Blue Ridge Mountains in Fall

'Mountain Path' 14x11 pastel

Last night we painted landscapes but we were not allowed to start out using green. I think for the most part I don't start a landscape with green. I try to remember to build up to the final color which allows you to get more interesting color. It was good to be reminded of this!

'A Moment of Serenity' Accepted!

I wanted to share some good news. My painting ' A Moment of Serenity' has been accepted into the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art's juried exhibition Metro Montage VIII. I am excited to have one of my marsh scenes chosen. They never seem to get as many views on the Daily painter's site but I love to paint the marsh! This exhibit opens July 12th so I have time to find a frame....it's 12x24 and I don't have any that size. I wish I could get over to see my painting of Jazz while it is still over at the Mabel House but they only have weekday hours. I missed the opening because I was in Chicago...I will not miss this opening!

Live Oak Plein Air

'Out in the Field' 8x10 pastel

Because I was traveling this weekend I didn't have a chance to paint anything new so I am sharing this painting I did last fall on Creighton Island. These majestic Live Oak trees gave me fits and I would like to really capture them. I think that 8x10 cannot do them justice...they need to be large!

Back from Chicago

We got back from a very busy trip to Chicago to look at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for Corey. It was awesome! The facilities are amazing...they even have a foundry on campus! Corey loved it and so we gave the deposit and he will be headed back in August for the Fall semester. We also saw the Edward Hopper exhibit and I loved it!! His paintings look so much more vibrant and luminous in real life. I especially love how he was able to capture the light. I bought the exhibit book and I intend to study his work. It is good to be home and hopefully I will get some painting time in this week!

Monarch Butterfly Commission

I wanted to share my finished butterfly commission. It is large for me at 18x24. It has a very special meaning for the owner and we worked together to get it just right. I can't wait until she sees it. It really is luminous in real life. I am headed to Chicago in the morning to visit the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with Corey. I am traveling with Caitlin and my friend Cindy and her daughter Anna. We are looking forward to a fun weekend.
I will be missing the opening reception of a show I am in 'The World of Art' South Cobb Art Alliance at the Mabel House in Mabelton. If anyone is in the area the reception is this Saturday from 7:00-9:00. I keep missing these receptions! It's not that I am always traveling...just when a show opens it seems!

Violet Green Swallow SOLD

'Winged Beauty' 5x7 pastel

I think spring time reminds me just how much I love to paint birds. I couldn't resist painting this beauty. He is a Violet-Green Swallow which is only found in the American West. Thank you to Dave Slaughter of wetcanvas for his wonderful wildlife reference photos!

Painting in Greyscale

'Three Shells' 5x7 pastel

Our assignment for class last night was to bring only grey pastels and one color. I totally forgot and had to scramble to round up grey pastels from my box. We then had to paint from a color photo but only use greys and one color as an accent. Here is my greyscale painting. It was good value practice and I am sure I will try it again. I have always liked the look of hand colored black and white photographs and this kind of reminds me of that look.

Queen Anne's Lace close-up

I always seem to paint the Queen Anne's Lace in a field of wildflowers. They really deserve to be showcased on their own. This is a 5x7 portrait of a single Queen Anne's Lace flower. It actually was good practice to study one up close. I know it will help me in my next wildflower painting.

Daddy Bluebird

'Daddy Duty' 5x7 pastel

Jayne's Bluebirds have babies again this year and 'Daddy Boo' is back on duty! This is actually painted from a photo I took last spring. Jayne feeds the bluebirds live meal worms and the male actually signals to her when he wants his worms. He is such a good daddy that he comes back several times to feed the babies before taking some for himself. I need to get over to Jayne's yard with my camera....she said it is just filled with birds!

Limited Palette Palms

This is another miniature painting 2.5 x 3.5 that I painted with an extreme limited pastel palette of 14 pastels plus black and white. These little minis would be great to work on in the evening while relaxing or watching TV. I found out today that my friends Jayne and Holly did the same thing as me this week and made up a little painting kit in a cigar box with this extreme limited palette...they made theirs big enough to hold paper...so I have to make another one! We are scary sometimes! Our class went well today Everyone did a very nice job on their paintings from a black and white photo. I hope that it was helpful and fun too!

Hibiscus Up Close

'Tropical Delight' 6x6 pastel

I am teaching a pastel class on Sunday afternoons and for this week's session we are continuing our study of 'value'. We are focusing on getting creative with our use of color. I did this quick study of a hibiscus from a black and white photo. I wasn't worried about what the real color of the flower was...instead I looked at the values and chose my pastels by value rather than color. We will be doing this as a warm-up in class. I'll report back on how it goes!

Blue Dragonfly Painting SOLD

'Blue Heaven' 5x7 pastel

I had fun painting this dragonfly. The little pieces of white are actually sparkles from pearlescent Great American pastels. I used a technique of removing pastel layers to create the lacy structure of the wings. I wonder what a large dragonfly would look like?

The Flower Farm

'The Flower Farm' 20x16 pastel

This painting is from a reference photo I took up in Cashiers North Carolina a few summers ago. I was at a Marsha Savage workshop and we painted at this spot. A local lady had fields of beautiful flowers that she would cut and put together gorgeous arrangements in coffee cans. I still have a painting I did of the arrangement and another one of this same field hanging in my home. I have a lot of my beginning paintings hanging in my home and studio. They have their charms but most of all they help me to see the progress I have made over the last three years.

Aspens in the Fall mini painting

'Aspen's in the Fall' 3.5x2.5 pastel

On Wednesday I like to report on what I did in pastel class Tuesday night. Last night Marsha had us bring only 14 pastels plus black & white (or close to it) We were to paint with this extreme limited palette using color temperature and mixing the colors we have to paint. I was not very successful. I didn't have a good color selection...that's my excuse! But I am not one to give up. I like the idea of the extreme limited palette especially for travel when you just can't lug your pastel box. So today I chose my 14 pastels based on the ones Michael Chesley Johnson used in his blog post about using an extreme limited palette. He used Nupastels so I picked the same ones and painted 3 minis (2.5x3.5) using just these pastels. The Aspens above is one of them. It definitely is a challenge but a good exercise to work with just a few colors. Thank you to Michael for a great idea and Marsha for sharing it with the class.

Great News!

I just returned from a trip up to Blue Ridge, Georgia and I am excited to report that I now am represented by Wrapsody in Blue in downtown Blue Ridge. I am excited to be a part of the wonderful community and to be represented by such a fine establishment. I had such a nice drive to the mountains with Jayne...thank you and a big thank you to Marsha for everything she has done for me.
There was no time for a new painting but I would like to share a scene from Blue Ridge that can now be seen at Wrapsody in Blue.

Still Life with Eggs...pastel

'Into the Light' 8x10 pastel

I just never know what I will decide to paint. Today it was eggs! I don't know why. I had a wildflower painitng ready and I need to work on my butterfly commission...but the eggs were calling me. Sometimes it is relaxing to sit down and do a painting that is a little more structured than a landscape and when that mood strikes, usually eggs, shells and nests do the trick!

Sanibel Storm

This is a small painting I did as a warm up before this week's pastel class that I am teaching. We talked about importance of learning to see and control value in our paintings. I introduced a method of starting a pastel painting using a value underpainting with a turpenoid wash. This is the scene we all painted. I hope everyone had fun trying something new!

Monarch Butterfly #2

Here is the second color study for the big Monarch Butterfly painting I am going to do. This one has a bouganvilla in the background. I have done one more with darker jewel tones in the background. Today I had hoped to paint and had 3 ideas ready to go but I ended up shopping all day. Oh well! Maybe tomorrow.

Angel...My Tortoiseshell Cat

'Angel' 8x10 pastel

My dad likes to call Angel 'Ugly' because her coloring on her face makes her look battle scarred...but she really is beautiful and she takes up the most elegant poses. For this painting, I caught her sitting in front of the window and she looked like such an Angel!

Blue Ridge Mountains

'Mountain Music' 8x10 pastel

This scene is the view of the meadow and the mountains beyond from my wildflower series. It is painted on pastelbord using a turpenoid wash. This time I took photos of every step and I will try to put them in a slideshow format so you can see my work in progress. I am really enjoying this technique with the turpenoid wash. In other news....I am taking Corey & Caitlin to Chicago along with my friend Cindy and her daughter Anna. We are going at the end of the month to visit the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Corey has been accepted for Fall and he needs to make a decision. It is going to be a fun trip!

Monarch Butterfly Pastel Painting

'Monarch at the Beach' 5x7 pastel

It was good to get dusty again and paint something new. This painting is a study for a commission I have for a large butterfly painting. I am trying to work out possible background ideas. The Monarch Butterfly is from one of the photos I took at Harbor Island this week. On our one nice day there were a few Monarchs flying around the dunes. I was lucky enough to sneak up on this one while he was resting and I took a few quick photos. They don't stay still!!! I am going to try another version with a bougainvilla in the background.

Wildflowers up close

I am back from my trip to the beach and sadly I have no paintings to show for my trip! The first day we had nice weather and I spent my time taking pictures and shelling. The next two days the weather was awful! It was cold and gray and windy. We stayed inside all day. I wanted to set up and paint on the porch but it was way too windy. I am sharing today another one of my wildflower painitngs. This one is 6x6 on toned Art Spectrum paper. Hopefully I will have a new painting to post tomorrow.

Harbor Island Dunes

Here is a little 5x7 acrylic painting I did of the dunes at Harbor Island, SC. I thought it would be good to share while I am here on the island. Tomorrow it looks like a drizzly day so I will try to set up and paint on our deck.

Greetings from Harbor Island

What a glorious day here on Harbor Island. I was expecting rain and cluds but it has been sunny and perfect. I took over 400 photos already and found some great shells. This is my photo of the day....a mockingbird at sunrise. I took a lot of marsh photos...the colors are amazing with the spring greens against the purples. Lots to paint! I will try to take out my pastels tomorrow but today I had too much fun walking the beach.

Magen's Bay Painting

Down at the far end of the beach at Magen's Bay, St. Thomas, there are some colorful little boats pulled up under the trees. I thought they made a great painting subject! This painting is 5x7 and was completed while I was on a cruise in January. I put it in a cool frame that has a bamboo liner. I wish I had more frames like that...they are perfect for my caribbean paintings. I will be headed to the coast today for a little vacation. I am supposed to have internet where we are staying so I hope to keep posting!

Plein Air Marsh

'Breaking Weather' 5x7 pastel

I found this little painting I did on the last day of my painting trip to Creighton Island last fall. The weather had been windy and cloudy all week and the last day the sun finally came out! We will be heading to Harbor Island, South Carolina tomorrow for a little spring break trip. The weather isn't looking to promising. I have a feeling I will be doing some stormy sky paintings! My paintings have been featured on a Harbor/Fripp Island website. Take a look! Thank you Michele for including me on the site!

In the Meadow

'In the Meadow' 6x6 pastel

Here is a close-up of one of wildflower paintings I did for my paper color studies. This one is on black LaCarte paper. I usually paint my wildflowers on Wallis paper which is probably why I like the wallis version the best.

Choosing your paper color....a demo

I was asked by a student how one decides what color paper to paint on. Good question! So I thought a picture was worth a thousand words and I put together a set of paintings done on different paper colors. I painted the same scene of Queen Anne's Lace using the exact same pastels for each painting. They range in size from 4x4 to 6x6. (I was using my scraps) I also used different brands of paper. They are all marked so you can see the difference the color and type of support has on the finished painting. It was a fun exersice and I think I will use this same palette to paint a larger more finished version. Which paper color did I prefer? Well it's funny...each time I look at them I see things I prefer on each one. If I had to choose I would say I like the Belgium Mist Wallis version the best but the black LaCarte comes in at a close second.

Painting with my Left Hand

'Fall comes to the Marsh' 8x10 pastel

We never know what Marsha will have in store for us at pastel class! Last night we arrived to class to find out we would be painting with our opposite hand...in my case...the left hand. I was good and didn't cheat at all though I guess I chose a subject that didn't require much detail and one that I am very familiar with. It was interesting to have to think more about applying my strokes and being more deliberate about what I was painting. I should challenge myself with a more detailed subject next time.

Rose Bud SOLD

Here is a request from one of my collectors. It's a tiny 3x3 pastel of a red rose bud. Roses have to be the hardest flowers for me to paint. I know whenever Marsha brings roses into class for us to paint we all groan! Give me a wildflower any day! I suppose it means I must paint more roses but a field of Queen Anne's Lace gets me more excited than a vase of roses. I am excited about a painting I will be working on....a field of lavender from my trip to the Pacific NW a few years ago. Stay tuned!