Don Thacker | Artist, Environmentalist, Enthusiast

August 2009August 2009

The Great Chattahoochee Paint Out

Submitted by donthacker on Tue, 2009-08-11 23:51

Island_Ford_08092009.jpgTommorrow starts the Great Chattahoochee Paint Out (http://visitroswellga.com/great-chattahoochee-river-paint-out.html). The registration was tonight, and there are over 75 artists that are planning to paint over the next 3 days. I'll be going to work early so that I can leave early and do a painting each evening. Each artist can submit 2 paintings to be displayed at the reception at the Island Ford HQ. I'm excited to have a piece displayed at a National Park facility. There will be awards, so wish me well.

The pic here is from Saturday afternoon. I did a practice run over at the trail by Island Ford at the same time I'll be painting the next three days. I actually thought of this composition in the middle of the night. I don't know why, but I woke up and thought about painting the river and came up with this idea.

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River Window

Paint Out, Day 1

Submitted by donthacker on Thu, 2009-08-13 22:46

Island_Ford_2.jpgYesterday was the first day of the Great Chattahoochee Paint Out, and I went to the Island Ford unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. Since the Paint Out is about the river, I chose the river as my point of interest. I really liked how the sky made the water so light and how it contrasted against the trees on the shore. Then about halfway into the painting, I saw a guy out there fishing. It was the perfect thing to throw in to really highlight how cool this river - which is in the Atlanta metro area - is.

I went back to Island Ford today and did another painting from the trail. I'll post it tomorrow. I do apologize about the photo. The painting has a lot of heavy paint and it is hard to get a photo without a lot of glare. One of the things on my to-do list is to build a solid set up for my photographs. For all my prints, I use a company that reproduces the artwork from a scanner, so that isn't a problem.

 

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Fishin'

Paint Out, Last Day

Submitted by donthacker on Sat, 2009-08-15 14:13

TheRiver1web.jpgTwoskiesweb.jpgI finished up the Paint Out Thursday and Friday with these two pieces. I chose the first one ("The River ") and the piece I did Wednesday ("Fishin'") to submit to the show. The reception is tonight at the CNREA Island Ford Headquarters from 7:30 to 9:30. There was a ton of artwork there this morning when I dropped my pieces off. It was a lot of fun to meet the other landscape painters and to see what they did. Best of all, I thoroughly enjoyed getting out each of the last three days and focusing on the same subject. I learned many things as I took on some views and subject matter that I hadn't before, namely the view between trees. I really like the design possibilities and plan do more such subjects. The only downside is that it is almost impossible to hang out beside the river without "..it gets hotter than a hootchie cootchie.." playing in your head, even though it wasn't that hot.

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Calm on the Chattahoochee

Grey Bonnets

Submitted by donthacker on Wed, 2009-08-19 20:43

BW08192009.jpgAfter all the Paint Out paintings I did last week, I came up with several things I wanted to work on. So last night I did a black and white exercise so that I could experiment with the different types of white, and to focus on the painting without the complication of color. I did this piece from a photo I took back in 2007 somewhere near Llano, TX. There are actually some bluebonnets in the field, but you can't really tell since in this piece they are grey. I suppose that is what Spring in Texas looked like back before they invented color, like in the days of Gunsmoke.

In addition to my values, I worked on the composition of the tree framing the scene, and also paid some special attention to my edges. That is an aspect of my painting I want to improve. I have been reading a superb blog by Stapleton Kearns. Mr. Kearns is a fantastic artist and he is kind enough to post some of the best content on landscape painting that I've ever seen. Wonderful stuff, and his most recent posts are about the history of landscape painting.

 "Black and White Study"

8x10 oil on lead primed canvas

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