Fleeting Summer Days

 
As August rolls on, the days are becoming shorter, and summer is winding down. Back to school sales are in full swing, and the first fall leaves can be seen on a few vines and understory trees here and there. But for now, let us enjoy one last day at the beach, far from work and crowds. Watch the sun swing low amid a cloudy sky, illuminating the waves in gleaming light.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Waterlily Trail

 

As the summer heat grows beneath a blazing sun, let us visit a marshland where the water flows and droughts aren't a worry. Here in lazy stream, waterlilies bloom in pink and reddish hues, catching the summer sun. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Quiet Beach Dunes

On a lazy summer afternoon on a distant beach, waves lap against wet sand with rhythmic splashes. A breeze tosses the sunlit grass as shadows are cast along the dunes. The heat of the sun is balanced by the gentle winds from the ocean, and all is still. 

Acrylic Painting: 14" x 17"

Purple Meadow Dreams

It's the waning days of summer here in Maryland, and natural beauty abounds. In a field under a sunny blue sky, wildflowers bloom in purple, pink, and red. A gentle, warm breeze blows, jostling the flowers, as butterflies drift lazily about. It's a place of peace far away from the bustle of everyday life.

Acrylic painting; 14" x 17"

Sunset Storms at 30,000 Feet

Inspired by some of the storms I've seen out airplane windows over the years, here we look over some summer thunderstorms in the warm sunset glow. Lightning flashes silently from our perspective as rain falls on the land below.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Eclipsing Storm

A late spring thunderstorm rolls over the trees and meadows, eclipsing the sun behind dark clouds as it passes by.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Daylilies and Drizzle

On a cloudy, drizzling day in late June, orange daylilies bloom by the side of a rural road, adding a spark of color in place of a hidden sun.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Getting out of Town

The Independence Day holiday approaches, and what better time to get out of town and go for a long drive through farmland with a setting summer sun?

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Evening Lakeside Storms

Low evening sunlight stretches across a vast lake, catching the shores and tree tops in a warm glow. Miles away, storm clouds are illuminated in the waning light of day.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Cloudy Summer Sunset

Clouds roll over a vast field as the descending sun illuminates a small stream and fills the sky with gold.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Sycamore After the Rain

The summer sun returns after a passing storm, illuminating an old sycamore that stands by a muddy footpath through a forgotten park.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Glowing Summer Stream

Somewhere in the woods, in the shadow of sycamores, morning light blazes through the trees on a warm summer day.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Hazy Summer Morning Walk

As August rolls on, the worst of the summer heat fades away, leaving hazy mornings well suited for a walk amid the trees and fields. The goal here was to handle a mix of greens with subtle hues and variations; the misty background trees provide a nice backdrop to the contrast created by the shadows of the foreground trees.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Sycamore Drive

Towering sycamores glow in the sun as afternoon shadows are cast along an old country road. The light worked out very well in this painting - the shadows from the trees on the left contrast well with the illuminated sycamores on the right, providing a feeling of late afternoon. The trees and road worked out particularly well here, and the scene has a good sense of depth to it despite not actually stretching on for miles.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Late Summer at the Patapsco River

Fall is in the air after a scorching summer. Beneath the sycamores, leaves lie scattered amid the dried grass, and once spring greens are now dried yellow or bronze. The days are shorter and soon the trees will be robed in full autumn glory.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Sunlit Hillside and Storm Clouds

I've decided to paint something that is about as "opposite" as one can get from the unending blizzards and snow that have hammered the region this winter. This scene, taken from a reference image in this month's Landscape Challenge on the Wetcanvas forums, is of a bunch of small trees on a sunlit hillside moments before a late afternoon thunderstorm unleashes a torrent of rain over the lands. The cloudscape was inspired by one of Bierstadt's works, though his scene was of a similar storm over a small farm. Either way, I think most of us would welcome rain vs. snow and ice at this point!

Acrylic painting 14" x 17"

Summer in the Park

Here's a new painting based upon a reference photo for the monthly Landscape Challenge on the Wetcanvas forums. The photo reminded me a lot of a local farm park that has a lot of open, prairie regions with some woods mixed in along its edges. If you walk the paved perimeter trail, you'll see lots of cleared meadows between the trees - in some places, if you take a photo at the right angle, you can get an effect like that of the Great Plains.

This painting was an experiment in dappled light filtering through the edge of the woods. The mix of shadows and scattered highlights, particularly along the grass and road, add an almost Impressionist quality to the painting. I added the flowers on the right and in the grass beyond (the white tufts are Queen Ann's Lace) since it summer, and what is summer without wildflowers?

Acrylic Painting 14" x 17"