Galeria
9x12 acrylic on canvas pad

OK, this one was a real tough one and it is by far my best painting to date. And, I painted it on paper as a practice painting. Go figure. Well, I like it a lot, so will probably frame it and bestow it on some poor soul as a Christmas gift. Or even put it on my own wall. Not the first of my paintings to adorn my own walls.

As for Christmas, I have decided on the scene for the next waterfall painting. Will probably start on it tomorrow. Only 25 days left till Christmas!

Waterfall #4
11x14 acrylic on canvas board

Ok, here is the first of the three waterfall paintings that I am painting for Christmas gifts. Here we have a small stream spilling over a large flat rock and down onto others. A fallen branch of a tree makes up the left side of the flow while yet another rock borders the right. A fairly ok painting. I hope the recipient likes it.

Wave Study #2
9x12 acrylic on canvas pad

Thanksgiving kind of disrupted my painting efforts as holidays and family gatherings do. I have dropped back to painting some simple, and not so simple, studies on canvas pad. First I did some color value studies, but they are not interesting so I won't post them here. Then I decided I wanted to do some wave studies. Well, Wave Study #1 was a complete failure and ended up in the trash, which is why I use canvas pads. It's just paper, after all.

Anyway, I didn't like the lesson I was trying to do from one of my books. So I found one on the internet and followed it. The result is Wave Study #2 above. It turned out nice, but I was following step by step instructions so it should. Just trying some new things and seeing what works for me. I have done a few waves in the past. I want to be able to paint seascapes, landscapes, skyscapes, and still lives whenever the fancy takes me. Might also toy with abstract but that's down the road. You need to know how to do it right before you deliberately do it wrong.

But I have 3 paintings, at least, I need to do for Christmas gifts and haven't really decided what subjects. Most likely a landscape with a waterfall. After all, if I do all 3 on similar subjects the recipients can't say so and so got a better one. I have some 11x14 canvas boards that I will probably use. You'll see them here when I finish them. 24 November already, no pressure.

Miles of Snow
16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas

Well, Thanksgiving in the US is Thursday, so I decided to paint a snow scene with a nice little cozy cabin. Inside the little cabin's warmth people prepare for the another day of snow and cold. Yesterdays snow melt has made a muddy mess of the road and refroze so the ice reflects the sky. Nice image for a nice painting.

An interesting bit of coincidence. I finished this painting just before going to work on the mural today and while there, a call went out for paintings featuring a snow scene to enter a contest. I said, why not? I will attempt to enter Miles of Snow next Tuesday after the long holiday weekend. But that leads to a dilemma. I had painted this for a Christmas present and I have no more 16x20 canvas. It is Black Friday week and any store is an absolute nut house all this week. I may just buy some canvas online and paint small for a few days to avoid the stores and the traffic.

I'll give you an idea of how crazy it is. I went to get burgers for dinner yesterday to a place less than 10 minutes away. It is in a little shopping center across from a Target. Down the boulevard (6 lane major street) is a very large mall plus a couple of other shopping centers. It took me 90 minutes to get home due to the traffic! I could have walked and been home faster. I was rather irritated you might say.

Waterfall #3
8x10 acrylic on canvas board
But it at https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940/artwork

 Decided on another waterfall down a rocky channel. No trees this time, just rocks and water. I have always liked waterfalls. I nearly fell from the top of Wallace Falls in Washington when I was a teenager. Standing on a log and didn't realize nothing but waterfall was below me. Freaked me out but I carefully crawled my way off that log back onto the actually bank of the falls. Couple months later Air/Sea Rescue had to pluck some girl off of that same log because she froze and was too scared to move. Got to admit, the view from that log was spectacular. 250 feet straight down. This was before it became a national park.

Dead Tree Swamp
16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas

Another big picture with lots of detail. Problem is I've run out of this size canvas. Probably gesso over a few old paintings I don't like to reuse them. Anyway, I did this one with the idea of giving it as a Christmas present. The good thing about painting every day is that you have lots of potential gifts.

Beginnings
8x10 acrylic on canvas board
Buy it at https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940/artwork

Well, painted a couple of birds so now why not an egg? My latest painting "Beginnings" is simply a cracked egg lying in the grass. Is it a still life, landscape, nature painting? Don't know what to classify it as, but it is an interesting painting and you can check it out on my gallery page.

Raven on a Rock
8x10 acrylic on canvas board
Buy it at https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940/artwork

Well, the crow study from yesterday was a success so I decided to try it again, this time with a background. I always see paintings of birds on bushes, tree limbs, fence posts, and the like, which is fine and I will probably do the same. But I decided to paint this bird on a rock in a field of rocks. I do rocks pretty good. The birdy came out nice, too. I am going to list this one my gallery page, so check it out. You can always look at the others while your at it.

Study of a Crow 1
9x12 Acrylic on Canvas Pad

Today I started by doing this study of a crow. I did a drawing of one yesterday and wanted to see if I could paint one. Only used Ultramarine Blue, Mars Black, and a little Titanium White. The end result, as you see, was quite satisfactory. I then did the background for a painting that I plan to make the focus a raven or a crow. I will work on that more tomorrow.

Derelict Church and the Hangman's Tree
16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas

Well, here is another new painting. This painting started out as an exercise from a library book on painting acrylic landscapes but my colors were coming out darker than I wanted. I know that I could have easily fixed it and that the later stages of the painting would have lightened it up anyway, but the subject matter (an old church on a lake with a dead tree in the foreground) and the time of year it is (plus the fact I watched a bunch of scary movies lately) I decided to have some fun with it. I made the church run down with missing slats and door, then I added a few grave stones to its left. Furthering the Halloween feel of it, I added a hangman's noose, fungus, and a flock of ravens. I also put in a mushroom faerie ring just for grins. I thought of adding a jack-o-lantern or a headless horseman, but didn't think I could pull it off. Anyway, who said every painting has o be serious? I hope you like my late for Halloween painting "Derelict Church and the Hangman's Tree". It was just a for the fun of it painting, after all.

Chili Duo
11x14 Acrylic on stretched canvas
Buy it at https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940/artwork

Well, here is the other still life I did. I painted Chili Duo back in early August. A study on how to paint round objects and make them look 3 dimensional. Though this was a class lesson and not a serious painting, it still came out pretty good. So, now you have seen all the still lives that I have done, except for one that was so horrible I reprimed  the canvas and painted something else on it. Believe it or not, I have several other paintings waiting for the same repriming treatment. Not every effort is good.

An interesting aside about yesterday's mural session. The professional artist in charge of the project asked me to teach her how I paint rocks. It is a sure sign you're getting better when a professional that has been doing it for decades wants to learn your technique. Yeah, ok, big ego boost. But you take it anyway you can get it.

Milk Bottle
10x8 Acrylic on Canvas Board
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940/artwork

My latest attempt at a still life. Milk Bottle came out really good. Used only a few colors. Background is cadmium orange and white while the milk bottle is white mixed with a little primary blue. The table is burnt umber and white. The straw is pthalo blue and the shadow is a mix of primary blue dioxazine purple, and burnt umber with a little white on the bottle. Overall, very nice.

Waterfall
10x8 acrylic on canvas board

My newest painting, Waterfall, finished this morning. The painting is of a waterfall between the moss covered rock walls of a deep gorge with a large overgrowth of fir or cedar trees on the left side. A few trees have fallen into the gorge and have become wedged across and above the rushing water. Waterfalls, moss covered rocks, and trees seem to be what I like to paint most. Of course, they are beautiful to look at.

Sorry for no post yesterday. I started reading a book and my reading session turned into a long nap that ended at about 7AM this morning. It is a good book, but I was just completely ragged out. It happens.

Footbridge
8x10 Acrylic on stretched canvas

Ok, here is Footbridge, my newest painting. I worked on this off and on most of today after doing all the background work yesterday. A large amount of the time was working on the bridge and its reflection. I did work on the walkways yesterday, but reworked a lot of it because I had the bridge coming into grass on the right side. Minor fix and, after adding some highlights for the pea gravel and some fallen leaves, the walkway looked good. The muck floating around in the water in the foreground was an interesting challenge, but it also came out really good. I will definitely be listing this on my gallery, so click on the link and check it out. Maybe even bid on it if you like it.

Curious
12x16 Acrylic on stretched canvas

Here is another painting from August. My first chicken. I don't know if I want to specialize or not. Now, I just paint whatever tickles my fancy, though I do more landscapes than anything else. Including the one I am working on now that, once again, is not finished for tonight's post. Maybe I am choosing to specialize, but I don't think so. I just haven't tried too many other things yet and I am more familiar with landscape painting. They say beginning artist's usually do still lives first, but I've only done three. All three were really good, though. I've posted two of them in this blog already. I need to show you the third one. Next time a new painting isn't finished I will post it. Anyway, I hope you like my chicken. I have called this painting 'Curious Hen", "Curious Chicken", and "Curious Rooster". I have decided to just name it "Curious".

Morning by a Waterfall
20x16 Acrylic on stretched canvas 

Well, here it is. This is the painting I have been working on for the last three days. Morning by a Waterfall was loosely based on the final exercise in one of the books I have been studying but I have modified it quite a bit. Started with the sky and mountains, of course, and when I had them the way I wanted I did waterfall, rocks and grass. Had to redo the grass on the right and then put the tree over it anyway.  Did the water in the foreground and then the trees. Added the final touches (the bling, as one artist calls it) and finished.. Oh, and had to sign it.

Also worked on the mural today. My garden is coming along nicely. There is a mural repair project coming up that I might get a chance to work on. Kind of hoping that works out. Plus, I might get some paintings exhibited soon. More on that as it develops.