extra colorful

Okay...so this week has been meager on the postings...sorry...this way I can at least wish you all a good weekend with an image from last summer and a slightly exaggerated crabapple tree. The purples really got pushed in this painting, but I think sometimes a little extra push in a colorful direction can really spark your work. That extra "je ne sais quoi..."

busy weekend

Missed yesterday but came off a hectic weekend with a big celebration for the VT Watercolor Society. We've been around for 15 years and had a fun time at our spring gathering with an in-house show of work, a great keynote speaker, trivia questions, a history of our society, an art materials vendor and a panel of four members speaking about their work...all in all a fun time. I'll probably be scattered this week, but catch me when you can. (above another pure value study)

Another summer show

This piece was done many years ago while I was at Basin Harbor in Vergennes, VT. They do an art show every year around Labor Day and usually it's a juried event, but this year for their 25th Anniversary they have invited a select group of artists to return to the show! I am fortunate enough to be a part of that group. They like you to do several pieces that are inspired by the surroundings of the resort and then you can also put in a piece that is typical of your subject matter. The show this year is from August 20-28th.

View from behind

One of my favorite efforts at the figure sessions. Something about the weight of the pose..her legs and torso really seem to be laying down...does that make sense? I sometimes paint a figure and it's slightly unbelievable that this body weighs in at about 150 pounds...here I think it worked....

"Garden Meeting"

This painting is on the brochure announcing one of my shows this summer/fall at the Towle Hill Studio in Corinth Vermont. The show is September 11 & 12, with a reception on Saturday afternoon from 4-6 p.m. I will be sharing the studio with Marilyn Ruseckas and her wonderful pastel landscapes! Click on both links for more information.

Fresh

Here is an abstract acrylic landscape I did some time ago. This is almost what it's starting to look like outside. Blue skies, white clouds and fresh, new, tender greens. Time to revamp the palette and maybe, just maybe work with some fresh, new, clean colors! Wash away the winter "blues" and get some spring "greens".

"Lake Lighthouse"

I did this painting (15"x11") last summer and I'm thinking of entering it in a local show. Right now it's really all about deadlines...we organize our year and WHAM all of a sudden all the shows are upon us and the organization that comes along with it...which paintings? Size limitations? Theme? Shipping or delivery? Saving work out etc..etc.. Phew...

Plump up the volume

It's Friday fowl day! Seems I've been sending you into the weekend with a friendly fowl...so I've renamed my Fridays. The mountains in the background are a bit stiff...but I like the coloring of this ladies' feathers...a variety of brown, payne's gray and even some prussian blue. She's a right plump one, she is...

Temptation

Fields of red...I never would have done this if it wasn't for this particular exercise. The things you learn when you step out of your comfort zone..or the "this is the way I've been doing it forever" zone... Change is hard to get used to and our brushes do develop a mind of their own and seem to want to dip into the same pigments time after time. I will physically put the lid on my "every day" palette and squeeze new colors onto a smaller palette just so I'm not tempted!

Pushing it

This painting is more like a caricature...I think the over stated forehead and the longish nose add to that feeling. There might be a lesson here...maybe next time I'll push it even more and really exaggerate certain features. As I like to say it's only paper and some pigment...so play.

Study 2

Another little one...They have a sketchbook quality to them. I like the way the purple bled into the pure red on the bottom right hand side. Those are the magical areas in a watercolor for me.

Pure color

A color study using pure hues and secondaries for values. Fun way to apply the paint and think about color. This was done from a b&w photocopy during a workshop and I zeroed in on the image and cropped to a close-up of the side of the barn. I had a comment on one of my last posts and was dubbed "the Queen of Chickens". Thanks...I'll take that...as long as I'm not compared to the Colonel and KFC! :)

Farmyard duo

Another week has gone and I'm leaving you for the weekend (once again) with a flighty couple. I like the contrast of dark against light and the purple/blue hues in the dark feathers. I've been making some handmade sketchbooks...actually just taking some left over watercolor paper strips and making an accordion folded book, but the covers are fun to make out of matboard and different scrapbook papers...a little ribbon for a closure and voila! Now I just have to get up the gumption to start painting in one...always tricky.

Puns intended

I have been drawing and painting the figure on a regular basis for the past 3 years and I think I'm "figuring" it out. Flowers are easier...it's not like anyone will notice if a stem is out of place, like they will if an arm is not situated properly! But all in all the figure practice gives a helping "hand" to the flower painting.

Van Gogh wisdom

A little bit of spring color...this was my demonstration for my tulip workshop in February. I worked from a photo and took some artistic license. I like to rearrange things to suit my composition. There is a quote out there by Vincent Van Gogh: "Do not quench your inspiration and imagination; do not become the slave of your model." Quite profound I must say...and there's truth to that. Capture that which got you excited about the subject in the first place...color, value, perspective...etc.etc...

"Barnyard Bow"

11"x15"

I'm back...took a couple days off at the end of last week...was on a road trip. It didn't involve any feathered friends, but did see forsythia in bloom and daffodils galore! I'm lining up my shows for the summer and ironing out other parts of my schedule. It's incredible how quickly the year starts to unfold...with everything being planned several months in advance you have to shuffle and work in the future...