Crop happens

....Or at least sometimes it should. I went down by the river at Great Shiplock Park this morning to paint this little view looking out towards Rocketts Landing:

I had a frustrating morning. 

I didn't finish because I began to have problems with the composition. The canvas panel is a 9x12", and while there are things I like about it, I'm not too excited about the near equal width of the sky and water framing the skyline, where the real interest is. 

I think this was an editing problem. I liked too many things about the scene and I was trying to fit them all in. I liked the hazy sky. I liked the purplish skyline. And I liked the reflections in the water too. I guess it just goes to show how very important it is to put a good deal of thought into the orchestration of a piece before rushing in.

Well, we learn from our mistakes, right? So with a little trickery in Photoshop, I am able to see what a better compositional choice may have looked like:

Well, I can't exactly glue a new top to this panel. But look what happens when I cut this down to approximately 6x12":

Better? My kingdom for a table saw.

Another plein air visit to Ginter Botanical Gardens

We are having such unbelievably beautiful weather here in Richmond that you'd think it was September instead of mid-August. So yesterday I took a short break fromstudio planning to do a little painting. Only really had time for a very quick little 8x10" study, --and an unfinished one at that. But at least I got "out there" for a bit and took a break from all of this building/moving stuff:

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens has a wonderful feature called the children's garden. Lots of fun activities for the little tykes, and beautiful summer color for the rest of us. The sunflowers are fading but they were still holding on along this garden path. A few more touches are needed to resolve this piece, and I may yet add a figure or two to the path. So I guess this is yet another "work in progress". One day soon I may surprise everyone and finish something ;-)

Summer Garden painting, Bellevue style

This scene is one I've been "stalking" for a few days in the Bellevue neighborhood where I live. I've written before about  my North Richmond 'hood, and how many avid gardners live around here. On another one of our evening walks, we passed this adorable yard with a sunny garden of sunflowers and zinnias, and I knew I wanted to come back by and paint it. I especially liked this scene when the sunflowers were set against the neighboring house, at around 9 - 10 a.m., when the bungalow was mostly in shadow:

"Summer Garden", Oil on Board, 8x10" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young

Early morning at Byrd Park

With so much going on this week, I have to get out pretty early in the morning to have time to do any painting at all, let alone blog about it. But it was really beautiful this morning at the park. I left the house at around 7:15 a.m. to do a little plein air painting, and the light was still low, soft and luminous.  Here is the result of my morning's effort--another one of these back-lit little islands on the water:

"Dawning" Oil on Multimedia ArtBoard, 8x10" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young

Plein air on the James River

After a summer break (of sorts) I'm getting back to a more regular painting schedule this week. To kick it off, I'll share a little plein air painting I did last Thursday at James River. I painted this at the foot of the Lee Bridge, near the entrance to Belle Isle section of the James River Park System in my town, Richmond, VA.

"Rambling River" Oil on Multimedia ArtBoard, 6x12" (SOLD) ©Jennifer Young

It was really a beautiful evening last Thursday, but it was also incredibly windy. I had packed my lighter plein air painting setup with the intention of backpacking it across the footbridge over to Belle Isle to do some afternoon painting. But from past experience, I was afraid that the wind would have blown my nifty little lightweight pochade setup completely away. So I decided to save myself the aggravation and instead went back to my studio to get my sturdier Soltek. Whatever problems I've had with this easel, it stands up great against the wind. But just to be safe, I returned to set up near a bank of trees on the "mainland", giving me a little bit more shelter.

All of this meant that I got started later, but as it turned out, the timing was just right--The light was just beautiful and turned the river rocks a beautiful rosy gold . Dinner could wait (apologies to the D.H.!)