Nancy Brown

PAINTING THE LIGHT

2011-05-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

2011-03-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

South Street Sea Port

2010-11-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

New Paintings

2010-11-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

New York, New York

2010-08-22T07:30:00.001-07:00

SUMMER IN TIMES SQUARE

Here are some of my paintings I've completed this summer. I am working on portraits and street scenes mainly right now. This painting is from a week I spent in Manhattan this summer. Being there so long allowed me to go to many various neighborhoods and to explore and photograph. I love the action and beauty of the city during the day. Riding the subway always provides great people subjects. SoHo, The Village, and China Town all provide amazing subjects. The museums are great for portrait subjects. Staying in the city allows me to really become inspired by the architecture and people. The painting of Times Square is painted from one of the many photos I took. I added the figures in the front because I was there at dusk when it wasn't so crowded. What a crowd!

Midtown Manhattan

This watercolor is from my summer painting also. The flags are so beautiful going down the street, and that is what I focused on along with the crowd. Using ultramarine blue and brown madder dripping washes helped to simplify the busy buildings. I paint on an easel which keeps the paint flowing to create mysterious colors bleeding together. Usually I just let the paint do its job without a lot of fussy strokes.

Metropolitan

I have been working on a series of museum portraits. I love photographing people enjoying the beautiful paintings. This watercolor is of my daughter at the Metropolitan observing a portrait. The colors are soft and muted and I like the room leading you back to create depth. We spent half a day at the MET. It really inspires one to paint and paint!

Claudus

I asked Claudus to pose for this portrait this summer. The painting is mainly to focus on the face so I used a soft blue for the shirt and chose a simple background.

Street Scenes California Style

2010-05-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Quito Palace
What a Great way to paint. I put all my paints and easel outside on my deck in the sunlight. Painting with the natural light and upright on an easel is the best way to paint. You see all the right values immediately. This style uses primary colors by blocking in color loosely with little blending or detail. Balancing the color is challenging and the result is fresh and clean. This painting basically painted itself once I established the layout.

Cobalt Fountain

This Painting has a jewel like quality because it glows. I think the colors are fairly balanced and this is important when painting in this style with bold colors. My friend is a flight attendant and these paintings were painted from his photos. He's a good photographer. You need good composition in all paintings and a good photographer helps for reference. Adding figures is a great way to enhance and personalize a street scene.

Early Morning

Passing Glance

This portrait was painting loosely without thinking of the end result so much. This is the way I paint now very free and just enjoying the fun of painting. The end result is often a surprise. I like to pick transparent glowing colors mainly, and let my color blend on the paper.

People and Street Scenes

2010-04-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Quito Ecuador - Sunlit

Spring Break

Chris

People and Street Scenes

2010-03-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Equador

Manhattan Crossing

Cow Girl

Girl with Earring

People and Street Scenes

2010-01-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

At The MET

This is a painting close up in the sculpture Garden at the Met. I cropped the photograph I took that day and focused only on the people taking a break. The lead in to the statue allows the eye to enter the painting and go in to the statue creating depth.

Summer in the City

This is a painting of Manhattan I just completed. I photographed everything and this was a street scene with a good arrangement of people. The main colors are blue and black. To get this spot like glow, I painted dark to light and kept everything as a silhouette.
Table by the Window

I'm still working on this and am not sure how much more detail will be added. It's kind of whimsical but I like the effect of the light at the window.

Manhattan - 6th Ave.

I painted this recently all in shades of blue. This painting gave me a feeling of walking with the people and the energy of the city.

Caroline

This is my daughter in Bethany Beach, Delaware. I painted this after a trip down to the beach. We were biking and looking for good subjects to paint. I photographed Caroline at the Addy Sea Bed and Breakfast on the front porch in a rocking chair. The light was great and this is the result.

Portraits and Figures

2009-11-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

Title: Sun Drenched

This is a painting I did of my daughter Caroline on our back deck with strong sunlight. This painting was painted with flowing paint allowing the paint to mix on the paper with little detail. I think that the eyes slanting down and the light creates drama. The dark background was done with several layers allowing the color to show through with each layer. The face was also painted in that technique.

Title: Pearl Earring

This is a painting of someone i saw recently with interesting facial features, and I asked if I could take her picture. After painting two frontal views I tried this profile with a unique background and liked it best. The face was done loose letting all the color flow together. I strived for little detail and tried not to go back and overwork the face. The background is done with three layers of color and blue green gouache is applied in a random pattern over it. This allowed the figure to pop against the background.

Title: The Reader

Strong light defines the shape of this portrait. The figure is in deep contemplation. I used only the three colors red, yellow, and blue.

Crabs by the Bushel

2009-10-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

This painting won first place at the Delaware Watercolor Society's Annual Exhibit this month in Wilmington, Delaware. The exhibit is at Grace Church and runs through the end of Oct. I tried to capture a fleeting moment of crab packers as they worked. I used a limited palette that helped to create an interior of a packing shack.

Pug in Manhattan

2009-10-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

The girl is texting and eating lunch while poor little pooch sits and waits for his walk.. I love the composition! The background wall is going to be grafitti posssibly.

Musicians

2009-08-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

Portraits

2009-08-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

I painted this portrait of a man after my trip to New York City this summer. My daughter and I traveled around the city photographing people and street scenes.

This painting below is titled Afternoon in Verona. This was painted to show the light on the figures. I liked the way the figures are connected to form an interesting negative space as well.

This summer I have been working on casual portraits of people. I have been experimenting with backlighting to create drama.

2009-08-09T17:54:00.000-07:00