Yet another stream, closer to home: Work in Progress

I've started meeting with a group of "brown-baggers" once a week at Rosewood Art Centre in Kettering, OH. It's a very informal sort of class, and it is forcing me back into the studio. Since Jennifer works in acrylic, I've dug out my old paints and have been trying to recover my long forgotten brushwork skills. At first, everything felt very awkward and frustrating, but I felt like it was starting to come together for me with this painting.



The bottom quarter is mostly underpainting. I'm happy with the upper left quarter. The upper right corner is totally screwed up. In short, it's at a fairly typical stage of development with areas I like and areas I dislike. More work to be done...


This work is acrylic on canvas board, 18x24 inches. Oh, yeah, the reference photo was taken from Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio. The instructor for the Brown Baggers is J. Austin Jennings http://2-artists.com/JAJ.htm 

Another Stream: Work in Progress

I'm still mining my stash of vacation photographs. I think the source photo for this painting was taken somewhere in Colorado, probably in the Keystone area, though it's the sort of picture that could have been snapped almost anywhere.

I'm working in transparent watercolor on a half sheet of Arches 140lb cold pressed paper. I want to keep the colors fresh, so I'm being a bit more cautious than usual with my washes.

I'd say this painting is about half done. It's mostly still underpainting.

Work in Progress: Cedar Falls

Cedar Falls (WIP) Copyright Susan Bertke, 2011

Once again I'm mining my photographs from Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. I'd say this painting is about 80% complete. As usual, I see several things I'm not happy with. Most importantly, I don't think the waterfall, which is the headliner of this show, is convincing. And the fellow standing with his back to us seems stiff and unnatural.

This is a case where I have to let the painting hang for a while until I see the solution to the problems. If any of you have suggestions, I'm always interested in your feedback!