Rain Day

6" x 8"
Translucent Orange Slice #36

The Rain kept me indoors yesterday.  I thought I would work on translucency in the morning and do a copy after lunch.  I'm happy with my translucent orange.  I didn't really think through the whole "translucent thing" when I painted it for our last assignment.  Let me explain in layman's terms: the translucent color appears on the opposite side of the light source of a diaphanous object. In the case of an orange, it's the shadow side, not the light side and the color is saturated and pure. You gotta put down that color first thing, and not go back into it and risk muddying it up.

Below is my copy of one of my favorite paintings in the book, "California Light" (you have to get this book if you don't already have it).  I love the composition, how the horizon line is way down at the bottom and how the farm structures are just little brush strokes indicating buildings and machinery. His brushwork is crazy- check out that sky.  I used a big #6 Bright for the entire painting and made myself hold it at the very end of the brush handle in an effort to stay loose.  It was really fun to work on a larger panel and to paint that abstract sky.  I can't wait for our sky to get some winter cloud action, so I can get outside and paint it.

9" x 12"
Copy Cat of John Budicin's painting