Man, Woman

These two paintings are 30" x 36", and

are hanging together in the StutzArtSpace

Gallery. The current show, "Women of a

Certain Age", ends tonight with a lecture

by the show curator, Leigh Dunnington-

Jones, on the history of women's under-

garments! Tonight's reception is 6-8pm.

I hope some of you can attend, it should be

a very interesting lecture!

Both of these paintings, and "Coming and

Going" (seen in a previous blog) will be for

sale. Our calendars will also be available.

Please come join us!

Value study

I have a new iPhone and just added the bloggerplus app. Now able to post blogs from my phone, don't have to wait til I'm home at my desk top. This means more frequent blogs! Woo Hoo! just started this new figure painting, now waiting on the first layer to dry... getting ready for two shows at the Stutz, October and November. More to come!

Napping on a Cloud

Newest painting, started from our model two weeks ago. This is in oil, 20 x 24. It feels so good to paint!

Painting is a Process!

Today I am posting 2 images. The one, "Coming and Going" you have seen from last week. I wasn't sure if it was finished, but I've made some adjustments, and I believe this is done. I notice that I have forgotten to sign it, though. Something I am frequently guilty of.

The other image is of a painting I'm not entirely satisfied with. I am happy with the compostition, a male nude in a contemplative pose. I am not happy with the colors, but need to let this percolate before tackling it again.

I am having fun painting again, though, and for that I am grateful!

Exposed

I've been exploring Expressionism. It's really kind of fun! One result is that I'm beginning to think that it's possible to "draw" with paint. This opens up a whole new world for me, because drawing is what I really enjoy and feel called to do. This painting and the previous one are about drawing with paint, and about drawing what I like, often, this is the human figure.

Hope you like it!

Coming and Going

After spending a couple of "dry" weeks, artistically, I decided to just DO something! I have always loved figures, but haven't attempted to paint them very often, thinking I need a model, and why pay for a model when the first paintings for a while won't be any good. So do you see how backward this thinking is? I decided to just do it, paint figures without worrying about making them realistic or even attractive to anyone but me. This is the start of my efforts. I began from a gestural drawing done in open figure last week. This isn't done, but not sure what more to do. It's large-ish, 34" square. It's oil with some charcoal. The charcoal is another piece which I decided to leave in, even enhance. Usually I just use charcoal to sketch the rough outlines, but I like charcoal, and I like line, so why not emphasize that? I kinda like it.

Butler Pond, Another Version

This is a 24 x 20 oil painting done in my studio, using my smaller plein air painting as a reference. I wanted to try adding some colors not seen on site, and I wanted to see what I could do in the studio over several sessions. Instead of the usual orange underpainting I covered the canvas in an earthy red tone, since I have a lot of it. I think it works as a background color, but definitely darkens the painting as a whole.

Pink Roses, reworked.

Based on some advise, and my own dissatisfaction, I've reworked the previously posted painting, Pink Roses. I like it better now, anyone else have an opinion?

Butler Pond, June 2010

Completed this 16x12 painting during my plein air class yesterday. One lesson learned is to make sure I'm comfortable, in the shade, or I get too flustered and frustrated. It takes a while to realize that my rising feeling of frustration comes from not being able to see my canvas when the sun moves over it. I'd like to try the water again in another painting. It was very green-brown, with really no blue sky reflections within my picture frame. Next time I'll try a different composition to include sky reflection, but this time I was focused on the tall pine tree that looked like it was dripping pine needles. I don't think I really captured its majesty, but the painting is pleasing overall, I think.

Pink Roses

My "New Dawn" roses were in full bloom last week, so I cut some branches and brought in to the studio. This 20 x 24" painting was done in 3 sittings. I found that the roses did not last long, so was difficult to go back to them in the 2nd sitting, still, I tried to keep the style loose. It is a fun painting, I'll try to do more floweres.

Study in Greens

Last week our class met at the IMA's Lilly House again, and, once again, it was ghastly hot! Standing under the portico and looking directly toward the river, there is lots of greenery, so the challenge was to make it look interesting by varying the greens. Hopefully, I've accomplished this to some extent!

Indiana Landscape

This painting is from week one of the current session of oil painting classes. It is from the beautiful IMA grounds, near the east entrance. I'm pleased with it and anxious to improve on it in coming weeks. It will be available for purchase at Friday's "En Plein Air" art show opening. If you're available, come see it!

Portico

This painting is also from the IMA, done while standing in the shade of the portico at the Lilly House on a 90 degree day! I think it has an "Old World" feel, something I'll try to capture more often.

To see this one and lots more, come visit me at the June 4th show, "En Plein Air", at the Stutz Gallery from 5-9pm. Many of our studios at the Stutz will be open to the public from 12 to 5pm, just before the show opening.

En Plein Air

Last week was a big one for getting outdoors to paint. Several of us are preparing for a plein air show on June 4th. This painting was done just outside the Lilly House at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. What a charming garden area!

TC Steele Grounds

I was able to save the rained out plein air painting today. It's not exactly plein air anymore, but I hope I've saved some of the spirit of it. Did a lot of scumbling, added some shadows that weren't there on site. I think it improves the compostion. Hope it's not too busy!

Rained Out Paint Out

This was the result of my first Plein Air Paint Out, not exactly what I was expecting. It started out to be a beautiful sunny day at the Flowers of T.C. Steele paint out in Brown County. Jerry Points, Susan Mauck, and I had come together. For my first attempt, I set up my easel to paint the "Big House" amidst its blossoming garden. Unhappy with my painting, I decided to move on to a different spot with a clean canvas. I chose this view from below the house looking up from the woods. Just as I was beginning to put some thicker paint on my canvas it began to sprinkle, softly at first, but becoming more insistent. I packed up my things in a heavy downpour and headed back to the cars. When the time for judging was near, Jerry, Susan, and I set up our paintings alongside the others. The rain had let up, but not for good. Soon it was pouring again, and my painting began to show interesting orange speckles. People asked me with interest, how did I get that effect? I had to confess it was by accident. I started with an orange ground. Since there was so much "thin" paint still on the canvas, it came off with the rain. After an hour or so of heavy rain, this picture is all that was left. I hope to save some of it and re-post when it's finished.

Waiting

This is a larger than my usual size painting, 30 x 24. I started it a couple of weeks ago in open studio, when Marla was posed at a TV tray table with this hat and dress. In open studio we made up a whole story about how she was waiting at an outdoor cafe for a blind date, who hasn't shown up yet, but her real true love is the waiter standing in the background. (Yes, we were all women in open studio that day.) I didn't want to try to include the waiter however, so I've re-worked this painting a couple of times, and I think I like it better now.

First Attempt at Plein Aire for the Season!

The forecast was for fabulous weather, so I packed up my box easel and lunch and went to Holiday Park. I forgot, it's spring break, so the park was PACKED with kids! In order to get some solitude I hauled my equipment (15 - 20 lbs?) down to the river bank, about a 15 minute walk, which wouldn't have been too bad except I had also done my longest run for the season this morning, and my legs are killing me!
Spring at a riverbank means MUD, and lots of it, which is what I set up my easel in. When I started I was in the shade, but within 30 minutes I was in sun, and could hardly see my canvas anymore from the glare. I forgot my Liquin, so used terpenoid as my medium, and forgot my sunscreen, but at least had water. After about an hour of painting I'd had it. I packed up my load and headed back, or at least what I thought was back the way I had come. After climbing some unfamiliar looking hills, and scrambling in more mud, I finally found another human being who pointed me in the right direction, which of course was not where I was headed. By the time I got back to my car I had been out over 2 hours, but only painted for one. I finished my first plein aire painting of the season in my studio.

Yellow Roses

Did this 11 x 14 painting in Jerry's last oil painting class of the season. I kind of like it, I think it's one of those paintings that worked well, and I feel I learned something from it. Now if I can only capture that lessen consistently in future paintings!

Rocky Creek

I did this before studying Scott Christiansen's rocks, and then tried to go back and fix my rocks. Somewhat succeeded. It's a pleasant painting anyway.