Turkey Run Park and Madeira



Part of the view I was capturing




"Turkey Run" 14x11 oil on panel

                 
           Thursday morning I met Linda Beardsley, Jack Dyer and Dick Neff at Turkey Run Park which is located along the George Washington Parkway overlooking the Potomac River.  We had hoped for some spectacular river views to paint but found the trails to the river almost vertical and slippery with leaves.  We opted to try our hands at the woodland views instead. It was a windy day making the light really shimmery and appealing but somehow I just didn't rise to the occasion.  I didn't make the right decisions early on and things got pretty muddy instead of the desired golden, flickering light.  I lightened things up when I got the painting home but the freshness was gone for me.  I have painted a fair number of woodland themed paintings but I usually hone in on rocks and streams and do them very close up.  I think I need to get out and practice in the woods a little more!



"Winding the Bend" 12x16 oil on panel (in progress)

       Friday morning I was happy to head to a more familiar scene.  I met Susan Johnson, Ellie Kilcline and Kim Stenberg at the Madeira School where we set up behind the chapel on the heights over the Potomac.  I have painted here many times and I think the view here is one of the most spectacular ones of the Potomac in the Washington DC area.  However, instead of painting my usual view I was surprised to be able see clearly down river for the first time and set up apart from my friends to capture this scene.  This is thanks to the fact that a tree went down and took a lot of the uderbrush with it.  I hate to see trees go but thank you Mother Nature for the new subject to paint!    
      The painting is incomplete and since I forgot to take a photo while I was working I will either have to go back when the light is similar or just finish from memory.  I will post the final painting when it is finished.  I am much more satisfied with this painting than the one from the day before! http://www.jeanschwartzpaintings.com/

Ellie

Susan

Kim