Dam Painting update

Presenting “Chara Verde”

9 x 12, Oil

My first painting for 2024! More importantly, it was the first painting I completed in 24 months. I would expect your response to that to be, “Twenty-four months!?” Yes, twenty-four months. I refer to the last four years as “Life Interrupted.” Let's see, it all started with the Pandemic, then the loss of my Art academy, the passing of my father, my Mother’s cancer diagnosis, my wife and I moving into a historical home, the rebuild of my new studio, my mother’s second round of cancer treatment and my grandmother in hospice. As a friend told me recently, “Life is not for the weak.”

I finally got moved in and settled in my new studio at the beginning of January, and I thought it would be a great idea to create two small paintings before starting a large commission I have to do. You know, dust off the cobwebs from my paintbrushes. My commission took me to Texas in February of 2023 to capture reference photos of a Crested Caracara. I also had the opportunity to photograph several other types of birds. One of those birds was a Green Jay. What a beautiful bird! I had never seen one before, so I decided it would make for a great first painting.

Being my first painting in twenty-four months, I wanted to keep the composition relatively simple. I downplayed the background, focusing more on the value instead of any details, which helped the Green Jay take center stage. I broke up the negative space around the bird by positioning some old branches, and the textures on those work well with the heavy textures of the lichen.

I feel the cobwebs have been successfully dusted off my paintbrushes for not painting in a long time!