Lots of painting!

Last week we had a great 2 day workshop with Marla Baggetta and I came home with an almost finished painting the 2nd day. Happily I was able to work on it during our busy weekend, and it's about ready to take down to the gallery now.



This week we visited a new site to paint---Baskett Slough wildlife refuge which had lovely views of ochre colored hills, farmers fields, and a large marsh with geese & egrets contentedly posing for us. Everyone there agreed it was a super plein air location with lots of inspiration & we hoped to return again!



This weekend, my daughter decided to paint a picture for her boyfriend, since he was moving into a new house Sunday. She found a board in Brad's shop, painted the background, then found an image online which she enlarged with our opaque projector, drew it onto the board, then painted it with acrylics. As the "deadline" approached, she enlisted my help with painting the spokes on the bike tires. To say the least, her boyfriend was very happy with his new gift!



Inspired yet? I am! Off to finish another painting!!

Backyard visitors

The weekend before last we had a couple of morning visitors frolicking in the sprinkler. Happily they fluttered about for a while, so I was able to grab the camera, change lenses, then play stealth photographer! They didn't seem very afraid, so after some sneaky peering thru the azalea bush, I realized I could just sit quietly on a lawn chair & they pretty much ignored me. The female was a bit more shy, but the male was content to fluff & preen right on the clothesline nearby!


The shy female...


Bailing out of the sprinkler!



Enough with the pictures already!!

Oh, in case you were wondering, these are Western Tanagers!

Latest finished painting

Well, I thought it wouldn't be that hard to finish a painting. I worked on this one the past couple of weeks, making changes, some major, a lot minor, stepping back often to assess the composition, color, clouds, etc. Finally saying to myself---you're thru! Stop! So I did.

After 4 layers of diluted pva size sprayed on, letting it air dry slowly between layers, then 2 layers of UV glossy spray, I realized the UV spray was leaving nasty glossy stripes---not going on evenly like I'd hoped! Dang-it... That set me back a few days, as I tried to figure how to save the painting (usually when I was trying to go to sleep of course...).

I decided to try sanding the painting, lightly with 400 grit fine sandpaper. That seemed to remove the glossy stripes, but now I needed to paint some more with pastel to darken areas that had lightened from the sanding. Happy again with the finished painting, I once more layered pva size, ending with a non-glossy matte finish acrylic spray this time.

While it was propped up in the backyard drying, the wind decided to knock it off its perch! Dang-it again!! It crashed forward, leaving a slight dent in the canvas & some tiny scratches!! I was really beginning to question whether this painting was meant to be finished!!

I took it inside & sprayed the back of the canvas dent with water, "ironing" it flat with my hands, hoping it'd shrink up & disappear. Happily it did! Next I lightly sanded the scratches, put more pastel over, carefully matching the colors, taking into consideration the slight darkening from the spray, covering them up, and once more spraying w/pva, then lastly with the acrylic spray, making sure no way could it be knocked off, blown over, or otherwise tipped as it dried!

Yes!! Success! I then put another coat of black paint on the canvas edges, carefully blending it into the front of the canvas, wiping where the edges met (the paint was satin, w/slight gloss, the face of the canvas---no gloss). This dried overnight and today I went to work taking photos of the finished painting on the front porch.

Balancing the tripod on the steps of the porch so I could prop the painting against the door & back up far enough to get it all in, I began to take my pics. Suddenly the wind came & flipped the painting right off it's perch again!! NO WAY!?! Carefully I peeled myself away from the camera tripod, not wanting to leap & knock it backwards, & picked up the painting to see what damage I now had to repair!! I didn't see any scratches on the face of it, and just noticed the tiniest glimmer of white at the top right corner---easily repaired by dipping my finger in the "frame" paint & dabbing it away...

Once again, I set up my "photo studio", this time using masking tape to secure the painting against the door frame... Finished?! I sure hope so!! (Although I do still have to attach eye screws to the back & hanging wire---wish me luck!!)

What do you think?!


Here's a close-up of the buildings:


And lastly, a couple shots of the first layers---for some reason, I love this raw, sketchy look---

Oregon Country Fair

Yesterday we adventured to the Oregon Country Fair for the first time in about 5 years I think--http://www.oregoncountryfair.org/ We used to be regulars, going every year, but as the kids grew, we became busy with their events, sports and all those things kids and parents get involved with. Since our daughter was working the fair with her boyfriend's family this year, we thought it'd be fun to visit again, to see her, meet her boyfriend's parents for the first time, and discover what was new.

This isn't your typical fair---no pigs, cows, or tractors---it's probably the biggest hippie fest this side of Burning Man. Along with craft booths, there is an energy park, community village, food booths and about 20 different stages where vaudeville, music, acrobatics, juggling, speakers, & other productions are presented. This all takes place on property the Oregon Country Fair has purchased, so the booths and stages have been built into the winding paths, tucked amongst the branches of a wonderful deciduous forest. After 39 years, these booths are homes away from home for the vendors with lofts built on top for sleeping, kitchen areas behind, and just about all the comforts of home under the dappled sunlit branches.

It's only open through tomorrow, so if you want to go, buy your tickets ahead of time---they do not sell tickets at the fair anymore. Check the website for more information.

Here's some of our favorite photos from yesterday:


This fella was playing this sculpture which was a stringed instrument with a bow---amazing ethereal sound!


Of course we had to have a few photos of signs...


The costumes of the performers and a lot of other visitors are worth the ticket price alone!





Loved his shoes......

Illustration Friday---Sour

Sour, yep, that's what these were! Their juice now rests sourly in the freezer, waiting to be added to a gin & tonic, margarita, daiquiri, marinade or some limeade. They're pastel painted on board---3 separate paintings---available individually or all 3 if you'd like!

Another day, another plein air painting

This week we headed south to a wildlife refuge. I've been there many times with the plein air group, in the past choosing to paint a grassy hill with white oaks. This time, I ventured off towards a beautiful lake, with lovely reflections, and a squawking heron. I wandered that area, shooting multiple photos, with a hazy sun blasting down, no breeze to speak of, and nowhere in the shade to paint from. By the time I returned to get my things at the car, I was overheated, and it was pushing 10:30. If I wanted to show anything at the 12:30 critique session more than just a preliminary sketch, I realized I needed to look for a spot closer to where I was parked.

At 9:00 that morning we had a lesson by one of the plein air artists about what goes into a painting---First there's technique, knowledge of your chosen materials, etc. Secondly design---color choices, composition, and so on. Lastly, which is often forgotten about, there's the need to put the artist into the artwork! What was the artist feeling while they paint? Why did they choose that particular view (and not just because of the lighting, or because it was in the shade!) After this interesting challenge to not just paint what I see, but to paint how I feel and to think about how to put myself into the painting, I stood by the car, hot, hurried, and looked around the headquarters of the wildlife refuge. At once a tall, strong, old, stately locust tree caught my eye. That was what I chose to paint. As I settled in the shade just 4 feet away from the car, I thought of how I felt----HOT! So, as I began to sketch out the tree, I decided to use hot colors to paint this image---and being happy with finding this scene so close by the car & in the shade too, I used colors that felt light and happy to me!


Here's the tree---underneath where we met earlier for the lesson, and at 12:30 for lunch and the critique.


My preliminary sketch on primed, smooth sanded canvas.


The first layers of pastel.


And here's the almost finished painting. Any suggestions? Critiques? Ideas? I have a few things still to do, like refine the foliage a bit more, and work on the shadow side of the tree.

Oh, I haven't forgotten about the poppy from the previous post---I worked on it last Friday, but it's still not quiet finished. I'll post a photo of it when I get it all completed.

Paint out day!

This was the site of our plein air paint out today---a private home with an abundance of flowers, vistas overlooking the valley, and fun garden art tucked here and there to surprise us!


The variety of poppies was pretty stunning---these especially, each one about the size of a dinner plate---or larger! There were red poppies, frilly orange & lavender ones, and these amazing giant white beauties.



I loved the painted floor in the bathroom...how cool is this?!


This poppy was unique with its crackle-like white veins shooting out from the centers.


Here's what I finally settled on painting. At first it was in the shade---like I was, but then as we approached noon, the poppy was flooded with sunshine, making bright highlights and subtle shadows I tried to throw in at the last minute.


This was the first layer of pastel on my 12x12" canvas.


And here is the pastel painting at its almost finished state. I need to study it for a bit now, see if there's anything I don't like, or want to change. Any suggestions? Constructive criticism? Ideas?

Photos from the past week

This is what our car looked like, stuffed with everything Eliza had at UO when we brought her home last week. She and I almost had to walk home! Notice the big bag that sat under my feet all the way home... luckily I like to sit with my feet on the dash and it wasn't uncomfortable at all!


Lovely evening out with friends from Portland---we had dinner at Fireworks (previously known as Wildfire, & before that as Intabas) http://www.fireworksvenue.com/main.html


Sunset out our motel on Monday night---The local plein air painters headed to Florence for 3 days, painting Tuesday at Cleawox lake just south of Florence, then at Heceta Lighthouse on Wed.


This was the view I chose to paint at Heceta Lighthouse state park---you can see the lighthouse off in the distance.


Speaking of the lighthouse....


Walking back down from the lighthouse the view of the keeper's house and the hwy. 101 bridge which I was painting nearby earlier.


The keeper's house, up close & personal---it's a bed & breakfast!


Meanwhile, back at home we've had a visiting chickadee family that frolicked in the sprinkler while we had lunch one day. I had to try and capture a few on film (probably not the correct term now that we're using digital photography?)





Have a terrific weekend!

Latest painting---still in progress

The local plein air painting group went out to a private garden last week and I decided to work smaller & focus on a single flower. Using a square format, I was somewhat limited I discovered. There were some brilliant blue delphiniums just calling out to me, but they're so long, tall & lanky, they just didn't seem the best choice to squeeze onto the 12x12" canvas I was using that day! Fortunately I found a sweet yellow rose, just right for this shape and went to work on it using pastel on primed white canvas. Here are some shots of the rose & the painting in progress:


This next image shows the first layer of pastel I had on the canvas---after I sprayed it---plein air hazard, it takes too long for this to dry on cool cloudy days.... Wished I had a battery powered blow dryer! (do they make such a thing???)


Here is the painting almost finished---there are a few changes I plan to make still---that lighter green seems distracting above the rose, so it's gotta go, then where the right petal of the rose meets the background leaf, it's a bit too perfect of a line-up, so will alter that too. A bit more lights, darks, pushing the colors a little more, and I think we can finish this up fairly quickly! I'll try to remember to post a photo of the finished painting as soon as I get to that point!

Fake TtV

Yesterday I did some reading on TtV's---through the viewfinder photo images. "Through the Viewfinder photography is defined as taking a picture of any subject through the viewfinder of any camera with another camera."... as if photography doesn't already have its own complications---let's try taking pics using our camera looking thru another one! Well after exploring this new way of photography I began to desire an old Brownie or other old box camera to attempt this process. What I like is the dust textures, the frame around the image and the slight discoloration that can be created by shooting pics this way. Here are a ton of photos taken with this process if you want to see what I'm talking about: http://www.flickr.com/groups/throughtheviewfinder/

Well, seeing how I don't have a box camera, I did a bit more research & discovered how to reproduce this look thru photoshop! Of course I had to experiment, and this is what I made---first the original photo, taken Sunday north of Tillamook Or.



Then after fiddling with it in photoshop with my new TtV knowledge (which took way more time that I expected...it's how I learn photoshop techniques---lots of trial & error, emphasis on error!) this is what it now looks like!



How cool is this?! Tillamook Bay has never looked more moody! Ok, maybe it has, I just wasn't there to capture it. Now I can create it with a little help from photoshop (or photoshop elements---what I really used this time).

Here's the website I used to learn how to do this: http://poetic-pixels.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62:fake-ttv-tutorial&catid=57:post-processing

Go---play (or struggle if you do photoshop like I do...)---try this yourself! Then give me a link to your photos in the comment section.