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Dutch Morning - An Original 11x14 Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Dutch Morning

 A few months ago, I did a smaller painting similar to this one. I did the smaller one first for a couple of reasons. First, it's easier to work out the general color and composition on the smaller piece since I can make large changes with just a few brush strokes. I was also working from a photograph, so doing the smaller painting first allowed me to work out my color choices before attempting a larger painting. And finally, the smaller painting allowed me to become familiar with the subject. This was really the best reason for doing the smaller study first. All my questions were answered while doing the smaller painting so when it came time to work on the larger painting I could relax and really concentrate on the things I wanted to emphasize and explore. So, what else did I learn? I learned that photographing paintings with a yellow sky can be tricky! This is as close as I could get the photograph to the painting, but still the sky seems like it has way too much yellow in it. To me, it just doesn't seem so saturated at the horizon. 

Dutch Morning © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 11x14 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Currently available on Daily Paint Works. Click here to go the auction.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Almost Done - A New Original 5x7 Oil Painting Demonstration by George De Chiara

Almost Done

 On December 8th, I'll be doing a free painting demonstration at The Dutch Art Gallery in Dallas. I've been thinking about what I'm going to paint for this and I've considered something like today's painting. I figured trying it out in the studio first might not be a bad idea. This way it gives me a chance to work out any issues and decide if it's something I really want to demo. It also gives me a bit of a road map for the demo so, hopefully, I don't fall flat on my face. I'm still not sure if this is what I'll do or not. There are a few other things I'm considering. For today's painting, I did manage to take a few progress pictures that I'd like to share with you.

 This first image was taken at the end of my block in. I started by toning the canvas with a mixture of cobalt blue and viridian. You can see a bit of it still coming through in various spots. On top of that, while it was still wet, I went back in with a bit more color and blocked in the major shapes. All of the paint is still very thin at this point, except for the sky. That's little further along than rest of the painting since it's the first thing I started on when the block-in started to wrap up. My goal at this point it to be able to have some of this under-painting show through in the final painting. I think I was most successful with this in the foreground hill. I like the effect it gives the painting as it seems to interject a little air into things.

 This image was taken around the half way mark. Basically I'm just trying to refine my shapes and colors while attempting to finish any areas that I can. This approach is a bit like focusing a camera manually. With each pass over the painting, I try to bring things more into focus and into a final state. This is, of course, just one approach to painting. I find it works better with smaller paintings. On larger works, I rarely use this approach, mostly because my palette isn't large enough to support all of these color mixtures at the same time. I don't want my colors to become muddy from being crowded on the mixing area of my palette. 

Below is the finished painting. See how it looks like it just came more into focus? I did manage to keep some of that original under painting and that makes me happy. If I do this one as my demo, I think I'll move the barn a little more to the left of the canvas and give it a better shape. I think I'll also push the colors of the sky a bit more. Maybe tweak one or two other things...not sure just yet. I find after a few days, these adjustments are easier to spot than right after I'm done painting.

 Almost Done © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 5x7 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability:SOLD

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Last Light - An original 8x6 plein air landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Last Light

A few nights ago, I went out to paint the sunset at out local park. My wife and kids came, too. While I painted at the lake, the girls played in the park. I had promised my oldest daughter, who's turning three this weekend, that she could do a painting when I was finished. Sure enough just as I was finishing up, she came by wanting to do her painting. I packed my work away and got her a fresh canvas to paint on. She picked out her brush and dove right into painting. Somehow, she managed to use most of the paint left on my palette starting with the most expensive colors first. How is it she always knows how to do this? She only had a few minutes before the sun completely set and it became too dark to continue. Of course that's when she looked at me and said "Daddy, I need more light". If you know how to explain to a three-year old that Daddy can't turn the sun back on, please let me know.

Here's my painting:

Last Light © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x6 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to bid on this painting.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

Here's the painting my daughter did. Sha had a much different interpretation of the sunset. Now if I can just teach her to sign her name!

Days End - An original 8x8 landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Days End

This painting is another one that I did based off an older plein air study. I've had a great time revisiting some of these subjects this week. In the time that's passed since I first painted the study I've learned a lot about painting, color, and edges. It sometimes doesn't feel that way, since most of the time these improvements come in very small increments over a long period of time, but, looking back at something I painted last year or two years ago and repainting it today has really shown me where I've grown. More importantly, it's shown me where I still need to grow, directions to push myself, and areas to study that need more study. This what I enjoy and embrace most as an artist. The learning is never done, which is makes being a painter a lifetime effort.

Here is an image of how I started this painting. I'm using a little transparent oxide red (for the most part) to work out the placement of the larger shapes. The original painting was a 5x7 inch study and this painting is on an 8x8 inch panel so there are a few things to work out first. I spent some time getting everything where I wanted it. With just a few lines of thin paint, it's very easy to change my mind and move something at this stage. Believe me, I'd rather do it now then later when I have a lot of paint on the canvas and a lot of time invested in it. Once I was happy with the placement of all the larger shapes, I knew I could move onto the color and detail.

Well, I guess that this point I'm about half way through  the painting. I'm playing around a little bit with what to do with the foreground, because I don't want it to be all water, like the original sketch was. I feel I need something to stop the eye from running off the bottom of the canvas. Usually, placing something a little darker across the bottom will stop this and let the eye move back up through the painting easily. You can also see very faintly where I wiped off my first attempt at the sky in what will be the water when I'm done. The first sky I painted wasn't satisfactory, and, before I got too far down the road with the painting, I wiped it off and re-painted it. This time, I kept my paint mixtures a little thinner on the canvas and my colors a little cleaner when mixing them.

Below it the finished painting. You can see I finally settled on having several patches of land and grass in the foreground to help break it up and stop the eye. I felt this fit with what was going on with the background grass and land very well.

Days End © 

Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 8x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Available 

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.

"Heavy Cloud Cover" - An original 6x8 inch landscape oil painting by George De Chiara

Heavy Cloud Cover

 I really enjoy painting sunsets from life. They are a challenge since sunsets visibly change quickly. In fact, it's been said that they change to the eye every 16 seconds! Try this next time you watch the sunset: Look away from it every minute, wait 30 seconds and then look at it again. It's amazing how much it changes. Now image trying to paint it. Every time I looked up from my canvas, the area I was painting looked different. When I painted this, my wife and children came with me to play in the nearby park as I painted. While I was waiting for the sun to start to set, I commented to my wife that painting sunsets is a bit like waiting to run a race. I wait around until it's time to get going and then paint as fast as I can to keep up with the changing conditions.

Heavy Cloud Cover © 

 Painting Details:
Larger Version available here
Size: 6x8 inches on canvas panel.  
Medium: Original Oil Painting 
Frame: none
Availability: Click here to bid on this painting.

Signed on front. Signed and dated on back.