Monday, March 09, 2009

Venice - soon


Venice - soon
Originally uploaded by linfrye
As the trip to Italy gets closer and closer, I've been trying to spend a bit more time practicing buildings and plein air. Both have frustrated me this weekend with some invisible barrier I can't seem to get past to paint what I am envisioning ... sigh .. so practice continues.

While I"m partly pleased with this, I tried more than four times to darken the water a bit but kept losing the highlights and/or the tone when I added one or the other -- so I left the water light and figured I'd try again next weekend.

Still, just painting scenes of Italy gets me excited about the trip (May) and what I'll be learning.

My forays by our creek were frustrating too -- The day was superb - even hot, with temperatures reaching 84F! Birds and peepers kept me company while I could hear C and his friends jamming from the house, but between balancing items on my lap, the heat keeping me constantly spritzing my paints, and the light distorting tones -- -- I was ready to toss it all into the water! LOL Ah well, we'l keep trying - at least it was some time spend in the woodlands and watching spring emerging.

Back to the office and regular routine. I hope YOUR week is less frustrating and that your creative endeavors flow smoothly!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about the frustration of not being able to achieve what you wanted but when I look at the painting, I see sun highlights on the buildings and the same sun highlights in the water. It looks to me like the shadows on the water are where they should be and a bit of blue and then the sun bleaches out the rest of the water so I'd call this a success even though it's not what you set out to achieve. A happy accident? or it turned out like "it" wanted to!!!
Hugs and I hope you have a less hectic week and more time and concentration to paint.
Hugs,
Lorraine

Joan said...

I've been gone for over a week and it's such a treat to look back at what you've painted. The birches & pond, the birthday camellias, and that snow painting are just wonderful. I had a hectic week of painting at a workshop with Eric Wiegard. I'll post the paintings I did some time in the next few days. I learned a lot and most importantly learned I don't want to paint full sheets. lol

Robyn Sinclair said...

You painted a lovely natural play of light, Lin. Beautiful. I'm so excited for you.

I'm even more excited about meeting up with you in Orvieto!

Teresa said...

This is lovely. Love the way the color on the buildings is so warm and yet softly fades. Wonderful job, Lin!