The Winds Went Singing By

16"x20"  acrylic

The poetic title of this piece is from an Emily Dickinson poem about the clover blossom.  I painted this with my fellow artists Mary Crowley and Rae Newell.  We were all inspired by the same image, and Rae and I had very similar compositions, but each of our styles are quite different.  Mary's ended up being beautiful pastel colors in a swirling, Van Gogh-like background and Rae's had a soft brownish background with her signature "out of focus" background.  I thought the literary reference of them dancing in the wind was appropriate, hence, my title.  Can you hear the bee buzzing over them?

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Crossings

This painting is mostly in mid-values.  High contrast paintings have more drama so this was a challenge.  It was a bright, cloud filled day, so the shadows are almost non-existent. My darks are kind of scattered, and I am not sure it works very well.  What do you think?

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Quintessetial

6"x6" oil

I felt like this landscape saved me!  I haven't painted a new painting in a while because I have been framing, making new panels and getting ready for a show.  I have revised a few and touched up several, but after a bit, I always feel insecure about whether I still can do this.  I think this image is more yellow than the painting.  It was dark and raining out so I photographed it in artificial light.  Maybe I will rephotograph it tomorrow.  Landscapes are pretty stress free as paintings go so this was a good warm up for me.  I tried to do a floral painting but it was awful and I wiped it off.  I have been doing a lot of drawing lately as I am teaching a few drawing classes in July.  Now I need to transition back into painting.

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Johar

5"x7" oil

This is Johar.  I met her at a coffee shop where she worked in Washington DC.  I was on my own visiting galleries and taking photos like a crazed tourist when I decided I needed a sit-down and cup of coffee.  Johar was my server and I was not only captivated by her beauty and interesting hair, but by her presence...her genuine sweetness.  This was a quick portrait, but I really wanted to capture her spirit, and her image.  It worked and I got to mix some of my new brilliant blue paint into the skin tones.  New paint....it really is like having a new color crayon!  I am going to email this to Johar, because she was gracious enough to let me photograph her.  I am trying really hard to understand the differences between what you actually see and what a photograph offers.  It is a hard thing to get, but it is worth it for me because I really like painting from images I capture, especially when I am traveling.

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Hand Study

6"x6" oil

This was a great exercise to get me back in to painting.  It was offered as a DPW challenge by Claudia Hammer. I chose three values in different colors and a background color.  I painted on a panel that I had previously painted on and sanded down.  The colors were pretty dark originally so even with the sanding, it showed through and gave variation to the background which I blocked in first, thus removing the distraction.  I started with the lightest light (Jaune Brilliant) then the darkest color in the hands (Alizarian Crimson) and then used Cadmium Orange for the mid-value.  I mixed a bit to come up with the suggestion of the sleeve.  I deliberately tried to keep it loose and simple.

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Attitude

16"x20" acrylic

I am back from traveling and ready to paint!  This is a demo for a beginners class at the Chaffee Art Center.   Everyone had a good time and some really nice paintings came out of it.  I focused on creating the design using geometric shapes and how to create varying brushwork.  When I do these demos I don't feel like I am painting subject matter that is most exciting to me, rather I try and choose a few things that offer teachable moments and subjects that are interesting and simple enough to not be intimidating.  I am still refining how I do this; the learning curve for me seems to be infinite!  On another note, I went to Washington, D.C., a city of abundant free museums and excellent artwork!

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Rooster

16"x20" acrylic

This is a painting I did in planning for the class I am teaching June 12 at the Chaffee Art Center.  I went pretty abstract with the front lower and right sides, with the suggestion of foliage.  I planned it out mathematically first which was different and fun.  Click here for the demo slideshow.

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Patterned Pears

8"x8" acrylic

This painting was inspired by Nancy Colella's patterned painting exercises.  I am not sure I got it right, but it was fun to try and I do like the graphic effect.  The idea is to flatten the colors and values so that they are represented by a specific shape and then use lines to add compositional interest.  I think I will try this again tomorrow.

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Lobster Buoys

8"x8" oil

I have not painted as much as I would like but I have been artistically busy.  I went to the Vermont Arts Council retreat for 2 days this week on the invitation of the Director, Carol Driscoll, of The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center and not only got to stay the very cool Grand Isle Lake House, but also got to meet and see how the minds of some very smart and creative people work.  I did a demo for the Chaffee Art Center Open Studio event this past weekend.  So my question is:  how loose is too loose?  In the above painting, I kept it very loose because I wanted to pack up and go home.  The environment was challenging for me because there were some significant distractions,  I thought about working on it some more in my studio, but the more I looked at it the more I liked it as is.  I know what I painted (lobster buoys hanging from a rack which also holds an inverted row boat).  At first I was really interested in the shadows and light falling across the rowboat, but then the dancing shapes of the buoys just looked so cool to me that cut loose of the highlights on the boat.  I also thought that more detail would only confuse the composition.  Anyway, I would love to know what you think!

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Memorial Day

As I promised on my blog and Facebook page I am giving away 3 abstract paintings this month. I printed up the names of folks who signed up for my newsletter and put those in one pile. Another pile was for those of you who liked my Facebook Fanpage or Friended me, and finally if you made a comment on my blog, or subscribed to it, you were entered for the third give-away.  I took all of the names and randomly drew one for each painting.  Unbelievably when I drew the name for the newsletter, it was ME! Seriously, I forgot I was the first person to sign up for my own newsletter and I won!  Well obviously that won't work, so I disqualified myself, and all my relatives (sorry).  Next time I am going to use one of those services that chooses names randomly! So, here are the winners:  Scott Garren,  the next one is Celia Blanco, and finally, the last painting goes to Linda McBain.  Thanks you for participating and I hope you enjoyed my newsletter!

I am auctioning a painting to aid Oklahoma tornado recovery efforts.  Go here to see painting or to bid.

Queue

8"x10" oil

I have been busy (who isn't) having my biannual panic attack about having too much stuff and needing to purge.  It is easy to avoid the process because it is so time consuming and there's no tangible benefit until everything is organized, at the dump or donation shop.  Art supplies are my worst offense because I always think I need everything.  My big goal (along with the millions of drawers, closets, cabinets, etc) is to really ruthlessly clean my studio and set it up for maximum utilization as well as aesthetics.  I thought saying it out loud (aka blogging about it) would make it seem more doable but in actuality, I am feeling the panic more acutely!!!!   I  picked it up and it is already organized, and I got a bunch of boxes for the sorting/purging part....then...... I painted this quick acrylic as a reward.  Purging comes next week!  Speaking of next week, if you live in the area, I have a painting class Wednesday night at the Chaffee Downtown...come down and have some fun!
This is Vermont's Open Studio weekend.  Hope everyone has a great time this holiday weekend.  What are you doing?

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By the way, Sunday is the last day to enter my triple painting give away!  This is how:

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Vingnette

I got my good camera back from the shop and this is a much better image of yesterday's painting.  I decided to post this one separately so I would have  reminder of the importance of good photography!  Instead of painting this afternoon, I sat in the sun with a friend and "chilled" away a few hours and then ran a couple of errands (getting my camera).  I loved not accomplishing many "things."  I am not painting tomorrow because I am going to Boston with artist friends to see the Michelangelo exhibit!!!  and, in the "ya just got to keep on trying" category I was finally able to put my little demo slide video on the sidebar of my blog! Yeah!

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Vignette

7.5"x7.5" oil

This is by-far the worst photo I have posted.  "Why bother posting it?" you ask.  Well I am honestly feeling overwhelmed with all the computer related things I am having to learn to make progress, and to get a good photo I need to learn a whole lot more!  I am in "sitting behind the computer" twilight zone!  So I really like this painting and I will re-photograph it.  It is a study in greens and they are all different, and so are the yellows and the reds!  It is actually much more interesting than it looks with lots of subtleties and variations.  Ugh!  Oh well...greens are special...they require attention and work and I really wanted to figure them out.  I am not done with this theme, but I learned that cadmium yellow light is a great mixing color, where Indian yellow makes most greens look a bit orangish.  Green Gold can be accomplished by mixing Sap green and Cadmium Yellow light.  Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) and Phthalo Blue (Red Shade) are very versatile and a lot of fun.  I also learned that doing abstracts is not easy or without some frustration!  Have I bored you yet?  If not, tell me what you know about greens!

Difficulties of trying to be a techie

So...I am doing Leslie Saeta's 30 day marketing challenge.  Today she showed us how to re-size YouTube videos to put on our blog so we can show examples of demos, etc.  So I figured out the re-sizing part, but when I tried to get my video to show, a different one came up: "Ali G On the Environment."  I watched it...he is a British rapper-comedian and it is quite funny so I decided to leave it until I can figure out what I am doing wrong.  If you have any insight please let me know!
And, once again, I am giving away 3 paintings so enter to win one of them by:

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or to leave a comment go here

You will not receive junk mail or your address will not be given out...ever!

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These are the three paintings:

Each painting is 5"x7" oil on panel (unframed)

Together Alone

If you think this looks a lot like the painting I posted yesterday, you would be right!  This is a larger version I did as a demo for a class.  I also did two of these for a (dated) challenge for Daily Paintworks to do two paintings that are the same but different.  This one I painted in acrylic first very quickly to lay down the local colors, then I applied oil alla prima.  Which one do you like better?  I haven't decided what I am going to do with this painting yet.
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Here are the two paintings side by side.  The first one is actually 1/2 the size of the second.

Alone Together

8"x10" oil

What kind of paintings do you like? I have been thinking about all the different things I do, and my favorites run the gamut of subject matter. "Alone Together" This was a oil practice demo I did for a recent painting class of beginners painting in acrylic. I also did one in class in acrylic on a larger canvas. 

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Snack Time

8"10" oil Commission SOLD

It was the perfect weather day. I did some gardening, and really should have claimed it a not "sick day" and just go for a hike....but no...I stuck to it and got caught up on a few things. This painting is a commission based on a previous painting I did. The growler is occasionally filled with one of Vermont's famous micro brews and if you drop by, my husband would gladly share it with you!

Ready, Set, Go!

8"x10" acrylic

This is the determined "Tom Boy" Princess (is Tom Boy PC???)!   Look good and ride fast!  She reminds me of Pippi Longstockings a bit!  To purchase this painting go here. I painted this while visiting my mom who is also a painter.  She paints in acrylics so I did too. Here is an example of her work:

Finally, I am giving away 3 paintings so enter to win one of them by:

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To sign up for my blog (go to the right column and enter your email address in the 3rd box down)

or to leave a comment go here

You will not receive junk mail or your address will not be given out...ever!

To go to my website click here
To see my DPW gallery go here 

These are the three paintings:

Each painting is 5"x7" oil on panel (unframed)

3 Painting Give Away

I am going to give away, not one, not two, but three abstract paintings!  One for signing up for my newsletter. One for subscribing to my blog (or if you leave a comment if you are already a follower) and one for "liking" me on Facebook.  The winners will be announced at the end of May, when my newsletter comes out.  Here is where you go to enter:

To sign up for my newsletter go here
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To sign up for my blog (go to the right column and enter your email address in the 3rd box down)

or to leave a comment go here

You will not receive junk mail or your address will not be given out...ever!

To go to my website click here
To see my DPW gallery go here 

These are the three paintings:

Each painting is 5"x7" oil on panel (unframed)

Tonal Jazz

5"x7" oil

This painting is the third in a group I have done.  I have decided to give away all three this month!  I will be posting a contest the next couple of days, so if you like abstracts, then keep an eye on this.  All three paintings were the result of color studies.  This one is actually a study in mixing grays and each gray on this piece is made from a different mixture of colors, not including any color of black or gray.  I really enjoyed doing these and may continue with this abstract trend.

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