Thursday, December 30, 2010

Finding Peace

Parkway Series #299   12 x 16   oil   sold

There is so much  Spiritual Energy found in Nature, Energy not only for strength and endurance but also for peace - finding peace outside and inside yourself.  My prayer with each painting is for the Spirit of the work to pervade the canvas and be translated to those who view it.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Magic of the Moment, Otter Lake

Parkway Series #285   12 x 16  oil   Sold

The "magic" of the moment is what I desire to capture in my new paintings of 2011.  I am gong to slow down in order to spend more time photographing the mystery and magical light of special moments and I am relaxing a bit in the process of painting.  Without the fast pace of turning out a painting a day, I am convinced my paintings will be more successful in capturing the essence of truth and beauty - a transcendental experience for me as the artist and I hope for the viewer as well.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Blessings of 2010

Parkway Series #80 (remake)   11 x 14   oil   $125.

As 2010 comes to a close and I watch the snowflakes fall, I reflect on a year of incredible blessings.  My Parkway project was a wonderful success in many ways and I was able to juggle my career and keeping two grandchildren - two full time jobs at the same time!  My babies are learning and growing just as I am learning and growing;  that is what life is all about.  New adventures, new experiences, new challenges and new growth whether at 60 or at 6 months brings life and joy to all of us.  My desire is that 2011 will be more of the same.  Thanks so much to all my blog followers for your interest in my work and my life.  I intend to keep on traveling in Parkway in search of the perfect painting in 2011;  I still have many miles to cover.  Have a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year and stay in touch.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Freedom to Choose, remake

Parkway Series #250    12 x 16   oil   Sold

Bolder colors, more value contrast and better shapes improved this painting posted on September 3rd.  My make-over edition is so fun and relaxing and therapeutic!  I really enjoyed painting all day yesterday as the snow fell and I was house bound.  This painting entitled "Freedom to Choose"  is not only significant for my subject matter but also my occupation.  Can you imagine a better job than one where you can sit under the trees and paint or by the fire in your own studio and paint all day!!! I am so thankful for the blessings I have received from the Lord.  Just as I have chosen truth, goodness and beauty, I also chose Him as my Savior and my Provider.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Rakes Mill Waterfall

Parkway Series #97   11 x 14    oil    $125.

Posted on January 26, this painting needed further work.  A bit more push and pull with color and value improved this painting.  I still have a handful of paintings chosen from my portfolio to continue working on.  Then, after Christmas, I plan to begin new paintings from photographs taken over the last year.  However, this period of reflection and reconstruction of my work is very relaxing and fun and I believe beneficial to my growth as an artist. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Remake, Raven's Roost II

Parkway Series #274   12 x 16   oil    $sold

On October 25, this painting of Raven's Roost was posted;  it looks a bit different now after repainting the rocks and adding the pines on the right side and touching up a few other places.  My yearly stint of "a painting a day" got me into a mode of fast painting that I had trouble getting out of.  Even though I was not painting as much, it took me two months to slow down the actual painting process.  Some paintings really do succeed at that fast pace, others do not.  In the original Raven's Roost II, I relied on generic rocks to speed up the process.  In this makover, I took my time and tried to capture the essence of the real topography of the area.  Balancing  darker values with the evergreen trees on the right also helped the compostion.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Roanoke River Overlook #2

Parkway Series #25    12 x 16   oil   $125

Back on October 8 2009, I posted this painting, leaving most of it as a value study.  The blue and purple underpainting was left as a finished piece, however, as much as I experimented with abstraction, my need to paint correct value and color always prevailed.  So I went back and finished this one and I feel it is much more successful.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Rakes Mill Pond, Take Two

Parkway Series #253   12 x 16   Sold

Another remake shows more color and luminosity than the original painting posted on September 8th.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Remake #109

Parkway Series #109    11 x 14    oil    $125.

On February 11, I posted a very "anemic" rendition of this painting entitled "Roanoke River Tributary".  I was drawn to the image because of the diagonal compostion and color.  But the blue and orange contrasting colors were not effective in the original so I intensified the orange in the forground and added snow to make the contrast more effective.  The bottom horizontal log helps eye direction to remain in the painting instead of going off at the bottom right.  It is fun and very interesting to continue my self imposed critique.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Improvisation

Parkway Series #286   11  x 14    oil    Sold

 Out of the 260 paintings I did last year, only a few were rejects; I posted all but five paintings: this was one of the five that was never posted.  This painting is a dramatic remake of the original.  The original had no hay bale and no sky holes; in fact it had no focal point and I'm not sure why I chose a group of trees with a partial view of the parkway through them.  I did have great fun remaking this;  I really enjoyed the creativity of playing around with composition and ideas and I am proving to myself that the year of daily painting was incredibly beneficial in getting me to the point where I can improvise and compose without "written music"!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

New Insights into Mill Mountain

Parkway Series #282   12 x 16   oil     Sold

This is an improved paint-over of #282 posted on Nov. 9th.  Aggregate shapes again improved the composition of a "sea of orange".  After a year of daily painting and pushing myself to produce quickly, I am finally slowing down enough to critique my work and turn out better quality paintings.  I am excited about going to the gallery this week and hanging a quality show of new paintings from the WVTF exhibit.  I am going to bring home many of the earlier paintings to repaint in the hopes of improving them.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Aggregate Shapes

Parkway Series #300    12 x 16    oil    SOLD

Even though this painting was started before the workshop, it was never finished enough to post online.  I finished it last night and while working on it, I kept thinking about Ron Boehmer's encouragement to group the shapes as much as possible.  Thinking about aggregate shapes while painting a mass of orange trees that are all the same color is extremely helpful,  Even though the "main characters" are not as obvious in this painting as in others, the shapes work much better now than they did before.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Luminosity

Parkway Series #280    12 x 16    oil    sold

On Nov. 3, I posted this painting.  After the workshop critique, I came home and added more "luminosity" to  the shadowed areas of this painting.  I know about working within shadows and light areas to create reflected light but because of my fast pace regimen, I was sometimes overlooking small but very important issues.  Over the next few weeks, I plan to redo some of the paintings I feel could be more successful.