Last Light, Lake Arlington - Original Painting by George De Chiara

Last Light, Lake Arlington 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here  Today, while going to pick up our daughter at day care, my wife commented that it looked like we might have a good sunset tonight and came up with the wonderful idea of taking our daughter to the park so they could play while I painted. Who could argue with that plan? So off we went just as fast as would could since the sun was starting to set. As soon as we got the the park, I quickly grabbed my gear and headed off to the pier to catch the last of the sunset. I had to paint really fast since the sun was going quickly. There's nothing like watching your subject fade off just as fast as you can sling paint onto the canvas. Still, I must admit that I really enjoy trying these sunset paintings from life. They are a true adrenaline rush! To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com

Second Breakfast - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Second Breakfast 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara For the last few days I've been thinking about trying a painting of a cow field. I like the way the dark cows contrast against the golden ground cover we have here in Texas as our fall colors continue to turn.  I was determined to capture this scene today.  After an hour exploring the countryside, I finally came across a great little pasture full of cows with a safe place on the side of the road that I could paint from. Since this was the first time I tried to paint cows from life, I thought I it might be a good idea to work small so I could suggest the cows form while I studied them to learn their anatomy.  The next time I try this, I think I can go a little larger and get more detail and accuracy into the cows. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here

Nanners - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Nanners 3x5 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara  I was suppose to have a roofer come out to the house today to look at a leak we have, so I knew I'd have to paint in the studio while I waited.  I've thought about painting bananas  a few times, but could never come up with a composition I was happy with. After a little messing around, I came up with this because I liked the way this arrangement gave slightly different views of the fruit.  I think anyone with young childen will know where the title for this one came from. Our daughter is just starting to be able to say a few words and every now and again she'll point at the bananas and say "Nanners!".   To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here

Weatherford Hay Bales - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Weatherford Hay Bales 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara  I'll be honest with you, after looking at the the last two hay bale paintings I did last week for a few days in the studio, I wasn't very happy them. Mostly, I really struggled with the values and the color and knew I could do a better job. Today presented that possibility, so I went back to the first field I painted that had the drilling well on it. When I got there though, the well was gone and so were the workers. I guess they were taking the well down last time I was there. Anyway, in their absence, I was able to access almost all of the hay fields that surround this area. I liked the way the light was hitting these bales, although I did have to move them when I painted them to get the composition I wanted. I'd like to try a few more before all of the farmers pick them up from the fields, which could be anyday now. I noticed one of the fields I've wanted to paint no longer has any bales in it.  Well, I guess another lesson of plein air is that you have to strike while the iron's hot. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here

Last of the Peppers - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Last of the Peppers 11x14 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara  I set this still life at the end of last week with the intention of painting it over the weekend. However, our little girl, who's 13 months old now, has recently discovered the joy of running around at the park and the weekends are the best time to take her since both my wife and I can go. Besides everyone needs some time to just play! With the weekend over, I couldn't wait to get to painting. I've been watching the peppers continue to change colors every time I walked by them. These are the last of the peppers I think our garden will produce this year. There are a few still growing, but their production has really slowed down this week. The eggplants, on the other hand, are still going strong. In fact when I went to check on them today, they had new flowers on them and a half dozen more fuit growing. None of them are very large, but they sure are plentiful this year. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here

Lake Arlington Boat Docks - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Lake Arlington Boat Docks 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara While I still believe that determination is a primary component of plein air painting, sometimes no matter what I do,  the weather just doesn't cooperate.  Last night I went to paint the sunset again on Lake Arlington, but the first real cold front of the season moved in instead. The clouds and the wind rolled in, making the lake a choppy mess and obscuring any hope at capturing the sunset. That wind was blowing with such force, I wasn't even sure I could keep my canvas on the easel even if I thought I could have stood in the wind and increasing cold long enough to paint. But determined, I looked around for a place that I could paint from while staying out the elements.  In the end though, I decided to call it quits for the night. I did go back today with the proper clothing and painted the private boat docks that I could see from the public park. There's another set of docks on the other side of the park that I want to try and paint one day too. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here

Sunset on Lake Arlington - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Sunset on Lake Arlington 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Somehow I got off by a day with my postings to this blog. I'm not sure how I did this, but this is what I painted yesterday, I had decided to go up the street to Lake Arlington to try to paint the sunset. Because it had a great view of the sun going down, I walked out to the end of one of the piers. Now, it turns out that painting a sunset on a swaying pier has some interesting challenges.  Sometimes,  I would go to make a brush stroke and would sway one way and my easel the other. And to top that off, just as I started to lay down paint, the clouds moved and I found myself staring right into the setting sun instead of the beautifully back lit cloud that had originally caught my eye. I could hardly look at it! To round out the challenges, I had to paint rapidly to catch the moment.  There's so much energy in a sunset. I didn't even notice how fast I was working until right after the sun slipped below the horizon. Suddenly, I felt a calm in air and was able to slow down and add the final few brush strokes before heading home. Once back in the studio, I made a few adjustments to this one.  If this story illustrates anything, it's that determination often dictates the painting. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Fall Hay Field - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Fall Hay Field 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara After I painted those hay bales yesterday, I was still in the mood to paint a few more when I came across this field.  It was just off of a rural road where I had a few horses that were across the street watching me the whole time.  Luckily, I was able to park on the side of the street and paint without causing any problems for the handful of cars that came be while I was there. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Round Bales - Original Painting by George De Chiara

Round Bales 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara  I've driven by these hay bales which are next to Lake Weatherford twice now. Both times, I stopped to look at them and thought about painting them, but for one reason or another, I would drive on to another location. Today, however, I stopped and finally painted them. They are in a field next to what I think is a gas well, which is still being drilled.  If the drillers were paying attention, I must have been quite an unusual sight.  Because the day was very bright, I had to face away from the field to keep the sun off of my canvas. The whole time I was looking at a gravel lot, and had to turn around to see my subject and then turning back to my canvas to paint. It's a small field and these three bales are all it produced. Hopefully, the well does better. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Pin Cushions - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Pin Cushions 8x10 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara Hmm... this is a new subject for me...sewing supplies. We seem to have a lot of them around the house.  I haven't a clue to how to use any of them, but Lord knows we have 'em. I was attracted to the great colors of the pin cushions and threads.  It seems like it takes me a few tries to get to get comfortable with new subject matter, so I'm sure I'll revist the sewing supplies again. My first paintings of new subjects never really come out exactly as I think they should, but then I go back and make a some adjustments to the composition, color, perspective, and so on and so on.  I really do find satisfaction in making progress. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Desktop - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Desktop (SOLD) 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara I'm not sure why, but it took me forever to set this up today. I originally started off thinking this would be a painting of a teapot and a cup. That set up led me to get a couple of books so I could have the teapot and cup at different heights. Well, that set up felt like it needed something else, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. So, before you know it, in went glass bottles, a bowl, a vase, more books, and a desk lamp. Eventually, the subject really started to emerge of an organized little desk, crammed, but neat just waiting for the return of the reader. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Autumn Classics - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Autumn Classics 11x14 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara It rained here again into the afternoon, so I painted a still life. Since our little pumpkins are still relatively fresh, I wanted to use them one more time. These varieties of gourds have spots of color that are a real treat to paint. When I set the painting up, it seemed the compostion called for the pumpkins to be at different heights to create interest. So I went to the book shelf and picked out two nicely leatherbound books.  Thanks to  Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" and Tales of Edgar Alan, coming up with a title was pretty easy. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Thoughts of Spring - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Thoughts of Spring (SOLD) 5x7 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara It rained here all day, and with the weather getting cold, I couldn't help but think back to spring time. Hopefully, the weather will dry out a bit later in the week and I can get out and paint again. I wasn't in the mood to do a still life today, so I painted this from a photo I took at a near by park early last spring, right when the new buds are blooming on the trees. The spring is a great time to get intense color as the trees flower in the early spring. It's a beautiful sight here in Texas. We sometimes don't get those great fall colors that other parts of the country are blessed with, but I've never seen another place that gets such great spring color. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.

Fall Breeze - Original Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Fall Breeze 8x16 inches Oil on Canvas Panel by George De Chiara I have fond memories of this side of Lake Weatherford because when my wife and I first started dating, we use to take her dog, Tramp, to this part of the lake where he loved to swim and chase the ducks.  He would swim and swim, sneaking up to the ducks, at which point the ducks would look at him disdainfully and casually fly away a few feet.  Later that summer we had a bit of a drought, and this part of the lake dried up.  My wife and I realize the lake is only a foot or two deep for most of this area, and suddenly, this explained a lot.  No wonder Tramp enjoyed his "swim" so much!  He could basically walk up to the ducks on his hind legs and steer his body with his front paws. To read more about this painting please visit my blog. http://georgedechiara.com/blog Visit my web site to see more of my work. http://georgedechiara.com If you would like to purchase this painting visit my auction here.