Dusk at Devil's Den by Amy Lindenberger

Over the winter I spent some time studying the work of Richard McKinley, a pastel painter who has developed a technique of working with an underpainting of either thinned oil paint, pastel rubbed to a smooth finish or blended with water or a solvent, or watercolor. I admire his work tremendously and decided I'd like to try to adapt his methods to my own colored pencil landscape paintings using watercolor pencil as an underpainting.

So here's my first attempt, based on some photos I took this past summer on the Gettysburg battlefield in the "Devil's Den area. The photos were quite dark and didn't show much color, so I had to enhance the color based more on my memories of what I actually saw as I was taking the photos.

Ever-Vigilant by Amy Lindenberger

This is another in my series of winter monument scenes on the Gettysburg battlefield. (I seem to keep incorporating these bare trees in these compositions -- I really enjoy them!) Most times I've seen the monuments portrayed in paintings, they're pretty straightforward views of the figure and its pedestal. I'm intrigued by finding ways to crop them to make them look more alive and active. And I intentionally placed the figure to the extreme right of the composition, even though he's looking that direction and my composition teachers probably wouldn't be thrilled. But I thought the placement helped convey the concept that the trees were as important to this piece as the soldier.

You may view more of my Civil War-themed work at www.CivilWarFineArt.com. For a look at the other types of work I pursue, please visit www.AmyLindenberger.com.

Winter's Warriors by Amy Lindenberger

I feel a little "out of the loop", today, since with out-of-town guests over the holidays this is the first chance I've had to post anything in a few weeks. (I have at least had a little time to look at what my fellow PA artist have been posting and have really enjoyed the posts!) This is the first of several pieces I've done depicting portions of some of the monuments on the Gettysburg battlefield in winter. The tones in the granite statue reminded me a great deal of the tones in the surrounding winter landscape: various values of greys and brown. Working on these pieces gave me a new appreciation of the statues -- many are really unbelievably intricate in their detail.

This colored pencil drawing on Canson Mi-Teintes paper is available for purchase, and is also featured on one of my "Scenes of Gettysburg" notecards. You can view all of my Civil War-themed work online at my primary website, www.CivilWarFineArt.com, and information about the other types of artwork I pursue, workshops I teach, etc. at www.AmyLindenberger.com.

Early Morning Solitude by Amy Lindenberger

I was feeling chilly today and thought this might warm things up a bit! This is a view of the Henry Culp Farm in Gettysburg, from the park road where I love to walk. This was done in colored pencil from a group of photos I took, and if you happen to get over there, you'll pick up on the photographic distortion immediately -- seen firsthand, the house would be much larger. But I thought it made a nice composition anyway, and the intense colors were very appealing. This was a small piece -- somewhere around 8" x 10" and sold the first time I showed it. The image is still available as one of my "Scenes of Gettysburg" note cards. Hope you enjoy it.

To see more of my Gettysburg and Civil War-themed work, please visit my website: http://www.civilwarfineart.com/
For a look at other types of artwork I pursue, please visit http://www.amylindenberger.com/.