Sage House Art Studio Still Life Set up

The set up you see here is from our summer still life painting sessions at White Wagon Farm, Sage House Art Studio. This particular one was most difficult. Artist participating included Pat White, Jan and Marv Crummer, Suzann Waggoner, Shirley Brainard and me(Tom Herrin). They are all great artist painting in oil, watercolor, and mixed media. Paintings to follow show their work, or you can go to the White Wagon Farm web site and click on Sage House Gallery (http://sagehousegallery.com/). Have a look at their work, it will be worth your time

What you see here is a composition and color study for a painting I plan to paint. The painting is based on a photograph shown on the Scott Settlement brochure. I wish I had taken the photograph, but I didn't. Anyway, the idea is to show the buildings in sharp contrast to the landscape in the foreground.

Lilies in Scott, Arkansas near Scott Plantation

The lilies shown here were found along the road behind the Plantation Museum near Scott, Arkanas. Flowers growing along the road usually means there was a house at that location in the past. Almost all of these country homes are gone now-the flowers remain as a marker of the homes past location. Lilies make great subjects for a flower paintings; however I am not much of a flower painter. I may be tempted to try to paint these lilies.

Scott Arkansas View...Watercolor by Tom Herrin

David Cook and I paint in plein air on wednesday each week depending on the weather. The small notan shown here studies the values around the trees and a small house located at the base of the tree line near Scott, Arkansas. I was painting from the porch of the Agricultural museum in Scott. I plan to use this small study as a guide for a larger painting in watercolor. The point here was to use the trees in the fore ground to set the scale for the house and trees in the middle ground. I think this worked.

Hilltop Village Final...Tom Herrin Watercolor

This version of a painting of a hilltop village in Italy is my final version that I am submiting to the Mid-Southern Watercolor summer show at Cantrell Gallery in Little Rock. The colors are better and the values are correct. I could make a few more changes but I want. If you like it let me know and be sure to come to Cantrell Gallery to see the art. The show will be open for the month of June.

Italian Hilltop Village...A watercolor by Tom Herrin

The village painting you see opposite was painted from a photograph I took while I was in Italy in 2007. I took a lot of these pictures but only a few came out to be good compositions for a watercolor painting. I like this painting; however, I know it could be better. I may give it another shot before I call it a day painting this type of village. Or, I could go back to Italy and do some more research. Maybe?

Cesi, Italy Apartments

Good apartments is Cesi, Italy (pronounced Chesi) are hard to find. The buildings you see here is not what I would call a nice block of apartments. However, I was fascinated by the look of the place and it obvious age. So, I painted the building back in the studio at The La Romita School of Art. At first I did not like what I painted but over time I have come to like the painting after cropping.