Autumn in Wenatchee Valley

I started this painting that I originally painted on site last fall. I really liked unbalanced contrast between the yellow poplars along the river and the bare hill.
I don't exactly remember the actual colors of the hill side. In the reference photo, it's more bluish while I painted brownish on site. Only thing I remember is I intentionally changed the color at that time for whatever the reason was. I may need to visit there again to decide the colors.
Anyway, the size is 26"x20". I just played with underpainting.

Still adjusting bigger shapes

End of the color bootcamp

It's been a strange day today so far. In the morning, it was snowing heavily. Then now about 3:30P it's sunny but strong winds are gusting. I took this opportunity to take some photos for the latest "East of the Mountains" as well as this outcome of the bootcamp that ended on Wed. Please visit my home page for the latest landscape piece, which would be the biggest piece in the next show.
I obviously couldn't finish this flower painting Wed. But started painting lights on the canvas. The instructor Jane suggested I put some yellow green glazing layer on the highlighted area. I might try. Or may not. I had hard time ranging colors between green and yellow, which was very narrow because of the blue and yellow I've chosen. But I've learned something out of these primary colors. I'll keep experimenting colorwise to get to the effect I want to get.
The biggest thing I've learned from this course was the atmosphere of my paintings were decided by my primary colors. Those were all transparent. Thats why this painting has quite different atmosphere compared to my regular paintings. I want to try more opaque primary colors in the future.

Ume Flowers

In Seattle we got some snow falling this morning. But Sun broke out before noon. I took this opportunity to take some photos of flowers of the Ume tree that I planted last fall. These are on the lower branches. There are some more coming on upper branches, which would take another week or so to start blooming. I like Ume's small flowers that express humbleness at the same time steadiness, which represent typical Japanese "Wabi-Sabi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi)" culture....

Last Update of "East of the Mountains"

I was working on the sagebrush in the middle as well as dried grass in the foreground. I made the sagebrush darker first then painted brighter part over it with much thicker layers. To make this painting interesting, the grass needed to be much brighter than the previous layer. Now it's standing out. The rest would be the sagebrush on the right. Then I'll put barbed wires by trying not to ruin the entire painting. I'll probably finish this next week. Then I want to move on to the next landscape painting. I'm thinking the Wenatchee painting I did last fall right now. I might change my mind though.

Underpainting for Horses

I put underpainting for the new horse painting "Pals". Basically followed the basic rule "complementary" to the local colors. But I put reddish orange for white parts. There wouldn't be actual white in this painting though. This would be relatively quick painting. I can feel that.

New Horse Painting

I finished the last horse painting titled as "Breeze". The weather is not optimal now in Seattle to take a photo of the painting. Once I get good weather, I'll update it at my web site.
Instead, I started drawing for another horse painting in the same size, 20"x24", for the next show. The title would be "Pals". The left horse is the same one I painted in the last painting. These faces have more expression, curiosity, than the last one. I'll try paint it in.