A Snowy Day and a Newly Finished Painting!

"Leaving the Inlet" 18x24 oil on gessoboard

     It was something of a surprise to wake up to heavy snow this morning.  It was really pretty early in the morning but by afternoon it was being washed away by rain.  Still, it gave me an excuse to stay home and enjoy a full day in the studio.
      I finished "Leaving the Inlet" and the completed painting is shown here on the left.  If you scroll down to the March 2nd post you can see the sketches for this painting and then watch the painting progress in subsequent posts. The more I work on gessoboard the more I like it.  I experiment with different ways to prepare the surface.  Usually I like to leave heavy brushstrokes in the gesso as I like the way the paint fills the grooves and creates a texture.  This time instead of applying the gesso with a brush I used a foam rubber brayer.  The surface it created had more tooth than if I just worked on the factory prepared gesso surface but it was more uniform than that I customarily work on. 
      This is the third Lake Cayuga painting I have done and I suspect I will do at least one more.  Next up, however, is a large beach painting.  Be sure to check back to watch that one develop.

A cozy day in the studio