Different yet the same . . .

Same scene

Different medium

As I sit at my bench and look out the window, this is the scene I see 365 days a year.

The cool part is that it's always going to be slightly different day to day.

Here in the middle of August, the Big Bluestem is green next to the earth

but pale pink gold up above.

It's a hard color to reproduce and I'm always surprised

when I start playing with colors only to find that the colors that work are not

the colors my mind told me they were.

Here I pulled a pale salmon pink from my pastel pencils and overlaid it with grey.

Blend with a little off-white and it works well.

The greens give it just a little depth.

The hills in the distance are miles away and dusty lavender in the haze of August.

I haven't used pastel pencils for a long time and getting used to the

chalkiness is challenging as is the way they blend.

Still, same scene, different.

Holding loosely . . .

 It's funny how words and phrases come to you in bunches.

As if things are being revealed.

Slowing down and paying attention are what we need when this happens.

So it is with me.

Last week I posted on Facebook that I should take time, slow down, paint more loosely.

Of course, as soon as I said so, the reminder to 'hold on loosely' followed me everywhere.

My immediate object was to loosen my hand and try to get some depth to landscapes with shadowed clouds.

Instead of flattening the shapes,

I varied the intensity of color.

While there is no consistency yet,

these little studies are taking me

out of my comfort zone.

Play.

Experimentation.

Commission work . . . updated

Sunshine Bottoms

Lynch, Nebraska

Overlooking the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska

looking north into South Dakota

10"x30"

oil on canvas

UPDATE

The client wanted a little more river, a little softer cloud shapes,

and dividing the fields with a few roads.

I do like the clouds and the fields and all turned out well.

Next - dry and varnish and it's off to its forever home!

xo

And this . . .

This painting of the barn started life as a flat, lifeless painting.

I'm not sure yet if this is much of an improvement

but it is showing more life than before.

I used a palette knife to apply pure white paint to the roof

and ended up with a brightness that gives it a

reflected quality.

I like that.

May be more to play with but it's got a bit more action to it at least.

8x8 oil on canvas

When the day just seems to be slipping away . . .

Take an hour and paint something.

Painting No. 1 - Sunshine Bottoms, Lynch, Nebraska . . .

Project 1 of 2

12"x36"

oil on canvas

Sunshine Bottoms, Lynch, Nebraska

Overlooking the Missouri River into South Dakota

The view I will never tire of . . .

I have painted this scene across the road from us a dozen or more times.

Each time, it will sell at the next art show. Go figure.

It's the view outside my shop window and it changes weekly.

This week the dried blonde distant field is slowly greening while the rusty Bluestem is remaining red. Last Spring this field was burned to clear out the weeds and it came back beautifully.

Waiting for the grass to lie down and the green grass to overtake it again.

I cannot get enough of this view.

 And time to start on a few flower watercolors - out of my element kind of.

I tend to stick with landscapes and buildings that allow me more looseness.

The flowers seem to tighten my hand and it will be good to make myself loosen up and let the water do the work.

Mums in a vase. Reference photo from the new Pottery Barn catalogue.

Below - iris stems. I'll try this one again in more iris colors. These are a little too rose-y.

Too critical?

Fourteen Days of Hearts . . .

All of the rest of my pics for an Instagram challenge

Fourteen Days of Hearts

Just thought I'd share.

Fourteen days of hearts . . .

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Instagram challenge! Fourteen Days of Hearts which is (obviously) posting a heart a day from 1 February until Valentine's Day. Praying that I can come up with fourteen hearts . . .

I started with an old photo of a brooch I created a few years ago. Gorgeous slab of Moctezuma Agate that I cut and polished and set in sterling silver. 

Day 2 is another photo I took of a thistle in our field last Spring. True, they are noxious weeds and they should be chopped but they are the prettiest color of pink and I can't resist taking lots of pictures. Until they get prickly and then they get chopped . . . :(

The heart in this one is in the center of the bloom. If you squint and imagine a heart, one will pop out at you as a darker heart in the center. Try.

Day 3. I painted a sweet watercolor of Bleeding Heart. I may do this one a few more times but I'm relatively pleased with how it turned out. 

Daily inspiration . . .

I get inspiration from all places if I pay attention but one of my favorite places
is a daily post on Facebook by one of my friends, Katherine Endacott.

She posts a daily photo of her surroundings and calls it Good morning, Pleasant Dale.
Usually a photo of the fields around her home or of a drive into town, she uses her iPhone
as her instrument and takes the most beautiful shots
of whatever inspires her. 

Yesterday was such a day that she inspired me to paint this foggy, snowy, grey field
with a few cows sprinkled in for Nebraska-ish elements. 

I'll be doing this scene a number of times as it is stuck to me like glue.

Cashing in on Christmas . . .

"Ed's Road"

You guys.

I got the best thing for Christmas.

Well, every Christmas.

I ask for a gift certificate to a locally-owned art shop and I always get what I ask for.

This year I took my $50 and bought the big set of Derwent watercolor pencils and I'm so excited!

That $50 put a only small dent in the cost but SO worth it!

So here you go.

New work.

New watercolor techniques.

Detail and wash.

Aquabord.

Exploration.

Ice.pocalypse 2017 . . .

Ice Storm : January 2017 


Sedum and frozen Bur Oak leaf

The last show of the 2016 Holiday Season . . .

The Lincoln Craftacular!

This is the first year I've been able to do this show and what a night!

People came ready to BUY!

I LOVE my little antique table!
And those boxes and advertising memorabilia always make me clutch my pearls.
Mink Chow - love.

If I had had time to take pics of the crowd, I would have but it was busy from the time the opened the doors at 4:00 to those early shoppers to 9:00 when we all began packing.

Over 80 artists and crafters with an incredible array of work.

I think (I think) I was the only watercolor artist there (woohoo!) so for sure I hope to be invited back next year.

Did I mention that the temps outside hovered around 5? These folks were BRAVE!






So much sold tonight including a few that I have really grown attached to.
I'm never sure if people understand the attachment to and the meanings behind these little paintings.
I hope so.
These have found some wonderful homes.

Surprise snow days . . .

The forecast - light rain, maybe a flurry. The end result - 6" of wet snow. But what a great day to warm up the shop and clear the bench for watercolor playtime.

With flakes falling as big as chicken feathers, staying in and watching the cedars change was enough inspiration to experiment with faded greens and foggy distance. Learning how to pale out the snow and fog is more than just adding water - it's greying out a color and learning value differences.

You know how some sketchbook artists can hold up their sketchbook to show you the lovely scene they just painted? Well, apparently that's an acquired skill. Or maybe my scene was too far away. And photographing with your phone in one hand and your painting in the other, all the while trying to bring the background scene into focus so it all makes sense? Harder than it looks. Trust me. You can barely make out the scene across the road. And the Burning Bush at the end of our drive? Pssshh.

I love this old Mulberry.

Show - repack - show . . .

What a weekend!

Prep and pack for a two day show,

home with the jumbled mess,

unpack,

repack,

and another two day show.

Actually, there is another show in there and in all of the packing,

unpacking, repacking, unpacking, repacking,

the photo escaped.

One more event for the Holiday Season in two weeks.

I only hope that this replenishes the $$$ spent on materials in 2016!

Twigs and leaves . . .

Why oh why does this remind me of the phrase:

Eats shoots and leaves?

These are quick little studies done after a trip to the yard to see 

what's dropped overnight.

Actually, lots.

I hate to see the leaves go but excited to see what they reveal.

It's hard to see through all of that greenery sometimes

and I'm one who enjoys grey days and leafless trees.

Not always. Only in the late fall.

The droppings for today:

Mulberry Tree

Pin Oak 

Sumac

Elm Tree