Chance Meeting

I unexpectedly got to meet one of my favorite painters while visiting family in Oregon last week- Dean Crouser!  I discovered him last year online and just love his loose colorful style; his work really inspires me.  I was with my sister-in-law who took me to the Mt. Hood Arts Festival and thought I'd flip through the list of exhibitors before starting out. (I'm not usually that organized!)  Saw his name and about flipped and headed straight for his booth.
He is as nice as he is talented and we had a great visit and chat in between his many customers.  You can check out his website at www.crouserart.com

Seasonal Warm-up

It was a dark, cold, and rainy day; depressing until I picked up the brushes and Brusho watercolors.  Very fun experimenting with Christmas trees; this medium forces you to stay loose. I finally found the paper I like best with this-Fabriano Artistico 300#. It's thick and smooth and takes a lot of punishment, plus you can bleach out areas for white. (just make sure you get fresh air when bleaching!)

Pumpkin Time

I just love pumpkins.  I love their vibrant, roundy huggable shape with the promise of fall fun and the most wonderful holiday of all- Halloween!

Event Painting

This was my first venture at doing a live event painting.  We have a unique tradition at our lakeside high school graduations; after the ceremony all the graduates jump into the lake! I was trying for a collage-y type of painting to get it all in. It had to be really fast because it starting raining 45 minutes into the event.  I finished it at home and happily the school superintendent would like to hang it at the school so it is now getting a nice frame on it which will make this detailed effort look a lot better!

Adirondack Moment

A small color study of a little piece of heaven in the Adirondacks this past weekend.
It really does look like this in the morning; a thick misty fog slowly lifts as the sun rises and electrifies the fall colors nearby. I hope to do more little paintings of these scenes and do them justice!

Pet Portrait Practice

I have a new puppy! This isn't him, but I'm practicing dog portraits again for those who may want one for Christmas. Since I'm going to stay put at home for potty training for a while, it's a good excuse to get going with the brushes, and maybe even clean out a closet or two.
I really like WN neutral tint for this kind of exercise since values are so important and it takes the guesswork out of making color choices.

Out and About

It's been a month or so since the last post-yikes, the summer is flying by. I thought I would show you some of the fun locations I painted in this season. A random mix to be sure, but being outdoors in our short summer and savoring every moment is the best thing there is! We go a little crazy cramming  everything into two months time; I haven't finished too many paintings lately but lots are started and there's no chance of being bored when we have to go back indoors.

 Practicing "event painting" at a friend's graduation party for her son. My wooden plein air easel broke as I was setting it up, so her husband got me a nice piece of plywood to sit on. (the grass was wet that day) Pretty fun, although I did more chatting than painting I think with the guests that came to see what I was doing. I learned a lot, mainly to paint bigger! It's too hard to do 50 tiny people.

 Ahhhh, a new easel! I LOVE this one from Eric Michaels Plein Air Pro. The easel and palette shelf attaches to my camera tripod! It sets up in about one minute and is so transportable. I carried it down an embankment to a rocky spot on the Ausable River in the Adirondacks in July. We had every element that plein air painters could endure except snow-90 degree heat, wind, and bugs. The margarita later on was the best one I ever had!

 My old beat up kayak is the most awkward place to paint, but I don't have to carry a water supply! I just love this challenge and these paintings will never be frame-able, but it teaches me to go really fast, and there is a freshness and spontaneity to the brushstrokes that I will try to remember later.

A nearby nature center has a gorgeous patch of coneflowers. sitting there in the sun surrounded by flowers, bees and butterflies was simply heaven.  I hope to finish at least one of these soon-I started about four different ones hoping one will come out well.

So this is just a smattering of places-I hope to finagle a bike and backpack with mini plein air painting gear and really hit the road and find more cool spots that you can't get to in a car.  Enjoy the rest of summer everyone!