Next I tried landscapes. We have a great view out our dining room window, across the Deerfield River with a hill across the way. So here it is.
I really struggled with how to make the trees on the hillside, there’s a lot of them, and they all sort of blur at one point but are distinct at another.
Anyway, no matter, I’m really proud of the duck in the river with his orange bill.
Next was the view across a relative’s back yard.
A grey day in the Adirondacks, and again, wrestling with what to do with blurred forest in the background. Really liked how the blue barrels came out and the bushes on the left.
Then I was taken with a photo in our newspaper. I don’t think I enjoy working from a photo as much as from real life, but still it was fun. And the same problem with the background trees.
This was a great exercise in layers though. Had at least ten, starting with a sketch and then the stuff both near and far.
Most recently I was taken with an old photo that was posted in a group that talks about our small town, Shelburne Falls, MA. It used to have an iron bridge for cars and a trolly bridge close to each other, crossing the Deerfield River. (Same one with the duck above.)
The trolly ended and the bridge was going to be destroyed but some people decided to turn it into a garden and now it’s The Bridge of Flowers and draws people from all over. That’s why it was so much fun to see this photo of when it was a trolly bridge.
It was black and white, so first I did a black and white.
And then I colorized it.
