The Quarterdeck

This is the completed painting. The biggest change was to loosen up my rendering of the driveway, to make the edges uneven and not the very linear way I had first done them. This is a Christmas gift that was commissioned, I hope they like it!

Stage 3 Quarterdeck

Painting is taking shape, now I am refining things. In particular, the garage doors keep looking too white when I squint at them. Looking at painters who use white and see how they handle it.Its never as white as you would think.

Stage 2 Quarterdeck

Now that the painting is laid in with tonal values I can begin to add local color, always looking for shapes rather than thinking "that's a window". Making decisions as what to eliminate, what to emphasize, using the photo only as reference. I want the viewer to feel what its like to go down that long driveway and end up at the house on the water.

1st stage:Quarterdeck

Here is the beginning of my rendition of the home. I chose a linen canvas that measures 12x24 as I wanted there to be some space to show the water to the right of the house. Narragansett Bay looking across to Newport.This is the stage that's really about the composition and establishing the values of the painting.

The Quarterdeck

These images are my reference for a house painting I'm doing for a Christmas gift. The original house was designed and built by Mason Remy for his sister Mary. Still in the family and sporting a beautiful new garage and great room above. Will be posting the painting as it has progressed, step by step.

White Cabbage

Another small flower painting, a close up of the white cabbage, most interesting and challenging to paint!

Winter Flowers

Judy has been bringing in masses of flowers to paint, not my usual thing, but they were so irresistible. Not to mention, quite the challenge. Really a great subject for the winter studio. Another small painting, this one only 6x6.

Dora's Truck

This one was done in the parking lot of the Newport Art Museum, very accessible as we had to "go no further", but the subject matter of the cars was not that predictable. To me it was about making a good painting out of a subject that wasn't particularly pretty or inspiring.

One Way

This painting was a challenge, as I kept wanting to increase color saturation, rather than struggle with value. Would like to revisit the same site, in the museum parking lot, facing east. Every time I back to a previous painting location, I see it through entirely new eyes. How that phenomenon occurs is quite beyond me.

Rooftops

Since I got home from vacation in South Carolina, I've had a bad cold, then Thanskgiving, then lying low trying to feel better...so I haven't been into the studio yet.
Thought I'd share some paintings from a workshop I took with Dora Atwater Millikin. All painted around the grounds of The Newport Art Museum, using a limited palette of cad red, ultramarine, cad yellow, and white.

First Light

This last painting was especially fun-because of the truck! I'm off to Hilton Head for 8 days, no laptop, so no posts. Hope to come back with new images, relaxed and refreshed.

Daybreak

Painting these old buildings under renovation was sublime, getting the smell and sensations of summer under my skin. On this particular morning, I went behind the buildings, giving myself the view from 3rd beach. Painting fast and early, as the workmen showed up not too much past 7am.

Dawn

Included this painting in my submission to the Scenes of RI Show. I struggled with making the CD, but it finally happened, and a friend, Thank you Jules!, delivered it for me- on the last day, of course.

Island Park

I'm having trouble with the computer, or maybe its the operator?!? My scenes of RI CD isn't happening, unless I ask someone for help, which I am loathe to do.So I'm posting a little painting I had fun doing on a very windy day this past summer. Drove by the spot the other day and the boat is still there, in someones yard.

A little painting I'm thinking of submitting to Scenes of Rhode Island. Its not really a scene, more like an icon, taking a cruise on the Bay, a summer must. This upcoming show is sponsored by the RI State Council on the Arts.

Folding Metal

Painted this ordinary metal chair while I was gallery sitting at The Portsmouth Arts Guild. Changed the background later to make it more in keping with the other 3 chairs I did. They will hang as a group next month at DeBlois Gallery. More info to follow.

Brought this chair in from home, its been in the basement as its gotten a bit wobbly from being used as a computer chair. Now we have an actual computer chair, but wanted to paint this and remember it. It used to belong to my husbands mother so I thought about her as I painted. Lovely.

Went out a number of times this summer, usually as the sun was just coming up, to paint these cottages. I was taken by their weather beaten shabbiness and wanted to capture a time before it disappeared. And gone it is, as I drove by last Friday, these cottages have been totally rehabbed, no doubt functionally far superior their their old former selves, but in a way, a bit sad to me. I'm glad I took the time to get out early and paint them.See the images on my website.

Corner of the studio with todays model...another chair. Last image didn't show colors right, want to redo before I post. Happy Halloween!.

White Chair

2nd chair in this series. Pinned my green shawl up on the grey wall behind the white chair. Always a challenge to paint something white. I like the simple structure of this plastic molded chair and the hole in its back- another spot of color!

I'm doing a series of 4 paintings for a small picture invitational show. They are on linen, 6x6. I'm doing chairs to sharpen observation skills, plus it gives me ample opportunity for color and shape, my true loves. This is Donna's office chair, I painted it yesterday and sat on it to paint today!

Under The Trees

The week before this was painted we were out on Ocean Drive in the hot July sun. Not everyone loved it, so there was some pressure on this day to "find a shady spot". We went by the library at Salve, literally under the trees. Wanted to show the start of my painting, the time where I freak out a little because it is so ugly. Pushing through that stage brought me to the point where I'm done. Out of time, watching the clock, and deciding not to work on this back in the studio. Just let it stand as a plein air figure.

Sachuest Point

Wanted to share some of the plein air painting I did earlier in the summer. I took a class called Figure in the Landscape, taught by David Barnes from the Newport Art Museum. Each week we met at a wonderful location, the model took the pose, and we painted for about 3 hours. This was a delicious morning!

Audacious

This painting titled AUDACIOUS won an Honorable Mention. I wanted to show the process which started with dividing the canvas into 4 parts. The entire canvas is 36"x48". Then I set up these 4 still lifes which I painted in pretty fast order, taking 2 hours to cover the whole canvas. Then came the fun part, deconstructing and abstracting all of it. That took longer, but I was actually surprised how the painting happened, like a bolt of lightning. So much fun!!!

Mandala Lily

Another image of the lily, this time done in pastel. The form is mandala, the process for this piece was more intuitive, taking me out of my comfort zone. Perhaps I'll explore it further.

Three In A Vase

This post is the final one of six matted gouache studies that are now at the shop in the Newport Art Museum. Worked on painting in the studio today, big bunch of sunflowers,white hydrangeas.
Hope to post before I go to San Diego on Wednesday. Struggling with contrast between surface of table and background, which is water view out the window. Want to figure out how to resolve this conflict.

Tabled Roses

Another gouache study of roses. All were accepted into the Newport Art Museum's shop, where they will get good exposure. Started a big painting of flowers today, but couldn't find my camera to post an image of it. Looked and looked, it finally turned up in a coat pocket. Hadn't been in the studio for awhile and it felt great, totally into the process of painting. Windy rainy day.

Water Garden II

Referencing again The Artists Handbook, Ralph Mayer cautions the artist using gouache to apply the paint without a heavy impasto or unusual thickness, as this will cause the paint to crack. Applied correctly, the finished work will have a surface that appears thick and juicy.

Water Garden I

Reading from The Artist's Handbook by Ralph Mayer, I find that gouache is most often used in a high chromatic key, or when the artist wants to create a high value contrast. Gouache is opaque watercolor,but it is usually done on less roughly textured paper than normal watercolor paper. Some painters use a tinted paper, or start with a watercolor layout first, then apply gouache as the next layer.

Lotus

This image is done with gouache on gessoed paper and is part of a series I've submitted to the Newport Art Museum to be juried for sale in the museum shop. The image is matted and the total size is 11x14".

smallworks

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