Air and Skye

"A Walk in the Skye"
By James Swanson / Traveler Gary

14"x 18" Oil on panel

Watch the Journey if this painting

If you ever felt like you were walking on air, you should try walking in the Skye?

Traveler Gary

The Isle of Skye in Scotland is where we meet up our new Traveler Gary. Gary is a UK walker that I met through another Travelers web link to his web site.

Photos are from Gary's web site.

Gary has a fine site called "My Wainwrights" where he talks about his walks in the mountains of the UK Lake District.

Photos are from Gary's trip to the Ilse of Skye.

The Wainwrights are a group of mountains walks named after Alfred Wainwright who pioneered the peek to peek walking. Our Traveler Gary has made all the climbs, but when I saw he walked in the Skye I had to get painting.

Traveler Gary's Story: This was our first visit to Skye, we were really lucky with the weather, six days of blue skies and warm sunshine.

We didn't do as much walking as we would have normally done, but we decided that the island was so lovely we needed to explore it as much as possible.

Gary's walking companion Tim.

This would allow us to be better prepared for future visits, which I hope there will be many more.

The photo of Gary's that I will work from.

The Traveler Painting "A Walk in the Skye" I wanted to paint something of the Isle of Skye ever since a friend told me about the place. He said it was a magical place where the folks believe in Fairies. And when I came across Traveler Gary's trip there he sure made it look magical.

The start of the painting. I rubbed mixture of Burnt Sienna, Venetian Red, and oil into the canvas and then used a paper towel to pull out the lighter areas. This gives the painting and atmosphere right off the bat.

I start with the darkest dark colors first. The darks are different shades and temperatures of Cobalt Blue and Venetian Red and Burnt Seana.

The painting Blocked In. Laying in the paint went really well from the start on this painting. It must be this magical place.

The sky of Skye. With the painting blocked in it time to start the refining process The sky in this painting has to hold its own against the landscape without competing for your attention.

Refining the painting its in the details. With my paintings I like having the brush do most of the work. I don't like forcing the brush make perfect shapes. I like dragging the brush flat across the canvas an letting the paint and brush do their job.


And then make judgement calls about what I like and what I want to change and what should be left alone.

The finished painting. I made quite a few little changes to this piece even after I thought I was there with it.

Details for the Painting

The Framed Painting

"A Walk in the Skye"
By James Swanson / Traveler Gary
14"x 18" Oil on panel

Going through Gary's web site is like going to Disneyland, a magical place. Gary has also open a second site Mountain and Skies of the UK of just his photos. Take a look I'm sure you will enjoy it. Thanks Gary, I hope to travel with you again when I get to the Himalayas.

If you have a trip that you'd like me to tag along, send me a note at www.TheArtistandtheTraveler.org.

Until next time keep an eye out for them fairies.

The Name Game.

"Skipool"

By James Swanson / Traveler Spudmonkey
14" X 18" Oil on Linen Panel

The journey of this painting.

What do you get when you cross a monkey with a potato? A Spudmonkey!

New Traveler Spudmonkey - a photo of his.

Not a very funny joke, but it does bring us to our new friend and next Traveler of the same name, Spudmonkey. It seems a lot of people like to make up monikers for themselves when they are online. And our Traveler Spudmonkey has one of my favorite ones.

A photo taken during his walk.

That's pretty much how I came across Spud, I liked the name in the photo group that I'm in and thought I'd take a look at his photo albums.

And I'm glad I did. Take a look- Spudmonkey.

Another photo taken during his walk near Skipool.

Traveler Spudmonkey's Story: Seems a while ago since I took the photo! What made me go down there was the old boats in different states of repair or disrepair. It looked like a graveyard for boats. It would have been around 2pm in the afternoon and we had the dog with us. Who finished the walk wet and muddy.

Spudmonkey's dog Hollie.

It just seemed everything had been left untended for years. The boathouses were pretty rundown and the piers leading to them looked very unsturdy and unsafe! even the grasses growing around them could have done with a good chopping down. I think I stopped at this boat in particular because I enjoyed the light and color on the scene at that particular moment! hope this has been some help my friend!

The photo that I will be using for the painting.

The Traveler Painting: "Skipool" Spudmonkey who's real name is Rob- but I like the SM better- has been a UK walker for a long while and ever since finding him I've wanted to paint something of his. Not just because he takes some lovely shots, but also to say that I've worked with monkeys. Thanks Rob.

The Sketch: As always a rough sketch helps me get my barrings. I really liked everything about the photo of SM. But I thought the bottom of the one boat in front was too much. It wasn't needed, and getting it to read would be a problem.


The Canvas Sketch. I'm working on a oil primed linen panel that I've rubbed with a paint mixture of Burnt Seana and oil. I have roughly sketched in the composition of the painting and am ready to go to work.

Dark colors are then painted in next. This helps me find my way around the painting quickly, so adding the other colors to the painting is easier. Painting can be hard enough, so anything that helps make it a little simpler is welcomed.

Next comes the sky. I put the sky in to help balance off the painting at this point. The sky plays such a big part of this painting - color and design wise- that I also felt I shouldn't be left until the end.

Painting in the boats. I wanted to capture the boats a simple and as fast as I could trying to stay with the feeling of the photo. To do this I used very simple long and to the point brush strokes. Leaving the paint thick and thin in the right spots.

After that putting in the grasses and dock were easy. The real fun part of this painting was painting the shack on the dock. It was fun because I left a lot of the under painting show through and the paint just seemed to find it's own way on to the canvas.

Details from the Painting

Done and Framed

"Skipool"
By James Swanson / Traveler Spudmonkey
14" X 18" Oil on Linen Panel

Thanks goes out to Traveler Rod, alias The Spudmonkey for the use of his photo in the project. I do hope to paint something else of the Spudmonkey sometime. Oh, and why Spudmonkey you ask? Rob just likes potatoes that's all, and of coarse it sounds funny. It tells us a lot about Rob.

And "Skipool" for the name? It is where Rob took the photo, and I liked the funny name.

Now I'm off to another painting adventure, if you would like to join in the fun send me a line at www.theArtistandTheTraveler.org
So long until next time.

Carmel Yum!

"Carmel"

By James Swanson / Traveler Andy
20" x 16" Oil on linen panel

Watch the journey of this painting

If Caramel is candy for the soul, than Carmel is eye candy for the senses. Our next painting project takes us to Carmel by the sea in California, where we meet up with our New Traveler Andy.

Andy's photo that I first saw,
and all these photos comes from Andy.

I came across Andy just by chance. I was picking out some pictures for this blog a while back, and came across a photo of Andy's that I just loved.

Hearst Mansion indoor pool

So of coarse I had to meet the person behind the camera.
Traveler Andy only had a few words about the shot I chose to paint.


This is the Carmelite mission as shot from across the bay, from Point Lobos State Park. The town of Carmel gets its name from it.

California road trip in 2009. Highway 1

The Travel Painting- "Carmel" Ever since I met Andy, he has always impressed me with his shots.

Point Lobos

He has a natural flair for photography and shares his flair freely.

This is the photo that I chose to work from.

Now it's my turn to share. The shot of Carmel by Andy when I saw it stopped me. I could feel the air and sea in his photo and knew it would make a great candidate for a painting.

Again I will be painting this painting as a paint a long demonstration with my painting class.

The Sketch: I like Andy's composition in the photo, but for making a painting I wanted to make it a little different. I started off by making it a vertical instead of a horizontal design. I then pulled a few things in from the sides for better layering. And finally what drew me in was the little tiny bench under the trees looking out at the sea. That is what my focus was going to be. The mountains and mission would take second.

The sketch on canvas: The canvas was rubbed with a paint mixture of Burnt Seana and Raw Umber. I like starting paintings on a toned canvas to get rid of the glaring white.

I painted in the darkest colors first. The cliff is the closest so it would have the darkest and most contrasting colors.

The hills I wanted to rough in next to give me the right balance in depth for the painting.

Now the middle tones are filled in. These are the dark shadows for the distant trees. A lot of air between the cliff and the hills, so a lot of the shadows turn to blue in color because of it.

The water and rocks are next. Working the contrasts here, trying to make the cliff and water come forward.

The painting is pretty much blocked in here. Painting on the cliff now.

End of class. I got a real good start on this painting I thought. My students did too.

Student painting from the class. Nice start Karen.

I thought I was about done, but after going away from the painting I saw it with a fresh eye I knew I wasn't.

Artist's Tip:The hardest thing about painting is to know when to stop and when you have to keep going. It's hard when you've been working on a painting for a long time, to make changes. But that is what makes it yours. It's your ability to know something isn't right and keep going and making the right choices to finish the painting.

Done again, but a lass no. I liked a lot of the painting, but it just didn't hold together right yet.

Now I'm Really, Really, Done. I thought I was done so many times on this painting, but now I am done. What turned this painting around was a comment from a Italian Traveler who liked the painting at an earlier stage. In reading her comment, I saw that the painting had a ton more life to it. So I went about to bring it back.

Details from the Painting

Framed and ready to go.

"Carmel"
By James Swanson / Traveler Andy
20" x 16" Oil on linen panel

What a beautiful place Carmel is, trying to capture it wasn't as easy as I thought it would. Thanks to Traveler Andy and his California road trip I gave it a good try. Andy is now traveling in Europe and I'm hoping he keeps me in mind I can always use some great shots from there.
And if you have some great shots you want to share send them along to me at www.theArtistandTheTraveler.org and maybe me get a painting out of it.

Until next time Hang loose.