Studio Paintings - 3 Landscapes

I find trees to be one of the most interesting and complex things to draw and paint, there is just so much variety, from the different species and through the changing seasons they always present a new challenge. I see them as peaceful and contemplative; almost a meditation.

Autumn Shore, oil on panel, 9 x 12 in Jim Serrett

Daytime Moon, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in Jim Serrett

I had read that daytime moon was called a “children’s moon because their eyes were sharp enough to pick it out, where the old folks, with fading vision, could not tell it from the clouds.”

Turns out the prime time for a Daytime Moon is when the Moon gets close to its quarter phases that is the ideal conditions for it to be seen during the day. That is, it is bright enough, far enough away from the Sun to be seen, and rises or sets during daylight hours. When all of these conditions come together, and when the sky is clear enough, the Moon becomes visible during the daytime.

Keep an eye up to the sky, you never know what you might see.

Clouds Over Cedar Lake, oil on panel, 8 x 13 in Jim Serrett

I can spend endless hours watching the ripple rhythm and shadows sail across the lake.

These studio works are created from my Pochade studies, field sketches and my visual memory of an experience. In the studio I hope to let a concept evolve and speak with a little more information and clarity. In these works, I can explore my observations about nature in a more control environment and inject my personal vision and interpretations.

One of the characteristics of oil painting I enjoy most is the ability to create transparent, semi-transparent and opaque layers of paint. Manipulating those qualities can give an image a lot of texture and depth. I like the variation of greens you get with glazes and scumbling effects. You start playing around with the color green differently when you work in thin layers and use it to unify passages. Building up paint in layers of glazes and scumbles provides a arsenal of effects that can create atmosphere in a landscape painting.

I truly enjoy working through an idea with the process of creating thumbnails and roughs. Relying on observations made over time and my memory of the place, it becomes layers of thought, that for me, reach a higher level of understanding and refinement.

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings