ATM - Yough Bike trail, Lil' Boston

ATM Study 8x10, oil on panel

ATM 12x14 oil on panel

I had posted this study previously but thought I would post it again along with the studio version. I like the the way the study turned out but given the weather that day it was a hurried effort. It is a fun exercise to paint from a study done on-site. With the study I have already solved most of the problems in composition and eliminated all of the information that can be overwhelming on location. This allows me to focus more on my color mixes and the application of the paint.

Article in the Tribune Review

The article about my painting on the bike trail ran in the Monday edition of the Pittsburgh and Greensburg Tribune Review. Check it out here...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_705983.html

Below is a picture the photographer, Justin Merriman, took that day. Perhaps I should have smiled.

Justin is a fantastic talent behind the lens. Check out his website: www.justinmerriman.com

Quick Study

ATM Study - Yough Bike Trial, Lil' Boston, 8x10 oil on panel

Set up and underpainting

The Tribune Review is running a story on my efforts to paint scenes from the local bike trails. I believe the article is going to be in the Monday (October 18), Westmoreland edition. Many thanks to my friend Patti for making this happen. Friday I met with Justin, a photographer from the Trib, down at the bike trail mid-morning so he could take some pictures for the article. He was on foot so I didn't want to travel to far on the trail. It was a cold, wet morning and the rain had just let up about 20 minutes before I got there. My main criteria for a painting location was simply a warm spot in the sunshine. Once I found a sunny spot I turned back and looked towards the trail parking. A banner hanging on the side of a building caught my attention. It had big red letters that read "ATM." I decided to make the focus of the painting. 

After Justin left an older retired couple on bikes packed with some saddle backs and other gear stopped to see what I was up to. Turns out they where on their fourth and final day on the trail. They started out at Cumberland Gap and where finishing at the Point in downtown Pittsburgh. Hailing from Seattle they made the trip out here to ride the trail. I am always amazed at the amount of people who travel to our region just to ride this trial. Yet so many locals don't even realize it is here. Maybe in some small way, my paintings can help raise awareness of what a valuable resource we have with the trails and rivers around Pittsburgh.

I ended up overworking the painting. It is a good study though, and some great elements that will carry over when I paint this larger in the studio.

Iron Collar

PUMPHOUSE - Great Allegheny Passage, Homestead, 10x8 oil on canvas

IRON COLLAR - Great Allegheny Passage, Homestead, 12x24 oil on canvas

Here are a couple more from my trail painting series. There is a section of the bike trail that travels along the Monongahela river in what is now known as The WaterFront. A former site of the Carnegie Steel Works, a steel mill that has produced more than 200 million tons of steel. The area is now a shopping district. This site is also the location of one of the most famous events in labor history, the Battle of Homestead. In 1892 a battle erupted when locked-out steel workers and local townspeople broke into the mill. On the banks of the Monongahela they encountered a private army known as the Pinkertons. Hired by Andrew Frick to secure the mill they attached the workers. The battle lasted most of the day with gunfire, cannons and burning oil.

The bike trail ends here at the Pumphouse. Originally part of the massive steel mill that once stood here it is one of a couple of structures that still remains. Along with the Pumphouse, watertank and a row of smoke stacks, there are remnants of the mill that lay about the grounds surrounding the Pumphouse. One of these remains is the subject of "Iron Collar."

Evening Light

EVENING LIGHT - Yough Bike Trail, Lil' Boston. 12x24 oil on canvas

This is the second in a series of paintings inspired by the bike trails in the Pittsburgh region. After my trip to Sinnamahoning when I took my paint gear out on the trail I was really excited at the concept. When I got home I decided I would hit the local bike trails and do a series of painting based on my experiences, observations and plein aire works done on the trail.

This one was painted in the studio from references I took. The time was in the early evening and the sun was casting long shadows and cascades of light across the trail. A heavy but brief rain shower had came through about an hour before my ride and the grass and leaves where a vibrant green. The trail was still damp with rain giving it a rich, almost blue, hue to the path.

South Hills Art League Member Show

Andrew Carnegie Free Library

Come and see the SHAL member show. Lots of great art in various genres. I will have three paintings depicting various scenes from local Pittsburgh bike trails.

The show will coordinate with the annual Carnegie Arts & Heritage Festival the weekend of September 9, 10 and 11.

For more info:
http://www.carnegiecarnegie.com/index.html
http://www.carnegieartsandheritage.com/
http://southhillsartleague.org/

A Gift From Raven

A Gift From Raven - 10x10, oil and ink on canvas

Available at the Artisans Shoppe Gallery

The Laurel Blossom

The Laurel Blossom - 10x10, oil and ink on canvas

Available at the Artisans Shoppe Gallery

A New Direction

A New Direction - 10x10 oil and ink on canvas

SOLD

Some Plein Aire Paintings

Finally got out to do some plein aire painting over the past couple of weeks. I tried strapping my paint gear to the back of my bike and riding out to different locations. My first trip up at Sinnamahoning State Park was successful. My paint bag rides nice on the carrier. I haven't had much success in producing good plein aire work. But I think I turned a corner with the study I did at Sinnamahoning. It has given me the confidence to go out and continue to practice painting on location. Certainly patience of mind is key. You only have about 2 hours to complete a painting before the light changes. Working quickly is important. Staying mentally relaxed and focused is as well.

Below is the painting I did at Sinnamahoning creek. The photo has more blue in it than the original but it is close. This is an 8x10 oil on panel.



This is a snapshot of my set-up. When I set up my easel I was completely in the shade. As the paint session went on the sun crept up on me and the light was illuminating half of my panle and pallete. This makes it difficult to mix color as the value and tone looks different in the shade and light.



One my second outing I went to tthe new section of the bike trail that was just completed. It starts in Duquesne and continues on through McKeesport onto Lil' Boston. I decided to paint this abandoned building just on the other side of the Duquesne bridge.

8x10 oil on panel

A couple of studies

Been busy and haven't gotten a lot of painting in lately. I did manage a few quick studies. These are 5x7 painted from some snapshots I took while at Point State Park during the Three River Arts Festival.

Painting for ArtAllNight show

"Approaching Fifth Avenue Place" 21" x 12", oil on panel



Saturday, April 24-25 is the Thirteenth Annual Lawrenceville Art All Night show. This is a unique event that showcases over a thousand works of art. Anyone can submit work, but only one piece of art. It is a fun show and is becoming a family tradition. Last year my wife Kate, my son Chaise, then 3 years old, and myself submitted painting for the event. It was fun to have all of our work in a show together. Chaise, now four, has already finished his painting and is exciting to hang it alongside his dads.

This year the event is at the former Iron City Brew works in Lawrenceville. This should be a great venue for the show this year. IF get a chance, or are looking for something to do Saturday evening, stop by!

I had planned a much larger piece for this show but failed to plan ahead to give myself time to complete it. Instead I created this painting and i am pretty happy with it. The photo of the painting is pretty bad and doesn't do it justice. It is still wet and I am hoping it will be dry in time for delivery on Saturday. The photo is a bit washed out with the greys being more prominent than in the original, which is much more subtle and much darker.

Cory

"Cory" 10" x 8", oil on panel



Around the holidays and at various times of the year, I work with The Plant Lady & Associates, a business that maintains plantscapes in and around the Pittsburgh downtown area. I have done some design work for them as well having created a website for them that is still a work in progress. Mostly I help with preparing and hanging Christmas decorations for the holiday season and for Light-Up Night. It is fun to be a part of the downtown holiday season and they are a good crew of people to work with. What has become one of my annual duties is helping to hang the giant wreaths at Fifth Avenue Place. It is small crew of Janet, the owner, Cory, Pat, a crane operator and myself. They bring a cane in with a bucket to hoist the wreath up into the archway after we assemble the wreath out of four aluminum trusses. It is usually bitter cold and snowing. Despite that it is cool to get a different viewpoint on Penn and Stanwix Streets from about 30-40 foot in the air.

Last time out I took some snapshots from the crane, soon to be turning into a few paintings. In the meantime I painted this shot I took of Cory putting on his safety harness as we prepare to go up in the bucket. Cory is a real good guy and I have enjoyed working with him over the years.

Bird On A Wire #3

Bird On A Wire #3, 4" x 4", oil on panel



After cutting down some panels I had a few small scraps left over. I find them good to paint on as warm-ups before doing a larger painting. Sort of like stretching before the big game. This is the result of one of those warm-ups. I almost tossed this one after I did it. I didn't like the color notes of the sky. Instead I went in and repainted the sky and I decided to keep it around.

Bird on A Wire #2

I finally followed up my first Utility painting with this one. I got about a dozen sketches for paintings in this vain but I have only gotten around to the second one years after I painted the original Bird On A Wire #1. My goal was to keep the birds as simple as possible. Each pigeon was painted as a solid color. The bird detail was limited to about four brush strokes each. The verdict isn't in on this one for me yet. It has some promising elements but certainly needs further development.

11x14 oil on panel

Untitled Owl

I painted this owl during a session of five bird paintings that I was preparing for the gallery. Check previous post to see the painting I sent. I really loved the way this turned out but felt it could be much better and improved upon. I decided to keep it and develop this into a larger piece and add some natural elements to help with scale. The image is much brighter than the original which is more nocturnal looking.

12 x 7 on panel

Framing and Ready

These are five paintings that I recently sent to the Artisan's Shoppe. Three of these have my custom floating frame that allows the paint panel to "float" in the center of the frame. The frames are nice because you hang them, or set them on a shelf as seen in the photo.

Cardinal & Apple Blossoms WIP

This is a small cardinal painted in oil. This was painted on a store bought panel. I believe 5x7. First shot is the charcoal sketch. I wanted to get this done quick so I used a grid method to aid in the sketch.



This is a shot of my palette and the five paint piles I have mixed up. I made a dark purple for the background. Two reds. A cool red and a warmer brighter red for the shades on the body of the cardinal. A medium green for the leaves and a lavender for the darks on the flower pedals. I'll use the purple to mix in with the other color notes for darks and lowlights. Titanium white will work to lighten and cool the mixes for the white of the blossom pedals and the highlights in the feathers.



I start with the darks of the background creating the negative shapes between the blossoms.


i
I painted the lavender color cof the blossoms covering the white of the panel. Then came in with mixtures of white to identify the shape of the individual pedals.



First I filled in the marking around the beak and eye area. then painted the body a solid red using the darker, cooler red mix. The dark area is the purple mix with a little Ultramarine blue mixed in to darken it. The beak is Cadnium Orange with the warmer red mix.



Adding highlights and low lights to identify the shape of the body.



Details are added around the beak and eye.



Finished painting framed and ready to go to the gallery

Time Lapse of study of a cardinal

This is a time lapse of a quick oil sketch. The sketch took about about 20-30 minutes to complete. This was just for fun. I is cool to see the progress unfold.

South Hills Artist's League Annual Show

I have recently been accepted to the South Hills Artist's League and have joined my first artist group. We have an annual juried member show this opening this weekend. The opening reception is on Sunday, September 19th at 2:00. The show runs for a week. For more info on the you view details at their website here.

I have three new works I am showing for the first time. They are a different direction for me, but I have enjoyed very much. I plan to continue in this direction of urban impressionism. They will celebrate Pittsburgh's many bridges.

Fort Pitt 729, 9.5x24, oil on panel


Fort Pitt 815, 19.5x24, oil on panel


Fort Pitt 85, 19.5x24, oil on panel