Early To Rise

Early To Rise
Oil  8" x 8" on cradled panel
$195.00 + $10. s/h

Day 5 in the 30 in 30 challenge

While we were in Maine this past fall, we spent several nights in the Rockland/Rockport area.  Two mornings I got up early to head out for sunrise photos.  This man was in the Rockport Harbor.  Early mornings in the harbor are quiet, but yet there's so much going on.  There were other people taking photos, lobstermen heading out, fisherman on the docks, trucks pulling up.  And with the light changing by the minute there were never endless photo opportunities.

I'm not sure if this title refers to this guy, or to me.  I guess it's for both of us!

Quick Draw - Victor Celebrates The Arts # 10

Victorian Model

SOLD

The Quick Draw event during the Victor Celebrates The Arts event was held on the last day..  3 models and a horse were set up in the downtown part and the artists had 2 hours to paint.

  It was a fun event!

Rainy Day

Rainy Day

Oil  8" x 6"

SOLD

I loved the reflections of the rain coat and umbrella on the wet sidewalk.

Rider

Rider
Oil  6" x 8"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

I loved the way this rider's yellow jacket stood out against all of the grays on the road. 

His Lonesome Cattle Call

His Lonesome Cattle Call
8" x 8" Oil on cradled panel
$155.00 + $10. s/h

HOLIDAY SALE  All paintings sold in December are 20% off my regular prices

This is from a fall trip my husband and I took over to the Western Slope.  For those of you not from Colorado, the Western Slope is the name we call all of the mountains on the west side of the Continental Divide (which runs down the middle of the Rockies.)  This was about 6 hours from Colorado Springs.  We live on the Front Range.  That encompasses Fort Collins, Denver, Colo Springs, and Pueblo, or all of the towns on the range (you know, like home, home, on the range) on the eastern side of the Rockies.  Just a little geography lesson thrown in!

Anyway, we were out driving around on back roads and a herd of cattle came across a hill top.  So, I had to get out!  And then, this cowboy comes riding over the top of the hill.  What a perfect setting and scene!  Just meant to be a painting!

Sometimes when I'm looking for a title I use google to help me.  When I googled "song lyrics about cows" up came this song, Cattle Call, by Eddy Arnold, sung along w/ Lee Ann Rimes.  It seemed appropriate and provided a title.  I especially like the yodeling!

(LeAnn Rimes and Eddy Arnold)

LeAnn: 
(yodeling) 
The cattle are prowlin', 
The coyotes are howlin' 
Way out where the doggies roam 
Where spurs are a jinglin' 
And the cowboy is singing 
His lonesome cattle call 
(yodeling) 

He rides in the sun 
'Til his days work is done 
And he rounds up the cattle each fall 
(yodeling) 
Singing his cattle call 

Eddy: 
For hours he would ride 
On the range far and wide 
When the night wind blows up and slow 
His heart is a feather 
In all kinds of weather 
He sings his cattle call 
(yodeling) 

He's browned as a fairy 
From ridin' the prairie 
And he sings with an western drawl 
Singing his cattle call 

LeAnn and Eddy: 
(yodeling) 

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 5 -- Last Day

This is our class from the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano. Teachers came from Utah, Colorado (me!) & Ohio, as well as locally NJ and Pa. There are lots of workshops offered here. It's a pretty amazing atelier with incredible facilities.

Again, we had a critique after the 2 days of figure studies.

Here I am w/ my studies from the last day...seems to be a little glare on the paintings.

It was a great week. Tomorrow I'm off to the Jersey shore. I'm looking forward to that, as we don't have beaches in Colorado.

Studio Incamminati Workshop Day 4

Today in the Studio Incamminati workshop, Color Study: Still Life and Figure Painting for Art Educators, taught by Natalie Italiano, we continued to learn to see color by looking at color relationships, but with a model. Here Natalie is starting the study with a grisaille drawing.

In this photo she's blocked in the first four color notes: the brightest, easiest to see notes.

Here's her color study almost completed.

These are the 4 color studies I completed today. Studio Incamminati has an extensive palette which is listed on their website under supplies. Many of these colors are not in my normal palette and it's really exciting to use them!

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.