Gouache Challenge

This is a view from the road of the ravine a little further down from the guardrail on Stratton Road in Williamstown, MA.  While not as exciting as a guardrail, the looking toward the light source, known as contre-jour, does spice it up, and offered another gouache challenge.  6x8 inches, gouache on multimedia paper.

Behemoths

 

To look towards the sun, I went up higher in the pasture partly off of the dirt road.   Halfway through the painting, I saw something in the corner of my eye.  In a few seconds, they came out of the woods.  I became surrounded by huge, fly-covered behemoths, loudly chomping the vegetation around me. Just as suddenly they all left going down the hill toward the barn.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Line Up With The Sun

This was the second of three paintings that I did today.  I scouted it out yesterday late in the day when the sun eventually came out.  I was stunned by how brilliant the tree was.  This morning I stood in a different spot in the hayfield so that the sun would still line up behind the tree as it did late yesterday.  9x12 oil on panel.

Against the Light

A couple of drawings from yesterday's sketchbook.  I went walking in the woods at Hopkins Forest.  One approach that I like is called "contre-jour," literally "against the day light."  I look in the direction of the sunlight, trying to block it with a tree trunk if possible, otherwise, one can't see anything from the glare, and proceed to draw.  Besides the glare making it difficult to see edges yesterday, it was quite cold, making my efforts shorter in duration.  But I think you get the idea.