Up to three colors + white!!

I don't know what it is about glassy water.. the calming effect, the light, the motion, the mercurial element. (quicksilver!) What I do know is that I want to keep painting it...This painting started out as an experiment, months ago, in glazing (layering thin glazes of paint, intended to create a luminous quality ) but since I had no idea what I was doing, I just now painted over it.. It's oil, 8"x10". Ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, cadmium red, and white...



Finally got one of those "miscellaneous" ideas out of my head and onto a board (9"x12")...(probably because I got out of the studio and onto a board.. hehe) .. it's one of those beautifully lit Bolinas mornings, off shore wind, perfect conditions, with a nice swell, but closing out on the sandbar at low tide... darn! From a photo by Jesse Wagstaff..
I find that as much as I love waves, I am much more attracted to what "makes" a wave...water, form, light, color and movement/energy....I'm not particularly interested in painting the perfect waves, although I dream of them all the time and love seeing photos.. however, I do need to do a wave or a surf scene every once in a while just to get it out of my system.. voici!

Living dangerously

Cruising on the momentum of having a pallette full of unused paint as well as a gessoed and sanded board, I just went at the surface unprepared and uninformed..usually I spend a lot of time preparing for an image I intend to paint, studying photos, systematically drawing and then transferring an image...but here I just laid down the paint with no awareness of control...It was a lot of fun actually and although it is the preferred technique for many painters, I have never felt comfortable doing it.. Feels too risky I guess, what if I fail?
I actually am quite fond of this little (8"x10") study, and think I am going to tackle the 36"x48" canvas in my studio for something along the same lines..

Refining an image

I knew something had been bugging me about the image below, and in my "desperation" to paint, I decided to risk ruining it and trust my instinct.. I knew it wasn't quite right before, but was tired of working on it and also couldn't see what it needed..What happened is that I ended up making more of a value variation from top to bottom and softening the harsh dark shadows in the water... Maybe it doesn't make that much of a difference to the viewer, but to me, I just couldn't rest until it felt "right" to me.. So I will let it rest now..The good thing is that it got me back painting again...

Before


After.. new and improved

Pin ball machine mind

Well, it seems that yet again I have fallen out of the groove of painting... and it is always so hard to get back in.. I have SO many ideas of images I am attracted to, but no one stands out...So I pop around from one to another. It seems to drain the energy right out of me.. I finally gave up last week and went to the movies.. Then a weekend of avoidance... today I am still avoiding the studio.. I get in the all too famiiar trap of wanting to do something "good" and that leaves me little room to make mistakes and experiment.. So I end up paralyzed and dissatisfied...I know I will eventually let go...
On another note, if you want to see what knocked me off track, here is a link.. I'm the one with a dark shirt and light blue board shorts...(not with long braids) .. marywagstaff.com/surfvideo
So I'm going up to the studio and see if I can get something going..oops, it's noon, maybe after lunch...