Restful Garden

Restful Garden, oil 12" x 16",  is one of two paintings that I have in the upcoming Women Artists of the West Online "Summer  Pleasures" Show.  This is a plein air piece done near downtown Colorado Springs.  I loved these old adirondack chairs.  After walking once through this back yard, I knew immediately what I was going to paint!

Ranch Rocker

Ranch Rocker
plein air oil  8" x 10"
$195.00 + $10. s/h
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I recently participated in the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration in Fairplay, CO.  This is a wonderful plein air event.  The town of Fairplay organizes it so well, providing food every day, arranging painting excursions to private ranches, & having evening gatherings.

This rocker was painted the first morning out on a ranch about 20 minutes from Fairplay. The ranch family has lived there for 4 generations.  After walking all around the ranch and being a bit overwhelmed by the views, trees, buildings, etc. I focused in on this old rocker.  I could imagine the pleasure the "rockee" would have enjoying his view and resting after a hard days' work.

Restful Garden

Restful Garden
Oil  12" x 16"
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$495.00 + $10. s/h

Recently, several members of my plein air group, Garden Artists, painted in private gardens on a local garden tour.  It was a great event;  a huge tour, beautiful gardens, wonderful people, and new locations for plein air work.  We were thrilled to have been invited.

These adirondack chairs were in the back yard of the house where I painted Saturday morning.  They were right outside the back door and seemed like such a great place for a restful moment, perhaps enjoying a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the early evening.

The owners of the house told me that their son got them these Adirondack chairs many years ago in Maine.  I Googled "Adirondack chairs" to learn a bit more.  Here is what I learned:  "The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in Westport, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains in 1903. Needing outdoor chairs for his summer home, he tested his early efforts on his family. After arriving at a final design for a "Westport plank chair," he offered it to a carpenter friend in Westport in need of a winter income, Harry Bunnell.^[1] Bunnell saw the commercial potential of such an item being offered to Westport's summer residents, and apparently without asking Lee's permission filed for and received U.S. patent #794,777 in 1905.^[2] Bunnell manufactured hemlock plank "Westport chairs" for the next twenty years, painted in green or medium dark brown, and individually signed by him."

I wasn't able to finish any of the paintings on location during the Garden Tour as there were so many people attending.  It was a great opportunity to meet new people and share my art.  I finished this piece later in my studio.