Hay Fields & Clouds

©Robin Edmundson, 'Hay Fields & Cloud', 10 x 14 inches.  Framed to 16 x 20 inches.  $375

One of my goals for taking Ian Roberts' drawing class was to have a more anchoring, practical and productive creative process.  [Translated, that means to find a way to actually DO and enjoy doing value studies.  It just makes for better art.]

I started with a drawing from the class [now a study group], and painted draft after draft after draft of the scene, learning all sorts of things along the way. 

The composition evolved.   I stopped looking at the reference photo a drawing pretty quickly and by the 8th draft [the painting above], I was mostly working from memory.

Here is the original drawing:

Working with pencil is a whole different ballgame from working with watercolor, so I am never trying to copy that drawing exactly, but rather take the structure and play with it in different ways until I find one or two that I can live with. 

Storm Clouds & Silhouettes

©Robin Edmundson, 'Storm Clouds & Silhouettes', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.  
[Available framed, $375]

Here's another version of the scene I told you about in the last post.  I learned a lot about color in an evening sky.

Wet Road & SIlos

©Robin Edmundson, 'Wet Road & Silos', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.  
[Available framed, $375]

Last summer, on the day of my opening at the Gaslight Gallery in Marshall, Illinois, we had a series of spectacular storms.  On the way home from the opening, we snapped a few photos of the storm clouds at sunset. 

We got home that night - an hour and a half drive - and discovered that even worse storms had hit our area and we couldn't get to the house.   It took us another 2 hours to try route after route to get home.  One road was under deep water.  Another had been in the path of a tornado and was closed to clear trees off the road.  Another was closed for road construction.   What an adventure!  [We finally found a clear road and made it home.]

White Hot July Sky

©Robin Edmundson, 'July Sky', watercolor, 18 x 24 inches.  Framed to 24 x 30 inches.  $750.

It's July. 

It's hot.

Searingly hot. 

The hay is cut and the fields quickly dry out to a dusty gold.  The days are hazy and lazy.  It never really cools off at night and the mornings are heavy and damp.  It's like the air itself is sweating. 

In our humidity, the clouds are varied and interesting - mackerel scales and mare's tails are indicative of quickly changing weather.  As things heat up even further during the days, we often get pop-up thunderstorms, dumping even more humidity into the air. 

It's too hot for the birds to fly and they stay inside the cooler edges of the woods.   Dragonflies and darning needles large and small flit around the trees instead.  At twilight the fireflies start their light show. 

And over and under and around it all is the gentle accompanying swoozh swoozh swoozh of the cicadas.

Fall Grazing

© Robin Edmundson, 'Fall grazing',watercolor, framed 18 x 22 inches.  $350

This one is done.  Thanks to the comments I have a good title for it.   [Thanks, Annie!]

Here is the previous version if you'd like to compare the two.

What a difference a few shadows make!

Snowstorm Coming

© Robin Edmundson, 'Snowstorm Coming', watercolor, 12 x 9 inches

Winter clouds have become a topic of dinner conversation around here as well as the subject of many photos emailed from job sites, highways, vacations, etc.    It's been fun.

What has been slightly less fun is mastering how to capture some of that atmosphere on paper.  The painting here was the 13th effort in 3 days.

I painted them dry.  I painted them wet.  I painted them wet and dry.  I painted them right side up and then upside down and then right side up again.   I painted with 3 different blues and 2 browns.  Big brushes.  Bigger brushes.  My regular brushes.  Fronts of papers, then backs of papers. I have a freakishly tall pile of winter cloud rejects in the studio right now.

But finally, this one worked.  I'd like to say it's because I finally figured out how to paint clouds, but I'd have to paint them 'right' every day for a month before I'd be willing to say I'd figured it out.

I'll keep practicing and they'll get easier - or at least take fewer drafts to get there.  In the meantime, I like these clouds.  I'm loving the snow specks on the barn.   And the footprints.   And the human.   [Big risk, putting that human in there.   It was the last thing I did.]

Deets:
140lb cp paper, Arches
12 x 9 inches
colors:  indigo, WN burnt sienna, raw umber, burnt umber

Clouds over May Pasture

© 2016 Robin Edmundson, Clouds over May Pasture, watercolor, 10 x 16 inches

The Watercolor Society of Indiana Juried Member Show is down and my painting is back home.  I think it got better simply by virtue of the company it kept at the Indianapolis Museum of Art for the last couple of months.

I asked it what it wanted to do next and it seems to want to travel a bit more. So, I'm offering it for sale.  The painting is framed in a plain black frame. [You can see it in the frame, hanging in the museum here.]

More details:
Title:  Clouds over May Pasture
Paper:  140 lb. Arches, cold press
Image size:  10 x 16 inches
Framed size:  20 x 26 inches
Frame: Black
Mat: White, acid free
Glass:  Museum quality glass with UV protection

Price:  $450

Please email me if you are interested:  Robin at morenna dot com

Big ideas

It's the beginning of a new year and lots of folks are doing resolutions.

I don't do resolutions.   

Why?   Because I don't wait until January 1st to set a goal.   I set goals all year long. 

One of the big ideas I've been kicking around over the past few months is the idea of letting your road take you to places you never even imagined you could go.  

Your road could take you to the sky.   But you have to look for the path.