What's On The Easel - Oil Paintings In Progress (Water Lilies and Barns)

"I just make stuff that transports me to a happier place where I can hum and whistle.  Art can do that."   - Joel Haas

Blue Water Lily and Bee

Photograph by Carol Reynolds

This is one of many photographs I have taken of the water lilies at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.   I have meant to paint from this reference photo for a long time and today was the day I finally began a rough lay in with oils on gallery wrapped canvas . The very beginning stage is shown below.  Much work needs to be done and, yes, I intend to include the bee in the painting.

Blue Water Lily

9" x 12" oil  Work in Progress

Below is another photograph, this time of red water lilies; although, I admit, they look more like a dark pink.

Red Water Lilies - photograph by Carol Reynolds

This photograph is a reference for the oil painting in progress shown below:

Stage One of oil water lilies

12" x 16" oil on gallery wrap canvas

I wasn't very satisfied with the colors and the arrangement so I changed things up a bit in the very very rough work in progress below.

I intend to make some lily pads a brownish-pink and also maybe more pink in the water.   I wanted bright red water lilies but may change them to a dark pink for more color harmony.  I have really been experimenting with this painting.

Below is a rough beginning stage of barns in a field of wildflowers.  It has a long way to go.

8" x 10" oil work in progress

I felt the need to work small for a while, but once I finish these 3 paintings I intend to paint some larger works.    

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The Clouds Speak (Oil Sunset Seascape by Seascape Artist Carol Reynolds)

"The artist must say it without saying it."  - Duke Ellington

"The Clouds Speak" - Psalm 69:34

6" x 12" oil on gallery wrap canvas 

$595

This small oil sunset seascape, though based on a reference photograph, was created  mostly from my imagination, especially the dramatic clouds.   The reference photo has a dull grey sky.  

I went back to painting a smaller canvas for now.  I have been ill with bronchitis with other side effects and have not felt like painting.   I tire easily and need to rest more, so the going has been slow lately.    I will resume painting larger canvases when I am feeling better.     

To purchase this painting please contact reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

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Happy Day at Santa Monica Beach and Pier (Acrylic Seascape by Carol Reynolds)

"Happy Day at Santa Monica Beach and Pier"

16" x 20" acrylic on canvas 

This acrylic beach scene of Santa Monica Beach and Pier was painted about 15 years ago.  I  just thought I would share it with you as I ran across it while doing some changes to my living room and studio this week with the help of my son.    There has been no painting for me all week as I have been very busy with this other work.    Hopefully by Saturday I can begin working in oils again.

When I lived in the area I used to visit Santa Monica frequently, and the other beaches along the famous "Strand".   

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

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"Brokenness Amid Beauty" (Wyoming Landscape - Wind River) by Landscape Artist Carol Reynolds

"Brokenness Amid Beauty"

8" x 10" oil on museum quality gessobord 

$575

The broken wood in the foreground seems to attract all the attention in this oil landscape of Wind River in Dubois, Wyoming.   Life can be like that for us as well;  we can be all broken when all around us is grandeur and beauty.    This painting depicts twilight time, although I livened up the color a bit.  

To inquire or purchase please contact me at reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

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Wyoming Oil Landscapes - Next Stages of Works in Progress

"Art and I have an agreement..... I won't ask where we are going and art won't ask, "Why me?"
-Bob Brendle

Pinnacle Buttes Wyoming

Reference photo by Carol Reynolds

Shown below is stage 2 of my oil painting of Pinnacle Buttes in Wyoming.

WIP  Stage 2 oil painting of Pinnacle Buttes

16" x 20" on gessobord

I wish now I had chosen an 18 x 24 canvas or preferably a 15" x 30" size for this work.   The mountains are way too large here and much work needs to be done. 

Below is stages 2 and 3 of the WIP of Wind River #2 oil painting.

Stage 2

Stage 3

Wind River WY

8" x 10" oil on gessobord 

The orange hills need quite a bit of toning down.   I am rather excited about this work.  

"Bring something new, something beautiful and something filled with light into the world."   This art quote by Ross Bleckner could also very well apply in a spiritual sense as well.   When you think about it, art can be rather a type of a spiritual experience. I feel extremely spiritual and/or I am reminded of the Creator especially when I paint clouds.  Just a note,  I have been considering doing a series of sky paintings, or perhaps with some landscape or ocean showing in the work but with the sky predominating.    

I am reminded here of another quotation, this time by Martin Kippenberger: "A good artist has less time  than ideas."    I have so many ideas for new works, but there will never be enough time to complete or begin most of them.  Time is short and I am getting older.   

Thank you for visiting !

reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

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Wyoming Oil Landscapes (Works In Progress) and WY Reference Photos by Landscape Artist Carol Reynolds

Wind River at Dubois WY

Reference photo by Carol Reynolds

I could not resist painting this scene of the Wind River in Dubois, Wyoming; I particularly like the broken tree log in the foreground.   Below is the beginning stage of the painting.

Work In Progress Wind River #2

8" x 10" oil on gessobord

This is obviously the very first lay-in of color.   I "sketch" on the panel with the brush and general color instead of drawing lines or painting it in grey or sepia.   I have always worked in this manner.

Below is another reference photo I posted previously, but today I began an oil painting of the scene below so I am showing the photo again.

Pinnacle Buttes WY

Reference photo by Carol Reynolds

And below is the beginning stage of the painting from the above photo:

Pinnacle Buttes WY  16" x 20" 

Oil Work In Progress by Carol Reynolds

To be honest, I hesitated to show these two paintings in the very very very beginning stage, but then it occurred to me that you might like to see how they progress as time goes on.   Sometimes, in my anticipation to begin work on them, I forget to take photographs of each stage.   But with these two works I will make an extra effort to remember to record each stage by photos.  

Below are some more of my Wyoming reference photographs you might enjoy.

Grand Tetons Wyoming

Reference Photos by Carol Reynolds 

The photograph directly above just screams out to add buffalo grazing, as many other artists would  do. 

Hope you enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Looking again at my above reference photographs gets my enthusiasm to a great big high and I want to paint all of the above images at once !

Thank you for viewing my art !

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Twilight At Wind River (Wyoming Oil Landscape by Landscape Artist Carol Reynolds)

"Twilight At Wind River"  - John 7:37-39

12" x 16" oil on gessobord

$1575

This oil landscape shows the Wind River in Dubois, Wyoming, as it was over 10 years ago.   This scene is right in the town, behind the motel I was staying in.   Still, it is rather a romantic painting; I toned it down somewhat from when I first began painting it, but my love of color shows here in that I should have toned it down even more, maybe.

Scroll down to view the reference photograph I took and to see the painting in its beginning stage.   Or just click here .

For inquiries or to purchase this landscape painting - reynoldsrenditions@gmail.com

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