Heading to Maine!

I'm behind in posting my 100 in 100, but I think I will be making them up in the next couple of weeks.  I have a two week Artist Residency in Acadia National Park in Maine.  I've been rushing around packing things, making panels, making boxes to hold wet panels, toning canvases, making piles of thing all over!  Can't wait to get up there and paint!  I will be doing a public talk to park visitors once each week, so I made a power point presentation for that (something I had never done on the the computer before!).  Part of my family will be coming up for the second week, which will be fun.  If you are ever interested in looking into artist residencies in the national parks, it is all online, and many, many parks and national sites have them all over the country.  The parks give you a free place to stay, usually have you do some public presentations, and donate a painting within a year.  Many of the parks put you up in wonderful, historic cabins and cottages.  Check it out.

I will be taking my laptop and will try to post as I do work.  Stay tuned in!

#9 and #10 of 100 in 100

The Beast

16x20 oil on canvas

#9 

Summer Snooze

8x10 oil on paper

#10

Here are numbers 9 and 10 painted during a plein air workshop I took this weekend.  It was taught by Ron Boehmer, who I have taken many classes from, and learn more every time I take a class from him.  We had a range of weather, from hot, sunny, hazy, and even some rain.  A great time had by all, even a lovely dinner sitting out on the deck of our hosts.  The location was an 80 acre cattle farm in the Shenandoah Valley, with all sorts of things to paint.

I have become interested in painting old trucks, ever since I saw Carol Marine's paintings on her blog.  Now I look for them, and found a great old dump truck this weekend.  He actually is called T Rex, but he was a real "Beast" I thought.

Now getting ready to leave for Maine in a week for my artist residency in Acadia National Park!  Have to get everything together! 

Goin' Wild!

Goin' Wild

16x20" oil on cavas

plein air piece

#9 of 100 in 100

price on request

I can see that the photo of this painting doesn't quite do justice to the bright colors.  I toned the canvas bright red, which comes through here and there.  I went a little wild wit this one, and had lots of fun.  This is a plein air piece done on the first day of a two day plein air workshop.  I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and really push and play with the colors.  Almost abstract.  It is # 9 of 100 in 100.  I started out thinking I would go on as usual, but that red was called to me!

#7 and #8, 100 in 100

Three's a Challenge

6x6" oil on linen panel

#7 of 100 in 100

$100

River Patrol

14x22" pastel on sanded board

#8 of 100 in 100

$400

Here are #7 and #8 of my "100 Paintings in 100 Days" challenge.  Both have to do with water, but are very different from each other.  #7 is an expansion of #6, which have one sailboat in it.  I had mentioned that the photo I have has three boats.  Liz Whiltzen suggested that I try putting all three boats on the small, 6x6" panel, using a large brush.  I love a challenge, so off I went!  Thanks, Liz!  I used a #8 flat brush for the painting, and it helped me keep things simple, although I think I still noodled around more than I wanted to!  If you see any dog hair in there, I dropped it as I was taking it off the easel, and with three big dogs who love to lay nearby while I paint, I'm sure there is some on there!

#8 is a pastel of a friend's Golden Retriever, Riley, who loves to play in the river.  He will dig for rocks, fetch sticks, whatever.  He has been in a painting before, "Riley's River".  I need to catch up and paint our dogs!  This one is a pastel, which haven't shown up in my challenge paintings yet.  But I'm sure you'll find more as the time goes on.  Painting in pastels is quite similar to painting in oils, despite the fact that one is dry and the other wet.  I think of them in very similar ways, such as both usually start out dark to light, thin to thick (oil), hard to soft (pastel).  Both mediums have their own special qualities which make them unique and fun to work with.

#6 of 100 in 100

Floating Dreams

6x6" oil on linen panel

#6 of "100 in 100"

$100

I have been itching to paint this scene.  I have a photo which has three boats with their reflections, but for this small piece, only one would fit well.  I loved the colors and festive feel of the scene.  Anything to do with water is wonderful.  It gives you a completely different perspective on things to look in on the land, and be a part of the water-world.  This little Sunfish sail boat, part of a fleet of Sunfish sailboats, are owned by a man on the Rappahanock River.  He finds them, restores them, then finds kids and families who can't afford new boats, and off they go to a new owner.  He also teaches sailing to kids and groups. We had a Sailfish, which never made it onto the water, but he was able to get her back into shape and she now is sailing off into the sunset with a family.  Thus the title.

Quote for today:

"Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found."

- James Russell Lowell

Ready to Rumble

"Ready to Rumble"

oil on linen panel, 6x6"

$100

An old truck that has been sitting outside of a local shop since July 4th.  I loved it as soon as I saw it!  I want to do it as a larger painting at some point.  I have seen several other people doing paintings of old trucks, and I have been bitten by the "paint-the-old-truck-bug"!  

Close to home....Real Close #4/#5

Here are the two small paintings I did today, for my challenge.   #4/#5.  #4 is an 8x10" oil on linen panel.  #5 is 6x6" oil on linen panel.  Both were done really, really close to home, as in a few feet.  The Geraniums are located by our barn, and our Bernese Mt. Dog, Belle likes to stay close to me, so she became my second subject.  She has a very ski-jump type nose, although I think I got it a bit too much of a jump!  She is a great painting partner.  Our Golden Retriever, Tucker was laying somewhere else, and our older daughter's dog, Tika, had gone with her for a hike in the mountains.  A nice day of painting close by.  I still need to figure out how to transport the small, 6x6" panels, both wet and dry, and how to set them in my pochade box.  Isn't it fun to always have things to think about, figure out, and work on?  I think so!

"Barn Geraniums"   

oil on linen panel, 8x10", $150

#4 of "100 Paintings in 100 Days"

"Belle"

oil on linen panel, 6x6", $100

#5 of "100 Paintings in 100 Days

Quote of the Day:

"You can't depend upon your eyes, when you imagination is out of focus."

-Mark Twain

The Creative Journey

"Caught in the Light"  

oil, linen on birch, 6x6", $100

#3 !  I feel like the turtle right now.... slow and steady, slow and steady....  I will pick it up and do several at a time, and get them posted several at a time rather than daily, but for now, I put them up as I do them. Not great masterpieces, but each painting teaches you something for the next one.  This is of our donkey, Chocolate Drop (aged 28), standing in our front field where the light is amazing in the evenings.  He turned all sorts of lovely colors, purple, aqua, gold.  Onward.....

Creative quote of the day:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep."  -  Scott Adams

Off to a Start

"Close as Possible"  

  oil, canvas on birch, 6x6", $100

Here I go.  I actually did two small paintings today, and finished an old painting.  The old one doesn't count towards the 100 paintings, but I was pleased to have it done.  I will post it soon.  The above little painting is #2 of the "100 Paintings in 100 Days".  I wasn't 100% pleased with it, but it was fun.  Our Golden Retriever, Tucker didn't know he was a model while he had his head on my daughter's foot.  I have painted on 5x5" panels before, but the 6x6" is taking me a little to get used to.  Especially the linen on the panel.  I am trying different panels trying to find the kind that I want to take to Maine when I have my artist residency in Acadia National Park this September.  As part of this challenge I have several subjects that I want to explore, in addition to the main subject of simplification.  One is the dogs and the horses, trying to say as much as possible without over-stating, or "noodling" around too much.  

"Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced"  -  Leo Nikolaevich

And...They're Off!!

"Sweet & Lowdown"  -  oil on Carton, 8x10, $125

I am biting the bullet so to speak, and taking on a personal painting challenge.  One of the artists whose work I admire, Liz Wiltzen,  (www.mountainartist.com) recently completed a personal painting challenge of painting 100 paintings in 100 days.  I have decided to do the same thing.  The reason for doing something like this has more to do with learning from the journey, than it does from getting 100 paintings out of the deal.  Granted, the paintings will be small, most 6x6", some like the one above, 8x10".  For this challenge I want to focus my attention on "simplicity".  Sound simple?  Nope, not so!  Simplicity in painting is hard.  We, or I should say I, have the tendency to noodle around when I get a little confused, and out the window goes simplification!  Simplicity in painting refers to the act of not adding what you don't need, and focusing on the essence of what you want to say in the painting.  Unlike Liz Wiltzen's paintings, which were all plein air pieces, I am going to make it a little easier on myself, and include studio as well as plein air paintings.  Looking at the calendar, starting today, August 4, I will finish the challenge on November 13, 2010.

Side note, the title from the painting above is from the film by the same name, "Sweet and Lowdown", about someone who thinks he is the best guitarist in the world, aside from Dangjo Reinheirdt, the Frenchman who created Gypsy Jazz.

Oops! I Forgot My New-Found Idea of Quotes! Here's one...

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."  -  John Lennon

Changing It Up a Little

"Shadows of Reflection"  -  pastel, P.O.R.

Several years ago I was painting primarily in pastels.  I loved pastels then, and now.  I love the immediacy of them, like candy for your eyes.  I paint with oil more than pastels now, but still from time to time, I feel a certain subject would do well in pastel.  This is a small, plein air piece done on location at the Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg.  I wanted to catch the last evening light hitting the side of the house, along with the reflection of the sky and trees.  I love the whole metaphorical sense of painting reflections and what they say literally as well as figuratively.  Paintings can have so many different levels of meaning as well as the more literal sense of place.  I hope you enjoy this one.  I did!