I finished this piece some time ago and it is hanging in Gallery 9. Somehow, though, it never got posted here. It's a small but unassuming piece and yet I like it because of the strong shapes and the bright red vase which pops the piece.
It's been a beautiful summer up here in the great Northwest. And though I haven't posted (my bad), I've been busy. Although I'm noted among my friends for having a black thumb and I have trouble growing them, I still love to paint flowers.This one took a while between family visits and other things - among them plumbing woes.
I'm proud to announce that I am a new artist at Gallery 9 in Port Townsend, WA. I showed for the first time this past Saturday for the Port Townsend Gallery Walk. If you get out that way, come and visit. It's a beautiful gallery with a great stable of fine artists.
I've been heavily involved heading up a local event here in Port Angeles for the last five months. The event, "Paint the Peninsula", was a plein air competition which lasted five days and included a barbecue kickoff, a wonderful cocktail party at Camaraderie Winery and a Gala black tie event and show, all culminating in a Quick Draw competition and mini festival. That, in turn, was followed by a three day workshop offered by Ned Mueller, our judge. It was grueling as I not only helped to run and coordinate the event, but hosted two house guests and participated as well. Twenty years ago, this wouldn't have been a problem. Currently with a fresh back injury, it was like running two marathons back to back. I'm done. Stick a fork in me.
Anyway, with all this work on my plate (no pun intended), this weekend was the first time in a few months I've actually had to get in my studio, turn out the overhead lights and just paint. No phone ringing, no other work to do and no students. Just me and the set up and the quiet. This photo doesn't begin to capture the light in the painting. It has a bit more contrast in this photo too than is in the painting which I've tried to fix on Photoshop, but then I lose other stuff. Darn. The camera is still new to me and I'm a poor student of photography. Well, I'm going to have to cave and take some lessons. I did better with my Canon, but the Nikon is a little trickier.
I work under north light from a large cathedral style window which brings in soft, cool light. It's more noticeable when you see it live, but there's some broken orangey color in the background peeking through that helps to give the painting an airy feeling. Still working toward achieving that special quality of light that evokes a soft moodiness. I'm coming more and more to the point where I copy less of what I see and add more to the painting of what it needs. I'd like to get to that place with portraits as well. All good things in their time.
Buy this painting on PayPal Price: $49 USD plus $12 USD s/h Or, send me an email
Summer's nearly over. Health issues have kept me from being in the studio this summer but as the fall approaches and things are resolving, I hope to be publishing more often. As I'm returning to atelier this fall for two days a week and I'll be teaching all day Wednesday, that leaves me four days for studio, home and social life. I promise to do my best but I'm sorry to say I'll not be able to claim daily painting status any longer as the new demands on my time will make that very difficult. I'll continue to be a part of DailyPainters.com, however, for awhile.
I've been away from paint for so long, I thought I should at least give some flowers a try and work out the rust in my painting hand.
Well...I thought I'd be taking today to do other things but one of my students brought me these beauties on Wedneday and I just couldn't let them go to waste. See the detail shot below. Tomorrow starts my official sabatical from http://www.dailypainters.com/ so I'll be painting less often for sale until after July.
