Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tall Non Fat

We are heading back East for a few days to visit family and attend my Husband's reunion, so, I won't be posting for awhile. When we return I hope to be better about posting on a more regular basis. I do want to thank everyone who has stopped by and especially those who have taken the time to leave a comment, or become a "follower" I really am so inspired to paint more and share, as the art blogging community is such a wonderful group of people, all I can say is thank you. Since I am sort of taking a coffee break here is a painting done with oil bars. I was just trying for shapes and spots of color. I took a picture of a friend and the manager came running out telling me I couldn't do that. Tall Non Fat . Don't know what he thought was wrong. It was evening and I liked the lights shinning down, and the golden glow. Just wanted to make a painting. Has anyone else had that happen, and how do you go about taking pictures in public? I will look forward to hearing from you and will share more when we return. Happy Painting.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Berthe Morisot and Me

Ok, I somehow started this post and hit something and away it went and posted without the complete title or any words! Several years ago I read a book about the women Impressionists, I can't remember the title, Berthe Morisot has always been a favorite of mine, and I enjoyed reading about her. When I was in college my one art professor was an abstract painter, and I was a realist he was a friend of Jackson Pollock, and tried to get me to try more abstract in my paintings. Now I do like abstract paintings, but am still very much a realist, one who is trying new things, and always comes back to my love of the simple, ordinary everyday things. I love this quote from Berthe Morisot....." It is important to express oneself...provided the feelings are real and taken from your own experience" So, as I have been trying to figure out just where I am going this summer......I come right back to what I love, and Berthe expressed it very well! The Leeks and lacquer bowl were done in colored pencil. Hope everyone has a wonderful labor day weekend. Fall is definitely in the air. Look forward to hearing from you.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Lessons from Cezanne and Harvey Penick

I was reading about Cezanne and came across something he wrote in his late 60's "I am going on with my researches...I am continually making observations from nature and I feel I am making some slight progress" . So like Cezanne I am continuing on with my painting and looking and thinking!

 I grew up on a farm where we had sheep, I really love the silly animals. My sister and I each had our own sheep, we got to help at shearing time and then take the wool to the mill. I saw this one in the pasture while on Lopez, she reminded me of Matilda,  I helped Matilda when she arrived early in January one year. She used to follow me around in the pasture, and run to the gate bleating, when she saw me come home. Very unusual for sheep! I used oil bars and tried very hard to remember big shapes and simple. Which reminds me of advice from Golfer Harvey Penick,  "If you want to change yourself, you must change how you think." So I am trying to remember to paint quickly and simply!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Some Words of Wisdom and Summertime Reading

Summer in Seattle usually is beautiful in August, and this year we are finally seeing some sun. Lopez Island is one of my favorite places anytime of the year, but summer on Lopez is spectacular! It is a drive to catch the ferry but I love the ride to Lopez. Driving off the ferry and passing all the farmland and breathing in the wonderful aroma of salt water and newly mown hay is heavenly. So, today I am sharing a picture of Lopez. done in oil bars. They are chunky and force me to put it down and leave it.

 I was reading some of my favorite art books on the ferry ride. One by Rex Brandt, a watercolorist, " Our hopes are far ahead of our abilities. When we are satisfied, perhaps we haven't aimed high enough" And this one from Ed Whitney " If you don't like it it will be for one of three reasons, bad shapes; not enough entertainment; beaten to death!" Look forward to hearing from you and hope you all are enjoying your summer.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Garden memories, Robert Motherwell and Harriet Beecher Stowe......

A friend once told me that being an artist is a lonely business, because it is just you and the canvas. That is true to a point, I have been doing a lot of reading lately and came across an article about Robert Motherwell, he believed that he was just a channel, "you just have to let go, and the brush will stumble on what one couldn't do by oneself. " Harriet Beecher Stowe also believed that when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, there was" another hand" that was there writing through her. She said in an interview that she never knew what was going to come next. 

After finding a photo I had taken of our granddaughter I decided to paint and let memory and the brush take over. It was a fun painting to do, there are still so many things I don't like.....too controlled, the colors are a bit off.......and on and on.....so it goes. Until the next time, any comments greatly appreciated, It is nice knowing that I am not alone, there are other artists out there doing the same thing. And, sometimes in the quiet of the studio, the painting does talk back, and the brush does know where to go..... until then I'll just keep painting.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Getting Real And Personal In The Pursuit Of Happiness

Is there anything more exciting than watching a bunch of kids play the last game of the season? Recently we watched a friend's son play their last game of the season, at 6 he is more interested in playing than the score! Now, that is the real pursuit of happiness......so, I am on my own journey of "painting happiness." I am trying different paints, methods, and subjects, just painting what I like,  and trying to rediscover me, and my style.

 But, I do have a question,  can anybody reccomend a good camera for shooting people in the distance, my point and shoot is not making the grade.  I love to paint kids and this was "The last Game" I did this in oils; using a brush is different from the oil bars, but, I am getting more comfortable with the oils and brushes. Any comments greatly appreciated, love hearing from you. Happy Summer!

Friday, July 1, 2011

You win some you loose some

July has come to the Northwest, finally! My peas are up and the deer have found them! I entered a show and didn't get in, and was really upset, decided to donate all my supplies to the school, and turn the studio into an exercise room.......and so it goes. The good news is my miniatures got into the show( a different juror) and one miniature won 2nd place. So, just goes to show you win some you loose some. In the words of Kahlil Gibran " My soul preached to me and said: Do not be delighted because of praise, and do not be distressed because of blame." Since I don't have a picture of the winning miniature I am posting a picture of the first day at the beach.......the kids couldn't wait to run down to the ocean, such joy!

 Enjoy, and to all of you wonderful bloggers out there......Happy Fourth!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Remembering: Patterns and Meaning

This is Marion and Pearl the cat. Marion is on her way to grad school to be a Vet. Sadly Pearl is gone, she used to love to roll in the catnip in our front yard. I painted this picture for Marion as a graduation gift, we've known her since she was about 7, and have loved seeing her blossom into a wonderful young woman. I painted a picture of her and her brother right after they moved in. I really enjoy painting children, and find that that is a pattern in my life, so I have decided to continue on painting children.

Albert Camus said" A person's work is nothing but a long journey to recover, through the detours of art, the two or three simple and great images which first gained access to their hearts." I feel the colors could be a little brighter, I was trying to loosen up, my husband thinks it is great. He's great! Any comments greatly appreciated.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Chickens and Art and Thomas Keller

How does all of that go together? I ran across a quote from Thomas Keller, it is about cooking but could easily apply to art, from His French Laundry cook book. "When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy. That's what cooking  is all about." I got to thinking about this passage as I was trying to  paint the other day and becoming discouraged, and realized if you substituted art for food it makes perfect sense! So, I am posting my Chicken, not perfect but the attempt to paint it was fun and I did learn a thing or two. So here is my humble attempt at a chicken for the DPW chicken challenge. I tried painting it on a piece of canvas from a canvas pad, thought it would be easier to scan, and it was. Our daughter has just added some chickens to the family, so I hope to paint more.
Thanks for stopping by, look forward to hearing from you.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

When the Sun Shines in Seattle

This past weekend we finally had warm days and sunshine. I was inside working at the Washington State PEO convention. Some of you will know about PEO, a wonderful woman's organization that is dedicated to helping women through education. I love hearing about and seeing the women who have benefitted from our scholarships. The fellowship that this organization brings is wonderful. So, even though it was sunny outside I was happy to be inside helping and sharing with a group of wonderful women!
This little girl shows her enthusiasm for a sunny day by the lake. I want to take off my shoes and run down to the lake too, and enjoy the sailboats out for the races, see Mt. Rainier at one end of the lake and Mt. Baker at the other end. 

I am back to painting and hope I will be able to post more. Thanks again for stopping by and visiting, let me know what you think. Happy painting and happy summer.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I have been busy with welcoming the new members to Women Painters of Washington, and cleaning out my studio. It was a joy to welcome 10 very talented painters to our organization last Wednesday. There are so many wonderful artists out there, it is a constant joy to meet so many talented artists. Since I had gotten off track with my own painting I decide the best thing to do would be to clean my studio and make room for new ideas. Buried under papers, I found this illustration that I had done many years ago. It also reminded me that I had a hard time drawing people and I solved my problem by emphasizing design. So, I share this with you all. It would be fun to hear your comments. Thanks again to all of you who comment and encourage it is a delight to get to you. Sorry it seems a bit small here, it was a black and white ad in our local newspaper......back when they used fashion illustrations!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Big Brother is Watching



These Clementines seemed to think that the big Orange was watching them, hence the title. I think that this painting is a little closer to what I am striving for this year. Looser and less fussiness. I was pleased that I didn't labor over it. Spring is finally arriving to the Northwest we have seen the sun for a few days, and that brings everyone out side, walking, jogging and riding bikes.

Friday, April 8, 2011

A New Day and New Way

Today I have tried something new. I scanned a painting rather than take a picture.  The picture I took didn't turn out well. I had ordered a portable photo booth, and tried that, but wasn't pleased with the results. Think I just need to practice. I know some artists use the scanner and their work looks great......so I will leave it up to you all, any comments are always welcome. I was trying to loosen up with my painting, and that didn't happen! I will just keep trying. I saw a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that I think applies to all of us artists. "Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be" Don't you love that?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Back to the Kitchen

These three chefs were in Paris. My husband I went to a lovely restaurant on a side street not far from our hotel. We were tired and had been walking for hours, the food smelled wonderful and the interior was so warm and inviting. When I saw the chefs in the kitchen I just had to take a picture, so I would have something to remember. But did I write down the name of the restaurant? No!  Well here they are my three chefs, in oil bar. I have been having trouble with oils, but, am always happier with the oil bars.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Abe at last and St Patrick's Day

This is the portrait of Abraham Lincoln that I did for the Daily Painters Challenge. I was at a wonderful fund raising luncheon for my PEO chapter yesterday.  It is always such fun being with these women, some of whom I have known for over 30 years......(can that be???) Our focus is giving scholarships to women, something dear to my heart. Anyway I said I post my portrait of Abe so they could see it. I haven't been going to meetings lately, and they can now see why. I think I wiped this one off 4 or 5 times! It was a good challenge, and I will post more. Once again any comment is welcome.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A look back at Waikiki

I have not posted as often as I would like. I have been doing some of the challenges through the daily painters blog. I wrestled with the portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and finally posted it yesterday. I have been reading about Sorolla, and dreaming about warm days. So today I am posting a picture of Waikiki that I did using oil bars. I am fascinated by the color of water from one coast to another. In Hawaii the water is that lovely turquoise green. Thankfully Hawaii did not suffer much damage during this last tsunami. Let me know what you think, and as always thank you so much for stopping by. I look forward to hearing from you.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Shopping Around

I saw this woman heading home after shopping at the outdoor market in Provence. Just had to try and capture her. Hope that the photo is OK. I am still fussing around with different settings. Have also spent time painting the challenges posted by Carol Marine and the Daily Painters. This whole blog experience is just so wonderful. Thank you again, to all who stop by and visit. I really love to hear your comments.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Breakfast in France, and other thoughts

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong?  I know, we all do. Recently I went to the Dr. not feeling really great, expecting the usual, "we can't find anything let us know if it gets worse."  Instead I got," think you had better go off wheat and gluten." I really didn't want to hear that, seeing as I happen to love carbs! Suddenly all I could do was think of everything I couldn't eat! Which led me to reflections of breakfast in France! Oh how I loved the croissants, and fresh bread every morning with a pot of steaming milk to make cafe au lait. After mourning my loss for a week, which accounts for not posting, I decided if I can't eat it I can paint it! I think I will be able to find quite a few things to paint. Let me know what you think. Before I go I just wanted to mention Leslie Saeta and Dream Tolle Perry's Artists Helping Artists blog. It is so fantastic and they are so generous and giving of advice.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Too Many Peppers

I love the little peppers, and Costco had some, actually quite a few, so I thought I would do a small painting. This was fun to do. Of course after I finished it I thought of several other arrangements that would be better. Isn't that always the way? Has anyone read the Arthur Dow book  Composition Understanding  Line, Notan and Color. He refers to the composition as "the putting together of lines, masses and colors to make a harmony. Notan is a japanese word meaning," dark, light" or the massing of tones of different values. Notan beauty is the harmony resulting from the combination of dark and light spaces. The book is interesting, let me know if you have read it, or are going to read it.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Here we go again

Today I am trying another photograph to see if it reproduces better than yesterday's picture. I lost my first attempt at a new blog, apparently it is out there in cyber space! The girls in the picture are all grown up now. Both are in college, the little one in the chair was my model for the last book I illustrated, Wild Beach. Let me know what you think. It was a fun painting to do, I would really like to do more interiors, they fascinate me. Looking at the picture I see more glare now. If at first you don't succeed try try again!
Well, back to the drawing board. This painting was done in oils not oil bar, think I will try it in oil bar and see how that goes. All comments welcome! I love hearing from you, the art blogging world is very exciting.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Does this work?

Well, here I go again, trying to photograph my art. This is a small painting 3x5" that I did for a friend who owns Murphy, my dog Minnie's favorite playmate! Murphy is a chocolate Labradoodle, and Minnie is a Chocolate Lab. They go crazy when they see each other. My friend Decky and I have walked them since they were both several months old. I will post this and we can see how it turned out. Please.....any comments are welcome. Ok I can see glare, I shot this next to the window, I'll have to try again.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Papayas in January

We have had such cold drizzley weather lately that I have started thinking about our days living in Hawaii. I had a note with a friend's Christmas card wondering if I was going to visit. Ah yes dreams of Papaya for breakfast and days at the beach. I love doing breakfast still lifes. It started during a painting trip to France with my friend Lilly, from Hawaii, who paints fabulous landscapes. I have only painted landscapes when I had to for illustrations in the children's books I illustrated.

 So there I was in France feeling overwhelmed with the landscape. But, the breakfast table didn't overwhelm me so I started sketching breakfast!  Remind me and I will give you the recipe for papaya seed salad dressing, it is so good! I love using blue, and sometimes think I should branch out, but am always more happy using blue. What do you think?

Hope you are enjoying your new year. Let me know what you are painting, and, once again thank you to all who have stopped by.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Three to get ready.......

 Happy New Year.  Thought I had better start posting and keep my resolution to post on a regular basis. So, I painted three apples to get me going! Thank you to all who have stopped by and left comments. This is a different palette for me. I am hoping to try some new colors this year.  Michelangelo said "I am still learning." I love that attitude, and I look forward to sharing my attempts this year.