Birches

These are three paintings I recently completed, inspired by hiking trips to the White Mountains in June and August.  The two tall ones are 24 x 12 inches, and Forest Pool is 24 x 18". all on linen. They represent a bit of a departure for me in terms of painting. I think I have finally broken free of the impressionist influence that has been confusing me all these years.  I have finally accepted the fact that I am not an impressionist by nature, yet, most of the outdoor landscape painting instruction I have had has been from this perspective, so I have been fighting myself to some degree.  My color sense, I think, is more neutral and subdued than is usual in impressionist painting,  though the feeling of light, air and atmosphere are very important to me. Painting is such a constant learning process. It's a challenge to stay conscious of that fine line between my natural proclivities, that which expresses the essence of who I am,  and the bad habits I struggle to break in order to move forward in my work.


The other major breakthrough this month involves paint chemistry.  I've gone back to simple linseed oil and turpentine, with a bit of dammar varnish added to the mix towards the end of the painting.   I paint long hours, and it is very irritating to deal with sticky half-dry paint after 3-4 hours of work.  I like to work wet on wet up to a certain point, and the alkyd based mediums dry much too quickly for me. Mostly I use no mediums at all, and follow the fat over lean rule, using turps to lay down thin layers of color in the beginning, and incorporating linseed oil and dammar into the thicker layers on top,  if necessary. I also like Maroger medium  and copal painting medium. At the Art Student's League, we used Taubes Copal Medium which is now unavailable, but I  make my own, or something quite like it at least.

Cascade Brook

Forest Pool