Saratoga Springs Art in the Park

"Amelia" Oil on Linen, 8 x 10

This portrait will be on view at the Saratoga Springs "Art in the Park" event on Saturday, July 9th.  Stop by and say hello if you are in the area.  Thanks to Alice Corey for the photo reference of her beautiful little girl Amelia.  While I prefer to work from my own sketches and reference photos for children's portraits I will work with other people's photos if they are well taken.  Head on over to Alice's website to see some really beautiful photography!

Portrait of a Super Hero

This is a detail of a painting I have been working on a for a while.  I think I am getting close to the finish line.  I still need to refine some color relationships and tone down the background.  I love these superhero poses.  Children have such active imaginations at this age.  Too bad it doesn't last forever!

Super Hero Abstraction

"Super Hero Abstraction", 6 x 8, Oil on Paper

Another little study in my super hero series.  I am eager to take some of these studies and make some bigger paintings out of them.  I love the pose here.  The issue will be to make the composition interesting but still simple and somewhat abstract on a larger piece.   I'll let you know how it turns out!

Misty Newport

"Misty Newport", oil on panel, 6 x 8


I realized there are quite a few studies from last several months that I neglected to post on my blog.  So, you will see them now!  This is a little plein air done in Newport last summer.   I like that combination of deep summer green shrouded in mist.  That is the tony private school St. Georges in the distance mist.  Click on the button above to go to the Daily Paintworks site for purchase/auction.

Cityscape Work In Progress

I don't usually post works in progress because it bothers me to see all the things I need to fix but it has been two weeks since the last post and I wanted to post something!  This is an 18 x 24 oil on linen cityscape of NYC on a late September afternoon.  There is a lot of scumbling, scraping and repainting here.  I like to build up texture slowly with thin layers which is why it takes so long to finish these paintings!!  Hope to have the finished version in a couple of days.

Golden Dusk

Golden Dusk, Oil on Linen Panel, 11 x 14

Hope everyone is staying warm!  I am thinking of summer as you can see.  I can't complain really since I've been in Florida for most of this terrible winter and am returning next week.  I am working on several new cityscapes and landscapes and hope to finish them before I leave.  Stay tuned!

Early Morning on the Beach Path

"Early Morning on the Beach Path", 9 x 12, oil on panel

This is a larger version of a 6 x 8 plein air oil sketch done earlier this winter.  It is on the grounds of the Bonnet House facing the beach.  I reworked this a few times and in doing so lost the transparency of the dark areas.  I like it overall but wish I had held off on those darks in the foreground.   I had to resort to opaque paint to lighten those dark shadows.  Lesson learned (but I will probably do it again . . ).

Intertwined

"Intertwined", oil on linen panel, 9 x 12

The Bonnet House in South Florida has beautiful Melaleuca trees lining the drive to the main house of an old 1940s estate.  It is a beautiful spot to paint.  This was done in three sessions over a week or so.  Sorry for the poor photo - iPhone!

Moonlight Nights

"Moonlight Nights", 18 x 24, Oil on Panel

This painting is still a work in progress but it is mostly done and I have put it away until I can look at it with fresh eyes.  There is a group of really fine artists who post their work on Instagram and occasionally there is a "challenge" of some sort.  This was done for "the poetry of place" challenge which was started by Donald Jurney and has continued on for the past few weeks.  A poem is posted every Friday and the participating artists design and execute and a painting based on that poem.  This weeks poem is from Bernard Howe:

The clear sky seems to glow,

with the moon so big and bright.

Lighting up our hill sides,

with an iridescence light.

The shadows hide amongst the trees,

whilst I listen to the gentle breeze.

A night time opera in front of me,

a magical moment under a grand marquee. - Bernard Howe from "Moonlight Nights"

Happy November

"Rain on the Horizon", 6 x 6 , oil on panel

Wow!  I didn't realize I had been absent so long!  I have been working daily and posting pieces as they are finished on Instagram where there is a great community of like minded artists who do some incredible work.  (You can follow along on instagram at www.instagram.com/eden.compton if you are interested.)  It is tiny painting season again and I have lots of little works in progress for the holidays.  Some will be available at Sorelle Gallery in Albany and some will be available at a new online gallery called Spa City Fine Arts.  I will do a post on Spa City Fine Arts tomorrow.  Hope everyone is enjoying the Fall which seems to be turning prematurely to winter already.

Lingering Mist

Study for "Lingering Mist", 8 x 8, oil on panel
Click Here to Bid at Daily Paintworks


This started as a plein air piece done in the middle of a summer day.  I decided it needed a little more mood and changed the time of day to early morning.  I like it much better.  I am going to start putting some of my studies on the Daily Paintworks auction page - starting with this one!  I will also be selling some of my smaller studies and paintings through an online gallery this Fall.  Stay tuned for details!

Twilight at the Lake in Cape Cod

"Twilight at the Lake", 11 x 14, plein air on panel

This photo is picking up strange accents but it was taken with an iPhone so that's about it.   I think the contrast and the purples are over emphasized.  This was a painting started on location at a lake near Dennis on Cape Cod.  It was the end of a beautiful day on the Cape.  I was initially taken with the shape of the trees against the water.  I did a lot of work in the studio on this.  Maybe too much.  I will leave it for a while and look at it with fresh eyes in a couple of weeks.

New Cityscape Study

Study for "Broadway Drizzle", oil on linen panel, 8 x 8

The reds are a little over saturated in this photo.  This is a study for a larger painting that I am starting today.  The larger piece will be 20 x 20.  I am going to emphasize the glow from the windows with a lot of glazing and transparent layers.  I will post a progress shot this weekend (hopefully)!

Cool Morning

Study for "A Cool Morning", 9 x 12, oil on linen panel

This is a plein air piece started in Newport a couple of weeks ago.  I did not spend enough time working out the composition before I started so I have struggled with it for the past week or so.  My main area of concern was the bottom right corner.  I had to make up the rocks and tree there so that the composition was more than just three horizontal bands.  I think I will let it sit for a while.  Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!


Revised painting as of 9/3:  I had to move that big boulder in the right hand corner.  It was heavy ; )

Morning on the Marsh

"Morning on the Marsh", 9 x 12, oil on linen panel

This is still a work in progress.  The building is an old convent in Newport.  The actual scene had a road running straight to the convent with the marshy area on the side.  It wasn't that interesting so I used my artistic license to change it (thank you Donald Jurney for that license)!  I have been trying to use instagram more often because it is easier to post images from my iPhone.  I will try to remember to post here when I post on instagram as well.  Or just come over to IG and follow me!

A Rumor of Autumn

Study for "A Rumor of Autumn", 9 x 12, oil on linen panel

Don't Panic!  It's not Autumn yet!!  It's not even close.  I painted this study plein air in the Blackstone River Valley last week with Donald Jurney and a few other fantastic painters.  You can follow all of them on instagram (@donaldjurney, @paulbatch, @briandmartin - I know I am missing a couple but you will see them on Donald's thread).  The orange colors in the foreground are the underpainting showing through.  I actually did not intend to make the scene look like Fall but Donald suggested the name and I decided to let it stay Autumn.  I still have work to do on the water and the tree on the left but I am going to put it aside for a while.

Salmagundi Club

"Cinemas", 18 x 24, Oil on Linen

I'm pleased to announce that my oil painting "Cinemas" has been accepted into the Salmagundi Club's Annual Juried Painting & Sculpture Show.  It will be on view in the main gallery of the National Arts Club in New York City from July 28th to August 8th.  Stop by if you're in the city!


UPDATE:  After standing in front of the dark, closed National Arts Club Saturday morning, I read my instructions for drop off to find that the exhibit is at the SALMAGUNDI CLUB on Fifth Avenue. So, it is 47 Fifth Avenue, New York City.  (The same show was at the National Arts Club last year so it was an understandable mistake . . . she said).

Humid Day in Newport

"Humid Day in Newport", 8 x 10, oil on panel

It's been a long time since I have posted here but I have actually been working!  As I have mentioned here before I am working in an indirect manner which takes much longer than painting all prima (in one sitting).  I am also still trying to paint without photo references for at least three months to see if I can improve my memory skills.  This painting was started on site and finished over a few days in the studio from memory.  To make things even more challenging, I am using a new palette which I am still trying to get a handle on.  It is based on Donald Jurney's palette.  He is a New England based painter who does stunning work mostly from his imagination.  He does paint a lot plein air and his drawings are exquisite.  I had the opportunity to meet him in Ogunquit a few weeks ago and I hope to be able to take another workshop with him sometime.  You can see some of his work here.  The palette is unique in that there is no cadmium yellow or red which makes for a softer and more natural color harmony.  He also uses premixed greens which I have never used before.  I'm working on it.  I have a few more pieces in the works.

Foggy Afternoon

Study for Foggy Afternoon, oil on panel, 6 x 8

This little study started as an exercise in atmospheric tonalism.  There are two key ways to create atmosphere:  close values and low chroma color.  I picked one color (green) to use as my jumping off point for all the values and masses in the painting.  All the colors are mixed off of the one green puddle of color.  I was careful to keep the values separate but close.  I like the brushwork in this study.  I also like the underpainting showing through in the foreground as it adds a little sparkle and interest.  After spending the last several months painting in an indirect manner (lots of glazing and waiting) it was liberating to start and finish a study in one sitting.  I used a larger pastel painting of this scene from a few years ago as my guide to composing the sketch.  I may take it a bit further and create a new composition for a larger oil.  

Rain On Broadway

Rain on Broadway, 9 x 12, oil on panel

Forgive the bad photo here.  I only have my iPhone and it really does not seem to take decent pictures of artwork for some reason.  It feels a little strange to be painting cold, rainy street scenes when I am sitting in 85 degree heat in the Caribbean!  Unfortunately, my plans to paint some tropical townscapes have been postponed due to a sailing accident.  I missed a step and fractured my foot!  So, no plein air for a while.  It has been 10 days so far and I am able to walk short distances but am otherwise boat bound at the dock.  So, for now I am working from sketches and references I have of both New York and Saratoga.  Some of the Saratoga paintings will be included in my two person show in Albany later in the Spring.  More details to follow. . .