Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Santa Ynez Valley Fog

"Summer Fog"
12"x16" Oil on Birch Panel

This scene catches the summer fog we tend to get here in the Santa Ynez Valley in summer. We haven't had much this year and I miss it. The nice thing abouyt being a painter is that I can just paint the scene and wish it was like that painting now, haha. Was originally going to keep the scene muted down like it would be in nature but then decided to just get a little colorful in the foreground area. I like it anyways.

Here is a detail of the trunk area.....looks cool...and it was fun to paint!

7 comments:

Pat Grant said...

Hello Ron, big fan!! You're sensitivity with subtle hue variations is supurb. The color through the fog and trunk is amazing. thanks for posting. Pat

jimserrettstudio said...

That really is a great painting, certainly like your foreground with the thick and thin paint passages.
But wow that middle ground is amazing.

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Jim,
Originally I was only going to have grasses in the foreground but after adding a few yellow flowers to it I just kept going and it looked better as I did. I wanted the painting to be about the fog but the added color really gave it more of a focal point....and a great lead into letting the viewers eye ramble through the mid and background. I like it...thanks a lot for your comments Jim.


Hi Pat,
Thank you too for your comments. All of that practice with pen & ink working on values has really paid off in big dividends when it came to paintng, haha. Painting foggy scenes is really lots of fun and lets a painter explore values, hues, suggested details and helps a painter get more efficient with edges. Every painting teaches....well, they do for me anyway. Thanks again Pat.

Dianne said...

Oh that's lovely, we have foggy mornings in summer here too. They seem quieter somehow, like the world is whispering. They also make the sunny mornings seem like gold.

Typh said...

Great works, Ron, as always!

Unknown said...

Excellent sense of the atmospheric conditions and your usual lovely control of the vegetation.

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Dianne....It really seems as if the land envelopes you and makes your world all more personal even if for just a few hours. We drove through it the other day down in Santa Barbara which was a warm day but once in the fog the day became cool...I love it. Thanks!

Hi Typh.... Thanks a lot for your comments. I really appreciate the good words on the work Typh.

Hi Mick....I've painted some of these in the past and I still am amazed at how well the atmosphere looks when they are finished. Adding these wildflowers in the foreground really bumped the results up a notch or two. Thanks Mick.