I'm Not Rushing My Acrylic & 'The Art Book I'm Currently Reading'

Reference Photo for the Rainy-Day Motif
Photo Copyright 2009

Hi-

Well, it’s a holiday weekend in the US, and even we artists may pause for a cookout on the grill. Or at least I am doing that.

My acrylic that I told you about last blog is coming along nicely, but it’s still not finished. I thought I would be done in a couple of days, but now I’m guessing it will take a couple more.

If you’re a painter, then you know you just can’t rush these things sometimes.

As I said it’s a rainy-day motif , and today's image, set at the intersection of city streets with a couple of umbrella’d, raincoat-clad passersby. It’s a gray, rainy scene. I did take the artist's license in straightening and cropping the photo, so the background in my painting is a little different.

What I’m having fun painting is the water standing on the sidewalks with its natural reflection of light from the sky and nearby objects. One thing that makes the sky look more natural, in my opinion, is adding a touch of burnt sienna to the gray color of the sky. Although burnt sienna has a lot of red, it actually made the city sky look gray with drizzle.

At least I think so, and that’s all that matters, right?

Anyway, I still have to paint the main umbrella of one of the passersby, which is arguably the focal point of the painting.

I’m pretty sure I’ll have it finished in a couple of days. That is, unless I get distracted by the holiday and my outdoor grilling.

One more thing. I added a section over there in the right column I’m calling 'The Art Book I’m Currently Reading.' Since I almost always have a couple of books going, one being an art book, I thought I’d share that with you. Whenever I start a new book, I'll post it.

The current one is How to Paint Like the Impressionists by Susie Hodge. I bought it a year ago, and read through it rather quickly. Now I’m going back and taking time to see if I will use some of the information. Not that I want to paint exactly like that, but I am drawn to the way color is applied and the lack of detail in Impressionist paintings.

Until next blog…