20 Favorite Paintings #2, The Watermill, Sunset by Isaac Levitan

I've posted this one before.  It's one of my favorite paintings of all time and perhaps I should have saved it again for a later installment of this series.  By far, Isaac Levitan is one of my favorite painters.  I have thought long and hard about trying to do a copy of this painting and possibly others by him.

In this piece, I am infatuated with Levitan's command of value gradations.  I particularly love the light on the far hill.  The values here are wonderfully compressed with the darks still being higher in value that most of the lights on the nearer, shadowed hill face.  I think the reflection of the far hill in the water is more saturated than the actual hill colors but it works for some reason.  It's just SO green and yet does not suffer one bit from how acrid some paintings with so much green can be, the so-called "green hell."  This isn't the only painting Levitan did with just an abundance of green.  There is just wonderful sense of space in this painting.  I think maybe I will try to do a copy of this one.

Gatherin' at the Snack Shack, St. Paul, Madison County

Gatherin' at the Snack Shack

12X14, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

 

48/75

Carver, Buffalo National River, Newton County

Carver, Buffalo National River

18X24, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

 

Here is another one of my entries into this year's Arkansas League of Artists Juried Show.  I have very fond memories of camping here at Carver on the Buffalo River as a teen with several of my friends.  It isn't one of the more frequented campsites on the river but we sure had fun here.

Cleburne County Courthouse, Cleburne County

Cleburne County Courthouse

8X10, Oil on Panel

 

 

Here's another one I started en plein air while in Heber Springs a couple of months ago.  This one was mostly complete when I decided I was done working with it on site.

Sam's First Calf

Sam's First Calf

20X24, Oil on Canvas

Available

 

 

 

This is a little bit different for me.  This little guy's dad, Sam, is a Hereford bull owned by my high school math teacher.  When she posted the picture of him to Facebook I was struck by the shadow pattern and really wanted to give a go at painting it.  I haven't painted an animal in several years so I wasn't sure how it would turn out.  I surprised myself!  This is one of my entries in an upcoming Arkansas League of Artists juried show.

Bank of Heber Springs, Cleburne County

Bank of Heber Springs

8X10, Oil on Panel

 

 

I started this one as a plein air at small festival in Heber Springs a couple of months ago.  A steady drizzle was falling and I had nice little beads of water all over my panel giving it this very interesting look.  I got a good enough handle on the architecture and put it away.  When I finally came back to it in the studio, I quickly realized this painting was going to be a fighter!  I finally got it pinned down and completed to my satisfaction.  This building is no longer a bank but houses other business.