Painting plein aire

A couple of weeks ago our local plein aire group went to a private home to paint for the morning. It had some amazing garden areas that were just fun to discover! Here are some of my favorite photos from this outing, along with what I chose to paint & the preliminary drawing. The choice of what & where to paint was dictated by the amount of shade available to sit in since it was predicted to be a very hot day. You can right click on any photo & open it in a new window or tab to view it larger if you'd like.

This was the driveway gate:


Just inside the gate was this lovely garden!


I'm always drawn to Canna Lilies...



Notice---shady location!


I'll share a photo of the completed painting as soon as I finish.

OCF Sign Painting crew

Last weekend we enjoyed an insiders view of the Oregon Country Fair as part of the Sign Painting crew. The preparation that goes into this 3 day weekend event is phenomenal! We were just 3 volunteers out of hundreds, working behind the scenes to create this unique festival. We camped for 2 days and were fed some amazing meals while we helped out---there were probably over 300 people just at Saturday's dinner---and the preparation has been going on all spring, & even earlier! A lot of the property is underwater during the winter months, but once the water recedes the work begins to clean up, prune back & repair the fair area and the fields & forests encompassing the acreage. We stayed near the "Cow Palace" which is sign painting headquarters and worked with 3 other painters and one supervisor. Here are some of my favorite pics from last weekend---if you right click on a photo, you can open it larger in another tab or window if you'd like to see it closer.

This was a floral arrangement that caught my eye at the area we had our meals. Love that spiral!

As we were leaving the meal area after breakfast our first morning there, this lovely lady was perched all by herself on this post near the entrance. Eliza was standing nearby, waiting for us, totally unaware of the presence of this beautiful bird. As I walked up I asked Eliza who her friend was, & at that moment she noticed the bird with a startled jolt of surprise!

Working at the Cow Palace:

New booth "address" signs we painted in preparation for new painted numbers. A fairly simple job I volunteered to help with.


Once the backgrounds were dry 3 of us went to work on the list of booth numbers---now that was a challenge! I'm not a letterer (or numberer either!) so my first attempts were pretty lame. The last two I really liked though! Initially I was just lightly penciling in the placement of the numbers with a stabilo pencil then hoping I'd be able to use the paint & brush to make the number "pretty", like one using a calligraphy pen would do. Nope, no luck! After a few poor examples I then started drawing the whole number in with the stabilo pencil which turned out some way better finished pieces!! Amazing how a bit more planning = success! Eliza jumped in to paint a few numbers too.

We took a walk through the abandoned fair grounds where the skeletons of booths were overgrown & waiting to be cleared & cleaned up. After the fair is over the booth owners remove boards that might prevent rain & sunlight from reaching the ground to enable the area to continue to grow during the off season. It's interesting to see everything as a shell of sorts, although everything is still pretty recognizable and artsy!



This little fella was munching a mushroom near where we were painting:

Brad & Eliza re-painting one of the fair signs---

Some of the signs all ready to go, painted by crews earlier this year.


The meal area, and one of the "little" salad bowls!

Meanwhile, back at Cow Palace...

Finishing up a couple of my favorite numbers...

The sign crew for this particular weekend:

The Oregon Country Fair is July 10th, 11th, & 12th, just 13 miles west of Eugene.

GoVenture

An interesting challenge is going on between 2 different artists/bloggers (Kal & Elise) this week where they both create something new each day depending on a theme or word/s they have chosen. Other people have been invited to join along, so with yesterday's theme being Green + Dizzy, I submitted a photograph on Flickr I played around with a little in photoshop, bumping up the greens.

Today's theme is Not My Type, which made me think of this painting I did a couple of years ago:



Though they share similar coloring, I believe they both agree they're not each other's type...

Tomorrow? The word is Pocket---the wheels are turning already...

Happy Father's Day!!

Strawberries!

Mmm, there is nothing better than a fresh picked Oregon strawberry! We have a nice little patch of strawberries growing out in our garden that are really producing a lot this year---we feel so fortunate to be able to go out and just pick some of our own strawberry bounty! It's a terribly short season, and often we completely miss out from being too busy to get to a u-pick garden. I highly recommend growing your own if your climate allows it---truly one of the most terrific taste sensations!

The first picking, a couple of weeks ago:





I think I see another red painting series coming out of this...

Illustration Friday - Unfolding + Poppy # 2

This week's Illustration Friday theme is Unfolding, and happily, it fits the poppy obsession I've had lately. Here's the 2nd one, painted in pastel, on canvas. To see the first one, check out my previous post.

Poppy #1

May 20th the local plein air group headed to Shreiner's Iris Gardens for a morning of painting. They have an outstanding display of flowers---Iris of course, but many, many others too! Lupines, peonies, & my personal favorites: dinner plate sized poppies! After scouting out the best poppies I settled in to paint one in particular. I have my own poppy plant I purchased from Shreiner's several years ago and it was blooming gloriously in our backyard these past 2 weeks also. Since I had so much fun painting their poppy I decided while ours was blooming I'd try to capture some more, resulting in 3 more 12x12" almost finished poppies! I knew I had to work quick since the bloom time was short, and sure enough once the temps rose into the 80's they immediately began to show signs of wear & tear. Photographs just don't do justice to the amazing reds of these particular poppies---they're always a bit too pink & not as rich as the poppies are in real life. Even major photoshopping can't capture the intense color! That was my painting goal---to put that red on canvas. It was really a fun challenge! Here's the first one I painted from Shreiner's poppy: I'll post the other 3 in the next few days.

This was my quick sketch on site at Shreiner's - to see any image closer you can right click & open in another window or tab.


Here's the first layer of pastel:


And the final painting:

Painting, painting, painting!

Today I'd like to show you what I was working on earlier this month for a friend of my brother's. She wanted me to do a painting of her mother as a toddler sitting on her mother's lap (this friend's Grandma's lap). I haven't done any portraits for ages, aside from the occasional random sketch of a stranger while waiting for pizza or something. I decided though to take on this challenge and after agreeing on a price, size, and medium I went to work. We also agreed since it'd been a while, she wasn't obligated to purchase the finished piece unless she loved it! I was okay with that, since I knew I could salvage the canvas & either try to sell it as is or remove the portrait & use it for something else. This way, no pressure for either of us.

The biggest challenge was using the photo she gave me! This is something I swore off ages ago---unless I was able to collect my own image by drawing from life, or shooting my own photo, I'd refuse to do any painting commissions. That's usually part of my inspiration---the composition of light, shadow, color, all directed by me to create the final image. I was open to something new to push my creativity though, and decided to work with what I was given to see if I could succeed with something that made the both of us happy.

First off, here's what the original 3 x 3 1/2" photo looked like:


This is the initial sketch on the 12x12" canvas:


A close-up of the faces with the first layer of pastel:


This is about 3/4 finished---if not almost finished:


Here's the finished painting, after it was checked out & approved by the new owner:


With this painting I've learned to not obsess over exactness & to be satisfied with "close enough". Knowing that my buyer is thrilled and very excited with the finished product makes me happy too!

Next up: a poppy painting marathon...

Inn at Northrup Station

Recently we enjoyed an overnighter at a fun & funky hotel in NW Portland---the Inn at Northrup Station. We were wanting to celebrate Brad's birthday out and about like we did mine at Cannon Beach, but wanted some place unique & different, so it'd be memorable. We started by googling hotels in Portland, and although we found some nice places, nothing stood out. As Brad left to go get ready for bed, I tried one more attempt & googled funky hotels in Portland---that's when I discovered Northrup Station! It was exactly what we were looking for, and after Brad gave his approval we made our reservation.

We arrived an hour earlier than our check in time, but since we found parking right in front and we wanted to explore the neighborhood anyway we parked, then figured we'd see if we could check in already. The kind front desk fella totally accommodated & soon we were moving our things into our 3rd floor room! The place more than lived up to our expectations! We loved the colors and patterns everywhere, the mod decor, the atypical hotel feel. Of course we had the camera working overtime, capturing everything that caught our eyes!


This is actually a model of the Inn at Northrup Station. It's displayed in the lobby and shows how the place is located right on the trolley line.

Below are some photos of our room:





One of the many cool lights---this one in the stairwell. Can you see us?



Across from the lobby was the breakfast room where they served a complimentary continental breakfast each morning.





The check-in desk with the model display next to it:


Brad down the hall to our room:


My shadow and looking west from our little balcony:


The painting in our room---there were quite a few by this same artist throughout the hotel:


This shows the kitchen and office area in our room & Brad.


This is one of the 3 different light globes hanging over the kitchen island - & Brad again! Fused glass was used throughout the hotel, lighting the hallways, the rooms, and in the breakfast sun room too.


Lastly, our door into our room with the Inn's logo.


Truly a memorable mini-vacation for a couple of people that LOVE color & visual stimulation!