A painting of a local salt marsh from a few days ago.

[femmedem]

I haven't posted my art here in quite a while, but I've still been painting and improving. This one is from this past weekend. It was a gorgeous afternoon/early evening to go out and paint. The late afternoon light made the salt marsh glow.

[cate94]

1. Beautiful!

[femmedem]

2. Thank you! This one feels like a jump forward for me.

And I'm lucky to live near such an inspiring landscape.

[niyad]

3. Just lovely.

[femmedem]

4. Thank you, Niyad.

It sure was a lovely place to be for a few hours.
Best thing I've done in the last few years was take up painting again after a decades-long hiatus.

[Diamond_Dog]

5. Absolutely beautiful.

Very nicely done!

[femmedem]

6. Thank you.

It was such a beautiful spot that I felt like I'd had a full week's vacation after spending a couple of hours painting there.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Lovely.

[femmedem]

9. Thank you.

I appreciate the compliment.

[sheshe2]

8. Beautiful.

You can almost hear the water.

[femmedem]

10. Thanks, sheshe.

That spot is so serene yet invigorating.

[Sanity Claws]

11. Are you using oils or acrylics?

[femmedem]

14. Oils but they are water-mixable oils.

The linseed oil that they're mixed with is emulsified, as is the oil medium I use to thin them. No turpentine, no mineral spirits necessary, and I can clean my brushes with soap and water. I love them!

[Sanity Claws]

20. Sounds interesting.

I'm just learning and never heard of them.
Oils take longer to dry than acrylics. Is that true of the water-mixable oils?

I love the painting. The little dabs of pink really add a lot.

[femmedem]

40. They do take longer to dry, which I like, but not as long as traditional oils.

I started the painting with an underpainting using red transparent oxide (a reddish brown), white and burnt umber to work out my composition and values (lights and darks). And then some of that red pokes through here and there.

[bif]

12. Absolutely gorgeous!

It has such a serene quality to it!

[femmedem]

15. Thank you, bif.

I've been enjoying your artistic journey here and on Instagram.

[markie]

13. delightful!

[femmedem]

16. Thank you! n/t

[AmBlue]

17. Very, very nice n/t

[femmedem]

35. Thank you! n/t

[Joinfortmill]

18. Beautiful

[femmedem]

38. Thank you! n/t

[MLAA]

19. Oh my gosh, it's gorgeous.

I just love how you handled the water. And the softness yet clarity of the background is perfect. Is it an oil painting?

[femmedem]

36. It is! Water mixable oils, but they handle like traditional oils.

They dry slightly faster, but not much, and you just need soap and water to clean your brushes.

[MLAA]

42. I might have to give them a try 🙂

[Ziggysmom]

21. It's ethereal! Like a dream you don't want to wake from.

[femmedem]

37. What a beautiful compliment.

Thank you so much.

[fierywoman]

22. Damn, you're a fine painter!

I've been entranced by Ian Roberts' (the guy who wrote the wonderful composition book) weekly (Tues) musings on YouTube on all sorts of aspects of painting -- he does a lot of landscape painting. They're 5-8 or 9 minutes, jam packed with ideas, so very easy to watch, and inspiring.

[femmedem]

34. Thanks. I'll have to check out his videos.

I do learn a lot from online videos.

[StarryNite]

23. That's beautiful!

[femmedem]

33. Thanks, StarryNite.

[AllaN01Bear]

24. wowzers .

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[femmedem]

32. Thank you! My painting has come a long way over the last couple of years. n/t

[MontanaMama]

25. Just beautiful.

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

[femmedem]

30. Thank you for the compliment!

I'm glad you like it.

[karin_sj]

26. This is really beautiful! Love the colors

What brand of water mixable oil paint do you use? I just bought a set of Cobra oil paints but haven't tried them yet.

[femmedem]

28. Thank you! I use Cobra and Daniel Smith.

Good luck with them! One tip: I don't use any water while I'm painting, just the oil medium made for these paints.

[FuzzyRabbit]

27. Very nice!

I like this painting a lot.

[femmedem]

29. Thanks, FuzzyRabbit.

I love your username. I used to have a lionhead rabbit.

[GPV]

31. Gorgeous!

[femmedem]

39. Thank you!

We're up early.

[GPV]

41. Yeah, it's a school day. :)

[gurthang]

43. That's lovely

I just decided to get into oil painting and have four pumpkins/gourds in my shopping cart that are going to be my first victims/subjects.

[femmedem]

44. Thank you and good luck with your painting!

I have a stressful job in the nonprofit sector and nothing, nothing clears my head like painting. I hope you find the same joy in it that I do.

If you'd like any advice, I'd offer that it's a big job to try to understand drawing, lights and darks and color all at once. If it gets to be too much, try painting in monochrome. I often start my paintings with an underpainting using only a reddish brown (I like transparent red oxide, but burnt sienna would work, too), burnt umber and white. That's how I started this one, and then I painted in color on top. You can see the reddish brown peeking out here and there.

Or, ignore my advice and just dive in! Pumpkins and gourds are great subjects.

Also--I just noticed your post count--welcome to Democratic Underground!

[lunatica]

45. You captured the soft marsh light

It gives the landscape an ephemeral moodiness. Soft light is amazing!

[femmedem]

46. Thanks so much, Lunatica.

You're such a gift to the artists' group, always so supportive. I hope your own art is going well.

[lunatica]

47. I haven't done much lately but I hoping to.

Thanks for your kind words!

[LiberalLoner]

48. Wow this is amazing! 😍👍👏