Monhegan Lighthouse First Layer

I managed to get the first layer done this evening. I like working big!!! I did a drawing first in charcoal so I could be sure to get everything correct. I am not used to being precise so I figured why not practice with a lot of little buildings! Then I covered the entire sheet of paper with a layer of hard pastels. I use a mixture of nupastels and polychromos. I can see that the top of the lighthouse is crooked which I will fix. I'll put this aside so I can make sure there aren't any glaring mistakes. Stay tuned!

Back to Monhegan Island

Travel Plans subject to change...that's the story of my life! If you are following the saga of my trip plans for 2006, here is the latest installment...Now that Michael has a new job, we won't have as much vacation time as we usually do. That means not enough time to do the New Mexico workshop. I think instead we will head to Maine this September. It's been several years since I've visited and the Andrew Wyeth exhibit reminded me just how much I love Maine. So I am hoping to head up to Bar Harbor and then spend a few days on Monhegan Island. ( a wonderful, magical place) As soon as plans are firm, I will report back. In the meantime I am starting a new painting...it will be big for me...18 x 26. I am going to take my time on this one and I have tried very hard to get the measurements and perspective correct on my paper so we'll see what happens! This is the lighthouse on Monhegan Island. This was my second visit to the island...before I was painting so I don't have many photos. All the more reason to go back!

Captiva Island Sunset

'Evening Glow'

Every visit to Sanibel Island should include a sunset at Blind Pass. This past summer we were there during Tropical Storm Arlene so we only got one sunset but it was worth the wait. Sometimes the best skies develop after the sun has gone down so be sure not to leave too early!

Georgia on Our Minds

I dug into the archives for this painting. It is a little plein air painting I did on my sister's dock on Lake Allatoona last summer. Since it is in Georgia, it fits into my plan to paint Georgia! Jayne, Holly and I have decided to make it a goal to paint the beauty we find in our own state. We have beaches, mountains, wetlands, forests, waterfalls.....and we want to share that with others....so our first plein air outing will be in a few weeks to Providence Canyon, also known as Georgia's Little Grand Canyon. I will give a full report of course. Our next weekend trip will be the end of April to the Terry Ludwig workshop in the Georgia mountains. We will be busy this spring!
p.s. No paintings this weekend. I went to the Andrew Wyeth exhibit at the High Museum and I am sooooo inspired. I have always liked Andrew Wyeth but to see his work up close and personal was simply amazing!

Conch Chowder

Conch...my favorite tropical food! I'd love a bowl of spicy conch chowder and some thick Bahama bread like I got at Ernies in Ft. Lauderdale. That was years ago and our friend Reiner took us in his jeep. I can still taste it! Today's painting is just a conch shell washed up on a Bahama's beach. I felt like painting a shell which I decided is a lot like painting a flower. Shells are colorful and have shapes and textures just like flowers. I love shells!

Back to the Mountains

'Mountain Memories'

This weekend Jayne and I watched the Albert Handell DVD. My goal was to try to paint using a watercolor underpainting like he did in his demonstration. It didn't quite work out. My underpainting came out too light and I ended upgoing over it with nupastels as I usually do. I then just decided to work quickly and have some fun. It was good 'green' practice. And I added the Queen Anne's Lace because I like it and if Handell can put in wildflowers. I can at least try! This is from a photo I took at the workshop last summer in Cashiers, North Carolina. Later I will dig out the plein air piece I painted of this same area...might be fun to compare!

Beyond the Dunes

The last morning of our trip to St. George Island we stopped at the State Park at the end of the island. It was a gorgeous morning...calm and warm. The sun had just come up and was lighting the dunes with a soft warm light. Jayne and I took as many pictures as we could before we had to leave. This painting is based on one of those photos.

Down by the Seashore

I just love pathways to the beach. It doesn't matter where they are...could be Florida, The Outer Banks, the Jersey Shore...but whenever I get to the beach and start to walk down one of these paths my heart beats a little faster. I breathe in the fresh salty air and listen to the surf and the cries of the gulls, and I know it's going to be a good day!

New Camera

Every two years or so I get the camera bug! I woke up Saturday morning with the thought that I should have a smaller camera. My digital camera does a great job but it's huge! I needed a small camera that I can take with me everywhere and that I can take out a shoot pictures without being noticed. I also wanted a camera that would take good macro shots. So after a whirlwind day of research and a trip to the store I narrowed it down. Lucky for me today it was on sale!!!! So I am now the proud owner of a canon sd450 digital elph...a tiny cute little camera that is loaded with features. I've been playing with it tonight and I am posting the first shot I took...this is a camelia in Jayne's yard. I think I will try to paint this flower this week. Jayne also got a new camera...a tiny nikon sd.....so we are all set to take lots of great photos...as soon as we study the manuals!!

Palm Trees in the Morning

I'll call this one 'Conversations' because it looks like these palm trees are chatting with one another. I came across these trees on a visit to Paynes Prarie State Park outside of Gainesville Florida. I wanted to get photos of palm trees but most of them were too far in the distance. These trees were right off the highway at a scenic pull out. How lucky was that! I have some more ideas for different compositions with this stand of trees so stay tuned. This was painted on art spectrum paper which I toned a rosy pink.

Lower Suwannee

Here's today's painting. It's the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. I found the photo in Wet Canvas' Image Library. In the photo there were many more birds...some gulls, a royal tern and even a heron flying over the river. It was very cool...but almost didn't look real. So I left some birds out! This is my weekly practice on Canson paper...always a challenge!

Florida Shed

One of our assignments is to practice drawing and painting buildings. I decided to do this one today...it not only has a building..it has moss covered trees! Lots of things to practice in one painting.
Today I got my amazon book order. I love books! So tonight I will have some good reading! I got the book on color that Jayne and Marsha just got and I also got a new book by Margot Schulzke on design & composition which looks great...lots of pictures! Oh and the new Pastel Journal came today too. I'm in heaven!

Pastel Pelican

I promised a pelican and here he is! I have been wanting to paint a pelican for awhile but I didn't have a good photo. When I saw this one in the reference image library on Wet Canvas...I knew I had to try to paint him. I had a lot of fun with this one. This painting is 9 x 12 on Wallis paper. Now on my next visit to Florida I will be looking for more pelicans to paint!

Sketchbook Page One

We have a month off Pastel class...but we have assignments! We are supposed to be sketching daily and while I doodle on any scrap of paper I don't really take the time to sketch. I have to be able to draw well if I ever hope to be a good painter! So I am going to discipline myself to sketch everyday and this is my first page of my new sketchbook. I expect I will be doing a lot of cats since they are such handy models and they like to hang out with me. I also plan on doing the drawing excersises in the book 'The Elements of Drawing' by John Ruskin. This book is on the reading list for Lorenzo Chavez's workshop (which I will attend in October)

Yesterday Jayne and I made a trip to Binders art store and did some damage...well we needed stuff for the Terry Ludwig workshop! I still need to organize my stuff because I was lazy today...I did find a great photo of a pelican that I want to paint...so stay tuned for that.

Relaxing at the Lake

Another North Carolina scene! This one is from a photo I took at Marsha Savage's workshop this past summer in Cashiers North Carolina. I am trying to get geared up for this spring. I will be taking two workshops in the Georgia Mountains...one with Terry Ludwig and one with Albert Handell. I need to practice my trees! This painting is 11 x 14 done with an alcohol wash underpainting.

Murphy North Carolina Farm

This week I went out of my comfort zone and painted something very green! This is the dairy farm down the road from us in Murphy, NC. I really enjoy painting beach scenes but I know I need to practice doing trees and green things!

Seagull on Sunday

It was time for another seagull painting. That makes four...I suppose it must be a series! And it's funny how I get attached to them. I have had an offer for one but I didn't want to sell it. This gull is another one from the hundreds of gull photos I took on a trip to the beach. Seagulls have so much personality and I love to paint them! I had a very nice Sunday afternoon painting with Jayne, Sherry and Hollly.. (we do need a name for our little group!) We will all be sharing a wonderful riverside cabin in April while we attend the Terry Ludwig plein air workshop in Blue Ridge. I can't wait for that!!

Blind Pass Sanibel Island

Blind Pass is a fun place to visit especially if you like shells! There is a spot where the shells are piled 3 feet deep! I like to get in there and sift through the pile looking for treasures. It's great when the tide is coming in and shifts the shells...doing all the work for you! I've painted a couple of versions of this scene and I have a few more ideas. I can't wait for this summer when I will spend a week on Sanibel and I will go to Blind Pass to paint plein air!

Sunflowers

I woke up this morning with the idea to paint some sunflowers. So I found a photo in the reference image library at wet canvas and set to work. I had a hard time photographing this one. It seems brighter in real life. I love sunflowers though and plan to plant them in my yard this year. Then I can do a whole sunflower series!

Just a tiny one for today. I was practicing on Canson paper on this 5 x 7 scrap. This is a view of a salt marsh near St. Joseph's Penninsula State Park in Florida. I am trying to paint at least a couple of paintings a week on canson. I don't use it enough and I need to for a couple of reasons...one, it's less expensive than the sanded papers and two, it is on the supply list for the Lorenzo Chavez workshop that I will be going to this October. That gives me plenty of time to practice!

Sand Dunes

Last night Jayne was painting some sand dunes from our St. George Island trip. She was doing a great job too! I was painting a mountain and farm scene which was sooooo green for me. So to give myself a break I did this sand dune painting which is also from St. George Island. There...I got it out of my system so I can go back to the greens!