Struttin' his Stuff - Giant Blue Heron

Blue Heron - Strutting, 6x6, oil, available

 I did 3 sketches from life of this Blue Heron, as he hung around the beach in Pensacola FL a few years ago. He just kept walking back and forth and up and down! One sketch I cannot find, it was pen and ink- very different from this pencil sketch and the other is much like this one below, except the legs are too short in it. :-0   Finally did this small oil painting. It was intended to be submitted to the Randy Higbee 6x6 show in December, but it wasn't where I wanted it to be by the deadline. I have had this post sitting here as I tried to find the pen and ink drawing, but alas, I have given up. 

The colors of this bird, though 'blue,' are really quite varied. Such an elegant creature!

pencil sketch

 

Cabin Kitchen, oil and linen, 40x30

Here is a painting I started about two years ago now. I had driven to Arizona to visit an artist friend of mine. She had recently moved and was wanting some company to go plein air painting with. I was happy to oblige. It was mid-April, and much warmer than snowy Colorado. She had made a new friend recently who invited her to come to her cabin. I was included in that invitation, so off we went. This new friend was also a creative type and the yard of this cabin was full of these lanterns she had made. See example below. She made them out of vases, and bowls and ashtrays (from thrift stores) - whatever glassware she thought would work and then she adds a string of lights to the interior base which, though I didn't get a chance to see them lit up at night, I am sure is stunning. What a fun way to recycle and repurpose. There were LOTS of them, in all colors. They look like fun mushrooms sprouting all over the landscape. The 'mushroom' is glued to a stone base to prevent them from toppling over and breaking. 

So back to the painting. She gave us a tour of the interior of the cabin as well. They do not live in the cabin full time but it was as funky inside as it was outside. This kitchen painting is only the first I hope to do of the interior of the cabin. (I did ask permission to take photos inside.) It is a large, for me, painting, with so much going on in it, I had to let it sit, sometimes for months, to be sure the perspective was right and I wasn't getting to nit picky about details, which I am prone to do. This sat for months again once I felt it was done, and when I didn't feel inclined to go back to it, have deemed it 'finished' - at least enough to post it. I found this kitchen to be inviting; where you just want to walk in and explore. Hope you do too! 

Before and After, Debbie's Place

Debbie's Place, Hopland CA, oil, 11x14

This painting was started as a plein air painting in 2007. Debbie was a neighbor of my in-laws up the road in rural Hopland CA. I regularly brought my plein air gear when visiting and did many paintings over the years of this area. Debbie raised these sheep for their wool which she sold to weavers all over the country. I have sold many paintings of her sheep! This was one of my more adventurous paintings from that time period. My vantage point is looking down the hill from behind the fence, standing on the side of the dirt road that is basically one lane. Traffic was not usually a problem.

I recently reworked it yet again as I can't seem to get it where I want it. I think it is as good as it is going to get. When I can't get motivated to paint on the current round of canvas's I have going, revisiting an unsold painting is an easy way to get me interested. Nothing is ever finished around here until it goes out the door! There is a wedding in the family coming up and I was wondering if I should do a new painting for the happy couple or one that the bride would relate to from her childhood. That was the motivation on picking this particular piece to revisit. Some of the photos below are darker than the painting would have been due to the changing digital photo technology but they are not tampered with.

Original, plein air, 2007

First Revision, 2008, looks like a yellow filter! but not

It looks like I corrected some of the drawing on the sheep's shed and took out the blues and dark greens from the grassy hill. I wonder if that was shadows from the trees originally as the roadway was bordered by trees? It is too long ago now for me to know what is was that I was doing as the photo I took has the hillside in sun.

Second Revision, 2011

I have not included the 3rd or was it the 4th revision as it is very similar to the second except I added the dark sheep in the middle ground in the middle. The original plein air is not as bad as I expected it to be, but then, I have a history of not liking what I do on site and can't keep my hands off of it. Either I wipe it off then and there or I keep finding fault in it. I have gotten better about these high expectations over the years, but I don't paint outdoors as much and I have learned the hard way that they are not normally as bad as I think they are if I let them sit for awhile. Those painting that do end up being as bad as I thought, I have been painting over, which I enjoy doing.

White Phalaenopsis

block in

White Phil, 24x12, oil, available

Here is a painting I did recently. I am not convinced it is finished, but I was done. It has been awhile since I painted an orchid from life and with 4 orchids in bloom right now I went with the one that was most advanced in its bloom. It took me longer than I care to admit, working on it over days, trying for the same time of day, which isn't always that easy.

In the block in I was thinking I would add an abstracted version of the desk that is the background of this none set up. I literally just brought the orchid and set it on the computer table I have next to my easel. I then decided I didn't like the idea of the desk but I kept the dark band across the white orchids for contrast. as well as the color of the wall behind the desk. The only color I made up is the golden color in the middle. That would be very dark as well otherwise. I have a gold screen I often use as a simple backdrop for these impromptu still life set ups so that is, I am sure, why I picked that color.

An artist friend of mine was over the other day and I asked her opinion on whether this needed any more work and she said 'no.' I signed it and am posting it 'as is'. I am trying hard to not keep 'fine tuning' it as is my won't.

A better photo added later: