Class Exercise

These are exercises we did in class this week. The idea is from Kevin Macpherson's book Landscape Painting-Inside and Out. The top picture is taken of the still life with a warm light shining on it. The bottom is of the same still life with just natural light. Using a view finder, the little hole punch size ones you find on a gray value scale chart, we matched and labeled 8 color notes. No matter the level of the artist, exercises are always great and really get you thinking, not just jumping right in and painting.

Creamer

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is the creamer from our daughter's teaset which was my mother-in-law's. I spent almost as much time setting this up as I did painting it. When I painted one of the teacups (2 weeks ago) I had it on an older green placemat. So, now I wanted it on a different, warmer, background. I thought of what our daughter played with it on...a garage sale plastic table covered in flowered contact paper. That wasn't quite the look that I wanted. I wondered what my mother-in-law would have set her teaset on in 1925. Probably a linen tablecloth or a wooden table or floor. I got out all the old linens, looked through them all, tried the creamer on several, decided I didn't want white on white, and didn't want to iron. I chose the wooden table. It was fun working with the reflection in the wood.

Three Apples

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

In this piece I was really trying to push the color notes.
Today I received a handwritten postcard from the Cushman family, the owners of the HoneyBell Company. If you read my blog last month, I did 5 daily paintings of the oranges we had received for Christmas, and entered them, and myself, in the bib wearing contest. The family loved my art, thanked me for the photos, and will check out my blog. It's not often you get personal notes anymore. Made my day.

More Garlic

6 x 6 oil on canvas
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I used a different garlic, different light, different time of day, different fabric from yesterdays' painting. These differences created a completely different mood. It really makes a difference!

Garlic Pressed

I recently came up with an easy way to hold my daily painting small canvases. As you see above,
I've taken a 9 x 12 cardboard panel (I used the back panel of a canvas pad) and taped a strip of 1/2 " wide foam board across the bottom. Then I set the canvas on that ledge and put another 1/2 " foam board strip across the top of the panel. I clip the strip at both edges with heavy clips. Because of the cushiony foam inside of the foam board, you push down a little before clipping, and it really holds the canvas well. It's then easy to carry outside to photograph. I've put vertical strips of masking tape at the edges where a 6 x 6 and a 6 x 8 canvas would hit. This just protects the back panel a little. These are easy to set on my easel. I've tried using push pins and duct tape, and like this method. I now have several of these, so I can leave the painting on until it's dry.

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

$100.00 + $10. s/h

contact me if interested

I wanted to work with reflective light on white. I have a blue fabric on the right side and a pinkish one on the top-left side. It really exaggerates the reflections. And I wanted to work with a light subject on a light background. I usually go for more contrast.

More Bloomers

6" x 9" oil on canvas on board
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is another yucca painting from a morning out last summer with my plein-air group. I think next summer I'll take pictures of the outdoor locations where we are painting and include those with the post. Another great thing about blogging is seeing all the different landscapes, flowers, etc from all the different geographic locations of online artists.

Yucca Bloom

6" x 9" oil on canvas on board
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is a daily painting from last summer before I was blogging. There is about a 2 week period in late June (usually) when the yucca are in bloom. For those of you who don't know, these yucca are blooming. My plein-aire group went twice to the yucca field to paint good blooms. The first time was just a bit before the blooms. So, we tried again. There are hundreds of yucca plants covering the top of a mesa, it's pretty spectacular.

Rose Shadow

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I had planned on painting this rose on a 6 x 6 panel. But when I turned on the light the shadow was as interesting as the rose. So, plan B happened without planning. It's interesting to me that the center of the shadow was so dark. I wasn't expecting that.

Three To Get Ready

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested


Mushrooms are a funny little food. They're kind of funny looking. Because of all the tints and shades of white, they're fun to paint. Can there be a tint of white? If a tint is a color plus white, there must be only shades of white. I'll have to think about this for awhile.

Color Studies

I mentioned last week that I should do some color studies of my extended palette. These are color studies that I've done in the past using my typical palette plus white. In the above study I started with cad red then mixed it 50/50% with each of the colors going across: cad yellow pale, cad yellow deep, yellow ochre, terra rosa, aliz. crimson, burnt sienna, veridean, cerulean, cobalt, ultramarine blue. Then, I mixed each of those paint piles with white and created tints going down. I probably could have mixed a little more white each time. That would have gotten me all the way to white at the bottom. But, I almost get there.

This chart shows Terra Rosa mixed 50/50 with each color going across then tinted with white going down. Terra Rosa is a wonderful color for landscape paintings. Again, had I mixed a little more white each time, I would have gotten all the way to white at the bottom.

This chart shows the same colors mixed with Cad Yellow Pale.

I don't look at these charts all the time. But, sometimes I'm standing at the easel, looking at the set-up, or a shadow, and I just don't know what colors to mix. These really help. I've also done many of these color value scales just mixing colors, not adding white.

White Rock

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested


In the middle of Colorado Springs is an almost 1400 acre park called Garden of the Gods. 2009 is the 100th anniversary of the park. The original owner left it to the city in 1909. One of his friends wanted him to turn it into a beer garden. Luckily, that didn't happen. The park is filled with towering sandstone rock formations and sits just below Pikes Peak. It's pretty spectacular. No matter how many times I visit the park, I'm always amazed. The rocks, the light and color, the shadows; they're always changing. The formations and spires all have names. The one in the front here is aptly named "White Rock".

Still Life with White

12" x 16"

oil on canvas

I painted this still life last summer. I read Susan Sarback's book Capturing Radiant Colors in Oil, and did many of the color studies, even painting blocks to match those in the book to really see where she was coming from with her colors. She has a lot of knowledge and great thoughts. My block studies looked good. But, I found that sometimes my paintings looked muddy when layering. Must be my brush technique. In this still life, I got all the colors of the major masses blocked in, and then got side tracked by life, ie: I didn't get any further than the block-in layer. The objects sat in the studio, and several weeks later, when I got back to this setup, of course the block ins were dry. There was no muddy affect when I painted the next layer. I like the scumbling; it was really easy to allow the first layer of paint to show through. But, we don't always have that kind of time to let something sit.

Flamenco Dancer

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

My husband and I went to Sevilla, Spain last year to visit our daughter during her semester abroad. It is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Flamenco dancing originated in Sevilla. The Flamenco Museum was well worth the visit. This (and a scarf) were the only gift items we purchased. In case you are wondering...there used to be a dancer on the mug. I noticed after about 3-4 times in the dishwasher that the dancer was disappearing. So, I had my choice, use it and watch her wash away. Or, not use the mug and let it sit around. I decided to just use it. And, now I have a plain white mug: still good for my morning coffee and now great for painting white.

Tea Cup

6" x 6" oil on masonite

$100.00 + $10. s/h

contact me if interested

I wanted to continue studying white. My studio used to be our dining room. There are still some remains of a dining room: the china cabinet, the table (now covered with a plastic cloth and my supplies), the chairs (pushed to the side.) In the corner near my easel is my late mother-in-law's high chair. Sitting on the tray is her childhood tea set which she gave to our daughter when she was small. My mother-in-law was born in 1919, s0 the tea set was probably given to her in about 1925. I'm not sure why I didn't pack it up and put it away. But, there it's been, in my peripheral vision, all this time. I've been looking at this nice, little white tea set. Perfect to paint. Fun to paint. The glaze is chipped and worn and there is no longer a perfect dark blue ring around the top. There are four tea cups and saucers, a creamer, a sugar bowl, and a tea pot. I see many future paintings here.

Sliced

6" x 6" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I wanted to continue painting whites. This was the whitest vegetable we had at the moment. I'm not sure why, but the browns appear red and the grays appear blue. I played around with the color and couldn't get it to change; don't know what's going on. It's always something.

Shadow

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested
SOLD

I received a comment from Kelley MacDonald that she uses pthalo and rose for her snow color. So, for this piece I followed her suggestion. Permanent rose is not in my regular palette, but is in my extended palette, so I had not thought to use it for snow mixture. I really like the cool effect this mixture gives; I might tone it down a little more in another painting.

Using permanent rose got me to thinking again about my extended palette. I have colors from classes and workshops that I don't always use. I think I might do some color studies with these. I've done many color value scales in the past with and for my students, and for myself. Doing some again would be fun and would expand my color knowledge.

Ready Or Not

6" x 8" oil on masonite
nfs

When we walk, we usually follow the path. Even in the snow, we stay side by side, usually on the right side. So, who stepped out of the norm? Must be a dog. They don't worry about which side they're on, how cold it is, they just always love going for a walk. When our dogs were still alive, we had to spell w-a-l-k if we were only thinking about going out. If they heard the word, they were ready.

Way Too Chilly

6" x 8" oil on masonite
nfs

This is from a photo at the end of my early morning walk last week. While my feet stayed warm, my legs were really cold. My jeans were starting to freeze and stiffen. I should have taken the time to put on long underwear. I was too eager to get out. Impatience is not a virtue.
I layered the snow colors in this piece and really like the way the darker snow peeks through. It's hard to believe I just took this photo and just did this painting. It's 67 degrees out today!!

Fresh Snow

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

$100.00 + $10. s/h

contact me if interested

Today is really warm: in the high 50's. I should have gone outside to paint, but instead we went for a walk. Last week we had a very cold spell: 10 degrees and snow. I did not paint outside that day, but did go for a quick walk in the morning to take some pictures of the snow for reference later. My husband gave me snow sneakers from LL Bean for Christmas. They're good in really cold weather. They're a combination of hiking boot and sneaker but extra thermal. They look like the little velcro hiking boots our son had when he was 5. But, my feet were not cold at all! This is in the park right next to our house.

I've been looking at the colors other artists use for snow. Some seem to use cobalt, some thalo, some more violet. As with all paintings, it's how we see the light on an object, in this case how we see the light on the snow. And, different geographic locations have different altitudes which have different amounts of sunlight.

20 Minute Figures

9" x 12" oil on canvas

The last hour and a half of the Cottonwood figure session was spent on 20 minute gestures. With these I started with proportion marks, blocked in the darks, wiped out the lights, added a little more, and 20 minutes was up. I kept only these 2 and wiped out/painted over the others. It's good to push ourselves and work outside our comfort zone.

5 Minute Figures

9" x 12"

oil on canvas

Again, these are from yesterday's figure session at Cottonwood Artist's School. After about 45 minutes of 2 minute gestures, we went to 5 minute sessions. These allowed me a little more time to think; but, not much. I wiped out all but these. The point really wasn't to get finished pieces, just practice.
To quote again from Bayles and Orland in Art & Fear "The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars. One of the basic and difficult lessons every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential." While I don't feel that these are failed pieces, I know they fall in the majority group that is just teaching me.
These are fun. There's a Thursday evening session that I might attend.

2 Minute Figures

This morning I went to the figure drawing session at Cottonwood Artist's School. This is an open session, no instruction, from 10 - 1:00. I paint landscapes and still lifes, I haven't done a lot of figure drawing; I took a 2 week workshop 35 years ago from Nelson Shanks (in charcoal), and a 3 day workshop 7 years ago from Kim English. I spent decades demo-ing to my classes, but they were often continuous contour line drawings, usually on the white board. But, what did I have to lose? Isn't painting looking for shapes and values?

The first 45 minutes were 2 minute sketches. I figured I would start these like I do daily painting still lifes: mark all the tops, sides, corners to get the proportion, connect it all with quick lines, change those quick lines from geometric to more organic. Well, by the time I got to the "change the line" part, the 2 minutes were over. I wiped out all (maybe 10 more) but these.

I've been reading "Art & Fear" by David Bayles & Ted Orland. They say " The point is that you learn how to make your work by making your work, and a great many of the pieces you make along the way will never stand out as finished art. The best you can do is make art you care about--and lots of it!" I made lots of it this morning. We went from 2 minute, to 5 minute, to 10 mintue to 20 minute sketches. Maybe I'll post some more tomorrow. It was a really fun session.

The Year of the Buffalo

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Just recently was the Chinese New Year and it's the Year of the Ox. We don't have ox(en) here (in Colorado); I guess the buffalo is the closest we have. So, I think if we named our years we would have named this one the Year of the Buffalo.
While I was posting this the phone rang, and I talked for about 5 minutes, the whole time staring at the painting on the computer screen. I analized every brushstroke, color, and shape. I kept thinking I should go back and repaint this little spot, that little shape. It made me wonder how we know when a painting is done. Are we ever completely satisfied?

Not As Curious

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This guy just wasn't as interested in me as I was in him. Not sure why, must have been a really good clump of grass. The earth in the foreground is the gravel road. I'm right next to this one, and he still doesn't seem to care.

Curiosity

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$100. + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

It's funny how cows, most animals actually, turn and look when we approach. I guess they're as interested in us as we are in them. This guy sure was interested in me. There are 83,000 dairy cows and 2.6 million head of cattle in Colorado. No wonder I see them everywhere. Nearly half of Colorado, or about 31 million acres is farmed or ranched. The cattle industry is the no. 1 agricultural commodity in the state.

18" x 24"
oil on canvas

Once again I started this piece with my plein-air group and finished it at home in my studio. On some of the pots there were glaze imperfections and the clay peeked through. I liked this effect, so I blocked the pots in in a close compliment and let those colors show through on all the pots. Initially I painted the background a true gravel gray, but changed it to make the pots stand out more.

Pottery 2

12 x 16
oil on canvas

This is another of the pots I painted in the summer with my plein-air group. I love all the colors in the terra-cotta. The pots were stacked on gravel, but the gray tones didn't work with the clay tones. So, I made the gravel/background blue-violet or the complements of the main colors of the pots. I still have to decide which pots to submit next week.

Pottery

18 x 24 oil on canvas

My summer plein-air group often paints at Hillside Gardens and Nursery. We also have our annual show on these spectacular grounds. Hillside is a combination nursery, garden shop, architectural salvage, and event center. They always have pottery, in dozens of colors, creatively displayed along the paths and walkways. I've painted there many times over the years and am always drawn to the colors and reflections of the pots. I usually start a painting there on location and finish it in the studio. I am entering one of my pottery paintings next week in the Cottonwood Artist's School member juried show.

HoneyBells--The Finale!

6" x 6" oil on masonite
SOLD

This is the last of the HoneyBell series. I really liked painting these. And now I have something to submit to their "You Ought to be in Pictures..." bib wearing contest. At least I'll get put up on their "Wall of Fame." I don't know how many paintings are entered.

I took bib photos in the studio (too dark); with the still life set-up (too busy); on the deck (too much reflective light); in the front yard (just right). My husband was a good sport about all of this. Anyway, not sure if this is the one I'll submit. But....

HoneyBell 4

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested


You can really see the unique bell shape of the HoneyBells in this painting. They really do look like a bell. This fruit is only ripe for 4 weeks in January. We're down to our last six. I like getting out the juicer (ours is the kind you twist the fruit by hand) and having a puckery glass of juice.

This morning I watched the Inauguration. It is wonderful how hopeful and united the population has become. Then, (since this is my painting journal) I painted a wall in our living room. It looks good. Fresh paint is great. Then, I went for a walk, it's 60 degrees out today! And in an hour I'm off to painting class. It's been a good day.

HoneyBell 3

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested
SOLD

Because I pre-mix piles of paint, I often have enough paint left over to do a second, third, sometimes even a fourth painting in a series. And, because I love these HoneyBells (and I hope to get a gift certificate) I keep painting them. Even though there's only one orange here, I must have spent 10 minutes moving it around to get the right composition. You'd think it would be so easy: an orange on a white paper towel.

HoneyBell 2

6" x 6" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

"HoneyBells are not oranges at all. They're an extraordinary hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit, both seeded fruit. But, mysteriously, are seedless." (I read the brochure that came in the box.) They are juicy and delicious and fun to paint.

HoneyBell 1

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested


My sister and brother-in-law sent us a box of HoneyBells for Christmas. They are so juicy that the box comes with 4 plastic bibs and instructions on how to eat a HoneyBell. Also is a little note telling the consumer to send them a picture of you wearing your HoneyBell bib and if they use your photo in their catalogue, you"ll recieve a coupon for $100. toward a purchase. Well, always one to jump at the chance to win something, I decided to paint the HoneyBells in my bib, and send in photos of my paintings. This was really fun, and good to eat.

You Gotta Love Her

6" x 6" oil on canvas on foam board
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This cow was just standing there looking right at me. I kept wondering if I walked a little closer and tried to pet her what she would do. I think she was as interested in me as I was in her.

Home on the Range

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


These cattle are on an open range on the way to Antero Reservoir. There is a fence, and a cattle guard on this county road, out by the highway, but no fence on the range. So, the cattle are pretty close; sometimes right on the dirt road. They turn and walk away when you get too near. It seems all they do is eat.

Where the Buffalo Roam

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

There are several herds of buffalo near our mountain property. Even though this guy looks pretty close, there is a double fence between us. The trees in the background are miles away. There's not much growing where the buffalo graze, they really trample the earth. It's a wonder they find enough to eat. I love it when we drive by and they're grazing by the road. Of course, sometimes they're on the far side of the field and are just a dark blur.

South Platte River 2

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested



No matter how many times I hike in the same valley or paint the same view, it is always completely different: a different time of day, different colors and values, different season. I used Naples yellow again in this piece, also using it to warm up the cloud reflection in the river. That's about the only thing warm in the South Platte. The water is really cold. The elevation here is about 8,000 feet and the river water is rain and snow run off from even higher mountains. When our kids were small they could only wade and play in the water for a short time.

Billy Boy

6" x 6" oil on canvas on foam board
$100. 00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

When I'm painting, songs and poems about the subject matter often flow through my mind. While painting these cherries, I was thinking about Billy Boy. I'm not sure who wrote the song, who Billy Boy was, or even if he could bake a pie. I have made a cherry pie. It is really time consuming; you have to pit every cherry. Maybe I need to turn up my music so my mind doesn't wander quite so much.

Patriotic Cherries

6" x 6" oil on canvas on foam board

$100.00 + $10. s/h

contact me if interrested

This painting looks very American to me with the red, white and blue. Maybe that's where "it's as American as cherry pie" came from: a patriotic painting!

Naples Yellow Clouds

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Our daughter, Coley, and I just went to the Ernest L. Blumenschein exhibit at the
Denver Art Museum. Blumenschein was a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists and a renowned painter of 19th and 20th century western art. The exhibit was amazing. I couldn't stop looking at Blumenschein's clouds. Especially since I've recently been painting a cloud series. Coley commented that his clouds were so creamy. My clouds are bold, strong, bright, warm, cool, yellow ochre, but not creamy. Artist Martha Mans and I were discussing how he got his creamy clouds. She suggested Naples Yellow; it's a traditional yellow and probably part of his palette. So, I have a tube from a past workshop and painted these clouds with Naples Yellow.

South Platte River

9" x 12" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I think reflections add a lot of interest to a painting. Usually, light values reflect just a bit darker, so I painted the reflection in the river using the darker value of the cloud. (And, dark values usually reflect just a bit lighter.) The water color also affects the value of the reflection.

Sunset Over Buffalo Peak

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Once again we have an incredible sunset from our ridge. This one is looking just a little more north. With this painting I again used artistic license and left out several tall trees in the front; they were hiding too much of the view of South Park and the sky. I also scraped out and repainted the front ridge several times. The right side went up and repeated the left side almost exactly, and compositionally it didn't work. On the first repaint I just painted out the right ridge, but then the viewer's eye just went off the bottom edge of the piece. Not good. So I added the second small softer blue ridge. That way, your eye goes back and forth, staying in the scene: from ridge to ridge to open space to mountain to mountain to sky to clouds to clouds and back again. A soft, easy back and forth movement. I guess I'm trying to make the viewer's eyes dance with each painting.