Bowls Four Breakfast - SOLD, & workshop photos

I'm workin' 'em hard here in Sedona - crackin' the whip. At the end of each day they whimper and cry and slink away, but they always come back for more. I'm sure it's my charm. Below are a few photos, minus the whip ...

Junkers - SOLD

SPOT OPEN for upcoming Canada Workshop: Benalto, Alberta - June 27 - July 1, 2011. Please email me if you're interested!!

Above is the last painting I'm proud enough to show from my trip to Sedona, another 8x8 truck from the Gold King Mine. I thought of this trip more as a vacation than anything, with some painting squeezed in. A much needed vacation, with some truly wonderful friends! Here we are at Tlaquepaque, posing by the giant pig (which the photographer cut off - oops): Mary Sheehan Whinn, me, Penny Lentz (dropped in for a couple of days at the end) and Kelley MacDonald. (check out Mary and Kelley's blogs for their paintings in Sedona)

All Dumped Out

Click Here to Bid (8x8inches)

I decided to take some larger panels with me on this trip to see if I liked that better when painting outdoors. And I did enjoy it, though it took longer to paint, which made things a little trickier since the light changed so fast. This is one of the old trucks from the Gold King Mine.

On the third day we painted at Slide Rock. We had a couple of extra painting companions that day. We had a blast, but all I have to show for it is this photo of us: (James, Mary, me, Nancy & Kelley)

"The Post" --- SOLD

Thanks so much to all of you who left comments encouraging my plein air work! I do really enjoy it, and will someday have much more time for it. Right now, with a 3-yr-old, it isn't often feasible.

This is the second painting from my Rockport trip. There was this cute little Marina just opposite our hotel, and I went wandering around it looking for the perfect boat to paint. I kept walking by this one spot thinking "oh that nice little area BETWEEN the boats is so pretty." Everyone else painted boats. : )

Robert Elliot wrote to me today in response to yesterday's post, asking what a "non-wipe" is. My bad! When I do a painting bad enough I don't want to waste the panel, I take a paper towel, dip it in mineral spirits, and wipe it off to use later. That's what I call a wiper. Robert calls them "turkeys." I like that too.

"Pelican Bait" --- SOLD

This is the first non-wipe painting from Rockport. It was also the first time during the weekend that the sun came out from behind the clouds. : ) Even still it all looked terribly gray to me. I am so used to being in full control of my subject - of trying out 5 background colors if necessary (all of them fairly saturated) - of making the light do exactly what I want it to - of taking out the odd orange and adding another apple! But, I loved the way this bait shack leaned, and how the white sign on top was slightly darker than the sky. Don't ask me why. I used the Ampersand boards again and my new fantabulous brush. I painted two more and will post them soon.

"Radishes on a Hill" --- SOLD

These radishes weren't on a hill, but it looks that way to me now. It has something to do with the bottom bit, and I'm still trying to figure out what I could have done to change that.

I went to Jerry's Artarama today and fondled all of their MANY brushes trying to find one right for this surface (back to the smooth panels today). I finally found one not too soft or hard and I LOVE IT! It's an Umbria bright from Princeton Art & Brush Co, size 6. It is perfect for this surface - perfect. Now it's just a test of how long it holds up. I'll let you know.

I'm off to Rockport, TX tomorrow for 3 days of plein air painting with my Austin painting buddies. Maybe I'll come out with 1 or 2 landscapes good enough to post. Mostly I'm looking forward to the break from REAL LIFE. : ) I may or may not have internet - back on Sunday for sure.

"Off to See the World" --- SOLD

This was another experiment with the smooth board: Ampersand. I think I am going to have to paint a little thicker as this is going slow slow slow. But I like it. This painting would have been entirely different with my other brushes and canvas. I would like to find a brush that is not quite so soft as the American Painters, but not as stiff as the Windsor & Newton Monarchs. I haven't decided to switch over to this, but I'm having a lot of fun experimenting and feel compelled to do more.

My buddy, Susan Carlin, is giving a workshop in a few weeks about blogging, for artists. It will be in San Antonio at the Coppini Academy, Saturday, May 24th, from 10am to 3:30pm. Go here for more info. I highly recommend it for those of you nearby! Susan has been blogging for a long time, is a fantastic artist, and is one of the most wonderful people I've ever met!!!

"Happy Planter" --- SOLD

This was an experiment. I re-tried some 8"x8"gessoboard (that I didn't like the first time). I started out using my regular brushes and found very quickly they were way to stiff, and barely laid any color down. Then I tried some brushes I recently bought and tried on my regular canvas surface - American Painter flats - (the same kind Karin Jurick uses) and found they were perfect for this smooth surface (they didn't work at all on my regular surface - too soft). I did end up wiping once and starting over as I realized I had to be a little more careful than normal in getting colors where I wanted them from the beginning. I couldn't fudge as much and fix later without getting messy fast. I really enjoyed this, and I REALLY enjoyed painting a face, even though it was made of clay. : )

"Sugar Bowl" --- SOLD

I'm glad I painted, but I was WAY out of my comfort zone with this one. I didn't have my "fancy" still life box with controlled light (this was sunlight), I was working on a small portable easel with a tiny palette, and this panel has a new surface I've never worked on - gessoboard. The paint acted totally different on this surface: sucked up the paint and every stroke mixed right away with anything underneath. So far I really prefer canvas. I borrowed this sugar bowl from my mom (who made it) - she calls it the bluebird of happiness sugar bowl - don't ask me why. At least I got to eat the cookies afterwards. : )