Christy LaGue

http://www.minkcove.com

I have completely repainted this. The clouds are grayer and the ground has more variety in color and value. One word here about digital photography. Color appears different on each computer. And the camera is rarely accurate. I try to adjust the photo as I stand next to the painting in order to approach accurate color. But I never know how that appears on some other computer.

I have increased the contrast in the ground and also changed the darker areas to indicate a shadow from the cloud.

My in house critic thought the ground needed more interest, He likes horizontal and vertical bands of color. I worked some value changes across the ground, which really don't show that much in this photo.

This painting (30" x 40") is the second working after a smaller (11" x 14") version. I was interested in seeing if the cloud would be more powerful in a larger format. I thought the strong diagonal and large sky area could be visually dynamic. Now that my hand has returned to normal, I can use a larger, heavier brush and was anxious to get back to a looser way of working.

This little painting from the Tihonet drawing (8" x 10") is on board and gold leaf. The gold-leaf does a lot of the work in creating light. I probably over-worked the entire tree area and should have relied on the gold-leaf more. I'm still experimenting with format for these. I think I prefer the grids.

The area of Massachusetts I live in is rich with cranberry bogs. The bogs are often located near a significant water source because bogs are flooded to protect them from frost and, in some cases, for harvesting. One such water source is Tihonet Pond. This sketch is of what I think is a drainage ditch from the pond. My hand has progressed enough that I can use it to draw and paint.