Painting Nan - Fini

Nan           oil on gessoed panel    18" x 12"

I enjoyed trying this figure. I like that she does look like she is singing.

The photo didn't turn out very well. Colors are off.

Here is a b&w and below that, a detail...or a "zoom-in" so to speak.

Painting Nan - Day 3

Painting Nan - day 2

Also, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. 

It is not an easy job.

Painting Nan - sketches

Vine charcoal sketch on prepared board

This is a woman I met one day and then surreptitiously snapped a photo of her. 

I didn't realize what a funny pose she got into as my phone captured her image.

Anyway, I put the photo away for awhile, but first I did a quick sketch. 

Today I sketched her again from the photo and then started a painting. 

She tickles me....I am so curious how it will turn out!

Pastel study

From Blueberry Hill II  pastel  9" x 12"

It is good to try to render again a scene you have already painted, I have read.

 So I dug out my pastels and sat my other painting 

(Up the channel from Blueberry Hills) 

nearby and did a quick study.

Below is the oil study...

after Sisley, fini

After Alfred Sisley's painting from 1873. The Seine at Bougival. 12" x 18"

This was very enjoyable to paint. 

I felt I wanted more practice painting landscapes to hopefully help 

when I do my own, 

either en plein air or from photos.

 The original lives at the Musee d'Orsay, Paris and is 18" x 25.75". 

Now I want to see it.

Below is a b&w. 

I do not think I got the values like AS did...and my sky is more turquois-ey.

After Sisley - Day 3

...progress.

After Sisley - Day 2

Beginning to add some color.

New practice work - Day 1

 On my easel right now is a prepared board on which I am doing 

a "cover" of one of Alfred Sisley's paintings.

This one has water, sky and distant trees - 

good for me to try to render in a similar way. 

Of course the photo I am using is in a book and 

very small, so really hard to copy exactly ...

I don't want to copy it exactly anyway. 

I am taking my time, but not trying to mimic -

 just getting a similar feeling, I hope.

 

These two shots were of my trying to get the values started,

and I did add a little color.

Happy eARTh Day!

Well, Mother Earth is giving some rainy day love to Southeast Alaska today,

but that is ok because it is a good time to make some

Zentangles!

These three are the first zentangles I have ever made. We were introduced to them by Cristine Crooks (a wonderful artist and one of Juneau's Plein Rein painters) 

while at the retreat in March.

Of course

I love the Zentangle, it is doodling!

When you read about them at their website,

you will find that you need a 3.5" square piece of paper 

and something to draw with ... that's it!

Let me know if you try it!

Up The Channel From Blueberry Hill

Up The Channel - from Blueberry Hill, oil on board, 13" x 15.75"

This painting was fun, using both palette knife and brushes.

Day 2 Up the Channel, Juneau

Trying to keep some of the cool (meaning neat) colors I had on the board from disappearing. Also the textures make some interesting shapes ... 

and interesting surprising bumps with brush or palette knife.

Juneau painting!

Ok, this looks weird because I started the painting on a board with lots of left-over paint smashed over it. It was gessoed ...

Anyway, I had a photo of the view as we walked down from Blueberry Hills, on Douglas Island the other day. Thought it might be fun to try to capture.

Here goes ...

April on the North Santiam River

Driving from Wyoming, we zipped across Idaho - 

then across Oregon to Bend, in the high desert.

From there we headed north through the Santiam Pass 

and drove along the North Santiam River for awhile.

We found a nice place 

(cool though because of the snow on the bridge) 

for me to do a little oil sketch en plein air.

Sketch using the "Paper" App

Ok, I'm learning about the Blogsy app to use it if I need to download from sketches with the App PAPER on my tablet. (Yes, I have one ...)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Painting of Claire "backstory"

I began with a photo of my Mom and did the sketch above. 

I think the pencil sketch looks a little like 

my little Aunt Gertie, my Mom's oldest sister 

who died 7 years ago (a few months shy of 100!).

The following are photos of the painting's progress, 

with the b&w showing the values:

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Claire Christine, 14" x 11", oil on canvas, April 2012

Happy Birthday to the best Mommu ever!

I painted this in honor of her birthday last year.

I kept record of the painting progress and will post

those tomorrow.

We are back from Wyoming, back to the rugged Alaska mountains 

and ever-changing ocean here in Juneau. 

It feels so good to be home, but we sure have fun 

visiting new places and getting to see family!

I have been sketching a little, but not enough, on the road.

Thank you for following this art blog!

Happy Spring Equinox!

Digitally enhanced tomatoes!

This photo is thanks to Steve Winker, one of the Plein Rein Juneau painters.

He is mostly a photographer, who takes lovely SE Alaska photos. 

He showed me some cool Photoshop effects.

I hope we get to see some early spring flowers here in Wyoming ...

then in Oregon...then Washington...and finally Alaska!

We will be on the road Friday.

Happy Birthday my son!

So 27 years ago today ... our son was born!

I think I have posted this before, but wanted to say Happy Birthday!

Olin   2010 @ UW

Here is another photo of him that I already posted to fb.

It is one that I have been looking at for awhile to paint.

Photo from 2004

We will be moving out of Wyoming (and back to Alaska) from here on out 

and I may not be posting very much. 

Hope you keep checking in. Please leave comments in the comment section!

Cheers!

Painting with Grant

Grant decided to paint the cactus.

Grant's Cactus  Water soluble paints on Arches Oil paper.

We set up a still life, but Grant liked the cactus. 

I painted this still life. Forgot to take a picture of the set-up.

Again, this was very quick because we were hitting the road with a 7-8 hour drive back to Torrington, WY. We had a beautiful, and too short, visit with my brother and his family.

I think these quick painting sketches are very good to do. 

Just get the gesture down and all the pertinent information. 

Simplifies the composition because of the time limit.

Thank you Scott, Sue, Grant and Clark! 

Hudson (another nephew) and his friend Phalen also stopped by! 

Hope to see everyone again in the not too far future.

Clark on Swing backstory

My brother was taking photos while I was painting Clark on Swing, 

and he shared them with me. 

I just downloaded them and thought it would be fun to show 

how the painting session went.

 

Clark patiently posing

I was madly trying to capture him in the few minutes I knew I had.

Almost there!

Clark thought it turned out alright.

Photos on this post are all taken with a Pentax digital camera

The total time for this was 45 - 55 minutes!