Enchanted Valley

Just finished a new triptych, "Enchanted Valley", I want to share with you.   
This painting has a nice balance of Yin and Yang elements making it a wonderful feature suitable for the bedroom or the family/living room.  The blue water in the painting is both refreshing and rejuvenating while still creating a calm and relaxing environment.  Water symbolizes money and wealth and moving water and waterfalls, in particular, stimulate good fortune.  The fish in the creek symbolically ward off evil and bring good luck.  

Balancing the relaxing, lucky blue waters are the fiery, red poppies that bring an auspicious, active, passionate yang energy to your living space.  Flowers stimulate good fortune and wealth which is enhanced by the invigorating, brilliant, red color.  An eagle represents healing, creativity, and far sighted vision.  This painting will help create a harmonious, lively, happy environment for entertaining family and friends or for intimate moments of quiet and reflection.

This is an oil painting on stretched, wrapped canvas.  The overall finished size is 30" h x 50" w.  Please follow along to see how it was painted.  

I had started a preliminary painting on these canvases that I ended up abandoning.   So I sanded down the old paint and applied the magenta tint back over it.  You can see the shadow of the old painting coming through.  I made a few sketches in my notebook until I found a scene I liked.  

On the canvas, I started with an initial sketch by dipping my brush in cold pressed linseed oil and using alizarin crimson.

Once I start to block in the darks of the creek, the old painting is much less distracting. I mix Cerulean Blue with Cadmium Red Medium and Light to mix the dark shale colors.

 

I add the turquoise of the creek mixing Cerulean Blue and a touch of Cadmium Yellow Light with Titanium White.

A dark green is mixed with Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light, and Cerulean Blue, with a touch of red and used to start to delineate the valleys and shadows of the hills.

The distant, background hills are painted in using a mix of light greens and violets with lots of white so they sit back into the distance.  Brighter greens for the foreground are mixed with Cerulean Blue and Cadmium Yellow Light. 

A variety of greens are mixed with various combos of yellow and blue with violets used to cut down the brightness and create a whole tapestry of rich colors.  I like to keep some green bright so the red and magenta flowers, being complementary colors, visually sparkle against the green.

I added the falls on the creek and the ripples on top of the water.  I am working wet into wet over the entire painting and since blues dry the fastest, I wanted to make sure I got the ripples on the water before the paint dried.

Here, I have started to add the trees and branches and limbs that lace the forest.

Finally, I started adding the flowers.  The red poppies and pink hollyhocks.  I started experimenting with a palette knife that has been in my arsenal for awhile but hasn't really been used.  This palette knife is round and I thought it might be perfect for the poppies -- and I was right!

Here's a picture of the round knife alongside my usual favorite.

 My kitty, Henry, napping by the painting in progress.

 More flowers and leaves and details are added.

I continue working the entire surface adding more details.

I think the valley needs something more -- like an eagle in flight.  I tried painting the eagle first up higher in the sky but ended up bringing him down so he is sailing through the valley with the hills behind him.

Here's a shot of my work space.  You can see past paintings that I print out to create the "inspiration" boards. 

Here's a detail that shows the heavy impasto paint and the red edges.  The final triptych is ready to hang, NO frame needed! 

As the painting emerged while I worked on it, I was reminded of my favorite book as a child about a young girl who discovered a secret portal in the woods that led to an enchanted land.  I must have read that book a dozen times.  This painting seems to embody that magical place. 

"Enchanted Valley",  oil on wrapped canvas, 30" x 50" triptych, c. 2016, by Charlene Marsh.  Inventory Code #080516 S 30x50. 

Thanks for following along!

Happy Trails!

Charlene 

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Thanks!

051616 S 24x36 Gorgeous Flowers

Here's a brand new painting I created for my upcoming shows.

On the right you can see photos of paintings I have painted in the past both "en plein air" and in the studio that I am using for reference and inspiration for this painting.  I made a small pencil sketch in a sketchpad of the basic layout of the painting before I got started.

After drawing the design of the painting on the panel using a brush dipped in cold pressed linseed oil and primary red magenta, I start to block in the darkest darks of the forest and pools.

 

I start to add the middle values of the greens, earth, and flowers.

I continue blocking in the "ground" of the scene.  I add the sky and the sky reflected in the pools.  For the colors close to the horizon line, I mix the sky colors from Titanium White, Cadmium Red Light, and a touch of Cadmium Yellow to indicate a sky changing colors as dusk approaches.  The upper part of the sky is painted using Cerulean Blue and Titatnium White.  Both sky colors are blended for the transition.  Some of the warmer, sunset colors are added to the pools.

I usually like to cover the entire panel with wet paint before I start to go in with the details.  I start popping in the poppies and other flowers in the landscape.

I continue adding flowers and branches and other details working the entire surface, working both the background and the foreground at once.

Leaves and lilies and more details are added.  Sharp edges are softened as needed.

More tweaking and fine tuning.  I often stand back 10-20 feet from the painting to see how it is coming together.  Sometimes I just sit in front of the painting, studying to see what it might need, making a dash of paint here and a dash there. 

And here is the competed painting, "Gorgeous Flowers", oil on panel, 24" x 36", c. 2016, by Charlene Marsh.  SOLD

Thanks for following along! 

Happy Trails!

Charlene 

P.S.  Be sure to sign up for my email newsletter, The Art Brush, to see how the paintings are created, where new work will be exhibited, specials, and other goodies.  As a bonus, you will get instant access to a FREE report, How to Create Health, Wealth, and Harmony Using Fine Art.

040216 12x12 Summer Flowers

This painting features coneflowers and Queens Anne's Lace with lovely, delicate colors.  I start by blocking in the dark greens of the trees in the background and start popping in the earth colors and greens in the foreground.

I continue blocking in the earth tones and the greenery. I scratch in the outline of the bird bath using a nifty tool with a pointed rubber tip.

Details of the coneflowers and Queens Anne's Lace are added.

The birdbath didn't make it to the finished painting which you can see here:

"Coneflowers and Queens Anne's Lace", 12" x 12", oil on panel, c. 2016, by Charlene Marsh.

Thanks for following along!  

Happy Trails!

Charlene Marsh

P.S.  Be sure to sign up for my E-Newsletter for all kinds of special goodies.    As a bonus for signing up, you will get instant access to a FREE, one page report, How to Create Health, Wealth, and Harmony Using Fine Art. 

033116 12x12 Dancing Flowers

I started this 12" x 12" painting by covering the surface with  paint that gradated from a blue violet through a red violet to gold.

Then I added flowers dancing across the surface.

And the finished painting, "Dancing Flowers", 12" x 12", oil on panel, by Charlene Marsh.

 

032816 S 12x12 Poppies and Purple Coneflowers

I need to get some 12" x 12" flower paintings done for my upcoming show schedule.  I juried in to some shows with just flowers so I need to make sure I have enough to fill my booth! 

So this is a fun 12" x 12" with a creek, waterfall, poppies and hollyhocks.

I start with the darks and work to the light values.

I block in the greens and turquoise of the water on the creek.

I paint in the light of the sky last.  Lightening a dark is much easier than trying to make a light dark!  In fact, it is impossible to darken a light!

I start to add the details of the flowers - poppies, lilies, sunflowers, and coneflowers.  I add the white water to the waterfall in the creek.  I continue to work over the entire surface of the painting from teh background to the foreground and back again.

Here is the finished painting:  

"Poppies and Coneflowers", 12" x 12", oil on panel, c. 2016, by Charlene Marsh

Magic Lilies by the Goldfish Pool Code #010416 S 12x12

We got 4 1/2" of snow last night!  So it is a pleasure to tuck into the studio and work on lovely flowers and dream of spring.

Magic Lilies, also known as Surprise Lilies, magically appear in late summer after their green leaves have died back. In this blog I am including shots of my palette as the painting progresses.  I have a very simple palette of primary colors that I usually lay out in this order.  In this BLOG I have explained exactly what colors I use and how I lay them out.

 

I start by sketching the basic lay out of the painting with Cerulean Blue and Magenta with my brush dipped in cold pressed linseed oil. 

I use palette knives to start mixing the colors using basic Red, Blue, and Yellow primary colors.  The darkest green is mixed from Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Yellow Light plus a little Cadmium Red Medium.

For the Magic Lilies, I use the Primary Red-Magenta plus a little bit of Titanium White.  The earth colors are mixed with Cadmium Red Medium and Light, Ultramarine Blue, and Cadmium Yellow Light.

For the Ironweed, I use add more Blue to the Magic Lily mix - either Ultramarine or Cerulean.  

 

I mix the lighter, brighter greens with Cerulean Blue and Cadmium Yellow Light plus Titanium White.  I use more blue in the background greens and more yellow in the foreground greens.

My mixing palette evolves with the paint as I work.  I mix the paint as I work and generally use all that I mix, working over the entire surface at the same time.

The sky color is mixed from Titanium White and Cerulean Blue.  I also paint it into the water at the same time.

I've added branches and stems with a rubber tipped implement and the edge of the palette knives.  Here is my palette as the painting nears completion.

The finished painting, "Magic Lilies by the Goldfish Pool", oil on panel, 12" x 12", Inventory Code #010416 S 12x12