Finished "On Summer Time" (changed the title!)

"On Summer Time"  -  oil on canvas, 16x20, P.O.R.

Artists can change their minds on titles, and so I did!  Changed this one to "On Summer Time".  I really enjoy playing mind and word games with titles.  Some of my titles look to be one thing, when I actually had another meaning in mind, or a metaphor in some way.  Many times the title comes to me while I am painting, or even before I start.  I almost always listen to that small voice that gives me the title, knowing that there is a reason for all things, even if we don't know what it is.

Playing With Color...Again!

"Shuttered Window"  -  oil, 8x10", $150

What fun to play with color!  Just like when you were little and you would put all sorts of colors together to create new colors, as well as playing with the way they interacted.  Maybe you weren't aware of what you were doing, but you knew it was fun.  That is how this painting happened last evening.  The light came and went, so I had to decide what I wanted to capture and say.  I love late evening light, and so it was an easy choice to paint the way the light hit the side of this house.  I also had given myself the challenge of "simplicity".  K.I.S. Keep It Simple.  I left of the usual way of using this reminder, as in Keep It Simple Stupid, as I try to keep things in a positive frame of reference.  We all know how easy it is to go down the road of the self-critic.  But back to colors.  I so enjoyed playing with the oranges and purples and greens that played through out the painting.

Quote for today:  

“I look out the window sometimes to seek the color of the shadows and the different greens in the trees, but when I get ready to paint I just close my eyes and imagine a scene.”  -  anonymous

Starting to Start

beginning of painting:  Summer Afternoon, oil

Ok, here's the beginning of a new painting.  It started as a demo for a workshop I taught, then I worked on it a little the other day.   I am really enjoying painting the water, and the interaction between the girls and the ponies.  Th pony on the left will have a lead rope attached, but that will come.  I so enjoy working on paintings that have some sort of a different perspective.  This one, looking down on them, gives me so much to work with, the water, the swirls, the girls, the ponies, reflections, light.  Lots to think about and respond to.  I love to play with the  colors, where the eye goes in a painting, and the whole sense of a warm summer day in a cool location.   I will soon post the finished painting for this one.  But I was having so much fun painting it, that I wanted to share it with you.  Enjoy!

Changed Some Settings

Miniature on Miniature Easel

I have done several of these tiny little paintings.  They were just fun little paintings to do, that made me smile.  I apologize for the poor photograph quality, a bit fuzzy.  I've done little donkeys, landscapes, and horses.  I have two more tiny easels, we'll see what next strikes my fancy.

A note to anyone who has tried to post comments on this blog.  I was told by one person that they received a message saying only "team" members could post.  Didn't even know I had a "team"!  But I think I fixed the problem.  I clicked on a button that said it will allow anyone to post, so I think that fixed it.  I would love to hear from you!

Catching the Light

Where The Muse Lives   

oil, 8x10, $150

My latest plein air painting, done of the newly opened Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg, VA.  The house is one of those great older homes that feels like it has been loved for a long time.  The Central Shenandoah Arts organization was left this gem by its previous owner, providing it was used as an arts center.  The dream is being realized!  Classes are starting there, by yours truly, and other talented, local artists.

I was especially enjoying this painting because I toned the board in bright, knock-your-eyes-out red!  You can see it peeking through here and there.  I wanted the warmth and energy to come through the other colors, which I think it is doing.  I painted it on my still-relatively-new pochade box, which I am really enjoying.  More on that in other posts.  A pochade box is usually a small box which holds your paints, supports (canvas, board, whatever), and usually attaches to a tripod.  They are usually small so that you can take them anywhere.  I am now able to put everything I need into one backpack, and away I go!