8 & 9 of 30

Gaillardias, 5x7", watercolor 
8 of 30

Beach Flowers, 5x7", watercolor 
9 of 30

So today is September 12 and I am posting paintings 8 & 9 when I SHOULD be posting painting 12. Oh well.  I forgive myself for being human. I am allowing myself to do this process imperfectly...

Today was our last full day at the beach & it was wonderful.  I was able to take a retail break in the afternoon, leaving daughter & husband back at the condo.  It was really fun to talk with a local artist about her work and share some images of my own work.  I had a great deal of fun painting this morning as well.  I am happy as to how loose these small paintings are.

My painting set up on the front deck...

Unfortunately my right knee has gone a bit wonky so I skipped the beach walk.  We had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Sundae Cafe. (www.sundaecafe.com)  It looks totally unimpressive on the outside but offers wonderful selections at both lunch & dinner. A perfect way to end our brief stay on Tybee Island.  Can't wait to return next year.

Tomorrow we pack up the car early and head into Savannah to load the daughter back into her SCAD apartment for the year.  Then we head homewards towards Cincinnati.  We like to stop in Cartersville, GA for the night.  It gets us past Atlanta, making the next days drive easier.  Going all the way to Knoxville is just too hard at our age.  One year we drove all the way back in one L O N G day.  Never again!

And then the lovely empty nest begins again...

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

6 & 7 of 30

Breezy Morning, 5x7", Watercolor (6 of 30)

Container Ship, 5x7", Watercolor (7 of 30)

We are on Tybee Island, near Savannah, GA.  This is one of my favorite places on earth.  Our daughter moves back into student housing on Friday to continue her studies at Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD).  Last year we began this tradition - taking a few days on the beach as a family before moving her into her apartment and heading back to Cincinnati.  Savannah is a very busy port so container ships pass by the beach where we are quite often.  I am having fun experimenting with painting loosely with watercolors...

Since we have been on the road since Saturday I am a bit behind in the "official" 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge.  I intend to keep plugging away. Since the car was filled with our daughter's back to school stuff I only brought watercolors on this trip. I plan to get back to oils next week and will hopefully get my numbers up.

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

5 of 30!

Windy Day, 7x5, acrylic on paper

Onwards toward 30 in 30. I will have to play catch up over the weekend and post several on Monday.  The important thing is to just keep painting (like Dori in Finding Nemo says.  Oh wait, that was swimming...)

Yesterday I was finally able to see "Eternal Summer" at the Cincinnati Art Museum (www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org) featuring the art of
Edward Henry Potthast. (1857-1927)  This native Cincinnati artist was to beach scenes as Monet is to water lilies. Amazing use of high key colors to indicate bright sunlight.  They had even digitized his sketchbooks so you could scroll through them via a computer screen.  I found this very inspirational.  I am very hard on myself for NOT sketching often and it was great to see all the incomplete sketches in his books.  As a point of interest the museum displayed bathing costumes of the time period.  Can you imagine going into the ocean in a wool bathing suit?  I was so inspired by this show I bought the exhibition catalog for future reference.  I plan additional beach scenes for this 30 in 30 challenge!

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

4 of 30

Flowers a la Carte, 7x5 acrylic on paper

I am juggling packing the daughter off to college with creating & posting paintings this month. This painting was inspired by a workshop I took last month at the Vermont Art Event with Robert Burridge (www.burridgestudio.com).

I encourage you to visit his site and seach www.youtube.com for videos of him working. He's a real hoot and very talented.  The wonderful part of taking workshops with him at the Vermont Art Event was that this event is sponsored by Holbein paints. All supplies were included in the entrance fee for each workshop.  I was very impressed with the quality of Holbein acrylics.  What I learned from Robert had to do with playing with paint.  I know it will help me continue to become more loose.  Have fun, what a concept!

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

3 of 30!

Playing catch up today. According to Leslie we have 48 hrs to post our paintings to her blog so I can go to her "Day 3" and add this image:

Sunny Daze, 5x7", oil on panel

I am fascinated by sunflowers and working to get their impression into a painting. This year I had several "volunteers" show up in my front garden since I had a sunflower feeder up all winter.  Very small compared to the giant varieties I see at the farmers market...

Once again I started with a transparent underpainting:

This shot shows my Ipad set up next to my easel.

I used a combination of brush and palette knife for this painting. I like using both thin and thick paint, then scratching into it.  I declare that 2013 is the year I loosen up in my painting style. I have spent too many years wedded to reality while I see other artists having a heck of a lot more fun!  I vow to USE my art supplies and stop hoarding them.  These 30 in 30 challenges are really good for that goal!

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

Painting 2 of 30...

Mz Nora "B", 5x5", oil on panel, private commission

Today I actually sat down in my studio and completed a commission as part of this challenge.  In January I started doing 5x5 or 8x8 pet portraits and have continued this. It's fun to get close up & personal with someone's pet.  This kitty is a very special resident of my friend Polly's house and I am happy to "represent her". She has the most amazing green-gold eyes!

Here's a glimpse of my process:

Step one: use a grid to establish the likeness on the panel.  I use an app that allows me to grid my images and it really helps get me going.  Creating with a grid helps get me going quickly.  Once the paint goes down the image disappears...

Step 1: the grid

As you can see my drawing is very basic.  No need to freak out about the likeness yet...

Step two: establish the transparent underpainting...

I use a panel holder to secure the small 5x5 gessoboard. Since Nora is a grey cat I was able to play around with several years worth of Gamblin Torrit Greys as I worked opaque colors over the transparent under painting.

More opaque colors going down.  Just for fun, I will share my source photo now...

Nora of the glowing eyes...

I went over to meet Nora to get a better understanding of her eye color before painting the image. I also took alternate photo reference shots.

In the final image I made the background dark and rich to offset the cool grey of her coat.  I think I captured her "cattitude"

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can

September is another 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge Month!

September 1, 2013

Here I go again joining Leslie Saeta's (www.saetastudio.com) painting challenge!  This month should be really interesting because we are traveling, taking our daughter back to college. I will take some basic art supplies on the road and do my best to produce something each day.  Last January this challenge really got my juices flowing and helped me cope with my January blues.  Perhaps this months challenge will help me ease back into my "empty nest"...

Vermont Sky, 8x10 pastel on paper

My first painting is based on an image I captured with my ipad as we were crawling through road construction in Vermont in early August. It was fun to capture the clouds, even through the windshield of our car.  You never know what will show up when you do this.  The camera in an ipad is surprisingly good.  I enjoy using mine to paint as well.  I invested in a simple case that hooks onto my tripod.  It's far more effective than printing an image out to use for reference.

I am grateful for the many blessings of my life as it is today. 

Start where you are

Love what you have

Do what you can