"Summer Lupines"

"Summer Lupines"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

Summer Lupines in process

The lupines are in bloom at Great Brook State Park and they are gorgeous. I've been struggling this last week, with lots of wipers to my credit. On this one, I wiped off the whole bottom half of the painting and made a second try, which you see here. The bottom photo shows my approach on the second pass, to cover the grass and flower area with blocks of color giving the basic composition. Then I came back in with strokes of color on top, first with the lupines and then using the green to shape the negative space around them. In version one, too much of the orangey-yellow background was showing through.

"Farm Pines Again"

"Farm Pines Again"

8"x6"

oil on Raymar panel

It was wonderful to be out this morning at Great Brook Farm painting this wonderful group of trees above the pond. There was a big bullfrog serenading me and hopefully getting his fill of the mosquitos that my bug dope scared away. I am so glad to see the sun!

Fellow Passengers Sketches

On a tour boat in New York Harbor last weekend, I did a few sketches of my fellow passengers.

Values

"Off the Rim" in black and white

"Off the Rim" in color

mixing the same value as yellow from the tube

black and white version of mixing the same value as yellow from the tube

I really enjoy doing value studies, whether in paint or as a sketch. I think it's a lot harder to translate those values into color though. Take a look at "Off the Rim" above. I was surprised to see the red bowl and blue background have almost the same value after I photoshopped the image of the painting into black and white. In the color version, the blue seems much lighter to me. So I decided to try and improve my ability to see the values in patches of color with the above exercise. Give it a try and see if you find it as challenging as I did: paint a swatch of cad yellow straight from the tube. Then try and mix a gray, red, and blue to match the value of the yellow. It took me a couple of tries to get the red and blue light enough (above is my second try). I've added a value finder to each image above to make it easier to see.

The above swatches were painted in gouache and scanned.

"Drew's Farm Apple Tree"

"Drew's Farm Apple Tree"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

The trees at Drew's Farm Orchard are pruned so that they look almost like sculptures. I was intrigued by the shapes and the clumps of flowers and leaves.

"Apple Orchard"

"Apple Orchard"

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel

I had a great time last week at the local apple orchards, in the few moments of sunshine. This was my second effort, not sure if I can save the first. We'll see. Thanks to Bob and Joelle for the wonderful scenery.

Sunflowers

"Sunflowers"

8"x8" oil on Raymar panel

I couldn't resist these sunflowers at Trader Joe's, they are such fun to paint.

Workshop Landscapes

Red Boat at Christmas Cove

(completed demo painting)

6"x6" oil on Raymar panel

My demo in progress showing simplification of the photo and using negative space to shape the background trees

Student landscapes from photos, where the goal was cropping, simplification, and use of negative space

Student pears painted over previous day's value study

The second day of our workshop at River Arts, we painted over a value study of pears in yellow ochre from the previous day (see Lisa's beautiful version in the bottom photo). Then we moved on to painting from a photo, on an orange acrylic ground. The goals were to crop the photos, simplify, and use negative space to shape objects. I was impressed with the results!

Workshop Apples

My (teacher's) apples

Student's apples

We had a great workshop this weekend at River Arts. The students wanted to learn to be looser and more painterly, and I know that daily painting, fast and small, can help with that. One of my favorite exercises is the succession of 10 minute paintings. I've done apples and pears in the past. These ladies choose apples, and did really well. Thanks to Carol Marine, for introducing me to this exercise.

"Impressions of Summer" at the Yarmouth Frameshop

"Farm Pond Pines"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

$200

"The Meadows"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

$200

"Edge of the Meadow"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

$200

"Distant Pink"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

$200

"Kristin's Lilies"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

$200

"Diligence"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel

$200

"Fishin' on the Fourth"

8"x10" oil on canvas panel

$325

"Impressions of Summer" opens on Saturday at the Yarmouth Frameshop. These are my new paintings for the show. My fellow artists and I would love to see you at the opening!

Saturday, May 7th, 4 to 7PM

720 Route One, Yarmouth, Maine, 04096

207-846-7777

Diana Johnson, William Hallett, John Bowdren, Neil Wyrick, David Little, Marcia Feller, Anne Witte, Lois Strickland, Sukie Curtis, Suzanne deLesseps, Bobbi Heath, Joelle Feldman, Susan Gosselin, Linda Dessaint, Elizabeth Newman, Anne Macleod, Ruthie Garroitt, Kathleen Daughan, Martha Baum, Dale Augustson, Cathrine Breer, Mary Lynn Engel, Sandi St.George, Kitty Clark, Alison Bramhall, Judith Barker, K.Dana Nelson, Denise Horne-Kaplan, Andrea Sawyer, Anne Tarbox