Boys want to Paint, too!

How powerful an image on the computer screen can be. When my sons and nephews saw Rachel's painting (previous post) on my blog, they were thoroughly impressed and inspired! They asked, "who can see her painting? can everyone see her painting?" I told them that people from all over will see it, including my blogger friends from the other side of the world in South Africa and India and DR Congo.

They all responded with, "Can I paint, too! I want to paint, too! And can we put our paintings on the internet, too?" So we had an immediate impromptu watercolor workshop. I only had one sheet of watercolor paper left so we used paper plates to paint as our canvases. I just let them have fun with it. I did ask them to notice what happens when you have a lot of water on your brush vs. when you have very little water on you brush.

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who commented on Rachel's post. She was so thrilled to receive comments and couldn't believe how fast they came. She asked her mom for some paints for herself!!!! And if you want to paint, try painting on a paper plate, it's just a paper plate, so it doesn't matter how it comes out. Make sure to stay tuned for my next post. It will be about a blind man painting!

More Cape Cod Scenes

Seagulls at Sunset

Cape Cottage

Beach House

These are paintings that I have done over the last few days.

Seagulls at Sunset was inspired by a photo my niece, Rachel took, actually. I didn't get a chance to make a copy of the photo so I had to do this from memory. I thought that it was to my advantage to do it from memory because then I wouldn't be able to get caught up in the detail. I was imagining it to be more on the abstract side.

Cape Cottage is very typical of the cottages and gardens you see on Cape Cod. Some are really tiny and then others are made to look small. I saw this cottage in the morning. The picture here got a little washed out. I was most excited about the brilliant colors on the barn. I used 2 reds, an orange and a blue. In real life it looks just fantastic with these colors mingling together. By the way, I am not exaggerating the flowers. There are just multitudes of perennials in bright colors, giant blue hydrangea bushes and rows of sunflowers!

Beach House is inspired from the beach we are staying on. That is part of the cove I have shown in previous photos. I showed more of the house than one can really see through the foliage and added a few architectural details. This was done at low tide in the morning. The clouds were rolling and reflecting the golden morning sun.

Sunday at the Beach

7 1/2 x 11

In contrast to the last post of the pristine beach on Martha's Vineyard, here is a scene from a Cape Cod Beach done plein air. I always love seeing all of the beach umbrellas on the beach whether in real life or in photos, posters or cards. I have painted many beach umbrella scenes over the years. On this one, I used my artistic license more to connect the umbrellas and figures for composition sake vs. having a bunch of individual "things" spread out on the paper. This painting does capture the feel of a perfect Sunday beach day on the Cape. Crowded, lots of umbrellas, kayaks, sailboats - everyone enjoying the weather. This beach has a lot of tall foliage between the beach and the houses compared to other beaches on the Cape.

Thanks for visiting. Your comments are always appreciated!

Introducing a Young Artist, Rachel, 12 yrs. old

• Looking Out the Window at the Beach

I wanted to paint in watercolor when I saw my Aunt Liana painting on the beach as I was playing on the beach with my siblings and cousins at the Cape, which we all go to every year in the summer. At first I thought she was tracing something, or just copying a picture, but then I saw her from scratch make something outstanding. I asked her if I could try, thinking I would be horrible, but whatever, I thought, I'd give it a try. Earlier in that week I had seen some flowers that looked like the ones in my painting when my family went out to lunch. I really liked them, so I decided I wanted to paint them. The rest, I sort of just made up in my mind. I really enjoy painting flowers and beach scenes. Also, I'd really recommend my Aunt's blog to everyone because it's pretty awesome!!!

Days at the Beach

Vineyard Beach

The painting above was inspired by a beach on Martha's Vineyard on the Atlantic Ocean side. It was one of the most pristine beaches I have seen. On this day the water was very calm with small, friendly waves. It was such a contrast compared to the day before when the roar of the ocean waves was such a loud continuous thundering with giant crashing waves. In the distance was this curve of land jetting straight out of the water. I kept imagining how I could paint this sloping land with geometric shapes and layers of transparent color.

The photo is the sun setting on the beach we are staying at in Brewster, Ma.

Busted by the hubbie!

Well, I didn't think my husband read my posts! He read what I wrote about him getting the "wrong apples" in the last post! Out of the blue he said, "oh, by the way, you didn't specify what apples to buy". I thought for a second and then smiled, "you read my post?!!!" Believe it or not, nobody has eaten the red delicious apples, yet. I even brought them on the plane with us to Cape Cod because I can't be wasteful with food. I received many wonderful suggestions on how to paint the apples. Thanks so much!

As you can see, from the photos above, we are at the beach now. The photos above are of low tide in the morning and in the evening. Notice the location of the sun in each photo? I have said before, low tide is my absolute favorite time at the beach. I just love how far the tide goes out on the bay side of the Cape. Does the tide go out this far anywhere else? Please let me know. The house we are in this time has a tide clock. It tells you how many hours until low tide or high tide. The beach is ever changing here, you can literally measure time as the tide comes in, hangs out for a while and then slowly goes back out.

About the two paintings. Cathyann suggested I darken the left side of the painting on the watering can one. Well, I darkened the "other left". Cathyann, I am sorry, but, I am so impatient that I did not try your suggestion on acetate first. Very good suggestion and I highly recommend it. I ended up giving this painting to our gardener. I think he tried to fake a smile. Oh, well.

The second painting is on hot press. Experimenting painting glass. I took this photo when I noticed the evening sun coming in across the table. The dining room was so dark in contrast with this bright ray of sunlight coming in the window. I had 5 different vases holding uneventful flowers and herbs. I decided to paint three since it was my first time to paint clear glass. The glass is not gleaming as I have seen other artists achieve. I do like the free flow of the paint in the background and on the table though.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here so despite a boot on my foot, I have been enjoying the beach. Maybe I will take my watercolors out there today.

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to tell me about your tides!

Limeade, sold.

Limes in a Blue Bowl, sold.

With the heat now in Dallas, one is always trying to stay cool. That is how this jar of sliced limes came about. I worked on the bowl of limes at the same time while I waited for paint to dry or contemplated what was the next step. Limeade started out as one of those old fashion glass beverage dispensers with a little spicket at the bottom of the jar. The background ended up getting muddy so I cropped it on the computer. I really liked how the lime slices looked so I didn't want to trash the whole painting.

What I learned from painting the peaches is that I really like the light and shadow patterns on these round objects. Most of the time I am painting rectaliner shapes or if there are curved objects they are in the distance and the shadow and light just gets lost with all of the other information in the painting. I guess that is why I also like to do close ups of flowers. To explore the curves of the petals, the light and the shadows with paint. I don't know what I am going to paint next. I sent my husband to the grocery store to buy 5 apples. I didn't specify what kind. He came back with 5 Red Delicous apples. I don't like the color of Red Delicious apples or the shape. They look more like red bell peppers. Unless I go to the store with my broken foot.... any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by.

Locally Grown

Locally Grown
11x14

I really enjoyed painting these peaches! I have been wanting to paint peaches since last summer, but, peaches do not seem to last a day in our house. Especially local Texas peaches. They have so much peach fuzz on them and our slightly smaller, but so sweet. Whenever I see the shape of these Texas peaches I immediately remember when I was a kid and picking the peaches off of a peach "bush" in our backyard. I say a bush because the tree was there when we moved in and nobody ever seemed to do anything with it. Prune it/shape it or fertilize it. It wasn't an attractive tree/bush, but it produced a lot of peaches and we were free to pick them off and eat them without even washing them! My friend has a large peach tree here in Dallas. I will have to ask her if I can go by and take some photos of the peaches on the tree. Last summer she sent us home with a giant paper bag of peaches that my kids had the pleasure of picking.

Oh, back to the painting, I enjoyed this painting because I loved "playing" with the yellows, oranges, reds and magenta. I was inspired to paint the peaches in one of these little baskets from a drive we took to Tyler, Texas. All along the way there were stands on the side of the road selling "Locally Grown" everything. We were dropping my son off at camp so I couldn't ask if we could stop and take photos for maybe future paintings. I had one of these baskets at home so I set up my own little peach stand to paint. When I was painting (outside) every now and then I would get a whiff of the awesome fresh peach scent.

Enjoy and have a peach!

Dented but Still Works

Old Watering Can
11x14

Well my watering can turned up with a dent right on top of it. I asked my 3 sons how did this happen and I got 3 "I don't know" answers with each one shrugging his shoulders and running off. Do I continue to paint the watering can with a dent in it in every painting? How can I buy a new one if this one still works?

In any event, I cannot complain about the perennials or the heavy rains that we have had. The flowers are just thriving. The tall pink flowers in the back are over 4 feet tall. There is a whole mess of this pink "bush" which continues up beyond the painting. It is like a wild tangle of Medusa's hair. There are so many blooms on the zinnias and they are just spilling out over the walk. The black salvia is spiking out tall and proud.

This photo has an overall blue overtone compared to the painting. The upper left corner is unpainted but in the photo it came out blue gray. I did use the auto correct on the computer, but, this is the best it came out. I think I may need to connect some of the darks to get rid of the spottiness.

Strawberries

Strawberries
9x12
Here are some strawberries I painted outside around 4:00 in the afternoon that's why they have the long shadows. I set them up in two different bowls as well, but, I liked this composition the best. One of the bowls was cut glass which would be a good study and the other is the same silver bowl from the lemons. I really like the reflections of the strawberries in that bowl so maybe on another day I will try that.

4th of July in the Country

Glen Rose, Texas
Above is a plein air painting that I did from the balcony of our hotel while my toddler napped. Because of my broken foot, we went to Glen Rose, Texas where the kids could do all sorts of activities and I could sit. So for 4th of July, we were in landlocked Texas. This turned out to be a wonderful experience. My family enjoyed the activities at the hotel and the fireworks while I got to sneak in some painting!

I did two ugly paintings and two decent paintings. I thought the one above was okay, but, my husband who is pretty honest and critical thinks it is outstanding. Everyone has their own opinion. This is however, a good representation of seeing land, land, land as far as you can vs. my favorite which is ocean side!

The highlight of the trip was a drive we took through a safari park. The wild animals are more like friendly house pets. I had to post these because I couldn't believe how the animals would stick their heads into our car waiting for treats (every car gets one bag of food). If one animal was being a bully and not allowing the others to get to the treats, the animals knew to walk to the other side of the car to get treats!!! To see more of these photos, they are on my blog.

More French Riviera

Well, I broke my foot! Really. The only positive thing about it, is that I can sit and paint. So I worked on 3 paintings today. I painted outside with my foot propped up. Both of the above paintings are from photos. The other was a scene of giant Oak leaf hydrangeas. I will post that another day.

You have seen the black and white study of the Bike Race in Nice in a previous post. It is almost how I imagined. Still I would like to treat these cyclists as a single shape with colors mixing, just giving you the idea that they are cyclists. In the photo the cyclists are backlit so you really can't see as much detail as I have here. I did this on hot press paper. I sat on my back porch as the sky grew dark and thundered just before the rain came.

Beau Rivage was started a few weeks ago. Since I was so unhappy about my new status of being stuck with my foot up, I just finished this painting without being too careful. I liked how the finishing touches came out. Much looser than when I started. I also enjoyed the experience of "just do it". Because of that feeling, I started the Bike Race. Although I started Bike Race in a loose style, as the time went on, I got tighter, unintentionally.

Symbols of Summer

Plein air painting in my sketch book.


9x12 on hotpress watercolor paper

I painted the lemons this past Saturday. Acting on a suggestion an artist friend made, "paint an ugly painting first". So with that in mind and no preconceived images in my head, I saw the lemons in my kitchen and thought I would even go a step further to insure it would be an ugly painting by using a scrap of hot press paper. I had no expectations of having a beautiful painting. How could I when I know I don't like painting on hot press. But, now, I am liking hot press. I don't know if I will buy any more at the moment. I will just use the scraps I have. I am happy with the way this bowl of lemons came out. As you know, my constant struggle is to try and paint looser than my natural style. This is a little loose for me. This has me almost in the groove to paint the cyclists.

The painting of the beach umbrellas brings such wonderful memories back to me. I took out my watercolor sketch book to paint in as another method to trick myself into painting loose. I ended up going on a trip down memory lane. Before I had kids I would always paint "a scene" of the place we were visiting in plein air style. I can only say, I wish I had taken my sketch book on more trips now. It doesn't have to be a great painting. Just a little memory of that place, painting and noticing all of the details. I can remember many details of the day I sat under my umbrella with my husband painting this scene. It was around 10:30 a.m., in Nice, we were the early birds on the beach. Many couples and families filled the chairs around us. One family had a boy and a girl. They came to the beach fully dressed, hung out for a while and then changed into their swimsuits. Lots of fancy sunglasses and cocktails. Someone ordered a Salad Nicoise, I remember because it was the first time I had heard of this before. I ended up ordering my first Salad Nicoise. Then around noon, a gorgeous model walked back and forth on the stoney beach of Nice barefoot showing off the swimsuits and wraps that you could purchase at the shop! She had long hair blowing in the wind. Never once did the stones on the beach seem to hinder her swimsuit strut. And they say a photo is worth a thousand words.

Bike Race in France

Here is something I have wanted to paint for a very long time. We caught the end of this bike race when in Nice, France about 10 years ago. I was tired of seeing my flower paintings so I looked through my photos for another subject other than flowers. I saw these photos and the motion and blur in the photos makes me feel like it was just today that we fell upon this finish line. I am so overwhelmed with the thought of making a real drawing out of this. There is so much detail and we all know how I have a tendency to get caught up in the detail. The photo is not a good photo for photosake. The sun is behind the cyclists so everything including the cyclists are in shadow. Maybe this can help me simplify the painting. I will try to connect the long shadows and the cyclists as well as the crowd on the sideline. I think I will do a couple of more sketches to simplify before I try a watercolor of this. I am happy with the sketch. I would like to capture this looseness and feeling in the watercolor. All suggestions on how to do this are welcome!

Irises - the final

Here is the completed painting of the Irises from the previous post.

Irises

Here are some irises I have been working on. They are painted on a canvas that is made for watercolor. When I started the painting, I was imagining a very loose painting with the paint from the irises blending into the paint of the leaves. I will have to try for a looser painting on paper. Working on the canvas was interesting. There are both pros and cons. Pros, if you don't like it, you can wipe it right off with your brush or a napkin! This is great if you forgot to save a white or if you want to change anything on your painting. The negative is that you cannot really glaze or layer colors on top in the way that I am use to do on paper.

I apologize for having a big jump in progress from the first photo to the second. I was not originally intending to take progress photos. I don't remember why I took the first photo. When I took the second photo, it was to help me see what I needed to do next. Sometimes I will look at my paintings (when they are in progress) in a mirror. This really helps me to see what is missing or what I need to do next. I can get a similar experience when I take a photo of my painting and look at the image on the little viewer on the camera. I find that both of these techniques really help me to see where I need more darks, contrast, etc.

Miami here I come, not

I just found out that our trip to Miami has been cancelled. I know, I know, WAH. If that is my biggest problem, I am pretty lucky. I was so excited to go because Miami is beach, city, walk around, people watching, great metro vibe. AND we were going to go sans kids. Because my mindset was so ready for Miami, I thought I would post this painting inspired by a photo I saw in Palm Beach so I could experience the trip vicariously through this painting.

Look at this lady's giant hat and her over the top pants. She is free and sassy. Just walking down those steps without holding the rail, but, instead gracefully holding her giant sun hat. I think she is walking down steps at a beach club. One day....

Wishing you a very Happy Mother's Day!

I heard Diane Keaton speak the other night. I noticed that when friends would ask what did she talk about, I would give a different point to each person depending on who it was asking the question. The talk started out as sort of a tribute to Ms. Keaton's mom, who has now passed. Ms. Keaton said she was SO LUCKY to have her mom. Ms. Keaton told stories of how her mom encouraged her that of course she would "grow up to be Doris Day, a big movie star one day." How her mom would let her wear and even make her very own not so mainstream fashion ensembles. Then it turned into Ms. Keaton's present joy of ordinary daily life with her children. She showed very "ordinary" photos of her kids in their daily lives, the audience smiled and giggled with Ms. Keaton as she told the stories behind the photos. Then, last, Ms. Keaton ended with the whole point of life (in her opinion) was to live a very vibrant life. Be vibrant, go for it, don't let anything stop you, keep at it, but, live life full and treasure every moment including the very "ordinary" moments.

As a mom, I am hoping to be a little more chilled out and fun with my kids and to only be so lucky for my own kids to say, "I am so lucky I had MY MOM." As a person, I am inspired to live a very vibrant life.

Now to my Mom who of course, like all mothers, aunts, grandmothers, sisters and friends around the world, thank you for the unconditional love, selflessness, encouragement, shoulder to lean on and all of the other countless things you do that often go by unnoticed.

Spring has sprung

It feels so good to paint again! Here are some daffodils. I put these together from several different photos I took around the neighborhood this past March. I have more photos of other varieties of daffodils that I would like to paint soon. Now I am finishing a painting of red roses that I started in February. We are having a very mild spring for Dallas.

F

Friends, friends, friends, please forgive me for not blogging in so long. I have thought of you often. I truly have thought of my fellow blogger friends who are always so kind to take the time and comment on my posts. I have thought of you and what you are painting these days or enjoying. My excuse is, Spring Break, then Easter, then, well, I got involved with our school carnival. During all of that, I would think of you and your dedication to your posts and your paintings. I have also been admiring all of the beautiful blooms around Dallas. First, the daffodils and tulips and now the azaleas and the irises and then an amazing show by the climbing roses all over town and now even the hydrangeas are starting to bloom. I didn't even name the anemones and poppies, dogwoods, pear trees and mexican red bulbs. How lucky am I! I have taken some photos, and although the weather has been amazingly beautiful, I have not sat for plein air painting. The irony is that tomorrow, my painting group is suppose to paint in Turtle Creek for a plein air painting session, but, it is suppose to storm all day.

The above photos are a sampling from the Dallas Arboretum and the Valley House Art Gallery (a must see, always fantastic art in a beautiful intimate garden/gallery). We went to Valley House for their "Garden Party". Great exhibit with hot dogs, lemonade and brownies!!!

The painting is of Highland Park Pharmacy in Dallas. I had painted this a while ago and I thought by now I would have done a more detailed pen and ink of the building. My friends showed it to the owner, who has since replied favorably. Either way, I still have a pen and ink on my list of this subject.

The last bit. It was our leader of our Bible study 40th birthday. I was thinking of various gift options. Then I remembered that she always commented on my paintings. I looked through my paintings and found one that I thought she would like. It always feels good to give, in the words of Mary Clayton, (Bible Study leader) give what you have.

Blogger friends, I can't wait to visit your sites and see what you have been doing! Much love and happiness.

Spring and Snow

Geraniums in the Window, 11x14
I am still working on the oil of Mykonos which is coming along nicely. I put my oil palette in the freezer while I was out of town. While I was waiting for the paints to get soft, I finished this watercolor above. The oil palette came out nice and fresh and good to work with. In regards to this watercolor, I think I took this photo in California. There are geraniums and clematis growing on the wall. With all of the daffodils in bloom and the bright sunny days, I was inspired to make this painting really sunny. Ironically, the morning I finished this painting, Dallas was covered in snow! It never snows in Dallas, until this year, that is. I am happy with the light and shadow in this painting. I did take artistic license on this painting and changed the white shutters to blue and embellished the flowers.

Look at this beautiful planet we live on. These images were in Beaver Creek, Co. this past Spring Break. I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked. That is why I had to put the one of family up there. It was the only one that shows the blue sky and the mountains behind. Look at how tiny the people are down the slope in the distance. While we were there the sky would be clear cerulean blue and as the day went on it would go to deep cobalt without a cloud in the sky. I took a lot of pictures of aspen trees as well. In the Batchlor's Gultch the ski paths are heavily lined with bunches of aspens. When you are skiing through them there is warm glow all around. So many colors are reflected off of the trees, lots of grey green, gold, cool yellow, orange and brown madder (red brown). Some of these trees are so big around. A photo cannot depict the feeling of being surrounded by aspen trees. Something I noticed from the ski lift is that even in the shadows of the aspen trees in the morning, the main shadow would be a french ultramarine blue and as the shadow of the cluster of branches went away from the tree, there would be a golden color on the snow, sort of like a halo, then the white, white snow.

European Paths

I have been working on this oil painting (second picture) of an alley in Mykonos. While I was trying to develop the foliage and plantings, I got distracted by this watercolor I had started (top photo) over a year ago. I had drawn and glazed the watercolor, but, at the time, I felt that I didn't save enough white, so I started over (Siesta in Cap-Ferrat) and put this one aside. Today, I liked the glazes I had put down. So I went back and forth between the oil and the watercolor on this day. I finished the watercolor and to my surprise, this watercolor came out much brighter than the one I completed first (posted in 2009). I will continue with the oil.

Someone asked when did I go to Mykonos. The last time was in 2002. Like many artists, I take lots of photos for inspiration and then organize them by subject. I have all of my Greece photos out right now because I really want to paint this photo of a woman walking with her donkey. Eventually....

Pears

I did these pears in a plein air class on a rainy day. We met in the studio and made some simple still lifes. We were limited to two colors and the main challenge was the painting style/technique which I cannot recall the name. I searched my notes and the internet and cannot find the name. If anyone knows please tell me. It is the style / technique were every stroke is put down with intention. No glazing or layering. If it is dark, you put it down dark the first time. Susanne Kelley is the teacher and her quote constantly is "paint what you see, not what you know". That is how I was able to paint the glass. I would like to try this again with another subject.