Original Acrylic Still Life by JC Strong

"Brent Gave Her Roses"

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Initially, the painting began with a lighter middle valued background but it just didn't seem to do the roses justice.

The roses were a fun and fabulous gift and they had lots of oomph. So I tried making the background luminous with darker values and color. It seemed to bring out the roses and give them more spirit and punched up the golden tones in the roses.

I'd been reading a book about the artist Robert Motherwell
an American abstract painter. His images have big blocks of color, texture and they are huge. I think his strong color sense kind of slipped into this painting.

On My Easel: Impressionist Seascape by JC Strong

Looking for Whales off Dana Point:
Beginning/Blocking in color and shapes:
It's been a nice couple of weeks in Southern California. At this time of year I feel fortunate not to be shoveling snow.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to go whale watching off the coast of Dana Point, California. It was fun and we spotted a couple of whales, migrating south toward Mexico. Most of my reference photos were mainly the wake they left in the water. They'd left their fluke (tail) and down they'd go into the sea.

So I took lot's of reference photos of the sea and painted this seascape. I had a slow start, blocked in some color and then came back with more color & details...