90th Birthday Celebrations!

Just returned from a great trip to Oregon to celebrate my Dad's 90th Birthday! 

He doesn't look 90, nor does he act 90! I am so lucky!

I took him (& Mom) this painting I did while visiting in June:

Home    8 x 10 inches    plein air oil on prepared birch panel

 Matt made the frame, I stained it with ebony (sort of gray) 

and it turned out nicely. Also gave a print to each sibling (2).

I thought I had posted this painting before but I guess not. 

 The roses were still blooming! My darling mother is too!

While we were in Oregon we drove to the beach! This is Pacific City.

Ok, guess I'd better get back to work.

Thanks for checking in!

Painting - from little to big

One would think that it shouldn't be too hard to take a small painting and enlarge it ... 

 however, it does take some planning!

This painting

 is 6 x 9

(a plein air - done in Kelowna, BC at a park on the shores of Lake Okanagan)

This canvas

is 24 x 36

Here are some shots of my progress so far:

You might have noticed that the park bench is much too small. I hadn't seen it, but my husband came in and politely pointed it out to me. I will fix.

I wanted to see what other painters might say about 

the process of painting a larger piece from a plein air study.

Painter Kathleen Dunphy says that, "While the best plein air paintings have a life of their own that can never be repeated, studio works that are painted with the same degree of interest and discovery can convey their own unique story to the viewer."  This is the link to that blog post.

Do you enlarge your plein air studies/paintings from time to time? 

I would love to hear any tips that help you in this process.

Show Your Work! Chapter 10 + triptych fini

Raft of Scoters     8x8 inches    oil on prepared panel

The painting above is my very latest sketch - I loved the gigantic raft (probably several thousand) of scoters (sea ducks) that were gathered on the ocean on a recent misty fall day, 
getting ready to head south.
 
(Sheesh, I've had this draft post for so long ... but it has been long on my mind as well - lately I don't have too much of a schedule, so blogging goes by the wayside. But summer is over and I am ready to be more of a routine blogger, whatever that means.)

Today I will talk a little about what I took away 
from the last chapter 
in the book I've been reading -

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon.

The chapter title is:

Stick Around.
 The point of this final chapter is to just keep going. 
Many times you just feel bad, not motivated, not enjoying your life
so you stop working on what might be a tough spot in a painting, or in your writing, or potting, or sculpting or ... That's ok. 
Taking a break is fine, but get back to it and push through.
Just know that you will have learned something from the push.
It might be a breakthrough, 
or a peek into something completely new. 
From A.K. - "Even if you try to toss it aside, the lessons that you've learned from it will seep into what you do next."

At the end of his book, one of the to-do's that A.K. suggests 
is to plan a "Show Your Work!" night. 
Well, ahem ...
A few years ago a couple of friends and I held a salon. Just three of us. We showed our work to each other and asked for help if we needed it. Working independently as we do - it was great to have "new eyes" to see things we have missed, to confirm that there is a problem spot and maybe what to do about it. Or just say Bravo to a work well painted!

We are holding another salon in a few weeks. I'm very excited to exchange and discuss ideas about art ... 
however, unlike the salons in the 17th century, 
 I shall not have my guests gather around my bed to chat ... that is what they did then!

Oh, and here is the triptych -
finished, before it was taken apart to live as three instead of one.

Calm Retreat - Lynn Canal View        34 x 68 inches       Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

And here it is at delivery and then how it looks in situ.

And lastly, posing with my collector :)
... really gives it a sense of scale.

This painting was extremely challenging, but incredibly fun and I  learned so much about painting from small studies to a large canvas (or three!). 

Thank you Judy!