Two recent landscape paintings

[femmedem]

It's been a long time since I posted any of my paintings. But I retired in the spring, so I've had time to go out oil painting more days than not. It's been heaven! I can't express how happy it makes me feel--a mix of peacefulness and elation that stays with me for the rest of the day.

Here are a couple of recent ones, both painted at nearby state parks. I went back three or four times to each site to finish them.

[Ocelot II]

1. I love these! Love the soft focus, subtle colors.

Very well done!

[femmedem]

3. Thanks, Ocelot.

I love your work, too!

[SheltieLover]

2. Stunning!

TY for sharing them with us!

[femmedem]

4. Thank you for looking!

It's my pleasure to share them. I've been meaning to be active in this forum again. The folks here are so supportive.

[SheltieLover]

6. They are truky beautiful!

TY again!

[MLAA]

5. The softness really appeals to me.

They feel gentle and soft. Fantastic and I look forward to many more. Didn’t you post a self portrait a while back? If was perfect, and also had a softness.

[femmedem]

9. Thank you! Yes, I posted a self-portrait, maybe more than one.

The softness is probably due to my bad eyesight! Especially when I'm landscape painting, I don't wear glasses when I paint because I want to be able to see distance more than I want to see the canvas. I have to admit, sometimes I'm unhappily surprised when I finally put my glasses on and look at what I've done.

[MLAA]

15. Damn, if that's your secret weapon I'm going to start painting blindfolded!

I’m about to finish a little dog portrait (my comfort zone) and stretch myself by tackling a portrait of a friend’s baby. I’ve done so many cats and dogs I’ll probably put whiskers on the baby!

[femmedem]

20. LOL!

But seriously, good luck with the portrait. It will mean the world to your friend.

[ZZenith]

7. Holy smokes, those are good!

I really appreciate your composition and sense of light. Vibrant AND subdued. Beautiful.

[femmedem]

10. Thank you!

You sure put a smile on my face!

[Karadeniz]

8. Love your water!

[femmedem]

11. Thank you!

It took a lot of painting and repainting because it was changing so fast. But you know, there are a lot of worse ways to spend a morning than standing on a footbridge overlooking a marsh, painting and repainting water.

[Clouds Passing]

12. Your paintings impart a sense of serenity. Lovely.

[femmedem]

14. Thank you so much!

And I love your username. Talk about imparting a sense of serenity!

[Clouds Passing]

19. Thanks 😊

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Masterful. The top one could be mistaken for a photo.

[femmedem]

17. Thank you!

That top one is the more recent of the two. It's probably still wet. I had gone decades without painting, then started again very part time about five years ago--I think I only painted one painting in 2023. Now I'm learning and learning and learning.

[Diamond_Dog]

16. These are wonderful!

The softness, the colors, the light … oh my you did a great job! Love them!

[femmedem]

18. Thank you, Diamond Dog!

It means a lot to me to see you and the other people responding so warmly.

[marlboroman369]

21. Nice.

Well done.

[femmedem]

22. Thank you!

And welcome to Democratic Underground!

[Auggie]

23. Nicely done

Design, technique, depth, color ... quite beautiful. Looking forward to more of your posts.

[femmedem]

24. Thanks, Auggie.

I appreciate it--and I hope I come up with more paintings worth sharing!

[AltairIV]

25. Really nice

Those are both very good! Hope you have many fruitful and relaxing days of painting ahead of you.

[femmedem]

28. Thank you!

I hope so, too. These days, when Mr. Femmedem and I are both retired and healthy, are precious.

[AllaN01Bear]

26. ""

[femmedem]

29. Thank you! n/t

[AllaN01Bear]

53. yw.

[ailsagirl]

27. Just exquisite!!!

[femmedem]

30. Thanks, ailsagirl!

[ailsagirl]

31. Who are some of your favourite artists?

Renoir?
Degas?

[femmedem]

34. I love them both. I think seeing the Impressionists' and Post Impressionists' work in person

sparked my interest in painting. And I love the early American Impressionists, like Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase--I live about a half hour from the Florence Griswold Museum, which was the site of an early American Impressionist art colony and which now features their work. But I love a lot of contemporary painters, too: Edmond Praybe, Zoey Frank, and Amaya Gurpide who is co-director of the Lyme Academy of Fine Art, just down the street from the Florence Griswold museum. Look at this beautiful drawing of hers: https://amayagurpide.com/new-gallery/pnitentia

Do you draw or paint?

[ailsagirl]

44. Unfortunately not

But I love to go to art galleries and lose myself at home going through my Janson art books.

My mom had bought a few diffrent Janson art books and, as I child, I found myself looking through them again and again.

Some of my favorites:
Degas, Renoir, Munch, Van Gogh, Monet, Klimt, and many others.

You truly have a gift!

[femmedem]

48. I love all your favorites!

Your mom gave you a great gift by exposing you to such beautiful art. It sounds like it has brought you much joy.

[ailsagirl]

52. She really did-- she also was quite a reader and I would sometimes read her books (tho' they were usually over my head)

Today, I am quite the reader (both my parents were). Books add so much to one's life!! What a gift from them!!

[LoisB]

32. These are beautiful! Very peaceful views. Oil?

[dgauss]

33. Wow, those are wonderful!

(On edit, meant to reply to OP...)

[femmedem]

36. Thanks so much!

I appreciate that!

[femmedem]

35. Thank you! Yes, oil.

They're small. The top one is 8" x 10" and I think the bottom one is 9" x 12".

[BobTheSubgenius]

37. Those are beautiful!

My wife also gets a lot of joy from painting. She went to a tiny highschool in a tiny town in WNY. Somehow, an exhibit of the art from graduating seniors was seen by someone from an art college in P'burgh, and the college offered her a scholarship. She was flattered, but declined.

She said "I love art, and one day, I won't want to draw an apple, and that day will be when it becomes something I have to do, instead of want to." She was equally drawn to social work and spent her career with the Boys and Girls Club, which she LOVED. Went from unpaid intern while still in college, to retiring as a regional director.

She still paints. I'm glad you do, too.

[femmedem]

40. She sounds as if she and I would be best friends.

Art school kind of did kill my love of painting for decades, and I spent the last phase of my career in the nonprofit world.

Edited to add: and I'm from rural New York, too! There were about 2000 people in my hometown, spread out over a goodly number of square miles.

[BobTheSubgenius]

75. She is very easy to like.

Early on, I really wanted to introduce her to my life-long friend Jeannie (we met in a split Grade 2 and 3 class) and it went pretty well, I'd say. Dave and I went to the store for something, and when we came back, the two of them were drinking juice and working on a jigsaw. When my now-wife left the room, J whirled around, pointing at me and saying "Don't you DARE let this one get away."

I'd say the chances that the two of you would get on are good.

[wolfie001]

38. Looks like those Russian landscapes from the 1890s

Very serene and the brushstroke is flawless! I'm duly impressed!

[femmedem]

39. Oh my gosh! Thank you! Those Russian landscape painters are amazing!

Someone asked me who my favorite painters are, and I would have listed them if I knew their individual names rather than just "those Russian landscape painters."

[wolfie001]

45. Ilya Repin

He's my fave! You can feel the strain on the boat haulers faces in that epic painting! Poor serfs probably got paid with some watered-down borsch and some stale bread. Cheers and keep hitting that canvas!

[femmedem]

47. Thank you! I will look him up!

[wolfie001]

49. Go to Wikipedia for his biography

The Barge (that's the term they use) Haulers and it's in unbelievable high-def graphics. Enjoy!

[femmedem]

72. My word, he is an astounding painter. And yes, the boat haulers look as exhausted as any people I've ever seen

in art or in person. You can feel that they're ready to drop.

I also love his portraits, especially of the artists and writers he knew, like his portrait of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin. Thank you so much for introducing his work to me.

[wolfie001]

74. Oooohhhh Great!!!

So glad to hear!!! Cheers

[EarnestPutz]

41. Easily the best paintings I've seen here on DU. No, wait, too faint praise. Really nice done. Beautiful work.....

.....by someone of considerable talent. Thank you for posting.

[femmedem]

43. Oh, thank you! But there are a lot of talented painters here.

Some of whom do work I'm in awe of, and others of whom are learning, and whose journeys I enjoy watching.
I would hate for your comment to discourage anyone, as much as I appreciate your praise of my work.

[irisblue]

42. You have a gift. Thank you for sharing

[femmedem]

46. Thanks! Not so sure I have a gift, more like an interest that drives me to learn.

I only say that because sometimes people don't develop their artistic side because they think people who've been drawing or painting for years were born knowing how to paint. I was like that with music: my dad was a wonderful jazz pianist with perfect pitch, and as a little girl I didn't understand that he started by playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and scales.

[Mr.Bill]

50. Since I was a child, I have always been drawn to impressionism.

I could never put it into words, but then about ten years ago, it hit me. The softness and colors remind me of my dreams. It's just out of focus enough to make me remember it. Your examples reinforce my views very much. Thanks for posting them.

[femmedem]

59. Oh, thank you! They were my first artistic love.

I thought their work was pure magic. Then I went to art school and back then, Impressionism wasn't in vogue. But my love for Impressionism never left, and now I Iive near the birthplace of American Impressionism. There's an American Impressionist Museum about twenty minutes away, next to an art association which carries on the tradition. I visit both of them at least every month. It still inspires and teaches me.

[nuxvomica]

51. They are both gorgeous

Last edited Fri Aug 30, 2024, 08:17 PM - Edit history (1)

But the first one is especially delightful when you scroll down and suddenly the reflection of the sky appears. Art should entertain the eye, compelling it to linger like a lovesick fan at the stage door, and these paintings certainly do that.

[femmedem]

65. Thanks so much, nuxvomica.

That's a wonderful metaphor! You're quite a writer.

[LiberalLoner]

54. Gorgeous tonalist paintings! ❤️👏👏👏👍👍 I am always trying to make paintings like these and

So far I always fail. But I keep hoping maybe someday!

Beautiful work!

[femmedem]

55. Thank you! I posted these because of you!

I wanted you to see how I combined brushwork with palette knife work.

[LiberalLoner]

57. Thank you so much! I can't tell where you've used a palette knife, tbh, it looks very smooth!

[femmedem]

61. Sometimes I used it for foreground foliage, like the marsh grasses and their reflections, for texture.

And sometimes I use it to layer one color over another almost like a scumble, with the lower color coming through. If the first color is more of a shadow and the palette-knifed color layered on top is warmer and lighter, it can look like foliage coming up through shadow and catching the light.

And sometimes I use the palette knife not to add paint but to soften edges if they're jumping out and drawing the eye to an area that I don't want to be a focal point.

[Rizen]

56. Those are very nice!

I like your tree!

[femmedem]

64. Thanks! IIt was quite a revelation to me when I learned about "sky holes"--the areas between the branches where the sky

pokes through. I used to think you painted the sky, then all the branches, but it works out better if you paint large, simple tree and foliage shapes, then define the branches by painting the sky in between them.

[judesedit]

58. Those are really great oils. Not an easy medium. Great job. Thank you

[femmedem]

63. Thank you! I find oils pretty forgiving because, unlike watercolors, you can keep correcting or adding to them

until you're happy with it.

[judesedit]

71. It's the drying time in between.. Have you used acrylics? Just curious.

I agree that there is nothing more impressive than a great oil portrait or landscape, though. Beautiful job. Thanks so much for sharing.

[femmedem]

73. When I first picked up a paintbrush after a decades-long hiatus, I started with acrylics.

Working outside, they dried almost too fast for my taste--I like working wet into wet--but drying extender helped. I still have some acrylics, and I could see myself using them again, especially for quick plein air sketches. But when I switched to oils, I just found them so rich and delicious. It might just be that I'm more familiar with them, because waaaaaaay back in college, that's all we ever used.

[Frances]

60. What is the location for your paintings?

I’d love to know

[femmedem]

62. The top one is on a path at Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme, Connecticut

and the second one is at Harkness Memorial Park in Waterford, Connecticut, just a few miles from our home in New London. I'm lucky to live close to quite a state and municipal parks along Long Island Sound.

[Frances]

68. Thanks for the info

I love your paintings

[Bristlecone]

66. Absolutely love them both.

The reflection(s) of the tree line and the sky in the water look really good.

The light and color on the top large tree are fantastic.

Great work.

[femmedem]

69. Thank you, Bristlecone!

I appreciate your taking the time to look and comment.

[bif]

67. Really beautiful!

[femmedem]

70. Thanks, bif!

I'm enjoying your work as well. I'm sure I've told you this before, but I'm inspired by your ability to notice the beauty in everyday objects. (Those glasses and their reflection!)

[flying rabbit]

76. Fantastic!

[femmedem]

77. Thank you!

Much appreciated!

[GPV]

78. So lovely! Glad you're back at it!

[femmedem]

79. Thanks, GPV!

I feel so lucky to live in an area full of beautiful, inspiring scenery.