Mt McGinnis plein air painting, Juneau, AK

My plein air buddies (Juneau Plein Rein Painters) traveled to "our" glacier on Saturday.

(note: i used an old painting that you can see just peeking out of the pochade box 

... and dang, i wish i would have taken a photo of the underpainting!)

Mt McGinnis caught my eye so that was my motif.

T'was a beautiful morning ...

... that brought out several painters.

My effort to paint began like this:

and so far is ending like this:

Mt McGinnis Looms Over Mendenhall Glacier Lake    9" x 12" oil on canvas paper

I hope everyone who reads this is coping ok with the pandemic.

We just have to be patient,

which is the hardest thing ...

If you are finding it hard to paint,

go outside.

Happy Painting!

🎨

Strong Women Series - #1 NAN

I am planning to have a show some day ... 😷

of this series that I began long ago (about 7-8 years ago!)

and have been working on from time to time. 

It didn't begin as my "Strong Women" series;

it just has become that within the last several paintings.

I don't think I have ever blogged about "Nan",

but she's a favorite for a couple of reasons:

1. I took the photo of this lady candidly, and the pose she is in is very fun.

2. This painting came together nice and loose and painterly and I don't remember struggling too much.

3. I found a vintage frame whose color matched the background of the painting!!!

So here are the progression shots re: Nan

I did two preliminary sketches.

All of the paintings in the series are

18 x 12 inches, not including the frames,

which I always try to find vintage.

These 2 photos, in different light, kind of show the frame 

and the matching background of the painting. (!)

Nan    oil on panel   18 x 12 inches

Thank you thank you for checking in 

and 

reading 

all

the 

way 

to 

here!

I hope you stay safe and healthy

and I will see you in the next post.

😻

Sprouting Allium (Garlic)

I had a head of garlic that was sprouting.
My friends, with whom I was chatting on Zoom, said
"plant them! paint them!"

So, before I decided on a place to separate and plant the "cloves",
I did want to try to make a go of painting it.

Made a drawing first.

This canvas had been prepared months ago.

Splattered house paint on a gessoed canvas.

In the style of J Pollack, I imagined.

Toned down the white with a bit of a stain;
i.e. burnt umber/transparent oxide red + Liquin

Close up of my green pencil sketch-in

Didn't take many progress photos,
just too busy troweling the paint on, I guess.

Sprouting Allium   (Garlic)    oil on acrylic and gesso on gallery wrapped canvas 
20 x 20 inches

Oh, by the way ...
I did plant the sprouted garlic cloves:

I hope they will produce some nice heads of garlic!

Until next time,
thank you for dropping by!

Stay healthy and safe.

🧄

Abstract Painting (with a limited palette)

The Hypsographic Curve  b&w
(see end of blog for color version)

For our annual art retreat this year
(at the Shrine of St Therese, see post HERE)
one of our painters suggested doing a "challenge painting"
and these were the choices we could make:

Pick one or both of the following:

#1

- limited palette of 1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 green and 1 white (of course you can mix these colors to create other hues, if you’re using paints)

-an ice berg reference (honoring one of ours, Jay)

-any size canvas

-EXTRA CREDIT- incorporate in any way you see fit, your zodiac sign

#2

-Use your non-dominate hand

-No limit on palette

-Abstracted landscape with a figure (any vertebrate or invertebrate)

-Any size canvas

-EXTRA CREDIT-Paint with an unfamiliar medium

I chose #1 and I wish I would have recorded or remembered the paints I used 

but pretty sure they were -

Titanium White

Ultramarine Blue 

some kind of yellow

Indian Red

and 

Chromium Oxide Green ... I think. 

The following show how it all went down!

Began with an already gessoed gray, then partial black, 20 x 20 canvas

Found an online free photo as a beginning visual for me - I found my iceberg reference!

This is a photo with the "markup" edit 
checking to see if something (flowers in the corners) would work ...
I felt it was ok to try it, and went ahead with paint.

When almost finished, sent progress to a friend and they sent back this 😊

Happily we drew names to trade paintings.

My friend Pua got this one! 

The Hypsographic Curve     oil on canvas    20 x 20 inches

I am pretty happy with this painting. The hypsographic curve, by the way,
is a geometric illustration for approximating the curve of the earth, I think.

Can you find my Zodiac sign and tell me which sign is mine?

Keep your chin up everyone

Keep painting

Keep active

Stay healthy!

Thank you for clicking 👏👍💕

Juneau Plein Rein Art Retreat 2020

First evening en plein air

We actually did go to our retreat, in mid-March!
@ Shrine of St Therese

There were fewer painters there

because of this @%$#&! pandemic

but still a good number and 

we kept a good physical distance; 

and this was before the strict edict to stay home was issued.

Three of us immediately upon throwing our stuff in our rooms,
zoomed outside and began painting.

 The following pics are various times during our painting weekend.
This first photo was our welcome sunset.

Stacy doing an acrylic pour

Jay and his painting palette (paper plate)

Tom, Cristine, Pua and Jim at work

Beth working in watercolor

Jane does lovely work with oil pastels & pastel pencils

This is the scene I decided to try

Well, we are not "physical distance correct",
 but our faces are covered, sort of.
Updated report: we passed the 14 day mark and all are healthy.

Main Lodge Shrine of St Therese        en plein air   oil on board   8 x 10 inches

Happy Spring!

Thanks so much for reading this blog,
commenting here when you feel like it and 
definitely asking questions!

I sincerely hope that you stay healthy and safe 
and whatever you do
keep painting!

🎨