"Don't Look Back" 8" X 10" Acrylic on Canvas

Don't Look Back by April M Rimpo

I think with this painting I have now painted bicycles sitting at the side of the road, people just out for a ride, commuting to work, in triathlons, and now with Don't Look Back a cycling team on an indoor course.  Perhaps the only cycling activity I have missed is people on mountain bikes.

People often ask if I am a cyclist. I wish I could answer "yes". I haven't ridden regularly since my early 30s when I was trying to get back in shape after the birth of my son.  I am a very clumsy person so the flat terrain around our home in Arizona was perfect for me. During the middle of the morning, before the temperatures rose to their peak, I'd go out to ride. Commuters were off to work and the side streets around our home were fairly empty. There were even wide off-road paths where the clay was baked hard allowing me to travel much like on pavement. I'd often see Roadrunners and occasionally wild animals. We lived near an Indian Reservation that I passed on my ride allowing me to occasionally view a coyote in the distance. It was a lovely time.

For twenty years we've lived in a small East Coast town with narrow winding roads and lots of hills and dales. I haven't ventured out on my bicycle since right after we moved here. I found the constant cars passing me on those narrow roads much too intimidating, knowing how unstable I feel on a bicycle in the first place. My bike sits in the basement awaiting me with the bike helmet poised nearby, tires flat from neglect. But I love to watch cyclists and feel their energy as they fly by, exciting me to paint them and live vicariously through them. 

Don't miss April's other cycling paintings on her website

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Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"Distant Glow" 16" X 44" watercolor by April Rimpo

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.Anne Frank (1929 - 1945), Diary of a Young Girl, 1952

Distant Glow, a 16" X 44" Watercolor by April M Rimpo

For me the beauty of night and the glow of the moon provides a sense of calm and peace over the world.

If this painting speaks to you, please share you thoughts in a comment.

Distant Glow

16" X 44" Varnished Watercolor*

* April's varnished watercolors are presented without a mat or glass. They are very well sealed with no risk that moisture will impact the painting.

Check out two other night scenes by April M Rimpo here.

Click here to Contact April

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Night Scenes by April Rimpo

Nighttime Stroll 30" X 24" Fluid Acrylic
by April M Rimpo

I've started a series of night scenes and wanted to share not only the paintings but a little bit about the pigments I used to accomplish these.

Nighttime Stroll

Fluid Acrylic

30" X 24" *

Quiet Times 11" X 14" Watercolor by April  Rimpo

Quiet Times

Watercolor

11" X 14" *

I often find it is best to experiment with color before starting a painting where I want something different.  In this case, the colors that work best for nighttime scenes are still luminous and not what artists call muddy.  Muddy colors are dull and lifeless.

In the fluid acrylic painting, Nighttime Stroll, I started with pale pastel color in the underpainting that I know would work well for the pale blossoms on the trees and also lend a glow to the rest of the surroundings.  The dark sky was worked second to get an idea of the value range from the lightest areas by the street lights to the darkest areas of the sky. At the very end I wet the entire surface and applied one final coat of the grayed blend of blue I was using in the sky over the entire surface (except by tree near the light) to add continuity and to shroud it all in night. The blend was primarily Indigo with touches of Permanent Alizarin Red, and Yellow Ochre to gray it.  These three colors have recently found there way into several of my fluid acrylic paintings, a new favorite triad of color for me.

Quite Time is watercolor and required a different set of pigments. This time a different triad of Daniel Smith Indanthrone Blue, Permanent Orange, and Hansa Yellow Medium. These were a new combination for me that I found through some research in a blog by Jane Blundell (https://janeblundellart.blogspot.com/search?q=mixing), where she presents complements that make a good "black" and perfect neutral blends.  I chose this particular triad also because it supports not only the dark sky but also a great set of greens that I knew I needed for the foreground. I love how three pigments can be used to create such a wide variety of colors.

I added a fourth color for the light sky areas (Daniel Smith Magnesium Blue). How I decided to use this particular color is a story for another blog post. 

* Both paintings will be varnished and framed. 

Click here to Contact April

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.