Blue Moon Rising by Sharon Hodges

I saw many elk this summer in Colorado...very up close and personal...they were huge!...well, ok, at least much larger than me...and majestic, elegant creatures.  It was amazing to watch them move thru the meadows...and around town, and across the street...They are big enough to go damn near anywhere they want...traffic just stops, and you wait...works for me.  This painting is drying in my studio, 48x36x1.5 gallery canvas.  Available for purchase.

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Day 43, Project 125 Yamhill, Oregon Red Barn oil landscape painting BECKY JOY

© 2013 Becky Joy   Nightfall       oil    6 inches x 6 inches      $125.

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Today I played with color after finishing my large barn painting, Yamhill Barn, 30"x40" oil. I felt like a nocturne. I had had this one in my mind for a couple of weeks. It was one that I was going to paint larger, but I thought I would try it first in a small size. I'm not sure if I will go larger with it or move on. I need to get some sunsets going in larger sizes. That may be next on the agenda.

In this painting I used a small range of colors keeping them grayed with subtle differences between them. It is always tricky to get enough light in the painting, but dark enough to tell the viewer it is nighttime. Without enough light it is just a dark painting. I like to have some definite light hitting an object to create more interest in a nocturne. In this one the moon is outside the field of vision.

A few openings in my workshops:

Hood River, OR Sept 4

Carmel, IN Sept 27 - 29

Superstitions, AZ Oct 3 - 5

E-Book: How to Create Better Paintings Using Foundational Concepts

Preview the book, click here.

I'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Becky Joy

NOCTURNE, NIGHT SCENE, TREES, MOON, HOUSE by TOM BROWN

6x8 INCH ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING. CLICK HERE TO BID:
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Thanks for looking. Have a restful evening.
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FULL MOON, NOCTURNE PALETTE KNIFE PAINTING by TOM BROWN

Most collectors familiar with my work know me for my brush paintings, but I also paint frequently with the palette knife, which provides a very different visual experience. This painting is an 8x10 inch palette knife oil painting entitled “THE MOON AND THE STARS.”

Artists often feel they should limit themselves to just brushes or the knife in order to maintain a consistency of style. Many of the great masters disagree, and so do I.

Richard Schmid is an excellent example. Richard Schmid is one of the most accomplished masters of our time, known best for his masterful use of the brush in both figure painting and landscapes. Interestingly he also endorses and uses the palette knife in his work.

In his book “Richard Schmid Paints The Figure” (published in 1973) he mentions being inspired by one of his heroes, Nicholai Fechin as a master of the knife as well as brushes in his work.

In another of his books “Richard Schmid Paints Landscapes” (published in 1975), Richard admonishes artists to learn to use the knife. He suggests locking away your brushes for a time and painting only with the knife to master this “amazingly versatile instrument.”

More than two decades later in his classic book “Alla Prima – Everything I Know About Painting, by Richard Schmid” he again devotes time to knife painting and describes situations when the knife is the best tool. An example shown in this book is “Cascade Barn” which was painted exclusively with the knife.

Emille Gruppe, another artist whose work I admire, describes how the great Charles Hawthorne forced students to spend time learning how to use the knife exclusively in order to broaden their skills.

I enjoy using both tools. I often use the knife to complete portions of paintings that are primarily done with brushes. And I also create many paintings using only the knife, which creates a very different visual experience than paintings done with brushes.

I hope this brief discussion was of interest. If you would like to comment, please email me here:
tombrownstudio@cox.net

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