Martha Kelly Art

It was a gorgeous day here, so I took my camp chair over to the Greensward at the park and just settled in to paint. I did two different views in different media without even moving my chair. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Merlin lounged around in the sunshine and had some meet-and-greets with other dogs, so we both had a ball.

I had a crazy busy day yesterday, but I had a little time in the late afternoon to take Merlin to the park to hang out while I did a quick drawing. This is one of my favorite trees (though I know I say that about a number of them). It rises up on the far side of Rainbow Lake and glows in every sunset. I truly love the graceful white sycamores.

It was glorious the other afternoon, and I walked to Overton Park with my pack and chair and did several more watercolor and gouache paintings on tinted paper. Above is my favorite, of the Brooks Museum.

I tried a gray paper for another view of Brooks, and while I like the color of it, it wasn't quite dark enough to give the same richness of tone. I also missed the mark a bit with the drawing.

Finally, I tried a lighter brown paper, and I'm happier with this one. I've been fascinated by tree shadows for a couple of years now but haven't managed much work with them that I like. I'm going to try more in this medium.

I took Merlin to the Old Forest today. I've been greatly admiring the art of Wayne Attwood, and through the miracle of Facebook, he advised me on his technique when I admired it. He bought one tube of white gouache and uses it with his regular watercolors, which is lovely, because it doesn't require buying an entire new set of something else.

I bought some brown paper and decided to paint in the forest. I've always been drawn to the woods, but I've had trouble doing work there that I'm happy with. This might be a medium that works. I'll definitely be spending some more time there with the brown paper and gouache.

Here's the Shumard oak that's at the entrance to the Old Forest trail.