Duet

Little tow-headed boy, maybe four, comes by on the path where I'm painting with his family. Starts asking questions, making comments. "You're mixing colors." "Yes, I'm mixing shadows. See under the bridge where it's really dark?" "You need some more red." "Do I? Where should I put it?" "Here, under the green shadows." So color by color, we finished the painting together.

Wisconsin River Cliffs

Plans gone astray by life intervening, left me in the Wisconsin Dells for a day & a half with no work to be done. A friend told me about this spot, awesome little park that few people know about, with great views of the river. Some people recharge by being with other people; I recharge by being alone. Spent an utterly peaceful afternoon with just the breezes through the pines. This is my first attempt at a plein air using oils.

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Purse Kit! :)

I found a teeny 3" x 4" spiral bound book of watercolor paper a few weeks ago, which inspired me to put together a tiny plein air kit that would fit into my purse! I had my first chance to try it out today. I also bought a small squirrel quill brush, which I am already deeply in love with.   I have learned that squirrel brushes are the best ever, and with this new addition I now have 3 of them, with which I paint 99% of the time! They're expensive, but they're so amazing. 

I actually bought my first one years ago kind of by mistake--it's an angled mop brush & was in the wrong bin so I thought it was a different price. At the register I was too embarrassed to tell them I didn't want it after all......and of course as soon as I tried it there was no going back; it's been my favorite since then. Now I have 2 more, and I feel lucky to have such a luxury! They make painting with watercolors so much easier.

Here's the little kit (there's also a pencil & eraser in the zippered pouch). The little hairspray bottle holds water.

And here are today's 2 little sketches

Artichoke Still LIfe

This is the piece I completed while at the Gallery Night on Saturday. The head designer at Flowers By Walter did this floral arrangement, and I painted it. I started at around 3:00 pm & finished right around 9:00 pm. I'm pretty pleased with the result, especially for a timed piece.

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Autumn River

This is from a photo at our amazing dog park, taken last October.

I finally finished it--it's the last new piece to go into the show tomorrow. Hauled everything over today & got it mostly set up. Tomorrow taking the easels & a table to set up -- will be painting a still life "live"--for auction by the end of the night! Oy, nothing like a little pressure. Still, I'm looking forward to it.

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A fun exercise this weekend! I found these tiny 3"x3" canvases at the art store. I thought they might be great for my show this coming Saturday--have some really small (inexpensive) things for sale. Tom thought not! Then he said, "Well, if you could paint each one in 5 minutes, then it would probably be worth doing." Fine! I took up the challenge.

So yesterday I sat down & he set the timer. 5 minutes turned out to be not very realistic--however, these were each 10-15 minutes, so still very quick. Great exercise in turning off your brain & trying to just get shapes/values down quickly. And I still think they're cute! They're definitely going in the show.

One more:

This is a scene from the Lake Path that goes around Geneva Lake. One of my favorite places to take a stroll!! This little gazebo caught my eye, and I couldn't resist. :)

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St. John's Chapel

I'm trying to learn to do architecture better. So yesterday I spent the afternoon (took the day off) working on this. Although it's pretty tight, I think it's not bad. I see progress from the last time I attempted something like this.

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The Old Ford

I found this really cool old truck today, while I was actually looking for a farmer's market to paint. Couldn't pass it up! Tom says it's from the 20's, and was a dump truck. I've never painting any type of vehicle before, & will probably attempt this one again on a bigger canvas. But it was fun & quite a nice spot to sit while painting too! The funny thing is, I've actually driven past this spot a million times and have never even seen the truck before.

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Field & Woods

I found a nice little spot behind a church today. I'm working on taking an ordinary view & making it more interesting by the way I paint it. I think I like this one--it's the first plein air landscape I've done in acrylics & I'm liking how they handle. Studio work I still prefer watercolors I think.

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Backyard Roses

Today's roses. I tried a challenge & only used a primary palette--red, blue, & yellow, plus white. Mixed everything from there. Lightens how much you have to carry, if nothing else!! The light changed really fast; they were all in full sun when I started. I actually like the shadows anyway!

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Irises

Here's my 1/2 hour lunch time plein air that I did last week. I had a ton of work to do, but really just needed to paint! My backyard provided the irises.

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Door & Courtyard

One of my goals for this year is to make painting more of a priority. I've been trying to make time to paint almost every day, and I'm loving both the increased productivity, and the fact that the extra time has increased my skills and confidence with this tricky medium! Here's last week's painting. It's also up for sale on my etsy.com store. Enjoy!

 

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