"Dogwood Creek Morning"

"When morning glides the sky, my heart awakening cries" hymn

It's been awhile since my last blog partly because something has changed with eblogger from Google and I had trouble finding it and signing in. Love changes.

So I'm off to Summerfair in Cincinnati at Coney Island off I-275 and Kellogg Ave. Booth 29K. The breeze will be blowing cool off the river and I have 2 great little fans that run on 18 volt rechargeable batteries from Home Depot.

This creek runs through our park which I run/walk through in the early morning and on this morning it was so beautiful that I had to walk back home, sweating all the way, and grab my camera and sketch book. Later in the week at my studio in Artists Attic using these two references I created "Dogwood Creek Morning." 

I'm still in a quandary about the best approach - pure plein air-creating the piece entirely on site or using reference photos and black and white sketches to help me capture the essence of the scene. I'll continue to battle with plein air to get that interpretation of the scene instead of just reporting what I'm viewing. On this piece I used an oil wash for the initial underpainting which is another goal - to be able to create an underpainting that is satisfying in it's own right, so I don't end up covering up all the underpainting with pastel.

"Dogwood Creek Morning" oil wash and pastel, framed 24" x 30"  $850