! Last night our temps dropped to 25 degrees! There's frost on the grass! Yep, that's here in Southern Kentucky - for goodness sakes! What's up with this crazy weather!

[DFGray]

seems warm for being so cold

[Danny Griego]

It's obvious all that drama was worth it! Those trees are handled well and the foreground is well designed. A big foreground (nearly half the painting)but simply stated. I also checked out your new site. It looks great and I really like how easy it is to navigate.

[LarrySeiler]

thanks everyone...sure appreciate all the comments, and I've read them all... smiled, had a good laugh...and taken to heart.

You bring up a good observation Danny, about half the painting being foreground.
That was one thing I wrestled with at first when starting. I wanted that variation of the trees juxtaposed the sky as backdrop, the blue sky to play with hints of cools in the shadow snow clumps.

I ordinarily would try to steer clear from dividing my canvas in half...show more sky...or more ground. As I saw the drama that was about to unfold, it seemed clear to me that the shadows would fall across much of the foreground, and it was my hope that color and value could orchestrate enough excitement that that dividing the canvas in half wouldn't feel as so many paintings divided in half do.

Note that the trees with the land mass yet takes up about 2/3's of the painting, or the 2/3rd rule as some would say...and I think in part that is what made this orchestration or ordering yet hold together.

thanks again...

[coh]

Nice texture in those pine trees, and I really like those little bright areas poking
through near the trunks.

[LarrySeiler]

oh....its 15 degrees out this morning...with windchill, the report says it feels like 5 degrees.

And to think we started golf practice the end of last week! Back to hitting balls in golf cages in the gym this next week this keeps up...

[LarrySeiler]

thanks Chris...its fun to poke color things thru masses. Just squint the eyes to observe, don't ask what it is...just believe it will be believable if shape, value and color are imitated in the brushstroke. I call that fun!

Besides...a real good opportunity to add or order some color note rhythm to unify the work..

[rain24]

Larry,

Great scene and I love that stream of sunshine in the foreground. Wanted to tell you that I went to a plein air demo yesterday at my art guild. The guy started by ragging in large shapes. Someone asked why he did it this way instead of a brush. His reply? He saw the technique from a friend of his that had taken a workshop from Larry Seiler and thought it was cool :D.

I thought you might get a kick out of that one. I sure did! ;)

~Rain

[LarrySeiler]

hahaa...well, nice to know I got some credit, and somethings workin' for someone.

Raggin' in is a great way especially to jump into a large canvas when time is limited and feel you've really got a great fast start. Its effective...and does what a block in is supposed to...

appreciated... :)

[JanB]

I love those beautiful really rich colors in this 'specially in the trees and the shadowed mid-ground. They give the whole piece a dense, solid feel played off against the airy blue sky and light. LOts of contrast keeping the eye involved for a long time.

[LarrySeiler]

thanks Jan...a good word is certainly appreciated...
heck, who am I to turn such down!!! :lol: :D

[skipstah70]

nice sense of light and colour Larry.... so braving the cold paid off!

[LarrySeiler]

it was worthwhile....yes, haahaha...
we won't know about the "pay off" for awhile I'm sure!!! :lol:

thanks...