Work To Do

I took a photo in a park forest in Portland, OR, of this person walking down a path with a determined stride.  The big hat and tight posture caught my eye.  I liked how the image is framed by two large Douglas Firs with the light filtering through the background forest.  This is Day 14.

day 10 Slate a walk in the woods11"x14

11"x14" acrylic on slate SOLD

This is a little different.  Firstly, it is a remembered landscape, meaning that I took a drive with my sister-in-law on a back road and decided to study a spot and later paint it from memory.  Two ladies in black with red mittens caught my attention.  To get the feel for a deep forest I dribbled black paint onto the slate first, blowing it around and dripping it until I thought it resembled trees.  Then I painted in the background, path, people and underbrush.  I am experimenting, trying to find the best subject and techniques to use on the slate.  I think I am beginning to come up with a plan that pleases me.  The next few I do will be quite different, so stay tuned in!

Washed Up

8"x10" oil 

First some complaining...I had a really hard time getting good photos today as everything has a glare.  I am re-doing, fixing up, or repainting some things I have previously done.  Although I don't necessarily solve all the problems, I am learning a ton from the exercise and am much happier with the results.  Some artists just stop when it isn't working and start a new painting, but I tend to prefer to work on it until I apply enough of what I know to make it work out satisfactorily, at least to my current standards.  Hopefully the bar will go up in my expectations over time.  This is from one of our gorgeous lakes in a state park and now I don't think it is all washed up! 

Rainy Day

4"x6" oil

This is what I saw driving home from the gym on this rainy day today.  I tried hard to hold it in my head so I could paint it.  I like how it turned out, especially since it is not my usual palette of super-saturated colors!

Going Up

6"x 6" oil

This makes me think about the song "The Bear Goes Over the Mountain."  The excitement of going up, up, up, but not knowing what is on the other side. I think there is magic being in a cathedral of trees with little girls. These figures are itty bitty.  I have been doing a few paintings lately that have miniscule people in them.  I am not sure why I have chosen these subjects, but I am sure that if I do enough, I will figure out how to do them without sweating!

S'mores and Sledding

This is definitely a "Favorite Thing."  Sledding and eating s'mores with my grandkids and their parents on a beautiful winter day in Vermont.   Today I  awoke to a dusting of snow.  Well that is spring in our lovely state and it will melt before noon.  Unfortunately I got a glare on the photo in the bottom right corner.

12"x16" oil

It has been 4 months since I was able to paint or do much of anything.  I am still in recuperation from double knee replacement with some rare complications, but the need to get out to my studio has become pretty over-powering...which is a good thing!  This is the neighbors yard.  Spring in Vermont is mostly patches of snow and ice, lots of mud, and occasional snow shower but we also have sugaring season which makes it all worthwhile.  Sugaring (the process of sugar maple sap running) requires temperatures above freezing in the day and below freezing at night.  Every once in a while, we have absolutely gorgeous days like yesterday and today.  With temps in the 60's and loads of sunshine and blue skies.  The elation that all creatures feel on those days is tangible and everyone is out frolicking at least for a couple of days.

Chairs By the Pond

original oil 8"x8"

This was painted at the end of Sept. when the brightest of the trees were just beginning to change.  Now, only the yellow leaves are clinging to the branches.  It was a very chilly day so I kind of rushed this one and had to do some re-dressing back in the studio.  Everywhere you look there are Adirondack chairs in Vermont.  I think we should come up with a variation and call it "The Green Mountain chair!

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30-30 14,15,16

I am heading out to a Randall Sexton workshop today at the landgrove Inn.  I chose his workshop because I fell in love with a painting he did of an industrial landscape.  I am hoping to pick his brain as we head out for 4 days of plein air painting.

30-30 #8-9

A Second Look

8"x10" oil

I feel like I have been away for years when in fact, it has been 5 1/2 weeks.  My daughter had a beautiful baby girl, Juniper (10lbs. 4 oz. because I know you want to know) and I have been helping them out.  I returned home ready to reclaim my other life.  So I am doing art things, but I found this painting I did before I left and never posted because I wasn't happy with it.  It was an experiment, and now that I have given it some space, it suddenly looks better to me.  There is a lesson in that.  I was taking care of my two preschool grandsons while I was away, and although we did many creative projects every day, I did no painting myself.  This made me really look at my priorities and see that for me, being an artist can't be my one and only focus.  I need times to do the other things, like be a good grandma and mom.  I came to peace with that.  Now I have to rebuild my blog friends who have given up on me over the last month and a half.  So if you see this post, and read it, please make a comment so I know I still have an audience!  And, I do appreciate you so much!

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Artist In the Woods6"x9" oil

6"x9" oil

I like this one because I did it under stress....waiting for the rain to lift so that I can go set up my tent for Art In the Park tomorrow.  I kept it loose and had fun with it.  It actually helped me keep from feeling a bit nervous. If you are in the Rutland, VT, area the next couple of days, please drop by.  It is a really nice event.  I am a newbie.  I hope you enjoy this painting too.

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Roots 4"x4" oil #220

I wanted to try something kind of abstract. When all this snow melts, one of the first signs of photosynthesis is moss growing around the roots of trees in the forest. The pine needles form little islands of reddish brown at the edges of the moss. I just read an article about how you shouldn't put red and green together because it looks seasonal. I always manage to break the rules.