clouds

5" x 5 1/2"

acrylic on panel

I've been having fun playing around with clouds.  I took a lot of reference photos of clouds while I was up in Cooperstown, NY this August and I am just now getting around to painting them.  The clouds are so amazing up in the mountains.  They seem to change every minute, or maybe that was just the weather while I was there.

Swiss Village Farm, Newport, RI

5" x 7"

acrylic on panel

This summer I was able to visit Swiss Village Farm during their annual Visitors Day, the one day a year when they allow the public onto the farm grounds.  The scenery was amazing and my reference photos don't do it justice, never mind my painting.  But I will keep trying...

coleus clipping

coleus clipping

6" x 6"

acrylic on panel

This little clipping has been sitting in my kitchen window since late summer.  It is actually a clipping from a clipping, of the pot of coleus from my front porch.  Talk about hardy!

I just love the chartruese of the leaves and the way the red splotches look painted on ( on the actual plant, here it is obviously, actually painted on...)  Since this guy is so resillient, I may have to do a few more paintings.

Back to the beach

8" x 8"

acrylic on panel

This is my youngest daughter by the water's edge at Sachuest Town Beach in Newport, RI. She absolutely loves the ocean and strides right in whenever we go to the beach, barely giving me time to apply sunscreen.  This was from a photo taken in July or August but we actually made it back to the beach as late the last weekend in September.  I took a ton of reference photos and can't wait to paint from them.

 I worked on this for longer than usual, and could probably keep going, fiddling with the water.  However, I decided to leave well enough alone and move on.  I really enjoyed the color scheme here, modeling it after a Joaquin Sorolla painting entitled "The Young Amphibians".

Zorn

Liam
5" x 7"
acrylic on gessoboard

This was an attempt at using the Anders Zorn palette that one of my  favorite painters, Sarah Sedwick, uses often.  However, I think my reference photo was a little washed out, and so I didnt have the opportunity to try and use the depth of color that she can get from this very limited palette. 

long time no see

20 minute pose
18" x 24"
vine charcoal on toned paper

Over the summer I did some figure drawing.  It was a nice change of pace from working from photos or still lifes. I enjoyed the shorter poses, even feeling 20 minute drawings were too long.  Given the opportunity to have the model stay in the same pose, most times I decided to start anew.  Call it impatience or lack of stamina, but I think I was just trying to capture a freshness and not overwork things.  Also I think there is something to be said for starting slowly and getting everything in the right place before you polish thing up. 

Signature Look, or Finley #1

Signature Look/Finley 1

6" x 6"

acrylic on panel

Finley is a Border Collie mix with the softest fur imaginable.  Her signature look is one ear up, one ear down.  There was a lot I liked about this little painting, but also a lot of drawing problem that I could not fix without losing what I liked, hence the #1... There will be more attempts at Miss Finley.

Happy

"Happy"

6" x 6"

acrylic on panel

 I need try this one again.  Too much fur, not enough structure. Or I need to pay more attention to structure...

Sunning Himself

"Sunning Himself"

5" x 7"

acrylic in gessoboard

This is my Clover, again, sunning himself on the back porch.  I think it's one of his favorite spots.  I liked the way this one was coming along, but then I laid in some colors in the shadows that I did not like and but did not want to cover them up because I was trying to keep the darks thin.  So, I decided to leave well enough alone and there you are.

Anyway, I came across this quote on another artist's blog and I think it pretty much sums up why I paint...

"In order to be happy," said Winston Churchill, "you need to find a task that requires perfection, is impossible to achieve, and spend the rest of your life trying to achieve it."

Painting #4, Day #13...

8" x 8"

acrylic on panel

Okay, so I have not been keeping up with the challenge.  It is day 13 and I have only completed 5 paintings (one I will post later tonight).

I thought this one had a lot of promise when I started, but it didn't turn out how I would have liked.  I blame the too large of a panel... Too much room to noodle around!  Also this was a two-sitting painting and I think the second time I went at it I wasn't quite thinking along the same lines as the first time.

Anyway, it makes me think I need to stick to alla prima (all in one sitting) and to get back into painting daily.  It's not that you will create a masterpiece every time, it is that you will be exercising your painting muscles so that when you do have a little more time to spend with a painting, you will be ready to go.  Easier said than done, but...

The painterly approach...

6" x 6"

acrylic on panel

Sometimes its best to quit while you're ahead.  I thought I had a clear plan on this one, but somehow lost my way and decided it was best to head home before I got lost in the (muddy colors) woods!  I almost scrapped it altogether but there was some little bits that I liked about it, so here it is.

It was been hard to keep up with the 30 in 30 Challenge now that someone doesn't nap (and by the time she does go to bed, I want to too!) but I am glad get back to painting, even if it is just once or twice a week.  

Ryder, take 2

"Ryder 2"

6" x 6"

acrylic on panel

I thought I'd try to paint Ryder again.  He has such a cute face and I love how structured he is.  When I paint my dog, Clover, he's just all fur, and it's hard to find the underlying forms/structure.  This was a good "jumping back into things" painting because I kind of threw everything I had into it, technique-wise.  I didn't stick to my original palette, I drew/paint which I try not to do and eventually I just said "quit while you're ahead!"  But in the end, I don't mind it. It makes me want to keep going, and that's what it's all about, right?

Finishing What I Started...

Well, here I am a day late and a (painting) short, but I vow that in 2014 I will finish what I started in 2013!
This is the last painting I did in 2013, before things got too busy.

"Ryder"

6"x6" 

acrylic on panel

Ryder was an adorable, spunky little Jack Russel Terrier that my husband and I used to dog-sit.  I'm not sure I have captured him here but I do like the washy look to this one.  I intended to go back into it and never did.  Hence the finishing....

I've also decided to try and keep up with the break-neck pace of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days Challenge.  So this is day one!