I had the pleasure of painting with Brent Jensen today in Golden Gate Park. Brent and I met years ago at a plein air event, and have tried keeping in touch while he’s moved about the country. Check out his work, pretty great, right?
I returned today to a couple icons of the park I’ve painted before: The Conservatory of Flowers (here) and the Golden Gate Pavillion (here, here, and here). Although I’ve painted these subjects before, all the other factors that go into a painting made these unique. The weather was fantastic, the light and sky clear.
Golden Gate Pavillion – Oil on Linen – 12×9″
AVAILABLE IN MY ONLINE STORE FOR $250 
I’m very happy with the color and composition here. I added shadows over the path and grass at the bottom, to create arrow shapes that guide the eye into the painting. My only hesitation with this one is this: the color of the red columns is a close to that of the nearby tree on the right. One the one hand, it ads color harmony to the painting, on the other I wonder if these should have been separated a bit more. Thoughts?
Conservatory of Flowers – Oil on Linen – 12×9″
AVAILABLE IN MY ONLINE STORE FOR $250
This painting of the Conservatory turned out to be more complex that I’d originally thought. Mixing architecture and nature is always a challenge. I’m happy with this one too, expecially the values, which I think read pretty well.
Hi Ed, I haven’t done much plein air painting myself, but have been admiring yours. you captured the conservatory beautifully in this painting, and the trees look so fresh. wonderful! Holly
So, Ed, do you photograph the paintings with a camera or with a phone? The paintings are beautiful.
Ed,
I am not an artist but I do enjoy what I see. I am always amazed at the talent you have and I am glad that I can enjoy it. Your blog helps me to get some background behind the creativity.
Have a great week!
Hi Ed,
As always I admire your work and talent. I simply can only give you commentary from the voice of the unskilled. I love what I see. Your blog gives me some insight to the background behind the creativity. Maybe I can learn something along the way.
To Anonymous: I photograph works larger than 9×12 with a camera, and scan smaller works with a desktop digital scanner. Of course the scanner does a better job, but the cameras are getting better too. These two were photographed with my camera.