Rainy Day 2-4 - Three Works in Progress

It was a nice day even though the sun went into hiding and it was overcast, with an occasional sprinkle of rain and the temperature reached a very pleasant 74F (23.3C).

I pulled out these paintings that I worked on last month (see posts on 06 March 2013 and 15 July 2015).

I wanted to at least get the background in on all four of the paintings.

For this one I wanted to make it an early autumn scene when the leaves have just started to change, with the promise of autumn colours.

Rainy Day 4

Using various mixes of French ultramarine blue, raw sienna, alizarin crimson and Antwerp blue to create the background trees and field.

I put in the under paint on the tree trunks using French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna and washed in raw sienna in a couple of places on the trunk.

On the next one I wanted to make it look like a day in late spring with more of the bright green colours.

I used Antwerp blue as the base with aureolin and new gamboge to make a wide range of bright greens.

The background fence was a mix of burnt sienna and French ultramarine blue.

Rainy Day 2

The first tree I made into a birch  using the dark colour from the fence and adding some burnt sienna in areas and raw sienna to give the tree marking some colour.

For the two remaining trees I have to decide if I want them as birches or another type of deciduous tree.

On the next painting I started putting the bark on the one main tree with a dark of French ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

I was debating what kind of background to put behind the tree and thought about a dead tree on Highway 507 that is in a field at the edge of a large area of ground water that doesn't dry up even in a drought.

Rainy Day 3

But then I had friends drop by and I put my paints away.

I will post each of these paintings at a later date as they are completed.