I had the pleasure of painting with Brent Jensen today in Golden Gate Park. Brent and I met years ago at a plein air event, and have tried keeping in touch while he’s moved about the country. Check out his work, pretty great, right?

I returned today to a couple icons of the park I’ve painted before: The Conservatory of Flowers (here) and the Golden Gate Pavillion (here, here, and here). Although I’ve painted these subjects before, all the other factors that go into a painting made these unique. The weather was fantastic, the light and sky clear.

Golden Gate Pavillion – Oil on Linen – 12×9″

AVAILABLE IN MY ONLINE STORE FOR $250

I’m very happy with the color and composition here. I added shadows over the path and grass at the bottom, to create arrow shapes that guide the eye into the painting. My only hesitation with this one is this: the color of the red columns is a close to that of the nearby tree on the right. One the one hand, it ads color harmony to the painting, on the other I wonder if these should have been separated a bit more. Thoughts?

Conservatory of Flowers – Oil on Linen – 12×9″

AVAILABLE IN MY ONLINE STORE FOR $250

This painting of the Conservatory turned out to be more complex that I’d originally thought. Mixing architecture and nature is always a challenge. I’m happy with this one too, expecially the values, which I think read pretty well.

5 thoughts on “A day in the park

  1. Hi Ed, I haven’t done much plein air painting myself, but have been admiring yours. you captured the conservatory beautifully in this painting, and the trees look so fresh. wonderful! Holly

  2. Ed,

    I am not an artist but I do enjoy what I see. I am always amazed at the talent you have and I am glad that I can enjoy it. Your blog helps me to get some background behind the creativity.

    Have a great week!

  3. Hi Ed,

    As always I admire your work and talent. I simply can only give you commentary from the voice of the unskilled. I love what I see. Your blog gives me some insight to the background behind the creativity. Maybe I can learn something along the way.

  4. To Anonymous: I photograph works larger than 9×12 with a camera, and scan smaller works with a desktop digital scanner. Of course the scanner does a better job, but the cameras are getting better too. These two were photographed with my camera.

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