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!

Lavender Festival 2013

The 6th Lockwood Farm Lavender Festival was bigger than ever!  It was an extremely busy two days and the nicest venue.  People come to pick lavender, enjoy the lakeside and farm scenery, participate in lavendery workshops, and shop artist vendors. It was brutally hot on Sunday; the sheep were too warm to come out but people persevered. Everyone did quite well with sales which is always nice, and many requested teaching lessons and commission ideas, and of course donation requests from several worthy local causes which I'm happy to help with.  Giving back to the community is an honor and I feel lucky to be able to do that with my art.
I almost forgot my favorite "feel good" comment of the event-a lady bought one of my lambs and lavender prints-it's a soft painting of a mother and baby lamb-for her son and his wife who are expecting a baby soon. Their last pregnancy resulted in a loss, and she thought this  picture would give them hope. We were both a little teary as she told this story...

More later with July activities-such a month of cramming everything in that we can in the beautiful summer weather!  Hope you are all enjoying yourselves as well!

This weekend is the Lavender Festival at Lockwood Farm in Skaneateles NY.  I'm gathering lots of new paintings, prints and notecards for the event-it is always such a good time!
The link below gives you the fantastic lineup of activities and artists.
http://www.fingerlakeslavenderfestival.blogspot.com/

Hummmmm

Another hummingbird in the works. I have put this away so many times and gotten it back out, added a few strokes, and put it down again. Washed out some areas I didn't like, then re-painted. When you use this much color it takes more work to balance it out, and always the threat of overworking looms on your mind.  Who would think such a carefree picture would create such agony?  Maybe the next one will paint itself; we can always hope!

Peony Time

The peonies are so luscious and full this year!  However, the constant rain is making them droop. I wait all year for them to bloom again so it's always a rush to try and capture them in their essence.
This is the first time I've painted on Clayboard (aquaboard) and it's a lot of fun.  The colors stay vibrant and it's so forgiving and versatile. I'm using Brusho too on this so a lot of joyous experimenting is going on. You can lift the color with water and a brush, or use bleach to whiten out an area.  I'm going to need a bulk order of these boards-the possibilities are endless!

Fishing Flies

It's been a rainy week but no complaints here-instead of yardwork there's lots of new subjects to paint.  Actually I've done a few bigger fly ties that people like but I've been asked frequently for smaller versions or prints so I thought some more studies would be good to work on.  Going to let this sit and decide if it needs some stronger darks in places.