Crazy Harry, 6x12 oil

I did some sketching of my orange boy, Harry, the other day in the garden.  At the studio on Sunday, this showed up on a canvas - how'd that happen?  I like the playfulness of this, and it's definitely not 'serious', but I love the bull's-eye on Harry's side - it's really there!

Tiverton Getty, 14x18 acrylic

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This started as a plein air piece from last Summer. It's been kicking around, and I liked it and I didn't, you know? So today when I got in from my outdoor session at Grinell's Beach I 'warmed up' inside by playing what I call 'Doll Hospital' - I grab a painting that just isn't 'right', and perform surgery on it - working the color, correcting the drawing - whatever it needs. This one needed lighter lights and a kick in the color dept. Now I like it. Too bad the people who owned the gas station last summer are gone - these were their trucks in the painting!

For The Birds...

I've been sketching birds, from life and from photos (mine and 'found' photos).  I like to study them as they're sitting, eating or just hanging out.  It seems to me they have a very complicated system of communication.  I have great empathy for them, and contrary to many people, find them 'lucky' and 'good omens' rather than the reverse. 

The top image is from a sketch I call "Visiting Hours".  The pigeon on the right is injured in it's leg, and is unable to walk around and peck for food.  This was in San Miguel, and the children were relentless in making it fly instead of leaving it alone.  I had to leave myself, or get in an argument with the parents.  These other two pigeons stuck with this injured one, where ever it landed, and kept it company.  You can't tell me they don't understand what's going on.  

The bottom image is the one I dreamt about.  The Friday version I did at the studio was very stilted and the birds were all dead-on frontal.  The wings were very stiff.  In my sleep I painted them like this.  Thankfully Tim felt like walking the Bristol Bike Path today and we went over to my studio and I just dived in and re-worked it.  Maybe still not 'final' but definitely getting there.

Plein Air Falmouth, Marshfield and Norwell, MA

Yesterday (I have no idea why this is all underlines, and I can't undo it!) I was on Boston's South Shore for a 'blonde-ening' and I went early and painting this acrylic  painting of the marsh off rte 3A between Marshfield and Scituate.  Then after the hair appt I met up with my friend Nancy Colella and we painted the North River in Norwell, this time, I used oils.

Tuesday I went to the Veterans Cemetery in Bourne, MA and while I was there I stopped at Old Silver Beach in Falmouth.  It was unbelievable.  The water was aqua!  I don't like the composition, but you know what they say about a bad day of painting....

This Week's Figures, oil

I did go to a figure class this week - it's one of those drop-in... no instructors classes, and the model was good, so here's trying to keep the lessons at learned at Peggi Kroll Roberts workshop in mind...

Self Portraits

I'll give you a laugh today.  I've been doing self portraits for the past week - they're really difficult.  Honestly, I'm much better looking than this ;)

The last one is a work in progress, not done, but I thought I'd include it so you could see how I destroy these paintings slowly...

Featured Artist - Phyllis Adams (Block Dog Art)

Let's see how this photo looks, as I 'cut & pasted' it.  I'd like to introduce Phyllis Adams, a Tiverton artist and blogger, whose blog, Block Dog Art is a fun and adorable land of dogs of all kinds.  Phyllis is active as well on Etsy and Ebay, and to say she just started this a few months ago, has been very successful!  Check out her blog for some canine fun! 

A Cottage Called Al-Fred, 9x12 oil

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This little gem of a cottage is on Cape Cod, and my friends and I paint there a couple of times a year with my dear friend Joan Brancale, who is a fabulous painter. (She's been featured in magazines, and her art has been advertised in American Art Collector). This painting started out as a plein air painting, and I worked on it in the studio to fine tune it a little bit. I love the feeling of crispness of the air, when I look at it I can smell the salt water off to the left. I wanted to sit on those red adirondak chairs and watch the water!

Oh, and we were so curious as to the whole 'Al-Fred' sign - turns out that the couple is something like Aline and Fred, hence Al-Fred, :)

A Wild One

For me, this is a HUGE oil painting.  It's something like 30x36.  I painted it one morning on the road to the old studio, when I was passing a field just as the sun was about to rise over the trees at the back of this yellow field of grass.  Everything was on fire, and as soon as I got to the studio I set to work.  It's not quite finished, but I thought you'd like to see something a little different for me.

Glow At The Quarry, 20x24 Oil

This is finally finished.  It went through many phases, but it was done from a plein air sketch that I did just before sunset one night last summer.  It is a good thing for me to see often, because it reminds me of how blessed I am in this life.  I was painting at this spot where there are always people fishing (for food, not for relaxation).  There was this large Cambodian family there, and upon seeing me set up my paints, the grown up urged the many children to go watch the artist (and get out of their hair for a while).  Why does everyone do this?  I was a little annoyed, because many times I've had to babysit kids and I really didn't have much time to paint before the sunset.  Anyway the kids stayed for a while and asked a million questions which I tried to answer patiently.  They straggled off, all except one girl, 12 years old, who watched with such intensity, I thought, maybe she'd like to be an artist someday.  So I stopped and talked to her about her future.  Which turned out to be bleak.  In two years, at age 14, her parents were sending her to care for her aging grandparents and living in Cambodia.  When they pass away she has other older relatives that she's got to care for before she can come back.  She accepted it with aplomb, but refused to let herself hope for a wonderful future for herself.  Wow.  No more belly-aching from me.  I don't want to hear 'poor me' from any of my own children, either!

Cloud Dance, 20x24 Oil

Well, OK, this may look bizarre, but occasionally the little tufts of clouds seem to 'dance' down the river.  Here, one night at sunset, they caught the rosy colors cast into the sky, making them look like little flames.  No apologies.  If you can't believe it, you are welcome to visit my corner of the world and see it for yourself sometime. :)

Another Sakonnet Sunset, 14x18 oil

I'm now finished with #2 in my Sakonnet Sunset series.  The colors are SO not true, but the painting's at the (old) studio, where I worked on it today instead of packing.  I do this every time I'm moving.  I plan, then fiddle faddle around when I'm supposed to be packing, so I end up doing it all in a rush.  Anyway, till I can get the right lighting, here's the gist of it.  

My Sorolla 'Forgery', oil, 22x28

February is the month for the "Fakes & Forgeries" show at Spring Bull Gallery on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, RI.  This year I chose one of my favorite paintings by Joachin Sorolla, titled "Mother".  It not only depicts such a tender moment with a brand new baby, it's a study in subtlety.  I knew it would be difficult, but I didn't anticipate just HOW difficult.  I wish I'd had another week with the painting.  Anyway, it got a great spot hanging front and center at the show, I was very pleased.

I wish I'd been able to see the two images close together like this while I was painting it, oh, well....  It certainly is a learning experience when you copy from a master.  It is, however, still just copying, and when you paint alla prima you have to make each decision for yourself.. is it cooler or warmer, darker or lighter, is the drawing right?  Measure, measure, measure, and through all this, you learn.  

Sakonnet Sunset, oil, 22x28

This painting is hot off the easel.  I decided that since I am entranced at dawn and sunset by the light hitting the clouds, giving the skies glowing colors, I would paint a bunch of skies from my own view.  Here's #1.  I'll be putting it in the Members' Show at the North River Art Association, Marshfield, MA, which I have belonged to for a very long time.  It's a great group and they have a number of venues to display your work.  Anyway, hope you like it.

My Own Personal 'Salon'

Actually this is just 3 of the 4 walls with my paintings in Tim's office.  This is a safe place for me to keep my favorite pieces.  Yes, safe.  I've actually stepped on, into and through canvases stacked against my studio walls!   My husband is gracious enough to safeguard my work and I like getting to come into the office to add/subtract and rearrange!

My 2008 'Forgery'

It seems like only yesterday I was doing LAST year's Forgery for Spring Bull Gallery's "Fakes & Forgeries" show!  This year I'm going to try to paint the Mother & Child from Joaquin Sorrolla.  I was fortunate enough to see this painting in person last Summer and it blew me away.  It's very tonal, mostly all white, with notes of flesh color for the faces of momma and baby, and dark hair on the mom.   Should be VERY challenging, but if I do a good job, I've got one of my favorite paintings in the WORLD to look at every day (or rather Tim will, as it will most likely end up in his office!).  I'll post further developments of this oil painting as I go along.  This is the initial sketch.  When I get to the studio again I'll give it a very critical eyeball... looking to see if I got the relationships right.

Update on 'The Birds'

This is now on view at the James Library in Norwell, MA at the Codman Building Reunion Show, through February, 2008

A while ago I started this painting of small birds, and since then I've asked for criticism and/or comments from lots of people, then foolishly tried to respond to each suggestion.  I feel I've lost the original intensity of the piece, and am unhappy with this result.  I don't even feel like I can bring it back, but must start again (and don't know that I will...)  But this is one of the pieces I'm working on in the studio.

East Beach Date, Oil 18x24

In Westport, MA there are a few great beaches.  Some are great to swim in, some to fish in, some to walk, or just take in the view.  East Beach is a place where a lot of people just go to feel the sun and the breeze and gaze at the beautiful horizon.  One day last Summer when I was painting there, this couple showed up at lunchtime just to sit and talk.  The red jeep and young people enjoying the day was just impossible to pass up, and I had to take a picture.  I knew this image would make a great painting, and there's an upcoming show about the color red, which I mentioned in my Daily Blog.  So.... this was painted fast and furiously, in one fell swoop, and hopefully the energy I felt painting it can be felt by the viewer.  

I also used a few new colors that I'm enjoying from a trip in to Cambridge (Pearl Paint)... Carribean Blue (Old Holland) and some of Gamblin's Radiant Colors.

I'm No Van Gogh!

And no photographer, obviously, either! Sorry for the shadow on the top of the canvas. This is a very bad photo, too 'mustard-y' but I'm very bad with Photoshop, too (OK, am I listing my faults here, too? I'm disorganized and NO housekeeper! On the 'plus' side I am loyal....) OK, back to the art, these are the 'black' irises, though upon close (and I mean really close) inspection, they're dark purple, navy and magenta actually. And this isn't done, either. When it is I'll re-post.

At Long Last!

This is a work-up from a smaller painting I did last winter. I love, love, love sparrows (and so do my cats, but not in the same way!) and enjoy watching them. Last year I did an 'all-blue' piece of a gathering of sparrows in silhouette, this time I've added a slight bit of background, and sunlit ground - pavement or concrete. Since I took the photo, I couldn't resist enriching the birds a bit, lightening the blue in the background, and thickening the sunlit ground. I like their interactions. I'm thinking of calling it "Politics As Usual", or "And THEN She Said..." but I'll take any suggestions on this one, from sublime to flip...