Stork in Flight
8x10 acrylic on Fredrix pro series Bavarian linen canvas
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/gregory-cross-8940

I've been wanting to paint a large bird in flight for quite some time so I decided to try a stork. And I decided to do it on a linen canvas, so it will not be one of the paintings I am going to take to the craft sale next Tuesday. This one is going on my DPW gallery, for starters. I do have a few of the canvas panels left and I still have a week to crank out a couple more for the sale. We'll see. Anyway, the bird turned out pretty good.

Silence Before Dawn
11x14 acrylic on canvas panel

I rented a table at an upcoming craft show to see if I can sell some of my growing stock of paintings and maybe get some cash for some new supplies. I started painting today to maybe add a few more for people to choose from. I didn't really start out to make this like a dark dawn sky before the sunrise, but the painting took on a life of its own. The final painting has absolutely nothing to do with the reference I was using to start with. About the only similarities are that it has a sky, some land, and water. It did end up an interesting painting, though.

Mountain #3
8x10 acrylic on Fredrix Pro series stretched Bavarian linen canvas
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/gregory-cross-8940

Hopefully these interruptions to my painting time will eventually stop. I've spent enough time this week dealing with government bureaucracies and tires with nails in them.  I did get some painting done. Among some practice work learning different brush strokes for different applications I managed to paint this lovely mountain. Mountain #3 turned out quite nice even if I was painting it in bits and snatches around all the brew haha this week.

The Medusa Tree
8x10 acrylic on Fredrix Pro Series Stretched Bavarian Linen
Buy it at:https://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/gregory-cross-8940

Okay, so it's another tree. What can I say? But it is a nice tree and has so many limbs out of the top it reminded me of the Medusa of Greek mythology. Hence, The Medusa Tree. Been a busy week here and trying to find uninterrupted time to paint has not been easy. Still, I managed.

Birds on a Lamp Post
8x10 acrylic on Fredrix Pro Series Stretched Bavarian Linen
Buy it at:https://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/gregory-cross-8940

I am having an issue getting an order of supplies so I made a trip down town and picked up some of these stretched linen canvases. I kept hearing how nice it is to paint on them. Pricey, but it is nice to paint on, so the rumors are true. Anyway, I decided on another interesting sky over a city with church towers in the background and a lamp post with birds in the foreground. Sky and background were all done with color washes and the foreground with opaque black from a mix of Payne's grey and raw umber. The glass of the lamps is Payne's grey and white. A worthy painting for a fine linen canvas.

Lemon and 2 Limes
8x10 Acrylic on canvas panel
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/gregory-cross-8940

OK, back to posting paintings. Here is a new still life "Lemon and 2 Limes". I chose the blue background to keep the colors analogous and set the light coming low from the lower left. Turned out pretty good, I think..

Display at Bihl Haus Art Gallery

Me at the display.

One of my paintings was selected as part of an exhibit at Bihl Haus Art Gallery. So I decided to show you the display. You even get a picture of my ugly mug. The reception for the exhibit was today and I took my youngest son along. We had a good time. I got to talk to a lot of art lovers as well as many of the other artists. Afterwards, we went and had some fantastic bar-b-que. My first reception at an art gallery where I had a painting displayed. I've been jazzed up about it all day. I do have a new painting almost finished and I will post it soon. But I just had to share this. Jazzed, I tell you.

Evil Sunrise
11x14 acrylic on canvas panel
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940

I have painted a lot of paintings since the last one I did with an odd atmospheric effect, so I couldn't resist this one. Evil Sunrise was not hard to paint nor did it take very long since there is very little detail. I don't know why I like to do these weird skies, but its fun. So, hope you like my occasional weirdness.

Lemon Water
10x8 acrylic on canvas panel
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940

Well, after 3 paintings in a row featuringt a tree, I decided to do something different. I decided I wanted to do a still life and one featuring a glass or a bottle. After all, the only painting of mine to date to be actually on display in a traditional art gallery is my "Lilies, Lemon, and Orange" which is not that different from this one. Anyway, I decided to do a sliced lemon in a glass of water. I did a greyed purple background on the bottom half to make the lemon really pop (and it does) and a blue at the top, which works with the lemon slice in the glass. Turned into an interesting painting.

Tree on a Hill Top
10 by 8 acrylic on canvas panel
Buy it at: https://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/gregory-cross-8940/artwork

I tried a new technique with this painting. New to me, though this technique has been around as long as painting. It is known as indirect painting. I did an underpainting in greyscale. or grisaille as it is called, to establish the proper values of light and dark. Essentially, I did the whole scene in black, white and grey in great detail. Once that was done to my satisfaction, I did washes of color to slowly build up the colors of the scene.. Quite a long process but it came out really nice. Unfortunately, the glazing medium is glossy, so it is hard to get a good photo because the light keeps reflecting off of it. Did my best so you could see it, anyway. The composition idea is that your eye, attracted by the light color on the rocks, will be lead to the tree then up the valley. Don't know if I quite pulled it off, but I am happy with the outcome.

I actually like this technique even though it is a bit tedious and time consuming. I put in about 20 hours of actual brush time on this small painting (about 4 times longer than my average for a painting of this size). Now, I won't post a painting in progress nor will I post without a new painting (unless something earth shattering occurs). So, when there is a gap of several days in my posting, know that I am painting but have nothing new to show yet.