Angeles Forest Storm

Angeles Forest Storm work in progress Katherine Kean
oil 8 x 8 inches

This is the beginning of a little square painting. I started with a tonal underpainting, as I usually do, but rather than wait for it to dry, worked over it wet into wet. It doesn't need many changes, but I will add some glazes to make some areas richer in color and others more atmospheric.

Angeles Forest Wide Sketch

Angeles Forest Storm Wide Sketch Katherine Kean
graphite 5 1/2 x 11 inches

"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail." - John Muir

Surface Tension

Raindrops and Twinkle Lights work in progress Katherine Kean
oil   18 x 24 inches

Are you tired of seeing this one yet? Here is a further stage of development with both the darkest and brightest of the raindrop pattern in evidence. It is shaping up to be a battle of foreground vs. background, and the foreground, the drops and splashes that adhere to the windshield surface, appears to be gaining the upper hand at the moment. I must admit that the raindrop highlights were more than a little fun to paint!

So, to sum up:

Angeles Forest Storm Sketch

Angeles Forest Storm Square Sketch Katherine Kean
graphite 6 x 6 inches

“Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." 
- John Muir quoted by Samuel Hall Young in Alaska Days with John Muir (1915) chapter 7

Happy Labor Day!

The Harvesters Pieter Brueghel the Elder 1565
oil on wood 46 7/8 x 63 3/4 inches

Above, the first "modern landscape" - unidealized, based on personal observations of atmosphere and nature's transitions through the seasons.

Enjoy the day, whether you are swimming, playing, picnicking or carrying sheaves.