Fishing

6"x6" oil

A beautiful day in the summer and the neighborhood is having a group party with lots of pot luck dishes and plenty of things to eat from the grill.  There are horse shoes, frisbees and volleyball.  Someone is playing a guitar around a campfire built to roast marshmallows, not for keeping warm.  But eventually everyone meanders down to the pond to watch the ducks, try their luck fishing, or paddle out in the canoe.  These little people are hoping to catch some minnows or tadpoles.

In the Swing of Things

8"x8" oil

Truth be told, I still love to swing.  I would love to fly if I could, but swinging is an approximation I think.  It is pretty special when you get your first swing.  When I was little, a first swing was a board hung by ropes or a tire swing from a tree and then we would graduate to a rope swing over the creek.  As a young adult I swung from a tree swing that was suspended from a huge tree over a gorge.  That was clearly the most thrilling and the most dangerous and if it hadn't been for my own perceived peer pressure, I would never have done it.  Anyway, this little one is clearly enjoying her first swing in spring.

It Was a Good Ride

8"x10" oil

There is always some apprehension about trying something new.  You go through the checklist of skills you have mastered that should allow you the capability to accomplish the new task, but then there is that tiny bit of hesitation to overcome.  Well, a new slide can be that obstacle and the joy experienced by the fast but safe trip down can be exhilarating.  Do you remember that feeling?  When was the last time you successfully overcame an obstacle and was thrilled by the result?  We all need this in our lives.

Dancing With the Apple Trees

6"x6" oil

The beauty of childhood is that a little girl sees the shape of the apple tree and the abundance of sweet fruit and spontaneously dances with it!  True story.  It is my granddaughter and we had such a lovely day picking apples and eating lunch on a blanket in the shade.  I hope your day is filled with little dances of joy!

Summer Time

8"x8" oil Not For Sale

This is from a photo taken by Dreama Tolle Perry.  She gave those of us who were in her online class, Dream Love Paint, permission to paint from it.  Her painting passion is lovely vingettes with window boxes, flowers, shutters or her cat, Eddie.  She encourages others to paint their passion.  I can be pretty much all over the place in my interests, but mostly I like to paint little people.  I like figurative work in general, but especially children and most specifically my grandkids or children of friends.  I love the work of Karin Jurick who is able to capture people in the most relaxed postures imaginable.  Her work is inspiring, and I am hoping to continue developing my style and subject matter to a level that is different than where I am at today.  Doing daily paintings and studying, learning from others, and from past masters is a good way to grow.

Home School

12"x12" oil

Some paintings almost paint themselves. Even though I was very deliberate about painting this, I did it quite slowly, for me, as I was talking with a friend the entire time I did it.  I like how the limited brushstrokes are able to say a lot.  It has an edgy quality, but there are enough soft edges to balance it out.  I really like the limited primary colors as well.  I painted this over a panel that I had covered up a painting I didn't like.  I had painted it with a turquoise paint I never use because I don't like the consistency of it.  You can see the turquoise showing through here and there, which I think works well.

Catching Up

12"x12" Oil

This couple is in front of Georges Innes's "New Jersey Landscape" shown at the Clark Museum in Williamstown, MA. It is not the typical pastoral scene I associate with New Jersey, but then times have changed the scenery since 1891.  Innes believed that the spirit of God was present in the natural world.  This is what he was trying to convey in his landscapes, and as a result they are very ethereal looking with soft edges he rubbed with a cloth  I need to try that sometime!  My edges are usually pretty evident.

A follower of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, Inness believed that the spirit of God was present throughout the natural world. Although this painting may represent a specific place, the artist was less interested in defining recognizable details than in conveying nature’s immaterial essence, here expressed in finely modulated colors that have been painted with a brush and then wiped with a cloth, so they blend together without contours. - See more at: http://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/15667#sthash.B1kat9qp.dpuf

A follower of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, Inness believed that the spirit of God was present throughout the natural world. Although this painting may represent a specific place, the artist was less interested in defining recognizable details than in conveying nature’s immaterial essence, here expressed in finely modulated colors that have been painted with a brush and then wiped with a cloth, so they blend together without contours. - See more at: http://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/15667#sthash.B1kat9qp.dpuf

A follower of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, Inness believed that the spirit of God was present throughout the natural world. Although this painting may represent a specific place, the artist was less interested in defining recognizable details than in conveying nature’s immaterial essence, here expressed in finely modulated colors that have been painted with a brush and then wiped with a cloth, so they blend together without contours. - See more at: http://www.clarkart.edu/Collection/15667#sthash.B1kat9qp.dpuf

Twilight in Boston

4"x8" oil

This lovely hippie girl is meditating on Childe Hassam's "Boston Commons Twilight." It is a lovely, warm painting.  The young woman caught my attention because of the bell bottom jeans and fringed purse which definitely gave me a Deja Vu moment.

Rooster

6"x6" oil

Thank you
Judy Pritchard O'Hara‎ for allowing me to paint from the photo of your beautiful rooster.  I actually did two paintings of him today, this one is oil, and another one in acrylic on slate.  I am not sure what the attraction is for chickens and roosters, but I have to say, I am drawn to them to paint.

Eban

6"x6" oil commission Sold

 I did this portrait using the technique I learned in the Dream Love Paint workshop, starting with a layer of transparents (see below) and then building up with opaques. 

Exercise 7 Not For Sale

12"x12" oil Not For Sale

This was the final piece in the Dreama Tolle Perry online class.  It was a lot of fun to paint and I am happy with the results.  The five things I am taking away from this course are the following:  1)  Wipe the brush off after almost every brush stroke to keep it clean and not contaminating the clean colors 2) make sure to put my mind and painting environment in the right state to focus on the painting 3)  work steady but don't rush and don't let distractions creep in 4)  Make sure the first layer of paint is darker than you know the final painting will be  5)  set up my palette the same every time and keep it clean.  These are things I had been exposed to and inconsistently practiced, but they really sunk in with this class.  The great thing is that I will have access to the videos for the rest of the year to refresh my mind and also maybe pick up 5 more things.

Exercise 6 Not For Sale

8"x10"  oil Not For Sale

This was fun to paint.  Dreama's colors are so bright and joyful and she chooses images to paint that highlight those beautiful hues.  I really struggle making straight lines though.  I think I need to either avoid them or take a drafting class.  It is a good thing that I do a limited number of architectural subjects!

Exercise 5 Not For Sale

12"x12" oil Not For Sale

This was exercise 5 from the online course Dream Love Paint with Dreams Tolle Perry.  Whenever I go to a workshop I always intend to learn 5 new things.  I limit myself because I know that is all I can really focus on and put into practice consciously.  I don't feel like I need to write everything down because I will probably not look back at my notes even though I have every good intention to do just that.  I have taken several workshops with Dreama but I keep returning because it not only positively influences my work, but because it positively influences my life. I have taken some really wonderful workshops but if I didn't identify those 5 things I would put into practice, I didn't grow as much as I should.  I will tell you the 5 things in the next few posts.

Going Shopping

6"x6" oil

Isn't she cute?

In the Spot Light

6"x6"

My granddaughters were sitting on the floor with the sun glowing on them and I just couldn't resist taking a photo for the purpose of painting it.  I like how clean and spontaneous it looks and want my work to progress in this direction.  So much to learn....

Tea Time

4"x6" oil

I have been taking an online painting class presented by Dreama Tolle Perry #dreamlovepaint.  It is a 6 week course covering 6 of her images and demos with tons of extra material, instructions, tips and inspirations.  It really is jam packed.  She suggested several exercises including one to paint your tea cup (or coffee) in 25 strokes.  This was my effort with a couple of extra highlights and touches with the scraping tool.  It is a great exercise to try now and again.  Carol Marine is also great at suggesting exercises that are good reminders of important basics.

Kate's Kids

6"x6" oil sold

This is another commission.  In the photo reference, which was really washed out and blurry, the kid's feet were cut off..well not cut off, but they were cropped out of the photo, so I decided to put them on a dock and dangle their feet in the water.  I like how they are looking off screen...I wonder what they are looking at.