While I was waiting for the three grounds to dry over the last few days, I began to work on a series of drawings and color studies for the main images. The drawings are largely done for all three, and I began to consider color, focusing first on a painting I'll call "Clear Creek" because of the creek that ran behind our house in Friendswood, Texas. I had painted a plein air view on canvas panel some years ago, always intending to turn that study into a full scale studio pai

It had been my goal to get all three panels prepped by today so that they might be dry enough to paint on by the weekend. We'll see. I've done my part anyway! This is a more heavily textured surface than the other two. Nice and juicy! I chose a yellow orange which I mixed from cad yel, lemon yel, permanent rose, cad red and white. I intend to paint a landscape on top of this. The light was fading fast by this time of day; I don't think the photo does justice to the actu

I've chosen two different colored grounds for two of the three panels that I've been preparing. One panel uses a combination, in vertical strokes, of warm and cool pinks. The second panel, as you will see, uses one mid-toned pink done in random horizontal strokes of the painting knife.

I have gessoed up three 16 x 20" birch panels to paint on this week. I intend to begin with a layer of cold wax and oil, so I've taped up the edges to keep them neat. And it also makes them easier to carry, moving them to and from the easel. This is the kind of tedious stuff that has to get done before the fun "work" of actually painting.