"On The Point"

This watercolor painting depicts the gradual and subtle changes that occur as winter changes to spring.  During this time of the year the light is slowly becomes brighter and warmer, earth that has spent weeks under layers of snow begins to reappear and streams thaw and begin to visibly run at the surface again.

This scene is late in the day with bright slanting light and it’s associated long shadows.  Like many of my works, this watercolor painting emphasizes warm/cool contrast in its color scheme – perfect for depicting the everchanging balance of cold and warm weather.

 
Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my Studio Gallery. It is open by appointment – please contact me to arrange a visit.

Sign up form for my email list for News, Events, Exhibits & Classes

"End Of Season"

My latest landscape painting  began as a demonstration for my current “Landscape Painting in Watercolor” class. The class focuses specifically on the most efficient and effective techniques needed for painting watercolor landscapes.  Since the class is held indoors, we are working from photos.  The two reference photos  are shown below.  In this particular class, we combined images from the two photos while simplifying the subject and focusing on large shapes and in applying three basic kinds of watercolor washes – flat, graded & variegated.  By the end of class, the large foundation washes had been applied. I finished the painting in my studio principally by adding the touches of value, color and especially the textures needed to depict that time in autumn when the fields have been harvested, the leaves are gone and frost has removed the life and color from any remaining vegetation.

The reference photos are from scenes that are near but across the road from each other.  The sweeping, quiet rhythm of the fields from the left photo was attractive to me but I felt it needed more focus.  Adding the farm buildings and road from the right photo added the point of focus needed.

As is my tendency, the color in the finished painting has been enhanced with additional “chroma” or intensity and the field shapes along with the road enhance the feeling f movement.  I’m attracted to both the rhythm and contrast of open fields – both cultivated and uncultivated.  As mentioned above, farm fields – after the harvest – and open fields in the time after frost have unique textures.  Suggesting these textures is a visual cue as to the season – despite the color that is more expressive than realistic.

The content of the current class, plus some additional information, will be offered again in “Watercolor – the Essential Techniques” on the weekend of November 6 & 7, 2010.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my Studio Gallery. It is open by appointment – please contact me to arrange a visit.

Sign up form for my email list for News, Events, Exhibits & Classes

"Under The Canopy"

This painting began as a demo for my recent “Painting the Autumn Landscape” workshop, held last weekend.  On Sunday, the second day of the workshop, we decided to set up on the grounds of the historic Park-McCullough House in North Bennington, Vermont.  The grounds have many paintable scenes, but this one which included these three old trees attracted our attention.  The day was mostly cloudy with sunshine breaking through now and then.

The twisted, gnarled and rough trunks of older trees, deep shade with bounced light, and the filtered sunlight found under the branches of  tall trees are all attractions for me.  The composition was a bit difficult due to the separation of the trees.  For an artist, it is always appropriate to change visual reality.  In this case, the biggest compositional decision early on was where to place the trees in relation to each other. The decision was to leave the proportional spacing nearly as it really exists, mostly because I wanted to capture the foliage of the largest tree in the middle – specifically, the different areas of  that were back lit against the areas that were shaded, along with the large “U” shaped branch on the left side. I wanted un-obscured views into these areas so knew that I couldn’t move the left hand tree much closer to the middle tree.   Because of that, I decided to leave the right hand tree pretty much in place as well – actually, it has been moved a bit closer to the middle tree to keep it in the picture plane. This decision left two large,un-interestingly shaped background spaces on either side of the main tree.   To add interest to the areas, I made sure to provide activation  – graded washes in the deep background and the shapes of some shrubs along the low stone wall.

The overall effect works fairly well, capturing the look of tall, old trees in early autumn with their glowing leaf canopies, deep and luminous shade on their trunks and dark shadow on the ground underneath.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my Studio Gallery. It is open by appointment – please contact me to arrange a visit.

Sign up form for my email list for News, Events, Exhibits & Classes

Plein Air sketch - Hillside tree line

Three sketches completed during my weekend class “Painting the Autumn Landscape in Watercolor”.    On Saturday, the first day of the class, we climbed a hillside behind the Taraden Bed & Breakfast in North Bennington, VT to paint the the visible from that spot.  It was a beautiful early fall day – just warm enough and with bright sunshine interrupted periodically by one of the fluffy and fast-moving clouds.   From our spot, it was possible to view the a great deal of the  peaks of the Green Mountains – from the north east to the south.  To the south and west, the distant Taconic Range was also visible.  I did these sketches during the day.

The first sketch was done earlier in the day, when the sky had relatively few low clouds that cast their shadows over the mountains. Because they were moving, we could watch the shadows race over the surface of the hills and mountains.  One of the biggest challenges when painting “en plein air” is handling the constantly changing conditions, especially the light and shadow conditions on the ground.  The solution is to sketch, in pencil, the main forms and then watch for an attractive pattern of shadow. Once it appears, quickly add the shadow shapes in pencil.  Once you start painting, you can refer to the light areas of the mountains and hills to get the local color, and watch for more cloud shadows to get that color.

Each of these sketches is about 6 x 8 in size and each was completed in less than10  minutes.  For me, the key to lively plein air sketches is working quickly.  The other advantage is that it will train you to see both the shape and color of the scene you are painting very quickly, which translates to greater skill as an artist.

Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my Studio Gallery. It is open by appointment – please contact me to arrange a visit.

Sign up form for my email list for News, Events, Exhibits & Classes

"Afternoon Farm"

“Afternoon Farm” is one of 13 works which will be on exhibit at the Bennington Free Library, 101 Silver Street Bennington, VT from August 28 through December 31, 2010.   Planned as an ever-changing exhibit, Wallworks provides an opportunity for patrons to enjoy fine art while visiting the Library, and to learn more about the many talented artists who live and work in our community.

The exhibit will feature 13 of my watercolor landscapes which depict the variety of color, texture, light, shade, and shadow of the seasons in Vermont.

The Opening Reception is Saturday, August 28, 2010 from 1pm – 3pm.  The public is invited. For more information, contact the artist at 802-375-5548 or email at mail@tonyconner.com.

The library can be contacted at  802-442-9051 or on the web at www.benningtonfreelibrary.org

I enjoy welcoming visitors to my Studio Gallery. It is open by appointment – please contact me to arrange a visit.

Sign up form for my email list for News, Events, Exhibits & Classes

"Equinox Road"

This painting was posted shortly after it was completed in April 2008.  In that post, I talk about this work being metaphorical and composed just to communicate the way I sense the change of season between winter and spring – more about this painting can be found here.  A large cool shadow area covers most of the bottom third of the painting. Below are some other newer and older works that feature similar compositions.

"Deep Autumn"

"Winter Light"

"Cape Time"

"October Blues"

So, how come?  Why does this compositional convention show up so often in my landscape paintings.  The answer I gave during the demo is true – it works well as a compositional tool.  Beyond that, I have an affinity for the play of light in nature.  In a painting, the only way to convey light is to contrast it with shadow or shade – meaning that there must be some variety of darker values near the lights.   As I alluded in the earlier post, and as I try hard to convey to students in my classes, the composition of value shapes is what provides structural strength (or weakness) to a painting.  Personally, I like a solid visual step at the bottom edge of a painting, which is the reason that I so often include it in my work.   What would Sigmund Freud think?  Something deep, dark and troubling no doubt!    I prefer to think it’s just my best efforts at good composition. That said, perhaps I’ll mix things up in work to come – stay tuned!

"Park-McCullough View"

"Breaking Light"

"Afternoon Farm"

"Golden Afternoon"

"Rural Route"

Contact me if you have an interest in these or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.

Sign up form for my email list for News, Events, Exhibits & Classes

“Late Autumn – White Creek“

11″ x 15″

Private Collection

The change of season from summer to fall to winter is rapid and dramatic from late September through late October.  I have several works that explore this theme currently underway.  This is the first of the works to be completed.  More to come.

This work, with its final details and adjustments made only a few days ago, represents the final statement of a series of explorations in paint. It’s title, as well as the painting itself is more metaphorical than literal. The idea began with a quick color sketch in early February. That sketch, show below, was created on the fly focusing on composition and color rather than subject.

"winter sketch" - thumbnail sketch for studio painting 3" x 4"

Although the idea was to explore a winter theme, once completed, the sketch appeared to feel more like the the time between winter and spring,

where winter hangs on in patches of snow while the brightening sun spreads warmth over the cold landscape. A few days later, after having considered the initial sketch, and mulled over the image, I created another thumbnail sketch, shown below.

winter sketch #2 for studio painting

This sketch was created specifically to explore a color scheme that would better convey the contrast between gathering warmth and retreating cold. There are more warm hues and warmer mixtures of the cool hues and a stronger play of direct light.

After completing this sketch I decided to do a larger study to help work out composition, color and color mixes. This work, shown below, is the result. It was compelling enough to be given a title. More importantly, it was invaluable in discovering where I would encounter problems and showed where the the composition would need adjustments.

"Equinox Time"

This work is available – contact me for more information

"Equinox Road"

In earlier posts I have talked about the process of creating a painting. The question is often asked and it is a struggle to answer because, for me at least, so much of the process occurs in thought and consideration rather than in action. This post includes four physical works completed between Feb. 4 and March 30 – almost two months. While these were

not the only sketches and paintings started, worked or completed in that time, the question could be asked as to whether these four couldn’t all have been completed in just a few days. The answer is both yes and no and has to do with the internal, non-linear, often wandering, parts of the process.

Thanks for taking a look at this latest work. Enjoy the coming of spring!