Merry Christmas!

Block print anyone? 

I carved this one from a cork floor sample (approx 3.5 x 4.5 inches). 

It worked just fine! I found some very nice paper 

that took the block print ink so nicely. I used black ink only. 

Example below. These are our Christmas cards.

Dunlin - block print by TeriGardnerRobus, after carving by MatthewHRobus 

Dunlin - red cedar wood carving by MHRobus

I wanted to try a block print of one of Matt's carvings, so I sketched it first.

Dunlin sketch - 5 x 4 inches

Cork block with ink

Dunlin are amazing little shorebirds. They are highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches. Large numbers can often be seen swirling in synchronized flight on stop-overs during migration or on their winter habitat.

Here is a great photo of them.

Dunlin  (Calidris alpina)

Photo by: Jonn Leffmann

 [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], 

via Wikimedia Commons

Thank you to all who checked in during this past year. 

Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season!

Salon Challenge #2

Our 2nd salon challenge was decided 
by picking items out of a hat.
(I mean the written word of the item.)  
We just blurted out things that might
be interesting to paint in a 

Cubist Still Life

and picked 4 out of a hat. We chose:

1 - A gourd or pumpkin

2 - An old shoe

3 - A round glass "thing" or bottle

4 - A sea shell

 I sketched my items, from all different perspectives, 
onto brown paper with charcoal 
and cut them out.

I wanted to make my cubism still life as a tondo 
because I had seen some cubist paintings made that way.

Examples of tondo shapes (they can be oval too):

Picasso - Still Life With Chair Caning - 1912

Braque - Still Life With Violin - 1914

Picasso and Braque as you may know
invented cubism.

We chose an 8 color palette:

Alizarin Crimson Permanent    
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Blue    
Yellow Ochre
Dioxizine Purple    
Phthalo Green    
Turquoise
White

Sketchbook sketch (about 5 x 5 inches)

I thought I might use more dividing lines, but I didn't.

Here is my sketch onto a panel 24" square.

I forgot to take painting progression photos ... 

Below are the photos when we revealed our cubist paintings.

Patrick's

Barbara's

Timi's

Apex    oil on panel     20 x 20 inches

Thank you so much for checking in!

Happy Painting!

Salon Challenge #1

Salon Challenge #1

Most of the time our salons have been casual critiques 

of paintings we have been working on. 

This time we added a challenge, and a new painter!

Welcome Patrick!

Our other salon painters are:

Timi Johnson
(please click that link to see Timi's beautiful paintings on her website)

Barbara Shepherd

me

We decided to do a memory painting, and since we all have cats ...

Our method was:

1 minute observe cat

15 minutes paint without seeing cat

2 minutes observe cat

15 minutes paint without seeing cat

3 minutes observe cat

15 minutes paint without seeing cat

=

45 minute cat-from-memory painting!

This was my base. It is Multimedia Art Board, 8 x 10, black - I put a brushful of white markings with a large brush ages ago, just for the heck of it.

Here are all of our efforts in a line. There was also a guest artist from afar (a friend of Timi's). Hers was watercolor - right in the middle. Timi's on far left, Patrick's - in acrylic - next, then Beverly's; next is Barbara's with green. And mine on far right.

Haze Gray from Memory          oil on panel        8 x 10

I think she approves!

And I approve of all of us!
I think it was an important exercise
and one we probably should do every now and then,  
when we remember ... :)

Thank you so much for checking in to this blog, 
even though I have not been very faithful to it.

We are now planning our 3rd challenge, 
so my next post will be about our 2nd challenge.

It was a combined effort to choose the subject and we voted and then picked from a hat.

Challenge #2 is a Cubist Still Life!

Stay tuned for the results!

Grey Mountain Adventure

Grey Mtn Adventure       10 x 8 inches       oil on canvas panel

Yikes, where did the time go? It was just summer,

now it is autumn.

We headed north for some sun. 

That sounds funny

 but it is a true fact that SE Alaska 

has had a VERY rainy summer.

Our trip yielded lots of sun, 

tons of hiking

 (our friends mountain biked)

and very good adventures.

We ferried north to Skagway, Alaska 

and drove the Klondike Hwy 

to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, Canada!

Eric and Julia - mtn bikers extraordinaire!

Hiking

We got to the top of Grey Mtn! Whitehorse in the distance.

From the ferry LeConte on the way home from Skagway.

I even painted a picture.

My set-up and scene

Quick thumbnail  

Getting started with paint

Not too many bugs and no wind!

I struggled with this painting a bit. 

Could not get the road to look like a road.

It looked like a river!

anyhoo ... happy about the painting anyway.

Thanks to everyone who checks in to see what is going on in SE Alaska

or wherever I am ...

Happy painting 

and 

happy autumn!

Paintings in their new home! (in-situ photos)

Thinking II   oil on canvas   24 x 36 inches

My blog post about Thinking II.           And a post about the painting that inspired it.

Lost Horizon II    Coarse pumice gel, oil on panel   30 x 36 inches

This big painting above was inspired by this teeny one (below). 
I posted about the process of painting the big one here. 
It is kind of fun to see that ... even for me.

Lost Horizon    ~ 4 x 6   oil on wood

I am so happy to post that these two large paintings

now have a new home!

The painting Thinking II, the first one my collector bought from me, 
was her first ever purchase of an original painting. 
She has bought prints (who hasn't?), so she was super excited. 

She was decorating her new office 

and when I delivered the second painting Lost Horizon II

I was able to see the first one

and the new one hanging in-situ! 

She snapped a few photos when the light was better.

Let me introduce you to Margie. 

She is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) 
with her office in Juneau, and here is her card.

Front

Back

Huge thank you's to Margie for purchasing these paintings. 

I am honored she has them hanging on her office walls.

And thank you to everyone who takes the time to click on my blog.
I really appreciate it!

Happy painting to my fellow artists. 
AND happy collecting to all those who appreciate art.

In the Midst ...

... of 

the 71st Annual Golden North Salmon Derby (Aug 11-13)

the misty cool rainforest

and the Plein Rein painters

@

The Gruening Cabin in Juneau, Alaska.

Distant Fog Bank - Lynn Canal      9 x 12 inches     oil on canvas panel

Yesterday we again trundled out 

to Amalga Harbor and the Gruening Cabin.

A small but serious group of painters visiting 

and painting with Carole.

Here are photos of the day:

Carole Baker with her 24 x 24 oil painting of the trail and woods behind the cabin.


Gorgeous painting - and "it isn't even finished" she said!

Carole has 2 blogs; one for her watercolors:
HERE

and her other blog

HERE.


The first thing I did when we got there was look for a place to paint.
I sat on a stump there in front of the cabin to gaze out at the water ...
when I stood up I realized I sat in pitch!
Jane saved the day with some OMS
which got the pitch off very well.

My set up

My scene

Thumbnail

Canvas panel toned with orangish underpainting

My start

Patrick is painting with palette knife from the porch

 It was raining so since I had an umbrella, I joined Patrick outside. 

The others painted inside the cozy cabin.

Jay brought a photo to work on in acrylics

Those colors are beautiful for his ice berg and its reflection. (Love those camo pants!)

Michelle, Jay and Carole working in the cabin.

Jane painted the little table bouquet.

I wanted to try to use just one brush and one palette knife for this painting.
I did it.
But it was hard not pulling out another brush!

Thank you to everyone who takes a peek at this blog. 

I appreciate it!

Happy Painting!