Actual sized sketch

Working on a LARGE charcoal sketch - 24 x 36".  I'm thinking of my next landscape - wondering if this one will be workable.  I've been trying to get a composition to work - adjusting elements for balance - adjusting values and shapes...  I need to look at this some more to know if it will work! 

Ready for exhibit!

Quiet Water, 12x9" oil on linen panel

Framed - ready to hang - available (framing is optional)  

Arbor Path, 16x12" oil on canvas

Framed - ready to hang - available (framing is optional) 

For most of the month of February, these 2 landscape paintings will be exhibited in an invitational show featuring fine arts teachers of western DuPage county.  

You can come see these works and the works of other teachers at the DuPage Art League on Front St in Wheaton.  The opening reception is Friday (2/5) from 6-8 pm.  It should be a great showing!  Hope I'll see lots of art lover friends there!  

Golden October Landscape

Golden October, 12 x 9" Oil on Linen Panel

©Helen Read

 

Beautiful October - blue skies, golden foliage against the darker greens waiting to change colors - the garments of summer soon to be shed.   Here in the midwest, the colors are spectacular.

This painting captures the mystery of the dark shadows and the bright spotlight of the sunshine.

It is looking for its new home, perhaps it can brighten a spot in yours!

Little by little...

My work on this continues.  There's still more to do after some drying time, but I am nearing the final strokes ... I think!  

Meanwhile, I'm inundated with grading - it's finals week at work.  Then prep for a new semester!  I hope to put the finishing touches on this landscape this week!  I hope! 

A season behind!

Ah... Caught on the horns of a dilemma!  I took some great reference pictures and got a start on some fall foliage landscapes before it was winter... But with the busyness of the fall, they sat unfinished -- so I'm a season behind, but working on some things that truly caught my attention!  So - finish these or work in the snow??  Maybe some snowy landscapes will come in the spring! 

Autumn at Herrick Lake - final painting of 2015

Autumn at Herrick Lake, 10 x 8" oil on canvas

©2015 Helen Read 

Oil on linen panel

SOLD

Its been awhile in it's completion... but here is the last painting of 2015,  Autumn at Herrick Lake.
This one started out as a monochromatic study and then, I've glazed in the layers of color, trying to create that sense of depth in the water ... being able to see a little below the surface.  Light and color reflected back.  The colors are challenging to portray - colorful but not too garish.  I tried to create a subtle glow at the top of the trees, showing the light filtering through the warmer colors.

It's ready to frame and hang!  I'd love to send it to its new home! 

A landscape in process

A finished painting requires a process.... This one is still in its process, but here you can see some of the steps and how it's unfolding

A thumbnail sketch begins my process. Here I am looking at shapes and values and trying to make some compositional decisions. 

Then a larger and more complex value study. I'm refining shapes here and trying to see all the subtleties of lights and darks.

Finally I'm ready to do a monochromatic oil sketch on canvas focusing on values as well as shapes. I want to get placements right and definitely need to simplify things!  This will become my underpainting. 

And now I'm ready to begin laying in color.  At this stage, I've just begun that process and will continue after layers dry.

From concept to finished painting, there's much to organize and consider. This painting has quite a bit left to do! Updates coming soon! 

First marks! New Landscape just begun...

This will be a 12 x 9" oil on canvas fall landscape.  So, what I've done so far is to work out an interesting composition with the 3 trees to the left, balanced by the dark stand of trees behind them.  I've tried to create an interesting network of values to hold the composition together and then I've done an oil sketch trying to emphasize where the values will be placed.  I'll continue working on this in the coming days as things dry.  Stay tuned to watch it's progress! 

Great opportunity! Cyber Monday and...

Its all in 1 place and easy to browse!  

Click here to go to my Available Works Blog

Visit today! 

Cyber Monday - Free Shipping on all purchases when shipped within the US.  (This could be a $20 or more saving!)

Here's how it works:   You make a purchase!  Paypal will charge shipping (I cannot disable that feature), but then, I will refund it right away... also through PayPal.  

Then, I package it and send it to you!
I always send an email to let you know it is on its way,  that way you'll know when to expect its arrival.   Easy and arrives very quickly through USPS. 

Also, here's another great opportunity!  We can partner together...
Its been heartbreaking to see the plight of so many refugees displaced and desperate for just the bare essentials of life.  We find ourselves in a delicate position of wanting to offer compassionate help and balancing that with the need for national security.  In the meantime, non profit organizations are able to provide essentials right now, where the refugees are.  So, now through December 18, I will happily donate 50% of all profits from sales to the needs of those in such desperate circumstances.
When you make a purchase of a beautiful piece of art, you can feel a sense of satisfaction knowing that purchase is also helping to provide needed food, medicines, and shelter for someone whose life literally hangs in the balance.  The need is great - so lets get involved and help!  

 

Sun and Shadows

Green Agave, 6x6" Watercolor and Acrylic on clayboard
©Helen Read

SOLD
From a few years back, I'm reposting this lovely little painting.  I loved the play of shadows against the brightly lit greens.  This one is ready to place in a frame and be hung on a small wall or on an small easel in a book shelf!

 

Learning from the Masters

It's important!  And I don't do it often enough --- tonight I'm looking at the works of master artists and making thumbnail sketches in order to understand the way they've composed their paintings.  It's a little tedious, but valuable. It makes me observe more closely and analyze what is before me. 

Autumn - Lake Ellyn

Autumn - Lake Ellyn,  8x10" Oil on canvas
© Helen Read 

 

Fall has had a late start this year!  In fact, the fall colors are just now beginning to come out when often at this time of year most of the leaves are already fallen.  I wondered if it had passed us by, but we have had quite a beautiful fall after all.  This painting was begun this summer as a value study, and then, I added the color this fall, just as the colors were beginning to show!  

Nearing the home stretch on this little painting!

I've been working along on this fall landscape, which I started in the summer! I just have a little more to do in the foreground.  

I'll post the final form soon! 

Reworking

Yes, this is the painting I started this summer - and since the colors have all changed, I'm reworking this for this season.  It's still got a ways to go before its done. I like the colors and the sense of fall... It makes more sense to observe and paint than to try to remember what it looked like 3 or more months ago!