Where to begin?

We will chalk off no posts for 6 weeks (has it really been that long?) to my brain taking a summer vacation and leave it at that. I am determined to post today before I start anything else.

I will start off where I left off on my last post http://victoriasart.blogspot.com/2013/07/moonshine-explosion-in-alley.html

Moonshine Yarrow, early morning light . 30x22, oil on panel

Here is the painting I did from the photographs and the plein air study that I did one early morning around July 4th. I started right about 7 a.m. on the study, thinking I had "plenty of time" and by 8 a.m. I had to stop as the sun had come over the house across the alley and was hitting the side of my face and it was Hot! I am standing on the edge of our alley vegetable garden, looking north. This particular patch of yarrow I have tried to dig up many times over the years, but as you can see, it is still thriving! There are usually tall hollyhocks on the other side of the yarrow, but all the rain this year has not been good for hollyhocks and they were stunted. Just after I started this painting, my neighbor across the street, on the left, whose garage door and side of her garage you can see behind our blue garage, had her house painted. After years of painting this alley and her garage, it is now a different color scheme...The every changing landscape of a neighborhood.

Another post coming soon will continue with this alley as I realized I have painted from this particular 20 square feet or so of alley, many times. I believe the only season not captured thus far is spring.

Moonshine explosion in the alley

I went out early yesterday morning to see if the yarrow that is planted next to our garage in the alley was still looking good enough to paint. The photo below shows the yarrow as they were when I did a quick sketch of them last week. Today, they had been beaten down by the rains of the past few days... and that was before the downpour we got yesterday evening. Three inches or so of rain!
I have grown to love this plant, but I cannot tell you how hard I have tried to remove it from my yard, and I finally gave up. I am glad I did as it now just brings joy to my heart and it makes such a lovely fan to brighten up the alley.

And then I turned around and saw the black raspberries behind me up against our neighbors garage. I ended up picking 3 cups or more of berries. I just recently found out that most raspberry ice cream is made from black raspberries as they have more concentrated flavor. I did my best to inspire my husband to make a batch of ice cream, but he did not take me up on it... This patch of berries planted itself a number of years ago but this is the first year we have had enough to really harvest at any one time. The plant has beautiful baby blue stems but the thorns are know to grab and then hold on to you. I love the way you can see how the berries ripen. From new baby, peach colored, to rosy red, dark red and then black and ready to pick, all on one little cluster. Isn't nature marvelous?

Right next to the black raspberries, there is another beauty that planted  itself. I have not planted sunflowers in years, but we still manage to have them come up and as long as they are out of the garden area, we leave them for the birds and the bees.

On my way back into the house I had to marvel at how large my Anna Belle Hydrangea has grown. I bought this in a one gallon pot many moons ago, and I remember the first year I got 3 flowers, and then the next year, 6, and so on. Sometimes the flower heads on this plant can be the size of a hat, and we have been known to model them! Every year brings fresh surprises in the garden.

 Below is a painting I did a few years ago of this bush. Painted at high noon standing in the shade of our lilacs. Another painting I have been wanting to do. Where does the time go?

Writing this post has made me think I should do a blog with all the paintings I have done just on this little plot in central Denver. Let me know your thoughts.

Reflecting on Reflections

Reflection, 18x36, oil on linen; After

Before

I know I have been quiet for awhile. Only because I have not had much to say. I decided to spend the summer reworking and refining those paintings that need it even if at one time I thought them "done." I have found "done" is a relative term when it comes to a painting. I have this painting facing me when I sit at our dining room table, and since I sit there at least 3 times a day, I have had a year or so to look at it. I did not make major changes to it, even though I did repaint pretty much the whole thing.
Just so you don't have to strain your eyes to figure out what is that different to warrant painting it over again...the thing that bothered me the most was the spit of sand that is the darkest near the end of the horizon line. It was too prominent and the water did not flow naturally around it. The beach did not have the cant I wanted so I redid the beach, adding more dark value in the lower left hand corner. That value needed to read as the same value as the distant hills. I am still debating whether that corner is dark enough, but I think the slope of the beach is better. After I redid the sand I lightened the sky and to both, I added texture. My new thing is to not paint so smooth. In the original I wanted it to be more glass like, but now, no. I want it to feel wet not just misty. Last, but certainly not least, I redid the figure. I started at the top and worked down; darkening his head so it doesn't disappear into the mist while the rest of him was with us; lightening his jacket, correcting some drawing along the way; then the reflection had to be touched up too. Comments are always welcome no matter if you agree with me or not!

Urbino Alley



Urbino Alley, 30x20, oil on linen

Can't let those alleys go! where-ever I go, there they are...just calling out to me. There is an interesting story behind the little side trip we took to Urbino. This town was not on our agenda at all. On my last trip to Europe, we went to Venice; since we would be on the Adriatic side of Italy, I really wanted to go to the water to walk the beach and I thought it would be a nice place to catch our breath before heading to Rome. I picked the town of Pesaro after doing some minimal research. We would be there after the "season" was done, so I figured we would find at least a couple of hotels still open for business, and usually at a discount. I did not book a hotel in advance. I did not bring a map of Pesaro with me, thinking I could check it out online somewhere along the way. I do not have the latest technology but I did have my iPad and the internet is accessible most big tourist places, right? Wrong. NOT in Italy. After we got off the train in Pesaro, and went outside to find we were in the middle of a hub with 5 or 6 streets leading out in all directions! The one map I had managed to look at briefly beforehand showed the sea was 4-6 blocks from the train station...I had no idea which one of the streets to pick to go to "the sea." Looking down them, they went a long ways with no water at the end. I tried talking to a few people, including employees of Trenitalia, but no one understood, "the sea," "la mer," or "Adriatic." So, I am trying to just find a map of the town. Nada. I go check out the INFO sign...closed. BUT I hear English! There are 3 Brits looking at a bus schedule, so I ask them if they can just point me in the right direction, and they not only did that, but walked us into the old town and towards the sea. On our 20" walk into town, with luggage trailing, we discovered that they were 2 siblings and one girlfriend. The sister of the young man was the guide, as she was studying at university in Urbino. She said we MUST go visit Urbino, that we would not regret it. Pesaro was okay for the beach but as a town, not so exciting. Urbino was a walled city, with winding streets and alleys, and the birthplace of the artist, Raphael. So, she told us the ins and outs of taking the bus to Urbino, and we spent our one full day in Pesaro, going to Urbino. It was a fun day, and though she did not tell us of the Saturday market, we fortunately tumbled across it. While my friend shopped to her hearts content, I roamed around talking photos and even happened across the Raphael Museum, though we did not go in. There is also an art institute and the university. It is not on many American's iteinerary, but I am glad we went the eastern route. I am sure enjoying painting my way through my photographs of our time on the Adriatic.

Anniversary Bouquet

Anniversary Bouquet, 18x14, oil on panel

Our daughter brought us these lovely lilies for our anniversary a few weeks ago. A week later...I decided to paint them with the thought to be more expressive in my brushwork. I did this painting in a couple of hours and as I was painting it, the buds were opening. It was amazing to watch. It was, a Hey You! that is not how I sketched you in! Just goes to show how alive cut flowers can be and not so "still" afterall. I set the old wine stein on a chair as it was the only thing I could find handily that was the height I wanted it. So there you have it. A fun sketch just for the heck of it.

Before and After-an orchid odyessy

Once upon a time, I was into orchids. I was thinking I would be this painter of portraits of all the odd and beautiful orchids. I even joined the orchid society to have more access. This was in the time before every grocery store sold phalenopsis and other more common varieties. This orchid is one of the only paphiopedilum that I ever owned, and I managed to keep it alive for a few years, but never got it to rebloom. I painted the original portrait about 10 years ago. In my quest to practice and to rework older paintings, I picked this one to rework awhile ago, but then decided to play with it some more. I actually took a photo of this plant (only one), which was not always the case back then when I was painting from life in my studio. It is very overexposed, so I think the flash must have gone off. I have tried to reach a happy medium between the colors of the original painting and the overexposed image I have.

2013

A couple of things to note: I did a search for the name I had written down for this orchid, and I did not get anything to come up for it. HMMM.  I corrected some of the drawing, but not much; I added the bud coming out and I softened up the background. I like the bluer background better. I added the two paintings that were on the wall at the time; the blue one is another orchid, and the one further back was of tulips in my garden. I like the way those two rectangles add to the other rectangles in the composition. Phaps are stiff, waxier orchids, but I still tried to soften that down a bit in the reworked piece.

Flight Into Egypt, oil on canvas, 18x14, 2002

Deja' Vu

Walking up the Beach, Melbourne, FL, 24x24

We are back to the beach! I tend to see problems once I post a photo of a painting; I know it feels never ending, but bear with me.
Melbourne, FL, which is where this beach is, had little done to it this time. I just added a bit more detail to the buildings so that they worked better with the overall painting. They seemed too unfinished relative to the whole. Otherwise, it is the same as when you last saw it.

Adriac Bicycle, below, I redid the shadow in the foreground. It did not feel like a unified piece of sand nor integrated to the whole beach; along with reworking the shadow, I lightened the water and added more of the sky color to it to show the reflected light. These may seem like minor details, but it is the little things that can make or break a painting. I think it now has more of a sense of depth.

Afternoon Ride, Pesaro, Italy, 24x24

As always, I am open to dialogue here if anyone is wanting to give their opinion. Also,  if something comes to you while looking at any of my work, I sure can use some help with titles.