New Father

This is a painting I did for my nephew as a Christmas present.  He is a new father.   I forgot to take a shot of it before I framed and wrapped it.  So I took the photo after he un-wrapped it. Needless to say, the photo isn't the best.  But, most of my photos do not truly represent the paintings.  It was painted on a 12x12 stretched canvas.

Backyard Marsh

Yesterday I decided to paint the marsh again, but a different view.  And I tried something different.  I used just three colors and white.  The colors I used were cadmium yellow pale, grumbacher red, and french ultramarine.  I was sorta pleased with the result but I wonder if a different red or blue might have given better results.  It was painted on a 9x12 canvas panel.

Sequoia in Fall

Sunday I went back to paint the Sequoia at the Botanical Gardens.  I love that tree!  Most of the deciduous foliage has disappeared.   Winter is coming!  I'm not looking forward to it.  I may go back in the Spring and paint it again!  it was painted on a 9x12 canvas board.

Adam

Well, I don't do portraits very often, but I attempted a portrait for a friend of my husband.  Very challenging!  This is third portrait I have done in the past three years.  It is painted on a 12x12 stretched canvas.  Haha, and I'm about to start another one for a Christmas present!  I am going to try and paint many of my Christmas presents.  Hopefully people won't mind!

First Plein Air Knife Painting

Friday, while most people were braving the malls, I went to the Botanical Gardens to paint.  I am really going to have to start Christmas shopping sometime soon!   But not while there is a nice day to paint!!!  I thought that there would not be many people there, but I was wrong.  I thought I would try the skills I learned in one of the workshops I took and tried painting with the knife on location.  This was quite difficult!  And the results weren't the best (but a fun time!).  But anyway, here it is.  It is painted on a 9x12 canvas panel.

First Knife painting

This past weekend, at the Art of the Carolinas, I took a knife workshop.  This is the result.  I have never been attracted to knife paintings before, and I am still not.  But the painting was very fun to do and maybe I will do some more!  This painting was painted in about 45 mins!  on a 9x12 canvas panel.

A Long View

Here's the first one I did at the Pinkum Garden event that was put on by the Charles Taylor Center in Hampton.  The Pinkum Gardens are private and are located in Carrolton near the James River Bridge.  The sun was really sparkling on the water which I didn't quite capture. Those brown marks in the water is an old pier.  This event was October 8th of this past year.  It was an enjoyable time as they all are!  It was painted on a 9x12 canvas panel.

Art of the Carolinas

This week I have had the pleasure of attending the Art of the Carolinas in Raleigh.  The workshops began Thursday and the trade shop began Friday.  What a time I have had!  I signed up for six workshops and already have attended five of them.  The last one is tomorrow and Monday I head for home.  I have been exposed to many new techniques and I am anxious to play around with them at home.  The photo shows the workshop I attended tonight, "The Cape Cod Underpainting Method" instructed by Mike Rooney (in the hat).  I actually took three of the workshops from Mike.  I have my last workshop tomorrow.   The workshops began Thursday and the trade show began Friday.  The trade show is amazing.  It is difficult to refrain from spending because the prices are unbelievable.  I will certainly try to attend next year!

Fountain With Palm

This is yesterday's painting from a trip to the Botanical Gardens.  Yesterday's trip was intended to be studies of simpler objects but I ended up painting this fountain.  This is one of my first attempts at painting with a knife other than a few stabs here and there.  Haha, it looks like August's earthquake re-arranged the right side of the fountain base!  This painting is a combination of brushes and knife.  It was painted on a 9x12 canvas sheet.

Tomorrow I am off to Raleigh for four days at the Art of the Carolinas!  I am excited and hopeful of gaining many new painting techniques.  I signed up for six oil related workshops.  I will be returning next Monday ready to test my new skills!

Autumn

Yesterday it was a really beautiful day so I found a few hours and went to the Botanical Gardens to paint.  I found a nice spot next to the lake and this picture is the result.  It was panted on a 9x12 canvas sheet  oils.

Across the Marsh

Yesterday is was too windy for the Botanical Gardens so I set up in my backyard in the mist of some trees. I did have a view of the marsh and of the neighbor's backyard across the marsh through the trees.  (The marsh is mostly in my yard.)  This was painted on a 11x14 unbleached canvas sheet, panted area about 11x13.5.

Cotton Field

Yesterday while driving back home from a visit to my daughter's house in the farmlands of Suffolk, I spied a cotton field that I thought might make a nice painting.  I figured I better get back there quickly before the cotton was picked so today I went back and painted it.   It is painted on a 9x12 linen covered panel in oils.

This was one of the most fun times I have had painting plein air.  I know the painting isn't the best but it was so fun, it is the only plein air painting that I have framed and hung!  --a memento of a really great day!

Healing Garden

This is a painting that I did at the Botanical Gardens about two weeks ago.  It needed some touch-ups so that is what I have been doing today.  All of the paintings that I posted today were plein air paintings that needed touching up.  Usually I do that sooner but not on these.  The area painted is the Healing Garden.  It is painted on a 9x12 stretched canvas.

Foot Bridge

This was painted at the Botanical Gardens last week.  I did some touch-ups in the studio today.  It was painted on an 8x10 canvas sheet.

Scenic View

The view is from sitting in the chairs!  This painting started off as a plein air from a plein air event in Carrolton, Virginia.  It was the second painting of the day and I was not able to finish.  I started on it yesterday and spent way too much time on it, considering the resulting painting.  I'm not pleased with this one either.  So, practice, practice, practice!!  It was painted on a 9x12 canvas panel.

Fern Glade

Yesterday I went back to the Botanical Gardens.  It was very breezy so I looked for a spot in the trees.  After walking around for about an hour, I settled on this scene in the Fern Glade.  While painting, my easel almost collapsed twice.  I was able to catch everything without too much mess.  (I caught the palette in my hands.  The mess was on me!  The paint under my fingernails was difficult to remove!)  Well, the painting turned out about as good as my hands did.  It looks a little better in person, but not much!  I was not happy with this one.  Painted on an 8x10 canvas sheet.

Reflections

I did this painting for the October landscape challenge at Wet Canvas.  This was my first challenge anywhere and enjoyed painting it.  I usually only paint my own photographs or paint on location.  This was from a reference photo posted in the October landscape challenge.  It is painted on a 11x14 stretched canvas in oils.

Stone Bridge

This is yesterday's painting at the Botanical Gardens.  Leaving this scene while going back to the car, I spotted some nice scenes that I am going to try and paint today.  This was painted on an 8.5x11 canvas sheet, mountable to an 8x10 board (in oils, as usual).

Sequoia in Virginia?

Today was the last warm day for a while so I packed up and went back to the Botanical Gardens for another painting.  Yesterday I had come across a really beautiful tree with a red trunk that I thought was some type of cypress or cedar.  The tag beneath the tree identified it as a sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood.  And I thought they all were in California!  This one is a baby, probably about 70 to 80 years old and almost as tall as the largest trees in the immediate area.  The Botanical Gardens were built in the thirties as part of a pubic works project and the sequoia was probably introduced then.
This painting is painted on a 9x12 hardwood board.

Spatterdock

Today I went out to the botanical Gardens.  This time I found a nice park bench and decided to paint sitting for a change.  The plants breaking the surface are spatterdock.  The bench faced a nice view.  I tried out a new canvas pad that is primed with what appears to be clear gesso.  The cloth is unbleached and makes for a nice tone to paint on.  the pad is 11x14 and if mounted, will probably be 9x12.

This is my cart with all my stuff that I cart around while I scope out a good painting spot.  I really love this cart!

The Fork

Today it stopped raining enough for me to slip in a quick painting.  And, I found another water view.  It too is painted on a 11x14 sheet of canvas to be mounted to a size of 9x12.  It was very soggy there!  I think it is soggy everywhere!  We have the biggest mushrooms growing that I have ever seen!

Rain

Rain, rain go away,
come again another day.
Oil and water don't mix!

Normally I don't wish rain away, but we have had enough lately!  I want to go outside and paint!!  I have an umbrella for my painting but not for me.

Yesterday's painting

I set up in the backyard yesterday and painted this small painting of the trunk of a crepe myrtle.  It was painted on a 5x7 canvas panel.  I as trying to paint small with big brushes.  After I painted the shadows, the sun disappeared which made it difficult to finish.

Waterview again

Today I made it out to the Botanical Gardens intending to paint trees.  I found this beautiful view and couldn't resist!  It was quite an overcast day.  I tried out a new painting surface.  I bought a canvas pad, primed canvas in sheets, and taped one to a board.  I figured if I get a decent painting, I can glue it to a board.  Space saver!  The pad is 11x14, convertible to 9x12 when mounted.

Change

Today, I went back to the Botanical Gardens.  I found a nice spot in the picnic area with a view of the causeway along the lake.  The first picture is of my setup.  I use the cart to pull my easel and bag of stuff around while looking for a nice spot to paint.

I could see the beginnings of fall.  There was a yellow tint to some of the trees.  I'm sure going to miss summer.

I painted for about two hours.  The painting is 9x12 luann gessoed board.

Plein air - Waterfall

Yesterday I went to the Botanical Gardens to paint.  After wandering around with cart in tow, I found a small waterfall I decided to paint.  The pinestraw along the bank of the stream (not to mention the rest of the painting) was very frustrating and I still am not pleased with the result.  I spent three hours in the Gardens.  The painting is on a 9x12 stretched canvas.

Limited Palette

Since I started back painting, I have been collecting tubes of paint.  I have so many beautiful colors, but I would never use them all in one painting.  Each painting I do, I might vary the palette somewhat.  Since I have been packing up , going out, and painting plein air I have tried to limit my pallet to just a few colors.  But still I change the colors when I go out.  I decided this past weekend that I would pick a palette, explore it, and stick with it.  So, I spent Saturday picking the colors and doing color charts.  I should have done the color charts much sooner!  Oh I have done color charts before: greens and value scales, but I have not mixed each color that I will be using together.  (Not all at once, just one to one.)

The colors that I picked to use: cadmium lemon, cadmium yellow, naples yellow, alz. crimson, cad. red light, d. purple, pthalo blue, ultramarine blue, viridian, raw sienna, burnt umber, paynes gray and titanium white.  I wanted a warm and a cool variety of each primary color plus a few extra colors thrown in for their usefulness or just because I like them.  I may vary from this in the future but it is good to become familiar with the way the paints react with each other.  Especially when you are trying to beat the sunlight!

I mixed the lighter colors together but when I got to the darker colors, I would add white to the mix.  Some of the mixtures surprised me.  I never realized that mixing paynes gray with lemon would make such stunning greens. I should have though!   And naples yellow mixed with anything is beautiful!

We are supposed to have rain for the next few days so I guess my painting outside will have to wait a bit!

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.

Plein Air Painting Workshop

Saturday, July 23, I took a painting workshop with Philip Koch, landscape artist and college instructor,  that was held at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, Virginia.  Philip was at the center for the opening of an exhibit of his paintings and held a painting workshop.  He had planned for us to paint outside in the morning and the afternoon but the weather was unbearably hot.  We decided to try and paint outside in the morning and paint inside in the studio in the afternoon, although one brave soul painted outside in the afternoon.  In the morning when we were outside painting, the temperature was in the upper 80s to the mid 90s and the humidity ran 60% up to 74% according to data recorded at the Newport News/ Williamsburg airport.  But I think while I was actively painting, I noticed the heat very little until the sweat ran down my face and broke my concentration!

The first painting was painted on the grounds of the Peninsula Fine Arts Center.  It shows a footbridge along what appeared to be a nature or jogging path.  The second painting was painted inside and is a different view of the same footbridge; building shrubs are framing the distant footbridge.  I believe that we painted about two and a half hours in the morning before we broke for lunch.  After lunch we joined Philip in the gallery and discussed his paintings.  What magnificent paintings!!  After the discussion we went off to paint our second painting.  After each painting, Philip provided a valuable critique that is sure to enhance my abilities.  I so enjoyed the day and didn't want it to end!  As you can tell, I did not finish either painting.

Plein Air - Garden

Here is a painting that I did today.  It was such a lovely day, I took the easel and paint outside.  This is in my backyard.  There are black-eyed-susans, lantana, phlox, and lotus leaves.  This is beside my pond and the gargoyle used to spit water but got tired and decided to spit the water out from other areas besides his mouth.  I enjoyed the day painting.  I did find out one thing: ants like oil paint and are particular to paynes gray.  I must have set the easel on an ant hill!  The painting was painted in oils on a 8x10 stretched canvas.

Waterlily -- Plein Air

I did this painting about a month ago.  I remember that it was quite hot that day and I got the beach umbrella out for relief.  The heat also affected the consistency of the paint making it more fluid.  (The heat also affected the artist!)  This is a small painting being only 7x5.  It is painted in oil on a linen coated gessoed board.

Koi

I painted this painting in April or May of this year.  I have a koi pond in the backyard and this was one of the most beautiful koi in the pond.  He was a Butterfly Koi.  Butterfly koi have long flowing fins and tail.  Unfortunately, we had a fish kill and this particular fish is no longer with us.  However, he left many fry some of which are still swimming and growing.  I had a hard time photographing the painting and a glare still shows.  The painting is on a 9x12 stretched canvas and is painted in oils.

Journey Through Musicland

When I was a little girl, my grandmother taught me piano using one of my mother's old music books.  This picture was ini the music book and I would stare at it and pretend that I was skipping down the path of piano keys.  Later, my sister, who is ten years younger than I, played piano and daydreamed she was living in music land.  My sister still plays piano and plays it very well.  She ended up with the original picture (albeit tattered)  from the old music book, framed it, and hung it on the wall.  Years later, she found another copy of the picture, framed it for me and I hung that one on my wall.  About five or six years ago, I found that the illustration was originally on the front cover of the old music magazine, Etude and I was able to purchase a copy of that issue.  I then framed the magazine because the picture that my sister had given me many years before had faded.  Last January, after I retired, I decided that I would try and paint the beloved picture and give it to my sister for a birthday present.  I truly enjoyed painting the picture.  I never realized until I duplicated it that it had so many elements and I figured that if I left any out that would be the one my sister would remember.  The original illustration can be seen here:
 http://www.magazineart.org/main.php/v/musicandtheater/etude/Etude+1926-09.jpg.html
I am not sure if the name of the picture is "Journey Through Musicland" but that's what I have always called it.  The artist's name is F. S. Cooke.  I could not find any information about the artist except he or she painted a few covers for the Etude magazine.  So, if anyone reading this knows anything about F. S. Cooke, I would love to know.

Still Life With Onions

I figured if I didn't name the painting after the onions, no one would be able to figure out that there were onions in the bowl!  This is another painting from the alla prima class.  I forget the order and I may have incorrectly stated the order in the other posts.  Next class, I will label the paintings with numbers so I can remember the order in which they were painted.

Still Life With Mangos and Peppers

Another painting from the alla prima class is this Still Life With Mangos and Peppers.  The painting was painted in May 2011.  It is on a 9x12 stretched canvas painted in oils.

Blue Still Life

This is the third painting from the alla prima class that I took in the spring of this year (2011).   I sure did enjoy that class and I signed up to take it later this summer.  It is on a 9x12 stretched canvas and was painted in oils.

Black Swallowtail

This is another Christmas present painting.  It was painted in December 2009.  It is a fairly large canvas (24x36) compared to what I usually use for painting.   This painting was a challange.  But my painting journey is a series of mistakes and frustration, corrections and discoveries.  Little by little I am learning.  But I still have a difficult time with foliage!      Where are the butterflies this year???????  I have waited for them to show up, planted things they like, but where are they?  I find butterflies difficult to photograph; they flutter around so fast!     But they make great painting subjects!                                   

Beach Scene

Here is a painting that I did for my niece as a housewarming present.  She likes faraway places and this is a scene from a photograph of a beach in the Caribbean.  I very much enjoyed painting this piece.  I daydreamed of being there quite a bit!  As usual, this painting was done in oils and I think it was 9x12.

Plein Air and Alla Prima

This photo shows two paintings.  The painting on the left is my first venture into the world of Plein Air painting.  The scene is of a shed in my back yard.  The wisteria was just about finished but still was colorful.  I cannot hold the pallet so I lay it in the drawer of the easel.  Well, the wind was quite strong that day and my pallet was blown into the grass.  I picked the grass out of the paint and finished the painting.

The painting on the right is my second painting for an alla prima class.  In the alla prima class a still life was erected and we were expected to finish the painting in three hours.  I usually was finished in two to two and a hlf hours.  Fun class!  I have decided to take the class in July when it is offered again.  I just hope there are enough people out there that want to take it as well so the class will be held!

These paintings were both painted in April or May 2011.  The Plein Air is 8x10 and the alla prima is 9x12.  They are both painted on stretched canvas.

From the Painting Class

In August 2009, I took a painting class at the local community college. I was not able to complete the class because of illness. This painting is the only photo of a complete painting I have from that class. I think I left a couple of paintings in the classroom and two I have at home were never finished. Although I was only to be in the class about a month and a half, I feel like I gained a lot of confidence. I may re-take that class sometime.