Just Peaches 1 & 2

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Tomorrow I will set off for the last trip in a flurry of summer trips. I saved the best for last - I'm headed back up into the Sierra's to paint and camp with friends for 5 days! Unfortunately this means I won't be able to ship until I get home (August 20th). I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and hope that no bears (or fires) eat me or cause further delays.

I am leaving you with two more peach paintings. I decided to really and try to study these guys, without the distractions of other objects. Sometimes I feel like I need to spend a month with each object in order to really begin understanding it.

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Shiny and Dull

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I did this one with a cool light instead of the halogen I used on the last two. Because of it you can see a little more of the blues and purples in the peaches.

Driven to Drink

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Here's my second attempt at these peaches. Actually, it's the third - the second didn't make the cut. These little buggers are more difficult than they appear (hence the title).

Peachy Blues

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The thing I have learned about painting peaches, is that you have to add white to pretty every color in them. Often it's just a tiny bit. But they don't look like peaches otherwise.

Cup Kisses

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And now for a change of pace - cups.

Green Bags

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We ran off to spend 5 days in the Olympic Peninsula with friends, hiking our butts off, and now I am slowly getting back into the groove in my studio. I actually did this one before I left, but it had some problems, so I fixed them and now it's done. Next I'll show you a still life or two. : )

Waiting Patiently

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I spied these two gals waiting outside a church in Überlingen, Germany. But what's missing from this picture? They don't have cell phones to look at!! What did we ever do without them?! : \

Red Dress

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Here's another market scene, this time from France (can you tell?).

It's hard to photograph red. Not only didn't the reference photos tell me everything I needed to know to paint the red dress, the paint itself was hard to photograph (it looks better in person). Because I knew this, I tried to pay attention when I was out there to what was really happening when red things were partly in light and partly in shadow.

Invisible Zinnia

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Please note this is on an odd sized panel (purchased in Germany): 13x18cm.

The photo reference for this zinnia wasn't terribly interesting. But something about it compelled me so I decided to really push the colors in the background (making up a lot of them). It was an experiment, and one that I thought might completely bomb. But I'm loving the result.

Blue Stripes

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Here's another market scene from Germany. I basically just followed people around and took pictures of them - like a spy. (evil laugh)

Market Colors

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You can probably tell that this is another scene from Überlingen, in that it's almost the same spot as from yesterday's painting. I'm trying to go a little more abstract and less detail-y with my people scenes, and focus more on the colors and the shapes. I don't know why, but this really appeals to me!

Green Boxes

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Sometimes I'm a little indecisive when it comes to choosing what to paint next. So today I started from the beginning of my Germany pictures. This was number one from the Überlingen market (next to the Bodensee, which you can't ... see). I'm in LOVE with the colors.

I Got You Babe

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Here's another one from Germany - this one from a market in Überlingen. While we were there we had lunch with an amazing guy, who is paralyzed from the neck down, and paints beautiful pictures with his mouth! His name is Lars Höllerer, and this is his work.

Lars had emailed me a few weeks before my trip to ask some art questions, with no idea that I would soon be in Germany. He sent me some pictures of people his helper took for him and I said, "Looks like a great market - I'd love to take pictures there." It turned out his town wasn't far from where we would be, so we made plans to meet. How cool is that?!

Tasting

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Hello again! I am finally home from Germany and France, and recovering. The trip went very well - it was lovely spending time with family in Germany, and I had a really fabulous group of students in France! I also took about a billion photos for future paintings, which will keep me busy in my studio for a while.

The rest of my summer will be almost as busy as this last month, but I will hopefully be able to squeeze in a few paintings along the way. I painted a lot in Europe, but my students snatched them all up. So I begin anew with this simple market scene from Freiburg, Germany.

Underbelly Rose

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I've been spending most of my time recently experimenting with a few new tools: rollers, squeegees and palette knives, in addition to brushes. The results have been very mixed, (mostly producing large piles of gray paint) but finally yesterday I felt like I was getting a little traction. I still have a LONG way to go, but figured it would be nice to leave you (for Europe) on a positive note. I actually did this one big first (24"x24") and mostly hated it, but this small version makes me very happy.

Reminder: I won't be able to ship any paintings until I am home again - July 17th.

I See You

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Here's a scene I collected in France last year. I'm so excited to be heading back there very soon!

Overcast Chinatown

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Before I left for all my recent adventures, I was ahead by a few paintings. Here's one, from a reference I took in San Francisco this spring. I wandered through Chinatown twice. The first time it was overcast, and the second, sunny. I look forward to painting it both ways!

Wink at Pink

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Sorry to be away for so long! First I was teaching plein air in Carmel to a group of WONDERFUL and brave kids (see photos below)...

...and then my husband and I went camping for a while in Eastern Oregon.

We have just a few days to get settled here before we are off again. Next week we leave for 2 weeks in Germany and then 10 days in France - my last workshop of the year. I hope to post a few more times before then.

Unfortunately I won't be able to ship any paintings until after we get home again - July 17th. : (

Navigating the Market

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NEW ARTBYTE: Painting people. It's finally done!! And it's got a lot in it: 11 pages of instruction and a full demo video (of the painting above) with voice-over. I've been working my patookie off, and am proud of the result.

The next you'll hear from me is when I get back from my Carmel workshop. I'm looking forward to lovely weather and lots of sunshine!

Relaxing with my Peeps

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I know I haven't been posting a lot lately. I've been spending a lot of time on spring projects around the house - cleaning, planting, etc. And now we're going camping! I'm bringing my gear so if the weather is good and inspiration strikes I'll paint some Oregon landscapes. Toodle-loo.

I won't be able to ship any paintings until I get home - 5.22.18 - my apologies.