"Traffic Jam" 8" X 16" fluid acrylic SOLD

Traffic Jam by April M Rimpo

Traffic Jam

Fluid Acrylic

8: X 16"

SOLD

Traffic Jam is another one of those scene that I just had to paint. The combination of the shadowed versus light areas on the hillside and the light on the ferries was mesmerizing. 

The title Traffic Jam is a bit tongue in cheek since this small town on the fjord had essentially no car traffic, but lots of ferry boat traffic. Two huge ships docked in this tiny town made me laugh, but also demonstrated how popular the tours on the fjords are. There may not be a lot of residents but there are a lot of people who want to see the pristine countryside. This was a truly beautiful place with wonderful views everywhere you looked.

You can see more "Traffic Jam" paintings at these links:

• Traffic Jam at the Concert - Concert goes waiting on the ticket takers
• Rush Hour - Enjoy the view when trying to get home
• Traffic Jam III - Cyclists backed up at a crossing
• Full to the Limit - An overloaded canal
• Thoroughfare - Amsterdam: More bikes and trikes than you can believe
• Traffic Jam II - No spot at the port for the incoming boat
• Country Tour - Cars waiting on a bike race
• Trapped - Traffic congestion in a tunnel

Since I'm often asked about my painting process and the pigments that I use I thought I'd include that information in this post. I started by using bubble wrap to dab various soft acrylic colors throughout the tree and grass areas. This adds a lot of texture to the painting.

The Golden Soft and Medium tube acrylics (dabbed on using small bubble wrap):

•         Diarylide Yellow (OPEN)

•         Manganese Blue (hue)

•         Titan Buff

•         Naples Yellow

•         N8 Neutral Gray

•         Pyrrole Red Dark

•         Leaf Green

•         Cadmium Red Light (hue)

•         Cobalt Blue

•         Quinacridone Burnt Orange

•         Phthalo Blue

•         Indigo

Once dry I use fluid acrylics for the balance of the painting. Building color through wet-into-wet application and later I layer more colors to provide depth.

Daniel Smith Quinacridone Coral watercolor mixed with Golden Fluid Matte Medium

Golden fluid acrylic – Cobalt Turquois

Davinci fluid acrylics:

• Quinacridone Gold
• Cadmium Red Medium (hue)
• Leaf Green
• Dioxazine Purple
• Phthalo Blue
• Cobalt Blue

Contact April here

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 2016 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Solo Exhibit at Glenview Mansion: Modes of Transportation

A Clutter of  Kayaks by April M Rimpo

I am delighted that my solo exhibit at Glenview Mansion is almost here. It opens on August 2nd, with a reception from 1:30 - 3:30PM. The theme of my exhibit is "Modes of Transportation."  You will find paintings of cars, trains, ships, sailboats, kayaks, dugout boats, motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, and streetcars; something for everyone. I've been fascinated with painting urban and street scenes for some time and many, but not all, of these paintings fall in that category. A Clutter of Kayaks is a serene painting of several kayakers spending the day on the water. There is also a look at the fate of a car, abandoned by its owner in a field, in More Beautiful with Age. Shipping Port and Freight Yard are two very different views at how we transport goods in and around the United States.

Shipping Port by April M Rimpo

I've become quite hooked on painting cyclists, so you'll see quite a few bicycle paintings in the exhibit. Morning Commute celebrates a group of daily cyclists who ride regardless of weather.  Movement II features a woman who rode in the bicycle race that is routed through our town twice a year.

Movement II by April M Rimpo

I admire people who ride bicycles. I've always been more than a little bit uncoordinated, to the point that, when I turn my head to look for cars, my bike drifts in the direction I look.  It's a problem I have not been able to break, so I admit I don't ride my bike anymore.  The narrow streets in the area where I live feel too dangerous given my "skills." I have, however, learned about the growth of bike trails across America that give me hope that I will be able to ride again. The American League of Bicyclists is a great organization that I have been following recently.  Maybe they will inspire me to get back on the saddle.

The paintings shown here are just a few that you will find in this exhibit. I hope to see you there. The photograph of me with my new custom Custom Candy Bar wrappers is one more reason to attend the reception.  I'll have some of these candy bars with me, so come check out the exhibit.  Someone suggested I make these for each art event I participate with different images of my art;  I thought it was an interesting idea. Let me know if you would collect them.

Hershey Bars with Custom Candy Label of April
with Freight Yard.  Wrapper from www.candywrapperstore.com 

Three other artists also have exhibits at Glenview this month.  They are: Shelley Marie "Naturally Unnatural" mixed media, Caroly Johnson "Illuminations" photography, and Kalin and Thweatt paintings and sculpture. 

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.

"Shipping Port", 10.25" X 24" watercolor

Shipping Port by April M Rimpo

Shipping Port

watercolor 

10.25" X 24" image

16" X 30" brushed silver frame

$615

AVAILABLE NOW FOR PURCHASE HERE

Maybe I should have named this painting "Three Cheers for the Little Tugboat" but it was the cranes in the shipping port that really attracted me to this landscape.  My husband and I were traveling across Puget Sound on a ferry when this port became visible across the water.  The large structure of the cranes and the rainbow hues of the crates stacked at the port are what  caught my eye.  I had fun using very wet and soft washes of the background hill and down into the crates at the port.  I left the soft background to provide a sense of distance, arial perspective.

I layered washes over that soft pastel area to the right of the cranes to add structure to the crates.  Although the ship was in the foreground I simplified shapes on the ship so the lines and structure of the cranes could be the stars of the painting.

"Port of Call" 12.5" X 28.5" watercolor

Port of Call by April M. Rimpo

Port of Call

watercolor

12.5" X 28.5" image

19" X 35" brushed silver frame

$1400

Available for purchase now

Port of Call depicts the hustle and bustle of New York, but this time at the port.  Like my painting Morning in NYC this painting was derived from a photograph I had taken from the Empire State Building. It’s amazing all you can see from the Empire State Building.  The port of call in NYC is across Manhattan Island, but the ships are so large they stand out from the rest of the view.  The bright red ship and the white ship made a natural composition.  All I needed to do was eliminate some of the smaller ships and boats and reduce some of the clutter on the docks to make the scene easier to understand.  After a recent trip to NYC I noticed a train yard with a large number of shipping crates.  I had photographed the crates, so the shipping crate photo was a color reference for crates that are stacked on the dock.

Since the red ship is the star of this painting I wanted most of the scene to be neutral in color to help emphasize the ship, but it was important to have a few additional spots of red to make the ship fit in with the rest of the painting.  There is an adage you hear when you study art that it is important to repeat colors, shapes and line 3 times but to have the repetition be different sizes to make it interesting.  It is often referred to as the Momma, Poppa, Baby Bear rule.   I think I first heard it in a workshop with Chen-khee Chee nearly 15 years ago.  If you look around the painting you will find different spots of red in different sizes where the ship is the Poppa-sized  red.  I think you'll find the Momma red easily, but you may have to work a little more to identify the Baby Bear shapes.

When you read my bio you hear me talk about how I love watercolor because I can work more loosely and freely, letting the paint run and reacting to what is happening.  Even though that is true I also find occasionally doing a painting like this one is very relaxing for me.  Instead of being constantly on my toes deciding what to do based on what is happening with the paint, I work in a very controlled manner allowing me to get the lines in the city correct.  The challenge, however, is to make sure the focal point stands out and is not lost.  My decisions when designing and painting are which details to make clear and which to subdue so they don't detract from the star.

To see other city-scape paintings by April see these other blog posts:

• Morning in NYC
• Street Car
• The Conservatory
• City Reflections I
• Fire Escape
• Department Store

I have limited edition archival prints available of many of these paintings.

• Contant April here

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.


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.