Tony Conner paintings in watercolor » stream

Watercolor Sketch – Covered Bridge

TC — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:21:55 +0000

"Bridge In Morning Light"

4″ x 9″

Private Collection

Since it has been non-stop snow here lately it has been hard to get outside for new material. In the case of this small watercolor painting, I went back to my sketch books. Covered bridges are plentiful in Vermont and are painted by many. It can be hard to take on a subject so well explored by artists over time. Most of what is to be said about the subject has been said. That said, I dove in anyway. The watercolor paper chosen for the painting is by Sennelier, a French art supply company known for its fine professional grade watercolor paint. The paper is from a small watercolor block shaped in this long horizontal (or tall vertical) format. The paper itself has a heavy coat of sizing which makes it “slick” – the pigments lie on the surface of the paper rather than becoming absorbed into the paper fibers.

The focus for this work was getting a good composition onto the unusual dimensions of the paper. A long span of covered bridge seemed to be a good fit for the page. Without any particular color scheme in mind, I chose colors that are favorites of mine – cerulean blue, Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Deep Gold (I blogged about this color in a September post) and Dioxazine Violet. Deep Gold suggests autumn, so the painting depicts the bridge in autumn.

I am always attracted to light effects. Light as it appears early and late in the day is particularly appealing in the way the slanting warm light affects all the surfaces it touches and causes any standing object to cast long shadows. The combination of two cool colors and one very potent warm color suggested a play of light and shadow on the long side of the bridge.

The finished work seems to have captured the look.

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.

“October Leftovers” – New Autumn Painting

TC — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:22:35 +0000

“October Leftovers”

10″ x 14″

Another painting of the autumn season. The look of moving water reflecting the colors of the environment around it has become a new inspiration for my work recently. Like “Late Autumn – White Creek“, this painting features a stream and its banks, along with the trunks of the trees near the ground. This painting is a depiction of an autumn day in what I like to call “mid”-autumn – that time when leaves are beyond their peak and the branches of many trees are bare. What leaves remain have faded a bit in color. Despite the lack of leaves, the waning light of the sun means that there is darkness in the depths of the forests. The color scheme for this work is a favorite of mine – the complementary color scheme of blue and orange. In this work, orange and other warm colors dominate, giving the work an upbeat feeling even though this time of year is really a time portal to the darker days of winter.

This and other works on this site are available for purchase. 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.

New Painting Depicting Autumn

TC — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:53:43 +0000

“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.