#366 Art lesson- acrylics- 9"x12"

Thought I was gone- huh!

Well I'm not! Today was a gorgeous summery day and I went to the Duxbury Farmers Market - I had won 10 farmers bucks in a raffle- whoo hooo! So I redeemed them on some corn, green beans and these lovely zinnias. I taught a class at Michaels tonight so I prepared the demo on the left before the class and the one on the right during the class. Both paintings took about 45 minutes.

My students did a GREAT job- zinnias are hard!

This is Carol's-so great!

And here is Carols- also great!

Carol, Carol and I had a wonderful time painting.

#365 Last Bunch! 20"x20" acrylic on canvas

Here it is 

365!

I did the same flowers that I had started the blog with last year- interesting how my painting has changed.

My friend Carol asked me what I've learned from this blog- heres my answer...

I learned a lot. I learned that I can be creative every day, even on work days. I learned that I can switch around my mediums and still navigate somewhat. I learned that I am multifaceted and can vacillate between styles daily- and I love all of them.I learned to wipe out paintings that are going nowhere and start again.

I learned a lot about color and light and paint.  I leaned that if I put myself out there people will respond .I sold a bunch.

I am able to  have an active social life , a job and family and still  be an artist. I found that my kids and husband respected me and showed a lot of interest in my work. Both kids are in college but they know what I am painting that day. It connected me with a lot  people on a daily basis. I might be alone when I am actually painting but I am able to share it with a broader audience and get constructive feedback. I set a challenge and I completed it and that feels really good. I plan to continue to paint and blog daily, but not worry about missing a day here or there .

Thats only some of what I learned!

AND-I am doing a giveaway!

 email me by Friday October 1st and you could win an 8"x8'' painting!

( I will post it on the day I announce the winner)

thanks and see you soon!

#364 Still on the fox!

Can you see the rabbit?

I worked on the irises in the bottom right corner. I hope to resolve this painting tomorrow!

I  glazed over areas to tone them down and added rocks. Autumn leaves are appearing.

Tomorrow is my 365th post ! Stay tuned.......

#363 busy day! birthday boy and bye byes

 I wanted to capture my flowing potato vines on my studio-determined to make my last three posts of the 365 flowers real flower studies- but I was rushed and unfocused. I wiped out my first attempt and tried again, but ran out of time. I hope to finish this next time the sun is out!

We attended my nephews 9th birthday party today- a baseball theme...

Here he is-so big!

And sadly my dear Dad departs tomorrow- I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

It was a great visit and I miss him already.

Here he is-quite a handsome dude for an old geezer! ( just kidding Dad!)

Can't wait till the next visit!

#362 Plein Air Day at the Museum

Today we had our first annual "Plein Air Day" at the museum- 6 people showed up!

Here is Burt's painting of the back of the museum

Sue Charles painting ( yes the glare)

And mine-this is the museum from the teahouse path.

 I had to rush this a bit- it got really HOT in the sun!

We had a little appreciation session afterwards and enjoyed each others work. 

I look forward to doing this again next year!

#361 Fox at the Pond-30"x30" acrylic on canvas- work in progress

I sat at the breakfast bar with my husband and father this morning looking at the image of this painting and asked both of them for their opinions.

Each of them said they didn't really like the round flowers in the foreground. I liked them! But I had to agree they didn't work in this painting. So I blacked them out and plan to put purple iris there. I also continued the trees in the background. Dad suggested a rabbit hidden in the foreground- I love that idea!

#360 Fox at the Pond-30"x30" acrylic on canvas- work in progress

Coming along-  need to get this done and complete two more.

Its very flat and patterney-fun to do. I might continue the trees across the whole top. 

#359 South River 10"x10' oil on canvas

This oil sketch was done yesterday afternoon- spent the morning trying to paint boats in green Harbor- impossible. Two wipe outs!

Boats are like animals- they move a lot.

 So this is it for my painting attempts of that day.

I am closing in on my 365, hard to believe!

#358 House Portrait

Here is the portrait thus far- almost done.

I had to prune the tree and move the mailbox.

Artistic license!

#357 Bridesmaid's Flowers 9"x9" oil on canvas

 #

The wedding was fantastic! We had a total blast and my sister was the perfect bride.

I can't think of any other time that I have had so much fun with my family.

Here's the lovely bride - she glowed!

And here are the bridesmaids- 

My niece Kellie, my daughter Markie, me and my daughter Madeline.

We had so much fun dancing at the reception!

house portrait 9"x12" watercolor on paper

I am doing this commission of a house portrait for a client. It is watercolor on cold press Arches paper- this is how I start.

I couldn't work on the fox today- well I did a little, but after work got my nails done for the wedding and so I am scared to paint. Now I know why I don't get them done more often. However- the place I went to gives an awesome massage while your hands are baking in the hot mitts.

aaaah!

I will be taking a couple of days off for the wedding.

I am close to the end of 365 flowers, but not at the end of painting and blogging- no way!

#355 "wedding suitcase " acrylic on found cardboard

My sisters wedding is this Sunday and I am the matron ( ooh that word!) of honor. The bride requested a box for the cards to go into at the reception. I was going to collage it.  I found a cardboard suitcase that was bright purple with Tinkerbell on it at my favorite store- the dump! I decided to paint it to look like a vintage suitcase. They are honeymooning in Italy, hence the faux Italian stickers. It was fun! Okay, no flowers, but my hydrangeas are in the background of the picture. CHEAT!

#35 fox at the pond 30" x30" acrylic on canvas

Coming along- I couldn't wait to get home from work to continue on this one.

I looked at books on  tapestries and Persian art today- inspired.

this photo was taken at night ( color a bit off)- its getting darker earlier now!

#353 fox at the pond 30" x30" acrylic on canvas

I was so distressed last night-  I was trying to paint a picture in my mind before I fell asleep. I have to paint 3 big canvasses in a month and a half-stress- and yesterdays canvas just wasn't working for me- so I turned it around and primed up another one with black gesso. All I learned in the Carol Marine  workshop will be hung on a hook for a while- I'll get it down later- for now it feels SO  good to paint in my old way. I'm painting a red fox- and this wily guy is camouflaged by the woodland pond. There will be flowers in there- at least lots of colorful foliage.

Here's the black canvas

the drawing and beginning of the painting....

the fox is red! This is like a puzzle- So fun to paint!

#352- 30"x30" acrylic on canvas

I have no clue where this is going. Parts of it are working- other parts are not.

Might need to put it away for a while!

#351 Naumkeag Final

I think that there should be blue incorporated into the half circles of this design. The blue color seems to be the essence of this special place that I can't seem to capture in black and white. Also I am not sure if it needs some kind of border. Hmmm,...

#350 Shasta Daisy,8"x8" oil on panel

 I only really had about 20 minutes to do this today.  I thought about the workshop I had just taken and tried to use some of what I learned. I've never been able to paint daisies

but I think I might be a little closer here- looking at the masses and trying to simplify the shapes.

#349 Carol Marine Workshop in Rhode Island

Carol's first demo painting of the workshop

Carol Marine traveled to all the way  Warren, RI, to Kelley MacDonalds studio- she is an amazing daily painter from Austin, Texas who, at the age of 31, really knows how to paint - and teach! She provided 15 of us with tons of information- my head is spinning.

I am so lucky to have taken this- it was  TOTAL blast, and I learned so much.

I felt like a kid being back at school - loved every second.

Kelley (and Mary Sheehan Winn) did a great job of hosting- thank you Kelley! 

BTW_ I messed up my numbers- this is the right number.16 more to 365!

Here is what I did...

10 minute tomatos 

10 minute orange slices

Each stroke different color 

raw eggs (this one was a little runny)

and this is my flower- my salad last night!

I'm exhausted but happy with tons of new tools in my toolbox!

#357 Naumkeag design ( work in progress)

My darling sister pointed out that I had the name spelled wrong.
Typical me...

Here is todays rendering....almost done. I can se now that I am looking at it on the screen theres some trees looking a little bent on the right- will fix that up. Funny how I don't see that in real....
 Tomorow I take the 3 day Carol Marine painting workshop in Rhode Island, here are the panels prepared for the boot camp painting sessions!

my potato vine is crazy- taking over my studio! Love them, too bad they don't produce edible potatoes...

I am hoping to blog about the workshop but not sure I can- if I don't I will post lots of pictures when I return!

#357 Naumkeg design ( work in progress)

4:30 AM- I woke up and couldn't sleep- all of a sudden I felt the inevitable crunch- must be labor day! I worked on this a bit, still more to go. I love painting in the early hours.

I am in a group show coming up in about a month at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River - its all about animals- so I worked on the painting I had started at my  Duxbury demo.

I plan to do "fin  fur and feather" on three different canvases.

Al and I worked on cleaning and readying our house for my Dad who flies in tomorrow from Hawaii for 3 weeks- it inspired me to paint my porch floor.

Those are my bunion-ey feet in desperate need of a pedicure!

We ended up the day with a lovely walk on the beach- I took a dip in the ocean- the water was warm ( for us)

We saw this guy catch a bass (he threw it back) Winnie was not sure what to think about the fish!

Happy end of Summer everyone- the apples are ready and people already have the mums and pumpkins out- bring on FALL!

  

#356 Naumkeg design ( work in progress)

I have had this on my docket for a while- things are piling up and I need to work more on my jobs! This is the first go at a design for Naumkeg- never been there but this is what it looks like.

I'm putting in all the darks first and will go in with the whites next- its a back and forth process.

I plan to go- I imagine these birch trees are stunning in October!

#355 Sunflower in my garden- 10"x10" oil on canvas

I think Hurricane Earle was here last night but he was pretty quiet- and when we woke up the air was dry and cool and SO nice. Thank you, Earle, for not downing trees and power lines.

 I love these kind of days.

Al and I have loads of work around the house and yard to do, but I managed to spend an idyllic hour in my garden painting this sunflower. I've been  admiring it as it grows and thinking how I need to paint it-so glad I did before the birds eat it!

#344 Cornhill Lane 8"x10" oil on canvasboard

This was done last week after work...it is a driveway-it looks blue and a bit watery now that I see it here! Oh well...and there were flowers but I think they might be behind me....