"Rosy Reflections" by Beth Bathe

"Rosy Reflections", 24/30, 9 x 12, oil on canvas

Baby it's cold outside. The high in Lancaster PA, was 17 degrees. We have plenty of beautiful white snow on the ground. I would love to go outside and do some plein air painting! I did go out yesterday afternoon and this morning to get some photo references of the countryside, and brrrr, it was COLD. I love the reflections of the sky in this creek, it was clouding up and the sky was had a warm rosy glow.

"Misty Reflections" by Beth Bathe

"Misty Reflections", #20/30, 12 x 12 in, oil on canvas

So here is yesterdays painting...#20 of 30 daily paintings for January. It was too dark to photograph it last night, so here it is in the light of day. This was painted on a black canvas, it was an easy start, very impressionistic, I was really liking the outcome, then as it got later in the day I started to get into the details, first I got too detailed, which was ruining the feel, so then I reworked parts. All in all it was a frustrating, great day of painting, I really learned a lot. I had to deal with the black canvas, a very detailed photo, the atmospheric mist and the reflections in the water...hard, hard, hard....

"Eggplant to the Nines" by Beth Bathe

"Eggplant to the Nines", #14/30, 12 x 12 in, oil on canvas

So today I decided to switch it up a bit. First I decided to paint on a black canvas, on a larger size than I normally paint, and to paint a color that is not on my palette, PURPLE!

This was tough start on the black surface, with a dark subject, I blocked in the lights first and tackled the purples second. All in all I think it turned out rather well.

"Three's a Crowd" by Beth Bathe

"Three's A Crowd", 10 x 10 oil on canvas

I am so lucky to live near the Strasburg Rail Road. 
Old restored trains run the tracks amongst the beautiful Lancaster County farm land.
I went to the train station a week ago and did some sketching and took some photos. 
This is a studio painting using my plein air sketches as reference. 

Contact me at bathepainting@aol.com if you are interested in this or any of my other work.