Knitting Mill Creek

Hurricane Irene came through last Saturday and I have been cleaning up from the storm.  I had said that I would post the other painting from last Thursday and here it is.  This painting was from a vantage point from the end of, I think, 47th Street in Norfolk.  The view is of a floating dock in Knitting Mill Creek.  Beyond, is the far bank of Colonial Place.  After painting in the morning, by the time I got to this location, I was feeling quite tired!  This painting was painted on a 9x12 stretched canvas and was painted in oils.

Mills Godwin Bridge

My quest for a painting buddy continues.  I have decided to join in some plein air events in a search for someone or a group to paint with.  The most logical one is "Out and About" Norfolk since I live here.  The problem it is a juried event.  And I really don't have too many paintings from which to choose since my first plein air painting was painted in the spring!  I have decided to submit Ocean View, 26th Street Bridge, and I needed another water structure painting which before today I didn't have.  Since we have a hurricane expected for Saturday, today (now, yesterday) was the best chance I had of coming up with another painting.  I got up this morning and, wouldn't you know it, the smoke was really bad.  I decided to head northwest until I could find a clear sky and look for a marine structure.  I ended up at TCC's old Portsmouth campus and found a view of the Mills Godwin bridge on Route 17.  I painted for about an hour and a half and brought the painting back to my studio and put some finishing touches on it.  Well, if I don't get into this event, there's always next year (and other events)!  This painting was painted in oils and is on a 9x12 stretched canvas.

After I painted this one I came back to Norfolk and painted another one.  I will post that one later.

26th Street Bridge

This morning the smoke from the Dismal Swamp fire must have been blowing some other way because I was able to go out and actually paint!  I went over to the Zoo's parking lot where there is a really nice view of the 26th Street bridge.  I got there about 7:30 and painted until 9:30.  It was a nice enjoyable morning.  I get quite frustrated while painting but it also is most relaxing and calming.  This painting is painted on a 9x12 stretched canvas.







Here I have added a photo of the scene I painted.  The painting kinda looks like the scene!

Water poppy with dragonfly

I discovered a water poppy bloom had opened this morning in the pond.  So I got my trusty french easel and paints out and painted it.  I used one of my new hardboard panels.  My husband had a large sheet of hardboard plywood left over from a furniture project.  I asked him if I could use the remainder for inexpensive plein air painting panels.  I don't want a repeat of the horse barn painting.  He cut about eight 9x12s, and two 12x16s.  I have gessoed most of them and I toned two of the panels with a coat of acrylic paint.  One was yellow ochre and one was yellow ochre with a touch of cad. red.  I used the toned 9x12 yellow ochre panel for this painting.  This is the first time I have used a toned surface.  There are no little white spots showing through!   I spent a little over an hour on this painting.  Dragonflies kept flying back and forth so I included one in the painting.  It was a nice day!  I cannot seem to get a decent photo of the painting though.  Maybe I need to take a photography class.

Merchant Mill Pond - Plein Air

This morning my daughter, her dog, and I went to Merchant Mill Pond in North Carolina.  What a pretty place!  Close to the Great Dismal Swamp, this place had a large pond with cypress trees, the trees with the large bases growing up from the pond.  I was concerned that the current fire in the Dismal Swamp might cause the Mill Pond area to be smoky but, thankfully, the smoke blew in a different direction.  I may go back to this site because after I painted the painting, we found a much nicer location to paint from.  It was a very nice day!  This painting is painted on a 9x12 stretched canvas.

Horse Barn

I journeyed to my daughter's house yesterday.  She lives forty miles away in the farmlands of Suffolk.  Across the road is a horse farm and the barn was visible from the shade of a tree in her front yard.  I painted while she read me stories!  What a juxtaposition!  On the way back home, a car stopped too quickly in front of me and the easel fell in the back and tore a hole in the canvas.  You can see the tear below the barn.  Ah, a reason plein air artists use wood or masonite panels!  The painting is painted in oils on a 9x12 stretched (and torn) canvas.

Bongos

This painting is taken from a photo I took of two bongos at the Virginia Zoo with their horns interlocked.  This painting was finished in June or July.  It is painted in oils on a 12x16 stretched canvas.  I didn't notice until too late that the horns are a little cropped and a glare on the bongo on the right in the photo.  Hum, unsteady hands!

Plein Air - Ocean View

This weekend I decided that I was going to start going out to paint somewhere besides my back yard!  I have been looking for someone to go out and paint with to no avail.  I would prefer  to go to remote spots but I am leery of strangers coming up behind me knocking me in the head!  This morning I decided to try the park close to my home but after scouting a few spots, I settled on this view of the Chesapeake Bay in Ocean View.  That is what used to be Harrison's fishing pier now, I guess, Boone's fishing pier, in the background.  (Actually it is now the Ocean View Fishing Pier.)  I spent about two hours painting.  The painting is on a 9x12 stretched canvas, painted in oils.