Road back in Time

The Road to Mandrakia, 24x36, oil on linen SOLD

I have been working on 5 larger paintings simultaneously these past several months, and possible as long as a year! Finally, one of them I am considering done. It has been a long haul. I am going to justify the length of time it has taken me because it isn't that I am a slow painter. The weather here has alternated between gray and rainy and very hot and sunny. Since I prefer to paint without artificial light in my studio, the gray days make it hard to do anything but start a new painting. The hot days drain me, as my studio is on the second floor and I do not have A/C. I do have a ceiling fan, and for the most part that does the job. Yet when it is close to 100 outside, that isn't enough. The difference is temperature when it goes from 60 and rainy to almost a 100 with no segue or steps in raise or lowering in temperature does something to the body, or at least it does to mine. Now that I have justified myself to myself, saying I am not lazy (well maybe just a bit) I will get on with this painting and why I wanted to paint it.

Five years ago I was invited to join my sister-in-law on the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea. This is the road to one of the many little spits of land that jut out around the island. Some have houses, some do not. This particular cove is famous for its Syrmata, or boat garages, which I tried not to highlight, as this painting/ story is not about them. For me it was about the road to the sea. Mandrakia is a little village down on the spit of land, even having its own little church. There is also a Taverna...naturally! The water there is so amazing. Changing colors while you watch. Each little cove or inlet has a unique feel to the water and the beach. I had never experienced anything like it before. In the intervening five years it has experienced much growth as it has been 'discovered' - I have been told there are now more houses in this view than when I was there and took this photograph.

I really got into the rhythms and pattern of the surrounding landscape while doing this painting. The land goes up and down and winds around. I hope you can follow the road that winds to the right and then again to the right by the little memorial then finally to the left and Mandrakia. It is a place special to my heart. I was there in April, and hope to go back this October if all goes accordingly. 

Reflecting

 

Reflecting, 24x24, oil available

 

Here is another fresh off the easel. As often happens when I am working on so many simultaneously, a few come to completion about the same time. This one I relate to in that I can sit and watch water for ages, be it the gulf, a brook, a lake or the ocean. Yet it seems like a short time only has passed. Even though I am more likely to walk a beach, I am often pulled to just sit still in silence, watching and listening. I saw this man doing just that one evening and the skimmers flying by just added to the story.

Where I want to be right now

 

Sunset Over the Gulf, oil, 18x36 available

Jimminy Cricket! I thought I had posted this painting 2 months ago. Who'd have thought I would be this far behind...there really are no excuses except to say I have had a pinched nerve in my neck that makes my whole arm tingle and feel asleep ever since the 24" snow dump the end of March. That repetitive motion of a snow shovel is what did me in. It is better, but it is now settled into my fingers and thumb on my dominant hand. Gardening is not helping this situation. Nor is being at my easel or computer. 

Back to the place I would like to be right now. It is hot and dry once again in Denver after a most plentiful moisture filled Spring. For which I am very grateful. Still, I would much rather be on a beach with a gentle wind in my hair as where I was on the Gulf of Florida a number of years ago. I can almost get myself there by looking at this painting. There is something so magical about sunrises and sunsets. No two are alike and they are just so fleeting. A transient light show. I love them! And why I like them over the ocean or a body of water is that they are just out there with nothing to impede them. Full of Glory.

It took me a year to finish, which is not that unusual. I get excited by the initial block in and then I freeze up. I must wait patiently until my heart moves me back to the place I need to be to finish it up. Which is again, why I have so many paintings going at once. 

This is only one of many sunsets or sunrises I have been motivated to paint lately. I posted this sunrise in March and I sat down today to write two posts on recently completed sunsets discovering I have been negligent in getting this one posted. I have one more of the Gulf, totally different from this one and another from my trip to AZ this past Spring. 

Stay tuned! I will be doing my best to stay on schedule of posting every week.

Commission Completed

Hunt and Peck, 24x24, oil on linen

I finished up this commissioned painting this week. It is a larger version of a painting I did a few years ago after a trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida. That painting can be seen here and is still available. (a side note: pulling in the link it was posted almost exactly 2 years ago to the date!)  The client had seen the original painting posted on The Cherry Creek Art Gallery website and loved everything about it but its size. She really wanted a bigger painting for the space she had in mind. It has been fun to enlarge and revise it. This is the first time I have ever done a larger version of a studio painting by request. Much easier on me than a commission when you are doing a specific request for a client.

For a commissioned work I ask half the fee up front and then the rest upon completion. This client has approved the painting so it is now awaiting varnish. White paint can take a few weeks to dry even in the dry winter conditions we are having.  

You can't really see it in this image but I did lots of layering of color in the water that should add depth and interest once it is varnished.

Dance of the Jelly Fish

Dance of the Jelly Fish, 16x12, oil on linen

This painting comes from a Facebook 'challenge' a month or so ago that some friends of mine were throwing around. The first subject was octopus. I so wanted to paint an octopus but I have no images of my own of those amazing creatures. Searching online did not help me find what I was looking for. So, after those paintings were posted by those who knew what they wanted, the next topic was Jelly Fish! I had a number of images I took when I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I went there a few years ago with my son on our road trip up the California Coast. I am sure it is the lighting of this exhibit that makes the colors so vibrant, but it was captivating!

I thought this being a fairly small piece it would not take me long, which it didn't. But getting it to the satisfaction of my son (and he was correct) has been a struggle. In the original image the jelly fish are fairly dark and almost have a solid feel to them, which I of course, captured. He just could not like the painting because of that. So I did my best to rid them of the dark lines and solid feel trying to make them more ethereal. Not something I do well with. I am so an outline, graphic person in how I see. He has not seen this last version yet, but I am thinking it will 'pass muster.' Finally!

I do love the colors and it was fun to paint something totally different for me.

Anticipation

Anticipation, 16x12, oil on linen

In the heat of the summer we have been experiencing here, it seemed apropos to dive into something to cool me off! I saw this young boy while walking the beach in western Italy. We were on a tour, and the first day of the tour was a 'free' day or you could add on a day trip to St. Lucia with the guide. We opted to go to the beach by train instead. I had hoped we could go to Cinque Terra, but that was going to make for too long a day, so this was next best. There were not many people in the water as the orange flags were out. I watched his intensity of finding "the" wave to catch. Someone recently made the comment that of course this is not a beach in the USA because he is wearing a speedo! For some reason that never crossed my mind that boys here don't wear speedo type swim suits.

Below is the block in for this painting. As is my want, I picked an unfinished start of a portrait to paint over. I thought you might like to see the big shapes and patterns I use to build upon.

Block in over unfinished painting

Evening Glow over the Gulf

Evening Glow over the Gulf, 20x30, oil on linen, available

Seems appropriate with Hurricane Dorian wrecking havoc and approaching the east side of Florida to post this recent painting from Florida's west coast. A bucolic scene if ever there was one.

Here we have the proverbial walking on the beach at sunset. What can I say? It was a beautiful time spent on  a Florida key near Tampa Bay. The light was just perfect. It isn't a dramatic sunset but these calm colors are soothing to the soul sandwiched between the gathering clouds and the still warm sand.

Overall the colors are impacted by the sunset except that one little slice of cool blue water. The long triangular shape of the water is repeated with a bit of cooler sand in the path in the lower right hand corner.

Post Pop-up Art Invitational

Admirers looking at my wall, 4-26-19

My wall after I was done hanging it, 4-26-19

I wanted to show those of you who were unable to come to the one night art invitational what it looked like. We had to be there to hang between 9-11 the morning of, and the art had to be taken down either after the show or the next morning starting at 8 a.m. I had a plan for hanging my wall and though I didn't follow it, because I had a pretty good idea, it went pretty fast. I wish I had thought to take photos of how the different artists did theirs, as just like when there are a group of artists painting the same subject and each one is so different, how to hang a wall of art follows pretty much the same pattern.

My friend, Jeannie Paty, hanging her wall

It was my first experience with this kind of a venue. It may well be the wave of the future as yet another well established art gallery closes this month in Denver. I thought it was very successful overall. There was a continual stream of people in attendance with the busiest time starting around 7:30. I believe I had the first sale of the evening, the little hollyhock study on my wall above. For an artist, our loyal supporters are always very close to our hearts, and without them where would we be? When a total stranger likes your work enough to buy it, that is a different kind of validation. It is an entry into a new relationship. The man who bought the little piece below the hollyhocks, "Along the Arno," wrote on the subject line of his check "Keep up the great work!" This is particularly poignant for me as I have been struggling with whether I should stop painting altogether. My shoulder has been reconstructed twice and it has been causing me enough trouble that giving up painting was definitely on my radar as a possibility. I received so much validation to keep on keeping on during this show. I will share one more experience: I was standing in the vicinity of my wall during a quiet time where I was not engaged with anyone else. A man and his wife approached and stopped next to me looking at my wall. He said to his wife "Now these paintings tell a story." He proceeded to go through each painting telling the story he saw. I cannot tell you how gratifying that was to hear. I want my work to draw people in to tell a story or open up a dialogue.

I know I was happy with how many people stopped at my wall and really looked and enjoyed. A great big thank you to Cherry Creek Art Gallery for organizing this event.

Easter Sunday - He has Risen!

Sunset block in, 18x36

I wanted to paint this sunset the other day. I did not have a 'clean' canvas on hand for the size I wanted it to be. BUT I did have a painting that I decided I did not want to repaint and that whatever it was that attracted me to it (yes, I remember what that was) that moment has passed. So I picked up "Rolling Tundra-Guanella Pass" to be the victim:

Rolling Tundra-Guanella Pass has passed on, 2017, oil on board

I thought I would get the old painting covered and then  go back in and refine it. As I have mentioned many times before the block in process is my favorite thing about painting, especially over an existing painting. Repurposing, recycling, whatever. Or making what came before, new. As the new covenant is fulfilled this week.

For now, I am not able to go back in and 'refine' this painting as I like the energy so much (oops, an attachment! we cannot get attached!). My one friend whom I have shared the image with said if I do go in 'only work on the right side. Do not  touch the colors on the left!' The dark colors coming in behind the white clouds I thought would definitely need to be addressed, but right now I am not so sure. It has grown on me. Stay tuned to see where this one goes. As I write this I am getting some ideas on direction. Blessings to All. God is Good.

Hunt and Peck

First I have to tell you I got a note from the Bold Brush competition held each month on line: Congratulations! Your painting, "Pictures at an Exhibition", was selected as part of the FAV15% (jury's favorite 15% of the entries) in the December 2018 BoldBrush Painting competition. 

It doesn't mean I won anything but it does mean I made it to the top 15% of entries. There are alot of entries! Always nice to get a little recognition...

Ibis, 12x12, oil on linen panel,

And then on to this week's post. I said last time that I was going to start at least one more sea bird painting on top of another plein air painting. This time I picked an Ibis. Since the other two birds are walking and upright I went for one looking for food. There was a nice swell coming in to create a pattern coming off the body of the bird. Repetition of shape is always a bonus. I am having too much fun painting shore birds and Gulf waters. I must be living in the wrong part of the country...mountains are not my natural affinity I am discovering. As I switch to a snow painting I am using what I have been doing in these smaller paintings with water to that of the snow. It has given me a new way to think about that subject. Sometimes I try to make it way harder than it needs to be.

This one is painted over another old building although this was not a barn but a post office. I am drawing a blank on the location but the few buildings in this small mountain town were all dilapidated and long abandoned. You can see a little bit of progression below. I thought I had a previous post on the original painting but I cannot find it. I can't even find a folder with images of the painting...it wasn't that bad!

I have one more shore bird I want to do but I have run out of 12x12 panels with plein air paintings on them. It might be too different to do it on a clean canvas but I will think on that.

not only the roof line is coming through but also the hillside which will mimic the swell in the water. I love it when that happens!

Photo of the old post office

To end this post on another high note I had a surprise deposit in my PayPal account. Someone bought a larger painting off my website! That is always a delight to discover.

Satisfied

Satisfied, 12x12, oil on linen panel

Here we have a satisfied Heron. I took this photo right after I saw him catch and eat a fish. I am painting these shore birds with great delight. Ah to live where they are an every day occurrence. Not that we don't see Blue Herons and lesser Egrets right here in the middle of Denver Colorado. We do. I see them at the park 1/4 mile from my house every summer. But the lake with its not so glamorous broken walls or caged rocks aren't quite as pretty a back drop as the Gulf is. With waters that glimmer and change color along with the shifting colored sand.
Here is a progression for you. I started with painting over a plein air painting from a few winters ago:

From the looks of it, I was painting over another old painting...one I must not have ever considered done as there is not title for it on the back...So the Heron is #3, oh my! I was not unhappy with this painting for having painted it on site on a cold crisp January day in record time, but really, the subject wasn't very interesting.

You can see after my initial block in over the old barn you can still see a ghost of it. In the finished painting it is much fainter and if I didn't show it to you, you would most likely not ever see it. I don't understand why I enjoy doing this so much but I know I am not alone in this. There is one more shore bird I am going to do painting over another plein air painting that isn't that great before I run out of 12x12 paintings to paint over. Stay tuned!

Goin' Fishin'

On the Prowl, 12x12, oil on linen panel

Progress has been made on my egret painting. I painted in more than I had originally intended but there you have it. From day to day what we are going for can change. Everyone seemed to really like the daffodils coming through the egrets body so I left some but not as much as I had thought I would.
I still like it and overall, I think more people will like it this way too because they won't know any better!

Here is a bit of the progression. The image below is where I first stopped. I could not bring myself to 'ruin' what I felt it had going for it and everyone who saw it in this stage said to leave it alone! Eventually it just called out for more trust in my abilities and more paint. This first block in was where I stopped and had a hard time wanting to mess with it. It looked very oriental in style and the shapes coming through the light wash were an interesting element.

Original block in on top of still life painting

Here is the next phase when I finally decided I had to make it more a painting as I had originally intended before I got distracted by the textures and color showing through:

First foray into trusting my gut

I wasn't sure if I wanted to let go of the daffodils in the image above. Ultimately the whites were competing too much. The bird was not coming forward and being center stage. I then was asked by a new acquaintance if I would be willing to film myself painting for a project he is working on. I know he is a musician but I didn't ask what the project was. He has been generous in sending me recordings from the class we are taking together. I did not think to record the lectures until weeks into the class so I felt I owed him a return favor. I picked this painting as it looks good on film and I had only a few touch ups to do. Once I got going I changed my mind and saw the daffodils coming through as a distraction.

Marbled Water

Marbled Water, 30x30, oil on linen, available

Last spring I was in Greece for a few weeks, staying mostly on a small, non-touristy island. Yes, there are a few still in existence. This was our first day on the island and we were checking out various coves and beaches to see what we liked for possible return visits. The beach here was tiny and there were locals living (illegal, I believe) in a few of the syrmata's (boat garages) so it wasn't a place we returned to after this initial visit. But sitting on the natural stone 'walkway' away from the beach and the locals was amazingly tranquil and rejuvenating for the soul. One of us even went swimming. I preferred to sit with my feet in the water being nibbled by small fish, until the jellyfish arrived. I was mesmerized by the patterns made in the water. I had never experienced anything like it before. As the light shifted so did the patterns and reflections. I took a series of photos as the patterns evolved until this marbled effect showed up. It was the last photo I shot in the series and my favorite. Suffice it to say, whenever near water I studied it and was continually enchanted by the way it was a living entity ever changing before my eyes. I hope to do more water scenes I encountered to show how distinct the different areas of the island were and how the light impacted the designs in the water. I have been to  many beaches around the world and have never seen anything like what I saw in the Aegean.
Enjoy!
If you have a better idea for a title, I am always open to suggestions. I lack creativity in naming paintings...

Have a Seat - View of the Aegean Sea

Have a Seat, 12x16, oil on panel   available

A few months ago I posted a painting of the Path less Taken. I mentioned in that post that my son suggested I do a companion piece so that we could all see what was at the end of the path and I included the block in of the new painting. I personally like the idea of the path leads where each individual decides what they want to see at the end of the path, but like so many mothers, I aim to please. So here is the scene where that path led. It is on the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea. The ice plant flowers were supersized adding a wonderful splash of bold color here and there.

Morning Mist on the River Yonne, Burgundy

Morning Mist, 12x24, oil on panel, available

Can you believe it?? I am posting a painting I did. Amazing I have the nerve after all those wonderful paintings I posted from the Laguna Art Museum the past few weeks. So be it. Thought it was time to get with the program. Lots coming off the easel at the same time!

Today's painting is a remake of a sketch I did, oh, 7-8 years ago. I was so happy with it but decided it  needed a facelift.

This scene is from a trip I took over ten years ago to Burgundy in France. My sister had rented a boat to do a river cruise on our own. There were 7 of us. I believe it was called a barge trip but really we had what I would call a yacht. We spent almost a week on the L'Yonne River. This stop was Joigny if my memory serves. I was usually one of the first ones up in the morning so I would go out and find a patisserie and bring home breakfast for everyone. Hence being out in the early morning fog that blanketed the river.  These boats were moored across from ours. It was interesting to see how many countries were represented by the boats. And yes, we saw many a working barge.

The Path Less Taken

I am back! It has been awhile. It isn't that I haven't been painting. It is that I have been unable to believe that anything is finished...is that being stuck? Or is it just that I have been too distracted with other projects that this area of my life has suffered? If I am honest, it is both. It has been a summer of electricians, contractors, energy auditors and getting roommates. In all honesty, that is enough to keep anyone very busy.
Here is a painting I did last week; another one from my series from my trip to Milos, an island in the Aegean where I went this past Spring. This little seaside path to the sea is in Pollonia.

My son said he really liked it but he wants to see where the path leads. So I may just do a companion piece, but my thought is it leads to the sea and we all have our ideas about what that looks like. That being said, I must admit that the Aegean Sea is like no other I have encountered!

For me it is more about the journey than the destination. It is a sunny day with the threat of a cleansing rain, the island is abloom with spring flowers, and the sea beckons.

After adding the photo above, the image seemed too light. Some of that is from the lighting conditions when I took the photo. But it made me think it wasn't dramatic enough. I put the painting back on my easel this morning and redid the sky as I wanted the piece to have real feeling to it. The only other thing I did to it was to redo the dark hedges along the the horizon line. I wanted them to read more of a unit. Other than those changes the rest is the same. The photo below is darker, taken inside at my easel but is truer to the original than the washed out image above.

Looking for a Title, 12x16, oil on linen panel. Available. Contact me for information

After wrapping this up I blocked in the companion piece. It is the same size, same surface but I am going for a more abstracted landscape approach. Let's see if I can pull it off. I am happy with it so far. Here it is:

Roughed in companion piece

Syrmata or Greek Island Boat Garages

Boat Garages, oil on linen panel, 12x12

Here is the first painting completed from my recent trip to the Greek island of Milos. I painted it small to see if I might want to paint it larger at some point. This is in the little village of Mandrakia, which if you Google 'Greek boat garages' most of the images that come up are from this particular bay. Mandrakia is a collection of mostly vacation homes but it does boast its own little chapel and a part time/quasi legal Taverna during the summer.  I picked this particular boat garage to highlight because the 'owner' is one of the local fishermen whom my friend knows. Stellios is one of the few year round residents of Mandrakia. He takes it upon himself to paint all the steps down to the water every year. His is the black boat, painted black after the loss of his wife. His 'garage' is open as he was working on someone else's boat on this particular day.

We were fortunate to have coffee with one of the other boat garage owners from whose garage I took this photo. Yannis has more of a man cave thing going on although his boat is berthed inside as well. He fixed us fresh coffee in his tiny kitchen and brought it out to his little patio. I took this still life that was set up where we enjoyed our first afternoon on Milos.

These boat garages are grandfathered in, as technically you cannot own water front property on the island. So people like me are free to wander around since it is considered public property. No new garages are legal to build.

This is the long view from where I was staying and it looks right down onto this little cove. At the end of the gully there is a small beach, which when we were there we had to ourselves.

Small works - a wee commission

A friend of mine from high school commissioned this little scene from the shores of Lake Michigan where she recently purchased a summer home . She bought 2 6x6 beach scenes from my website and wanted a third to round them out to hang in the cottage. The third one she liked from my website had already sold. I do believe she rents out this place when she is not using it.
She told me that this is the scene after a 1.5 mile hike through the dunes that she always welcomes.

Lake Michigan, oil on linen panel, 6x6

Racked Sea Kayaks

Racked, 20x30, oil on linen

Here is a painting recently uncovered in my basement as I continue to cull through my life's work. It is not that old in the scope of things and for some reason I did not give much credence to it when I painted it. But now, looking at it, I am trying to figure out what it was that made me dismiss it out of hand. I showed it to a few people yesterday to see what they thought and it met with very positive responses. Who knew? Just goes to show we can be our own worst enemies. I have not shown this painting since I painted it and now it is up and on display at Gallery 1505 on South Pearl Street. It is very different subject matter for me. But here is why I was attracted to consider painting kayaks.

Italy's Adriatic coast was on my agenda when I went to Italy 4 years ago after not having been there in decades. We were in Venice and I wanted to go to the beach to give myself a few days away from the crowds of tourists that we were a part of in Paris, Venice and next, Rome. I was interested in Ravenna, the mosaic capital of the world, which is a 3 hour train ride south of Venice. We stopped there for a night and then down to Pescara from there. Pescara is a very popular beach resort area in the summer, but we were there in October so the season was over. The weather was still warm enough to walk the surf, if not swim. I walked that beach each morning and evening. The locals are bundled up in coats and us foreigners in t-shirts. I consider mid-70's perfect! I saw these sea kayaks on one of long walks (the coast line extends 12 miles at this particular area) and saw great abstract patterns. There were a number of these racks lined up but I liked that this particular rack had the cabanas behind them adding to the pattern and throwing in that yellow.

A side note; in hind sight, this stop to decompress was pure genius. When we arrived in Rome, not only was it the day of the Rome Marathon, but it was also a day the Pope beatified 13 saints from around the world and there were pilgrims from every corner of the globe that day!! Took us over an hour from the train station to our lodgings by the Vatican because the roads were blocked for the marathon and then the papal dismissal came as we were trying to get to where we were staying. Just goes to show, check out what is happening in the big cities when planning your itinerary especially when going to Rome! Lesson learned.

A Beach Trinity

Beach Trinity, 6x6, oil on panel

I liked this little vignette I saw on a beach in Florida. That it included the dog was a bonus. I am glad that he was somewhat connected to the sea grasses as I did like the family group of three.

This being a simple little composition, I tried to maintain that without getting too involved in details.