Warmth of the Sun

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

This is a little watercolor I have been working on over the last several weeks between other projects. The photograph does not show it but there a is tint of a rose color in the background which I particularly like. This color makes the fleece more vivid and subtly defines the white pants.

Gerarde Doucette my art mentor, helped me refine the fingers and facial features. This watercolor has an overall warmth which I find appealing. I prefer simple compositions for these smaller portraits which I have been working on lately. By isolating an individual against a blank background characteristics of the sitter come out.

Out-on-the-Range

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro All Rights Reserved

This past December was so mild here in Vermont that the ground did not firm up as it usually does. The result was a landscape that felt surreal, which even had a Serengeti quality to it. Replace the pine tree with an acacia, and you'll have a very different part of the world. Can you see a giraffe or elephant in the picture? A few weeks ago when I worked on this picture I could envision a whole slew of four-legged mammals roaming through the open spaces and grazing in the sun. 

This little watercolor was inspired by this time of year when the days were short but the temperatures spike during the mid-day hours, not unlike early spring. I was attracted to the strong contrast from the warm foreground hues against the cool-colored background. 

I tried to saturate the paper with strong pigments as the moisture evaporated. However, I could have taken the strengthening of pigment even further. I do like my evergreens painted with a tinge of blue-green. This color is created by mixing alizarin crimson with Payne's gray and pthalo green. I have tried other greens for this vegetation but ultimately come back to this mixture. Down the road perhaps I will come upon a different color combination.

Jack-in-the-Beanstalk

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro/All Rights Reserved

On occasion I attend this art group in Keene, N.H that meets on Thursdays where everyone works on whatever they are working on. This may be a painting, color pencil drawing, or stitching some pattern for a pillow etc. It is basically a social group where everyone chats in general and talks more specifically about what they are working on. We exchange resources and garner input on our various projects. There is a wide range of artist abilities from beginner to expert.

This is a crude little painting I developed while working on a separate watercolor at one of these gatherings. This is in essence a test sheet, that I use to mix pigments to arrive at a color I think is correct for application to a watercolor. It is basically a doodle but I like the sky and landscape. The sky has variation and the field has reflective qualities which were done with simple, yet direct washes. This painting took no more than half an hour to complete.

Vermont Watercolor Society

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro All Rights Reserved

This week I was accepted into the Vermont Watercolor Society's Spring Show. I am one of thirty-seven or so artists who will have paintings on exhibit at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, VT from April 16 - May 22, 2016. There is an opening reception from 2 -4 PM on April 16, 2016. 

It is an honor to be able to exhibit along with the works of other artists, particularly in watercolor, here in southern Vermont. My painting Heading Up River, will be on exhibit.

The Southern Vermont Art Center is located at: 930 Southern Vermont Arts Center Drive, in Manchester VT. For further information, their website is: www.svac.org.

Can you hear me now?

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

For some time, I have been eager to paint an individual walking his or her dog while talking on their cellphone, which is such a common sight. Unfortunately, I have not come upon someone to pose for this role as of late. My wife snapped this picture of me a couple of years ago while we were on a short hike near our home. We did not have cell phones, but the pose is suggestive of a call.

I painted this watercolor with a looser approach, which to me reflected the character of the field. As far as the color scheme, I was drawn to the green with the red which is its complementary color. I like the warmth of the field against the distant treeline. There is much variation within the landscape elements such as the trees and grass which I find rather pleasing. I am attempting to get better at painting figures so I can drop them into a picture when I feel they may improve the composition.

Field study(detail)

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

Earlier this week I started this painting of myself walking through a local field with a woodland edge seen in the distance. Above, is a detail of the aforementioned picture. Prior to my wife arriving at home late in the day I had come upon two revelations as a result of working on this picture.

First, I have begun to paint sky's in a very different manner. I continue to paint my sky's with a wet brush on a wet paper and build up color or value from the horizon up. Lately, I wet small segments of the paper instead of the whole area of the sky which I had been doing. This gives me more time as the paper can dry quickly while enabling me to get more variation in the edge of clouds or color etc. The absence of color in the sky in certain areas can suggest clouds or create more depth with less washes. The result in a more naturalistic sky with greater variety and more concentrated color.

The other revelation which came upon me last Friday has to do with the painting of trees. I prefer my evergreen trees to have an element of green in them. However, I do not want them to be turf green or artificial looking. As a result, for sometime I have mixed phthalo green with alizarin crimson and payne's gray to arrive at a coolish green. This color mix gets pulled into the background as a result of being a cool color. However, I used this same color mix not just for a few tall separate evergreens but to link the ground plane and drew with the brush in neighboring areas which created greater depth and unity. This further defined the warm yellow in the field in front of the woods.

I was thrilled and did not want to put the brush down. However, it was time to think about our plans for dinner.

Across the field

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

This is a view across a nearby field on property owned by the Brattleboro Retreat, a local institution in Brattleboro, Vermont, where I live. The foreground was lacking in subject matter so I added this figure to provide a sense of presence and to draw the viewer's eye into the painting. In addition, I added the cluster of birds in the distance as they weren't there when I recently visited the scene. Regardless, I have walked through this field in all kinds of weather, throughout the year and have experienced all kinds of bird activity from a squall in the distance to a cackle in the nearby brush.

I have learned it is vitally important to get the scale of the figure correct and to articulate his posture with conviction. Perhaps, the figure could have been positioned better but I am pleased with what I settled on. Before I dropped in the figure, it was a pleasant little picture but with the individual in place the focal point instantly became the man and how he was depicted.

This scene is inspired from the western sun in late February, when the landscape elements such as the hills, trees and ground exhibit this wonderful glow.

Sketchbook drawing

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

When the days are short and the television is on, I often see this time as an opportunity to sketch a face or even my foot in front of me. I find drawing hands and feet the most challenging, as getting the proper perspective of all the individual toes and fingers can be quite complicated.

As we have become bombarded with presidential debates, political ads, and the constant election news, I find it fascinating to observe the candidates' faces and expressions. The face above was drawn from one found in a collection of magazines we have accumulating on our coffee table. I feel like I have done okay if I capture the individual's age and expression with some degree of accuracy or likeness. I like to force myself to draw larger, which requires the addition of greater detail that conveys more about the person.

This drawing was done with Cretacolor pencils, my favorite art pencils. I have been experimenting with the use of softer leads, which mark the surface more readily than a pencil with a harder lead. While I often use an HB pencil, like students do in school, this was done with a 2B lead. Thus, the feel was a bit greasier, and the lead smears more easily. It seems to me that with the softer leads I can achieve greater depth in the areas of the eyes, mouth, and shadows under the chin.

A local character

(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro

This has been a very different winter than any I can recall in my time in southern Vermont. Usually the snow inspires me to see things from a different perspective by highlighting the natural light on the landscape. This winter I have painted more landscapes out of season and done numerous figure studies or small portraits. I do believe there is progress in my work. 

This painting was done on lanaquarelle watercolor paper, a surface I have not worked on in a while but enjoy. I like the simple composition with the figure to the right of center, emphasizing the vertical orientation.

In an effort to emphasize the warmth of the individual's skin tone, I first put down a wash of warm gray. This was a mixture of cobalt, raw sienna and burnt sienna. Initially, I thought I would need to use white gouache to describe the beard. Gouache is an opaque pigment. However, I was able to develop the facial qualities around his beard by using a small brush with my transparent watercolors and developed shadows to describe the different shapes of the face.

I wanted to depict the folds in the hat better but decided to leave it alone to focus on other areas. Experience has taught me that every time you put a wash of color down it changes the relationship of the neighboring colors. Thus, there are times when it is best to leave it as it is. Regardless, there is a nice shadow projecting from the brim of the hat.