TM8167 Quiet Morning at the Pond 30×30 oil on panel

Something about the predictability of gentle spring rains, and their transforming effect on my local pond, brings me back every year. The past week has been lovely – cool, damp, atmospheric. The pines, wearing their evergreen garb, seem to be hosting a reunion of deciduous  colors. The stillness on this particular morning was broken by the plop plop plop of young frogs hopping off fallen logs and into the water. Enjoy!

 

Technical painting notes – using oil paint and an alkyd medium, the painting progressed quite quickly. The range of subtle greens at this time of year is a challenge to mix. I used primarily sap green adulterated with violet, gold ochre, and a touch of white. Also sap green with cerulean or ultramarine blue plus a touch of burnt umber. Small areas of brighter green used sap green plus hansa yellow, gold ochre, and white.  A mixture of raw umber and prussian blue gives darker, more mysterious greens (pines), especially when glazed with ultramarine blue.

 

To achieve the fog, some of the sky color was very lightly glazed over underpainting for the deciduous band of trees. As the trees (including the pines) developed, I applied extremely thin glazes of pale grey. A darker version of the color appears in the water. Reflections were “dragged” with a soft brush loaded with medium, giving a feeling of slight movement or ripples.