Thursday

This morning I decided to do a quick 12x9 study. It would be nice to practice more of these. I seem to always get caught up in gallery obligations. This Saturday morning I'll be leaving bright and early for the 6:00am drive to Coos Bay, Oregon to pick up my work from their show. The drive is around 14-15 hours, but if it's any consolation I do gain an hour as I cross into Pacific Time Zone. The museum did actually manage to sell one small 11x14

A study I did over in Stockholm of some wooden boats. So it's one less to carry back. the car should be loaded to the top since I'll be doing some painting there on location as well as in Bend, Oregon for the Mockingbird Gallery. The trip will last about a week to paint outdoors and it will be fun to plein air paint again…that is if the weather agrees. the forecast for Friday and Saturday is rain, so maybe with some luck I'll drive right through the front to the back side and enjoy some sun on the coast.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

I've been busy lately with the duplex, working and working trying to get everything done before putting it on the market. The list seems to never end. We did get new carpet put in through-out which really made a difference.  I'm now working on the front doors adding some fancy woodwork to spice them up a bit; still have to find a nice bold color to paint them with. 

This painting I'm been having some fun with. I looked it over and found it too blue/green, it needed a little more variation in color.

I went back into the piece and changed the color of the boats first off, adding reds and orange to the sail covers and pin striping along the side of the hulls.  Then I thought it needed a little life in it, so why not put some figures on the Canadian boat and a third figure in the center one. It will still need some fine tuning, but I feel its heading more now in the right direction.

Richard Boyer

Monday, Sept. 15

Well I worked more on this one today. The arm on my daughter needed some more defining, it came across as too long. So through some subtle value changes I showed more of the back, none of which comes across from the photo…You can never win with the exposure. The foreground water lilies I also painted in more variations in the color, bringing in some purples and violets. Up at the top the background grasses I opened up a little on the left so it wouldn't be a wall of growth by the shore.

This small 11x14 I also changed out the boat on the right. That ferry boat I had just didn't seem to sit right in the water, with a square bow it looked too odd. So I changed it out for a different boat that seems to fit much better.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

Well after staring at it for the longest of times; the waves bothered me, also the sea grass. it was too damn busy for the eye to look at.  I decided to simplify the water a lot, take out the waves and make it more in shadow.  The sea grass was removed and water lilies now are in place, making a path to the boat through their placement. So now it seems a lot calmer to look at and the center of interest is back on the two girls in the boat, instead of the water and waves.

Richard Boyer

Monday, Sept.8

Between working at the duplex on different projects I did manage to squeeze off this small 11x14 study in the early mornings.  This one will also be sent to the Howard/Mandville Gallery show next month.  I'm calling it "Port to Port".  The other small 11x14 got a lot of response on Facebook, so I might get a good high resolution image of it made for a limited edition print.

I've finally come to the realization that I need to diversify a little into the print market. Several artists I met in Coos Bay were doing this and it seemed like a good addition to their income, a little something extra on the side.

This one I worked on in the morning, mainly the water and lilly pads around the boat. I have added a lot of Cadmium yellow dark to the Cobalt Blue which captures that evening light well.  The figures will need a lot more work, but at least I wanted to get the environment they are in right.

Now its back off to my second job, the duplex renovation.  Todays project in grouting a new hearth I had to put in the north unit, the old one had settled away from the fireplace and the old tile on it was cracked apart. The next job is putting in a white picket fence gate in the front.

Richard Boyer

Friday

Today I decided to work on a small 11x14 painting for the Howard/Mandville Miniature show in another month. I've been putting it off, working on other pieces, so now its time to get the work done, they want two pieces 11x14 or smaller.

I decided to try it just like a plein air piece and do it all in one shot.  It's the ferry boats parked in from of the Royal Castle in Gamla Stan. The afternoon light was reflecting off the water, adding a lot of contrast and the one boat had smoke coming out of the stack.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I blocked in the background yesterday, just to help put the figures in an environment. It still needs a lot of work with the light. The figures I have painted in a warm evening light, which I can play up more as I get into it.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

I tweaked a few things in this piece, adding greens to the water and some more highlights here and there on the water.  Some of my art friends told me it now looks like a book cover of some drama series!  Great, lets hope that will make it sell. I put a coat of liquid on it and am waiting for it to dry then I can send it off to Mockingbird Gallery.

This 18x24 has been giving me problems all along with the figures. i don't know how many times I have re-painted them to get it right. They seem to be looking better now, so the thing I can do is continue on and hope things fall into place. the lighting is what captured my eye, so I really want to play that up as much as possible on the girls.

Over the weekend I painted walls at the duplex, they haven't been painted in twenty years, so they were looking very dirty and grey. It's amazing what some fresh paint will do to the place.

Richard Boyer