Celene Farris, A Maine Artist: July 2025

Friday, July 25, 2025

July is S. Dakota - our Virtual Hike Destination

July's Virtual Hike is South Dakota! What an interesting state to explore - and paint!

Rt 87, Custer, S. Dakota

6x12, oil on canvas panel.

Our group uses Google Street Views from Google Maps to explore our assigned monthly destination. We choose a scene, paint it and send a picture of our painting (with the Google Map link) to Marla. She posts it on the group's page on her blog. It really is a fun adventure. And it's interesting to see what the other artists have created!

Would you like to join our virtual painting group? We'd love to have you join us! New artists and experienced artists - everyone is welcomed!

It's fun, free and no strings attached. And you can interpret the scene as you wish.

For more info and to join - just click on Marla's link The Virtual Hike Painting Group .

This painting is available in my eBay Store. And, as always, you can purchase this painting, or any of my paintings, directly from me if you prefer.

Thanks for visiting. Happy painting. Happy exploring.

Celene

My Website - CeleneFarris.com

My eBay Store - Celene Farris, Maine Artist

My Facebook Page - Celene Farris, Maine Artist

Email me at - mail@CeleneFarris.com

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Overworking! Try Direct Painting.

Are you tired of reworking a painting - over and over - correcting shapes, adding lights, adding darks, fixing colors - only to find that you have overworked the painting again, destroyed the colors and values - and are so frustrated that you might as well wipe it off or throw it in the trash! All that wasted time, effort and paint!

We've all been there - myself included! So let's try Direct Painting and see if that works better.

After working out a good composition with thumbnail sketches and drawing it on your canvas, apply a base coat of simple shapes of correct, flat colors and values over the entire canvas. This creates a firm foundation to work on and allows you to further evaluate the composition before continuing.

After this has dried, we begin Direct Painting which is the technique of painting one area as correctly and completely as possible before moving on to a new area. The completed areas provide a strong reference point for judging each new area.

As you work slowly and deliberately across the canvas you are striving to paint the finished painting as you go. There may be small bits and pieces to add later on, but if done correctly, no major changes will be needed. And since no area has been overpainted or fiddled with, your colors and values should remain clean and crisp. The painting is 99% done!

The next day, after it has dried a bit, add any small bits and accents as needed. Done. 100%...

Give it a try!

Happy painting!