Another View Near Yellowstone

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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This peak is from my husband's trip to Yellowstone. Again, I repeated the cerulean from the sky and clouds in the mountain. This allows your eyes to go easily from one to the other. I also moved the clouds, peak and foothills just a little (artistic license) so that your eyes softly zig-zag back and forth across the painting.

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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There's a lot of sage in South Park. There's a lot of sage all over the west, actually. I wanted to show open land, and brush in the idea of sage. I like painting the upper part of the sky with cobalt and white and the area of the sky near the ground using cerulean and white. I repeated the cerulean in the sage.

Glow over Buffalo Peak

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD


I never tire of sitting on our South Park ridge and enjoying the afternoon clouds. They are different everyday: the values, colors and shapes change every few minutes. Just this view provides me with daily paintings.

Yellow Ochre Clouds

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Our kids, both home for the holiday, are now gone. The house is quiet, empty and a little lonely. I loved having them here. But, I can get back to painting and posting.

The clouds and skies in the sunrises seen from our deck, are strong, bold and bright. I use a lot of cad yellow for these paintings. The morning clouds in South Park, a large semi-open area of Colorado about one hour west of here, are a much calmer, softer yellow. I wasn't happy using cad yellow in these paintings. So, for the yellow in these clouds I used yellow ochre. It works.

Dark Orange

6" x 9" oil on canvas on foam board

While painting this poppy series, I constantly struggled with the "dark oranges." I was adding alizaron and getting a redder orange. But I didn't see the dark orange that way. Finally, I went outside my regular palette and used magenta, part of my extended palette. I like this color mixture much better. I guess the extended palette is kind of like the extended family: great to have.

More Poppies

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel


I painted poppies regularly while they were blooming. While looking at the reds I think I should paint poinsettias. A more seasonal series.

Flanders Field

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel



When I was in 5th grade, I had to memorize Flanders Field. I don't remember what we were studying, or why we had to memorize this poem. But, to this day, I have a visual image of the graveyard with poppies growing randomly and haphazardly; unlike the perfect rows and rows of crosses.
We have three areas of poppies in our gardens. They grow well and easily in Colorado; not all flowers do well at this altitude (6,000 feet here in Colorado Springs.) I love painting them, and have done so dozens of times. I just wish their blooming season was a little bit longer.

Warm--temperatures and colors

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel


The temperature in Colorado Springs was 5 degrees yesterday; way too cold to go outside and photograph my recent paintings. So, I'm posting a series of poppies from this past summer, before I was blogging, which I painted in our garden on warm, beautiful days.

Morning Sky

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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This is another cup of coffee view from our deck. I painted this one with the 6 flat and definately see that it's a little more geometric than my filbert paintings. However, I like the layers of morning clouds.

Yellowstone Sky

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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This sky is from a trip my husband and a friend took to Yellowstone. The views there might be almost as incredible as the ones here in Colorado.

Clouds at Sunrise

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + &10. s/h
SOLD

This is another incredible sunrise from our deck. While the sky is cool in the morning,I found myself mixing both warm and cool yellows.

Afternoon View

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

This is yet another view of the Colorado skies from our kitchen doors and deck. In the afternoons the clouds often build up and we get short, but heavy storms. The storms end, the clouds dissipate, and our vast blue sky returns.
I recently attended an evening demo by southern Colorado artist Tim Deibler. He was in Colorado Springs teaching a workshop at Cottonwood Art Academy. He uses a 6 flat for all of his landscapes. I've always used a 6 filbert. So, I thought I would try something different. Using a flat is really making me push to soften my edges.

They Rain and Snow on Ev'ryone

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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This painting is done from a photo our son took skiing at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I'm pretty pleased with the cool feeling it portrays. I used thalo blue and thalo turquoise (which I only use on special occasions) to get the affect of how cold it can be in the Colorado mountains.

They Don't Only Block the Sun

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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I do have to say, that one of the things I miss about working, is that I'm not always up early enough to see the sun rise. This is the view from our kitchen. I don't know how many hundreds of days I looked out the sliding doors and watched this while drinking my coffee. The morning clouds and cool sun create incredible sun rises.
Again, I tried to to simplify the foreground and have the center of attention be the entire magnificent vista. I wanted to check Maynard Dixon's book, Desert Dreams: The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon out of our library, but it is only available to look at in the reference room. So, I'll have to spend an afternoon down there soon.

Castles in the Air

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10.00 s/h
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Again, this piece is influenced by Maynard Dixon. I tried to create a simple composition, with only essential elements. In the west we have magnificent vistas and amazing cloud formations. Often when plein-aire painting, I start the piece outside and finish it in the studio using a photo as a reference.

Feather Canyons

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Last week I saw a Maynard Dixon video purchased at the Tuscon Museum of Art where his work is on exhibit. I had always thought of him as a western painter and the man who designed so many covers for Sunset Magazine decades ago. I had not realized what a great illustrator he was. And, I didn't know that Dorothea Lange was his second wife. A poster of her famous photogragh, Migrant Mother, hung in my classroom for years.
His bold, simplified, marching clouds are what always drew me to his landscapes. His paintings often had low horizons and cloud formations that may look unreal to the person who has never seen a western sky.

Tagged

I've been tagged by art friend Kelley MacDonald, who I met at Carol Marine's workshop in Santa Fe. Thank you, Kelley! So, on with the game!

The rules:
1. Put a link in your posting to the person who tagged you.
2. List 7 unusual things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post (*including their blog links*) and comment on their blogs to let them know they have been tagged.

7 unusual things about myself:
1. I won an egg decorating contest in 3rd grade. The prize was a silver dollar. My egg's hair was made from turquoise feathers cut off of a feather duster.
2. My husband and I have known each other since we were 12.
3. I have studied 5 languages: French, Swedish, Hebrew, Farsi, and Spanish. But, only ever dreamt in one of them.
4. I spent spring break of 1978 in Afghanistan.
5. While working one week on a ranch in Dove Creek, Colorado (with no plumbing or electricity) I learned to lasso, spent most of one day riding through drought-dry plains and across a river rounding up escaped cattle, and participated in cattle branding and castration.
6. I bake great pies.
7. My least favorite jobs have been: ironing 6 hours /day, operating a cherry picker to pick the apples from the tops of trees, washing the inside, back windows of cars.

I am tagging:
1. George Coll whose western landscapes show the essense of light
2. the urban scenes of John Harrell
3. Daily Painter Kit Hevron Mahoney who paints incredible poppies
4. Robin Weiss : great composition, sketches, and paintings of Uganda
5. the colorful portraits of Sharman Owings
6. the multi-talented Marilyn Webberley who created incredible vases for the Mikado
7. Janice Warriner who is now a Colorado artist

I have looked at all of your blogs from day 1. Have fun.

Oh My Gourd

6 x 6 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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After yesterday's posting, I really started wondering about gourd warts. Obviously, I lead a stress free life, when this is all I worry about! I even googled gourds and gourd warts. The warts are a bacterial growth. I learned that in the US, there are three main types of gourds: ornamental, hard-shell, and vegetable sponge gourds, according to the American Gourd Society. Additionally, I learned that bitter gourd soaked in the liquid of Chinese cabbage and taken orally for 2 weeks may remove human flat warts. Gourds in America can be traced back 10,000 years when prehistoric people brought them from Asia. Research shows that the bottle gourd, used as a container and not a food crop, is the earliest known domesticated plant grown here.

Warts and All

6 x 6 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Warts are strange things; on gourds and on people. Some of our gourds have dozens of warts. I'm sure Mother Nature has some reason for this, but I don't know what it is. I've found that when painting series I really look at the light and color. I know that the background color, lights, time of day, etc., all affect this. I've found myself comparing the color from the previous days paintings. Another reason that daily painting is so helpful.

A Blog Blessing

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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It's the day before Thanksgiving, a holiday to celebrate things for which we are grateful. I thought it appropriate to share my "blog blessings":
-I am grateful that I figured out how to blog; I found it frustrating at first.
-I am grateful to those of you who helped me figure it out.
-Thanks to those of you who have subscribed and who comment.
-I am thankful to blogging in general; when I publish my post to the big screen I really think about shape, value, color and edges.
Thanksgiving is my family's favorite holiday. The whole point of it is to be thankful for all we have, to be w/ family and friends, and to enjoy a meal together.

A Plethora of Gourds

6 x 6 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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My friend Kelly gave me a big bag of gourds from her garden. She said that she didn't plant them, that they must have mistakenly been put into the wrong seed pack at the factory. She had so many that it took 45 minutes just to pick them. They look great in the center of our table.

For the Skirt

6 x 6 oil on canvas on foam board
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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I wanted to try the bluberries one more time, but on a warm background. The label says that these berries are the best in the world. Yes, my pancakes were great, but the best? I'm not sure. They were flown in from another continent, how fresh are they?
And, in case you were wondering, in Blueberries for Sal, the mom picks all the berries while wearing a skirt. I guess that's what mom's did back then. I have never picked berries in a skirt!

For Little Bear

6 x 6 oil on canvas on foamboard
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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I found that I had to mix a lot of blue to get it a little grayed. So, there was enough to do another painting. I see another series here. And, yes, Little Bear was out there looking for blueberries at the same time as Sal.

Blueberries for Sal

6 x 6 oil on canvas on foam board
$100.00 + $10. s/h

I love blueberries. I always have. After strawberries, they're my favorite fruit. I'm not sure if it's because I remember my mom reading Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey, or if I just love the taste and color, but when I saw them 2 for 1 this week, I had to buy them. When our kids were little I made them pancakes with blueberry faces. My sister used to bring fresh blueberries from New Jersey in her carry-on (I wonder if security would let that through today.) My husband and I had the best pancakes this morning.

Paint Mines

16 x 20 oil on canvas

This is another piece for the upcoming Bear Creek Park Show and fundraiser. The Paint Mines are about 45 minutes east of Colorado Springs. These "mines" were used by the Native Americans for clay and paint. This area was shut off to the public for many years. About 5 years ago the land was purchased by TOPS (trails and open park space) from Colorado lottery money. Land has been purchased all over the state this way. It's been great.

My plein aire group, Garden Artists, painted there early one summer morning. I was really trying to work with the values in this piece. In the early morning, values are usually cool, but the sun on the rocks was warm. It was a fun challenge.

The Bluffs

6 x 8 oil on masonite

$100.00 + $10.00 s/h

This is another view of the bluffs and fields behind my old school. I love the colors and values I saw that morning. I think I'm getting the fall warms! Do 3 paintings make a series? Maybe.

A 2nd look

6 x 8 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10.00 s/h
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I wanted to try the warm fall colors again to really make sure I was mixing the right light and color. I chose another view from the bluffs behind my former school.

Holmes Middle School

20 x 24 oil commission

I was asked by the school where I taught art for the last 13 years (before my recent retirement) to do a painting for the front office. So, I decided to do a painting of the school (you can see the red rectangle near the horizon line.) Like many schools built in the late 60's it hasn't won awards for architectural creativity, although it often wins for academics, but it's location can't be beat. Colorado Springs is located in one of the most beautiful places in the country: right at the foot of Pikes Peak. Not only does Holmes Middle School look out at the Peak, but it's also right by the Garden of the Gods. Who could ask for a more beautiful place to work! My classroom was in the back building and I looked out at these bluffs. One beautiful fall morning, I hiked behind the school, through the bluffs, to the highest overlook and took photos.

I was really pleased with the foreground and background, but struggled with the colors of the center fall foliage. I felt they were too intense. I took the painting to my Tuesday class with Martha Mans for a critique. She immediately told me my colors were "spring" not "fall". That made so much sense. I'd been mixing cools, cad yellow lemon and alizaron. I scraped the trees and bushes off, pre-mixed warm/fall colors and repainted the area with much better results. I should have realized that. It's like painting the sky: a morning sky is cool, like the atmosphere; an evening sky is warm, like the atmosphere. Spring foliage is cool, like the season; fall foliage is warm, like the season. I now realize that was what I was thinking about the willows in the painting the other day. They're cool/purple/spring and could have been warm/orange/fall. I'm going to chalk this up to my not painting much in the fall when I was teaching, and not to my inability to see light and color!! More joys of retirement.

Colorado fall

9 x 12
oil on canvas panel

I have been accepted into a show to benefit Bear Creek Park, a county park near our home. I'm thrilled that our county is using artists as a means of fund raising. The theme is Colorado landscapes and nature. I've been working on several pieces (I can submit up to 8) over the last couple of weeks. I was concerned that the red in the willows in the front was a little too violet, and should have been a little more orange; but, it still seems to complement the green of the grass.

6 x 6 oil on masonite
nfs

I couldn't get over the fall colors this year. Maybe it's because I've retired, or maybe because the weather was so great and we spent a lot of time up in the mountains. I don't think I'd ever been in the mountains in late September-early October during the week! I've always been teaching. Retirement is great. It's allowing me to take short trips, explore Colorado, and paint!

gracious gift

The last day of Carol Marine's workshop in Santa Fe, Nancy's (one of the other students) husband gave each of us a rose. Since I was driving back to Colorado Springs, I put mine in a bottle of water and propped it between several boxes in the back of the car. This rose lasted for more than one week. It was incredible. Must have been a combintion of rose genetics, bottled water, kind thoughts and a great ending to a great workshop. Harlteys: this one's for you!

SOLD

my first blog

I recently took a workshop in Santa Fe with Daily Paintworks artist Carol Marine. The workshop was great! The last day was spent on the business side of daily painting ie: photographing, blogging, selling on ebay, etc. So, here is my first blog. This was my favorite painting done that week.