The Whole Bunch

I painted this from a photo reference of the bouquet of daffodils I had picked at my sisters house on Easter morning. I love how the blue vase goes with the embroidered tablecloth that was my mothers. It's not my everyday style, but the curved lines in the tablecloth remind me of Matisse.

I got right over it to take the picture, then kept the shapes very simple and as abstract as I could. The easiest way for me to do this is to keep the photo out of sight, so that I am not slavishly staring at it to get everything precise. I'm not knocking precise, it's just not for me, so this helps to rely on my memory of the daffodils.

Home Sweet Home

Many childhood summers were spent playing on these rocks in Jamestown, my grandmothers house on Narragansett Bay, staring into tidal pools and collecting mussels. The mussels are all gone but the rocks and my memories remain.

Geraniums in the Sun

I often like to paint over old paintings, so I found a figure study I had done years ago, sanded it down well- I didn't want any texture remaining for this one- and did my block in with Cadmium Red. One of my friends said what a shame; it looked like a good painting underneath. 

I let it go and moved to the next step.

My set up was in the deck and the afternoon sun had me in the shade and my plants in the light- perfect!

Several times I ampped up the chroma- I wanted it to really convey the warmth of the day.

12x16 oil on panel

Day 5 #AbundantArtShow

Today we were challenged to make a pitch for a sale and I'm not unlike many artists I talk and work with- we are not inclined to self-promote! I think it must be learned, then practiced.

Here's the painting and my process; I picked the first rose and placed it on the table for Sunday dinner. After dinner and cleanup I went into the studio and painted it-6x6. 5 hours between picking and painting. Kinda like farm to table right? Buy directly from my website under New Work.

The Jane Pickens

The Jane Pickens in downtown historic Newport, RI is a world class art cinema. I painted this last weekend plein air in Washington Square. So many beautiful buildings, there will be more to come in my historic Newport series. This is 12x12 on panel, my artistic liberty was not to include the wrought iron fence that surround the park. Maybe next time, but I wanted the simplicity for this painting.

Under the Mt Hope Bridge

This spot under the Mt Hope Bridge is one I've wanted to paint before, and now here we are. Struggled with this until I took a few suggestions from my painting bud Judy Chaves about value. Things seem to be so much lighter than I see them to be at first, then when I make the correction, ahah, it reads correctly. Thank you!

Cool Woods

Seeking refuge from the sweltering sun and heat last week, we headed for the shady woodsy Glen Farm Road. A perfect spot we thought, til the lawn service trucks rumbled by and the mosquitoes found us! After about an hour and a half we both decided we'd gotten what we needed and packed up. Paint fast and be flexible, I took a different approach with this, striving to keep the foreground as abstract as possible.

Before the Storm

The day was so hot we sought refuge again at Colt State Park under these graceful trees so full of personality. The sky and water values changed quickly, and we painted until the 35mph winds threatened to take the easel aloft. Oh yeah, did I say it was also raining?!What we do for the pure love of painting.

It was just so hot we decided to stay at Colt State Park and continue to paint. I turned to face away from the water and saw the light from the setting sun in between the trees. This painting came together so much faster than the first one. Maybe I was able to synthesize the information more effectively after a few hours of looking had already passed.

Echinacea Purpurea

A hot,steamy afternoon in the garden following the guidelines for this weeks challenge from The Daily Paintworks. Stand between 1-6 feet away, limit the palette, and keep the time to 1 hour. I love these flowers which multiply each year; also called Coneflower.

The Gift

My painting of a gift,wrapped simply in brown paper and tied with a shimmery green ribbon, is my response to the challenge from almost 2 weeks ago(!!) from The Daily Paintworks  by Carol Marine. I set it up the night before and did a few thumbnails to get the composition I wanted. The next morning, when I was ready to paint, it came together surprisingly quickly. There are so many wonderful paintings,check out the link and see for yourself!

Workshop With Hollis Dunlap

This was the set up for the first of a two day workshop with Hollis Dunlap. Check out his work at The Ruggiero Gallery. He is a classical realist and put us through the paces, as he talked about first toning the canvas, just to loosen yourself up a bit. Hollis likes flat brushes and demonstrated the variety of marks that can be made with one brush, making the drawing first with the edge of the brush, a thin line that can be corrected. He likes to use a max of 3 strokes with a  loaded brush,prefers to mix with a brush rather than with a palette knife, and encourages correction upon correction. He stated the importance of being willing to work at a particular area it to get it right, not just settling for good enough. He is incredibly generous with his knowledge, and gave honest critiques in a kind way. Here's my effort for the day;exhausted but feeling good.