Artist: LC Neill
Title: “Lake Sunrise First Light 23″
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 18″x24″
Original: SOLD

This is a commission painting for a collector in California. Every now and then I’ll post a photograph of a spectacular scene from the lake on Facebook. Grace happened to see the photograph of this sunrise over the lake and asked me to do a painting from it. Here are the results.

This Friday October 28 is my last drawing in October for a free art print. See details here – Fine Art Print Friday

Artist: LC Neill
Title: “Lake Sunrise First Light 22″
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 8″x10″
Original: Available please contact me for more information.

I’ve done a lot of sunrises and sunsets but this one is a riot of color. A few days ago, I was working in my studio before the sun came up. I looked up from my easel and saw these incredible colors, so I grabbed my camera and went outside to shoot a few pics. Autumn is definitely in the air. For some reason we get the best dusk and dawn when it’s colder out. It may have to do with the humidity and atmospheric distortions?? It was a bit nippy and I had lots to do back in the studio, but I had a chance to upload one of the images to Facebook from my phone. The image was blurry (probably from shivering) but I was so jazzed by it, I decided to paint it right away. It’s almost dry now, so I thought I would share with you.

Please don’t forget to enter my FREE Fine Art Print Friday where I’m giving away a signed print every Friday in October.

Reminder – Open Studio October 14, 15, 2011. See you there!

Artist: LC Neill
Title: “Pedernal Study”
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 9″x12″

I’m just back from a recent trip to New Mexico. Wow the light there is so much different when you don’t have that humidity to deal with. All the colors are bright, crisp and clear. I shipped my paints out, and for a few days my friends and I painted en plein air. Painting outside is a completely different experience than painting in your studio. You have to work much faster as the light changes rapidly, and because you just “do it” without a lot of thought the painting style is looser and free. I loved it!

We took a day trip to Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu. I have never been there before and had little knowledge of it. It was really wonderful! It’s a bit of an artists getaway in the wilderness. They offer an abundance of classes with room and meals.

The 360 degree views are breathtaking. My fellow painters all chose a spot to paint. I selected a mountain scene, primarily because it also had a lake in the valley which I could see a sliver of. Clouds thickly dotted the sky. We painted for only a couple of hours but I could tell in that short time; you could see this place day after day and it would never be exactly the same.

While we were visiting, there were several mentions of Georgia O’Keefe. I learned she lived in and traversed this area and painted many paintings of the land. Later that day we came across her painting of the same mountain I had just painted. This caused me to do a little research and to find the images of Pedernal and see her interpretation of the mountain on the day(s) she painted it.

Here is what I found.

Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe
Title: “Pedernal 1942″
Medium: Oil on Canvas

Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe
Title: “Pedernal”
Medium: Oil on Canvas

Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe
Title: “Deers Skull with Pedernal”
Medium: Oil on Canvas

Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe
Title: “Pelvis with Pedernal”
Medium: Oil on Canvas

Very interesting! All very different. Hope you enjoyed.

Artist: LC Neill
Title: “First Light #18″
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 40″x30″
Original: SOLD