susquehanna summer

16"x20" plein air

20"x16"

plein air

I had to get back to the river for some plein air work. I've been doing alot of studio work and will now be doing even more. I'm exhibiting at Martin Sacks in Linglestown PA. September through November. I just talked to the organizer and she said they have big walls so bring big work. I'll be checking the site this week to see just how BIG. As I've mentioned I'm doing larger scale work for the outdoor shows and they are about to really kick in for me. I'll be showing practically every weekend from mid August through early October. I've also been asked to exhibit in a 3 person show at Lynden gallery, Elizabethtown PA. The theme is 3 different styles from 3 direct observation painters. More on that show as the details get ironed out.

The posted paintings were both done yesterday. The horizontal first the vertical second. I was very focused with the first one and very happy to be back in a familiar spot painting. The second painting had less light and I stuggled to find form in the tree mass. The sky began to grab my attention. The humidity was extremely high so the variations in value were diminshed and with the decreasing light the scene was almost flat. I mixed colors on my palette and added straight stand oil right onto the palette mixed in with colors. I used knife to apply then brushes to orchestrate the arrangements. The focus put into painting one affected me in painting 2. I got a little sloppy.

The Louvre

36"x48" oil/canvas


I went to the quickdraw competition at Plein air Easton yesterday. I severely struggled with the painting. I chose to paint the local church with backlighting, including the office. It has a great roof pitch over the door. The natural effect was great, but my painting was not. You have 2 hours to paint and 1 hour in I scraped it down. I took on too much subject matter. I decided to narrow down to just painting the office with the interesting roof. Well this just wasn't working and spectators were coming by to view the artists at work. Normally I'm fine with that but I WAS STRUGGLING BIG TIME. In frustration I wiped my effort away with about 10 minutes left to paint. I packed up and drove home not even seeing the awards or any other work for that matter. A tough day. I did get to view the week long participants work at the museum. Incredible work. This is probably the top show in the country and the work proves it. There are some incredible painters there.


I dug through some photos when I got home. I found one of the Louvre in Paris. I took the shot years ago. I was just as interested in mass and line then as I am now. The photo had 3 figures almost dead center on the canvas. Frankly, they were one the most compelling things to me. I painted them in and was happy with the loose, gestural result. The problem was they were centered and equally distanced apart. I blocked them out visually and realized they were not helping the piece. I painted them out. I think they would be good enough subject matter by themselves. Just as at Easton most times less is more.

Los Laureles Lodge

48"x36" oil

Here is a large painting (for me). The outdoor shows are conducive to big paintings. I dug out an old figure painting to cover with some fresh paint. The subject is Los Laureles lodge in Carmel Valley. Our favorite place to stay in the valley. This is from studies during a stay there several years ago.

I knifed in the darks first. After most darks were in I had to establish sky. Painting over paintings is incredibly interesting for me. To try and establish values with this old painting screaming out makes me dig deep. To see a person vanish into a landscape is quite intriguing.

Wellfleet Harbor Again

20"x24" oil/canvas

Here is another studio piece based on materials collected on the cape trip. These 2 boats are standard fare in Wellfleet harbor. In fact many boats resemble these all the way to Provincetown.

I'm heading to the Westport Fine Art Festival in Connecticut friday. Tomorrow I'll be packing paintings, etc...

This will be the last post for awhile.

Wellfleet Harbor

12"x24" oil/board



Another studio piece done from material taken on the cape. These boats are in Wellfleet Harbor. A popular painting destination for good reason. Again, I knife in masses then use brushwork.

Cape Cod study

28"x32" oil/canvas sold



The East Hampton show was a good one. Made some new friends and saw some great work. I just found out that I'm in Paint Annapolis this year. This is a great event and I'm very excited to be in it 2 years in a row.It is a 3 day plein air painting competition with participants from all across the country. Only 24 people are juried in so I am grateful for the oppurtunity.
This is a low light study of Wellfleet harbor. The subject will be quite useful in Annapolis.

Day 4 on the Cape

both pieces 11"x 14" oil/board

The final day of the trip Paul Gallo and myself went to Stage Harbor. We had sun and I found the active harbor very exciting. I took a bunch of photos before starting painting. There were people sailing, clam hunting, fishing.... A very active place. My paintings this day are a bit lackluster, in my opinion. I felt so excited about the environment that I'm not sure I could capture that on site. After all most good compositions are well thought out, planned and executed with certain laws applied. This is hard to do in a new exciting environment. I think I have enough material to do some good studio work in the near future. As for now I'm preparing for the East Hampton Fine Arts Festival. The show runs Sat.- Monday. If anyone is on Long Island this weekend please stop by and say hi!

Day 3 Again

14"x11" oil/panel



It was a bridge day for me. The bad weather was moving in. I set up to do a work from a photo I took in Paris years ago. I feel it's the strongest thing I did on the trip. Bridge over the Seine.
I've taken a new picture with less glare. This is the new pic.

Day 3 on the Cape

I started out close to the cottage. The Swan river passes nearby. Liked this scene so painted it.

Day 2 Cape Cod

both pieces 12"x24"

The morning had good light. I drove east to Chatham and ran into heavy drizzle. Turned around and went back to Saquatuckett Harbor. The light was improving there so I set up (with permission) right along the boat dock. Still gray day conditions but I liked the scene. After completion of the painting a boat rolled in with a serious catch of striped bass. I became hungry and envious.

The second piece is from Fort Hill. A rare chance to get a good downhill view on the Cape.

cape cod day one

12"x12" oil/canvas


Back from 4 days of painting on Cape Cod. I arrived there Wednesday evening and did a quick painting in overcast conditions. I chose a small lake close to our cabin in Dennisport as a painting site. Used the knife for most massing and moved the paint with brushes and stand oil.





I'll post each days work in the following days. Yes, the sun came out finally! My painting comrades endured days of heavy wind and rain before I got there, so we were all excited to see the improving conditions.

More Rocks

12"x12" oil/panel sold

I did another knife block in, then pulled out the brushes. While knifing in I felt good about the process and the painting was developing loosely and believable. I left the lightest values white and the painting was almost good enough in my eye albeit more as an abstract than a representational piece.

I pulled out the brushes and immediately found myself tightening up. Not good. I found myself trying to paint individual characteristics within the rock formations. I was attempting to use the brushes to draw. Again, not good. I'm better now at getting over these hurdles thanks to so many years of knife work. I quickly adjusted and went to the proper mindset. KILL. keep it loose larry.

Off to the cape soon. The weather there has been horrid so I've delayed my arrival time. Probably only be able to paint 3 days

Carmel Valley

6"x12" oil/panel

Back from a good show on the Jersey Shore. Good sales and great art! It is great to meet so many art enthusiasts at these shows and engage in wonderful dialogue about art and the process of creating it with people from all over the country and world for that matter.

I did get back to doing a new painting from some California studies. I'm already beginning to feel a nice rhythm switching from knife to brush and back. I find by mixing my knife block in and then mixing some more of the same colors on the far side of my palette I can quickly apply block in then get to work with the brushes. This is encouraging and seems to make the best use of time. Granted these are studio pieces and things will change outdoors. I'm going to Cape Cod next week to paint with the 7 livelies group and will implement these new techniques and can't wait for the results. So here's the latest.

a little tweaking

A friend suggested I remove part of this piece as it looked before. I think he was right. This is the new piece. I never posted the original. So Mike, how's this?

I'm doing the jersey shore fine art show this weekend on long beach island so won't be posting for awhile. Cheers all!

I've taken a bit away on this one.

I've added a tiny bit to this one

california coastline 2

8"x10" oil/panel



Here's another coastal scene. I love the strength of the rocky outcroppings. Again applied paint with the knife and pushed it with the brushes. I'm building towards big work. I might just mix directly on canvas and then use brushwork on the big plein air stuff.

9"x12" oil/panel

Had a bit of a breakthrough tonight. Tried applying all paint with the knife and then moving it with the brushes. I attempted this with the same subject as I did last post just a smaller canvas. Disaster! I've mentioned before if I do something once I rarely do it again. This proves monumental in painting, for me. In this case it was only subject matter but apparently that is enough. I wiped it down about 45 minutes in. I took a deep breath and looked at my other studies from California. I decided to attempt the same process but with a new subject. I immediatly felt better and could see the painting in my head. It seems once I've burned an image in my mind and created a work from that image I find it very difficult to do the same image in another fashion. This new work felt good from the start. I mixed all colors first for the massing in, applied via knife and felt I could have finished the piece as such. I am working towards doing large plein air work-over 30 inches- so the idea of knife application seemed a bit difficult to negotiate and I will still have to contend with this mixing dilema. ( need a huge palette). Anyhow I'm posting the block in and finished piece.

I feel the last post, although painted "loosely" feels tight. I concentrated on the brushwork but I am most interested in paint. In fact I have said for me painting is all about the paint. I got away from that idea and need to get back to it. I still am most interested in how artists can manipulate paint, myself included. I think this latest piece is a good direction and incorporates both knife and brush.

California Coastline

16x20 oil/canvas

Second one from my California studies. I'm sticking with the standard method of thin wash first establishing lights and darks. Then add colors thinly to establish color and value ranges, then adding more pigment. Finally adding any details that I might find appealing or necessary. By using this method I find it exciting to see the painting develop out of abstact masses. With the knife, often times the first appliction is the last.





I will attempt some works by applying paint with the knife then moving it with brushes. Maybe even these same studies to see the difference. I suspect I'll get the thick paint that I like but remains to be seen how tough it will be to keep things accurate. The colors came out a bit washed out on this one and I may add to it after letting it rest awhile. At any rate it's exciting to experiment.

Point Lobos north trail

16"x20" oil/gessobord



I'm stopping at this point. I wanted to keep it loose and show the brush strokes. I did not achieve the thick paint application I was hoping for, however after a 7 year absence from brush work I'll take it. I'm trying to keep the light believable and will introduce thicker paint when it feels right.

rough in with the brush

16"x20" oil/panel

As stated, I'm now using brushes. It's been at least 7 years since I've touched a brush. All the knife work has taught me alot but I've been feeling limited in my abilities lately. This new approach is very exciting and I feel like a new world is in front of me. Here is my first rough in of a landscape from sketches and a photo from California. This was done quickly and I need to relearn my mixing of the slurry on my palette. Controlling warm and cool again proves troublesome. I'm divided between mixing with the knife and applying with the brush or just use brushes exclusively. At any rate I'm excited with the new direction and will post the next application to this piece very soon.

Summer schedule

I'm finally getting things back in order after the epic trip from Pennsylvania to California back to Montauk NY and finally back to PA. California was a blast and I had a great time painting. Competition was of high quality and I feel honored just to have been in the same event as these highly skilled artists. Here is a link to see all the paintings that were hung for the event http://www.carmelartfestival.org/ just click all paintings on the left. Also I'll link to my website where all 4 paintings I completed can be viewed http://www.brianeppleypaintings.com/carmel.html

The outdoor show season is in full swing and I have some new shows added to the list. I've been extremely busy wrapping paintings, labeling, organizing and all the other stuff that goes along with transporting paintings.

I intend to get back to painting this week and have decided to incorporate some thick juicy brushwork. I'm going to really stress directional strokes and see where it goes.

Finally, here is the first piece I did in California. I'm happy to say it has found a new home.