100 Garden & Floral Oil Paintings, Original Artwork by a Colorado Daily Painter, 35/100

Yellow Rake
8" x 8" oil on cradled board
$195.00 + $10. s/h

We're putting in another flower garden, or, should I say taking out more grass.  Either way, we've spent the last few days building a rock wall, moving all the compost from the other side of the yard, raking the compost, hauling dirt, and then raking the dirt.  I couldn't resist painting the rake!

100 Garden & Floral Oil Paintings, Original Artwork by a Colorado Daily Painter, 34/100

Shelter Island Porch
8" x 10" oil on board
NFS

On our recent trip to New Jersey and New York, my husband and I went to Shelter Island out on Long Island.  About 100 years ago my husbands' grandfather built a summer home on Shelter Island.  It was in his family until 1991 when my in-laws sold it.  We toured the house, which was great fun for my husband. We spent several days staying with old family friends of his parents, visited some of his relatives, and saw other friends from his youth.

This is the front porch of the house where we stayed.  We ate our meals out there, sat and visited, and enjoyed the incredible view of the water.  There are no views like that here in Colorado.

100 Garden & Floral Oil Paintings, Original Artwork by a Colorado Daily Painter, 33/100

Old Colorado City Porch

8" x 10" oil on board

$195.00 + $10. s/h

My plein air group recently painted in a beautiful yard in Old Colorado City, the oldest part of Colorado Springs.  The whole side yard has been turned into a garden.  The side porch looks out onto the flowers and vegetables.

Eleven Mile Clouds

16" x 20" oil on stretched canvas
$595.00 + $10. s/h

Eleven Mile Reservoir is about one hour west of here in the mountains. This is from one of our fishing excursions.  The cloud formations over the mountains can be pretty spectacular and always draw my attention.

100 Garden & Floral Oil Paintings, Original Artwork by a Colorado Daily Painter, 32/100

"Double Poppies"
6" x 8" oil on panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h

This week my plein air group painted in a beautiful garden.  These poppies were growing in the middle of the vegetables.  The home owner said that they'd reseeded themselves and he had no idea what they were.  They looked to me like a hybrid of peonies and poppies as they had several rows of petals in the middle.

Staney Creek Reflection

6" x 8" oil on canvas on wood
$100.00 + $10. s/h

Since my husband and son were still fishing, I had time for another painting.  The sun came out and I was drawn to the reflection in the creek.

I set up on this bridge to paint.  And, while there is a glare on my canvas I think it shows well enough how I prepare for painting trips that involve flying.  I taped 2 pieces of canvas, 1 a 5 x 7 and 1 a 6 x 8, onto an 11" x 14" piece of foam core, which is shown on my easel, an Open BoxM. I can fit 4 of these in the cardboard HandyPorter (under the easel.)  So, I was all set and ready for 8 small paintings.  For the first time I took a small container of Gamblin Galkyd which allows the oil paint to dry faster.  That way if I had painted more than 8 paintings, (I did 7) I could have untaped the first 2, which by then would have been dry, and taped on 2 more pieces of canvas. I threw in a few small pieces of wax paper to layer between the canvas.  I recently bought a new tripod from Judson's Art Supply.  It has more leg pieces so it compacts into a smaller carrier.  I'm thinking about trying water based oils on the next trip.  That would  save me looking for turpentine upon arrival.  Has anyone tried it?  What do you think?

This photo is after the 2nd painting (this post).  I only saw 1 car the whole morning, a Forest Ranger.  I don't know how many painters they see out there, I doubt very many are out in that remote part of Alaska.  He never commented on my paintings, or my appearance.  I had on a raincoat, an apron over it, my ExtraTuf neoprene rain boots and a mosquito net on my head!  It had a green tint to it, so I didn't have it over my face.  My husband told me that I looked like a cafeteria lady!  The Forest Ranger kept his thoughts to himself.

Tongass National Forest

5" x 7" oil on canvas on board
$100.00 + $10. s/h

A good part of our second week in Alaska was spent exploring the interior of Prince of Wales Island (the third largest island in the US.)  Being avid fisherman, my husband and son wanted to try their luck on some of the rivers and streams.  This is Staney Creek in the Tongass National Forest.

Here's another Sitka Black-tailed fawn playing dead.  We were driving through the National Forest when a doe and twins jumped out of the trees.  This one got separated from her family, so she just laid down until we drove away.

The Skiff

6" x 8" oil on canvas on board

$100.00 + $10. s/h

While on the boat in Alaska we traveled to and from the beach, and on short trips each day,  in one of 2 skiffs.  Again, I painted this one from the back of the boat on a drizzly day.  

These totem poles are from the park outside of Ketchican.

Another Rainy Alaska Day

5" x 7" oil on canvas on board
$100.00 + $10. s/h

I just got back from 2 weeks in New York and New Jersey.  I had the opportunity to combine a workshop with a niece's wedding, visit with my sisters, see old friends, visit my husband's childhood home, and see old friends and family of his.  It was a great, and busy, trip.  Now I'm ready for some calm routine.  I didn't have the opportunity to post all of my plein air pieces from Alaska, so I'm going to post those for the next few days.

This is one more piece painted from the bow of the boat, under cover, while it was raining.  It was a challenge to try to show the rain and clouds.  It did stop raining for my photo!

This is a really, small fawn that we saw while beach combing.  Fawns are taught to play dead if separated from their mother.  This one never moved the whole time we were on the beach.

                                      
                      

Michael Klein Workshop Day 3

100 Garden & Flower Oil Paintings - 31/100

Day 3 of Michael Klein's workshop was spent on one still life.  Because this was not enough time to complete one, I chose to focus in on the main gladiola bloom and lightly block in the rest of the flowers. 
His palette includes:  Titanium white, Raw sienna light, Yellow ochre pale, Cad yellow pale, Cad orange, Cad red deep, Burnt sienna, Alizaron crimson, Raw umber, Burnt umber, Cobalt blue, Ultramarine, blue, Ivory black, Cobalt violet and Viridian green.  This is a much different palette than I'm used to, making it a great challenge.  Many of these colors I'd never used; he uses Cobalt violet only for mixing, not for flower colors.

Here's a picture of most of the workshop.  Michael, center, has a show at Arcadia Gallery. 

One evening we went to the Broadway show Jersey Boys.  The show, recommended by blogger friend Carol Schiff, was wonderful.  I lived in New Jersey from 1964 - 1970 so I knew every song they sang!

Michael Klein's Painting Workshop Day 2

On the 2nd day of Michael Klein's workshop, we watched him demo for about 2 hours and then either started on a new still life, or worked on an individual flower.  I chose to work on the yellow rose on the left.  During the lunch break, the still life fell over, so I restarted and worked on the rose on the right.  It ended up being a lucky fall, as I learned from restarting.  Michael completes an entire flower, then moves on to another entire flower, throughout the still life.  That way, he doesn't have to worry about a flower wilting.  I usually paint all my darks throughout the whole canvas, then go to lights, always working through the whole canvas.  I do have to worry about flowers wilting, they don't last, so I find myself painting quickly.  Michael paints slowly.   Like Richard Schmid, he doesn't repaint an area, or make lots of color passes. He studies the color, and puts it down once.  This really got me thinking...am I wasting time, paint, energy.

Several of you asked to see my sister's painting; this is her piece from Day 1.  My sister, Natalie Italiano, is an instructor at Studio Incamminati in Philadelpia.

 This is a very small corner of the cast studio at Grand Central Academy.   They have an amazing collection of casts which are used by the full time students.

After class we went to Vasari Classic Oil Color store and distribution center.  Here's Gale showing us how some of their classic paints can be mixed.  It was so great to see this.  I treated myself to some Sap Green, as green was their featured color on sale this month.

The Met and Michael Klein

I am in New Jersey visiting my sister.  When our now grown children were young, we would all spend a week or two together each summer doing fun kid related vacations.  Now, my sister and I still spend the time together, but we plan painting related vacations.  We just got back from 4 days in New York City.  She wanted to take Michael Klein's "Flower Painting" workshop, at Grand Central Academy of Art, so, I took it also.

Our first day in NYC we spent at the Met.  I couldn't get over how many people of all ages were there!  How wonderful that so much of humanity is interested in art!  Inside, the museum didn't seem crowded, but when we came out there were lots of people sitting on the steps enjoying the sidewalk musicians.  I asked at the information booth what the attendance for that day was:  20,000!!

The next 3 days were spent in the workshop. This is my day 1 piece, (I was not able to finish).  Michael is a realistic artist whose approach to painting is based on a strong theoretical and scientific study of  form and nature.  My background is based on observation and color.  It was great to see another approach and to step outside of my personal comfort zone.  I find that makes me think, learn, and grow.  He talked a lot about form;  the form of each individual flower as well as the form of the overall still life.

I have not finished posting my Alaska plein air pieces, yet.  I'll get back to those soon.