"Lightly Ruffled" 44 x 48 acrylic on canvas "Pinkie" 34" x 36" acrylic on canvas
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
young red shouldered hawk
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Gus and the Shrubbery
Short film by Janvier Miller, "Gus and the Shrubbery" Go to Gustaf Miller.com to see his art work. He and I have enjoyed a great life in art together.
Friday, December 12, 2008
bobcats
Two wild bobcats visited our field this morning then slipped off into the tall dune grasses and our seagrape and cabbage palm woods.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Seagrape Studio
Saturday, December 6, 2008
3-4 hour sketch painting en Plein Air
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
en Plein Air
This week I'll spend 3 days painting at McKee Garden. Proceeds from the sale of art work will benefit the Garden and the Cultural Council of Indian River County. They've used one of my paintings from last year's event for all the advertising. Because of this annual event I have done many paintings of water lilies.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
transition
Painting the outside of this Massachusetts house for several days now. Doing chores before leaving. It will feel good to relax in the car for the drive to Florida.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
sketchbooks
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
"Mauve Orchid"
Monday, September 15, 2008
"Rock Face"
46" x 50" acrylic on linen canvas This summer we've been hiking almost every day. These rocks are on Blue Hill Reservation outside Boston. I made changes from the photo I started with. I raised the horizon and brought the rocks down to the bottom of the canvas. I make the refinements in my studio because the outdoor light is so bright.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
serigraphs
"Cut Flags" in process=
I don't do screen printing anymore but I still have some images from when I was printing full time. I had to stop screen printing because of the toxic fumes. Even with a double face mask filter system the solvents made my nose run. I did all the printing by hand using oil-based inks on Arches 88 rag paper. I'd enjoyed the challenge of color separation the process requires. It would take me a month to finish one image. Paintings take me a month but with prints I'd have lots of copies. The first step was always watercolors. Next, I'd select the one I thought would be the best as a multiple. In other words, have mass appeal. I'd cut stencils in the evening, adhere them to the screen in the morning and mix-up the colors. The afternoons were for the actual printing. It was a steady rhythm of work.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
summer studio
A fan brush makes multiple lines. It speeds the loading on of grasses. I now have 3 canvases underway for these summer months. It takes me about a month to finish each.
Janvier shows us some of her newest large acrylic paintings.
Janvier shows us some of her newest large acrylic paintings.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
"Magnolia"
summer studio
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
J. S. Bach
Music is very important to my studio work time. I sometimes start the morning with Bach contatas. Then maybe next his "English" suite in g or the Musical Offering. I've started a third big canvas, grasses. The orchid and shrub paintings are coming along.
Good article in the N Y Times today about boredom contributing to creativity. Because we're here such a short time each summer we don't socialize much. It leaves a lot of down time for the studio. It's hard self-starting sometimes. One trick I use is to leave some little thing undone the day before. This gives me a place to start. Once underway momentum and music carry the energy on.
Good article in the N Y Times today about boredom contributing to creativity. Because we're here such a short time each summer we don't socialize much. It leaves a lot of down time for the studio. It's hard self-starting sometimes. One trick I use is to leave some little thing undone the day before. This gives me a place to start. Once underway momentum and music carry the energy on.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
David Hockney
I talked briefly with David Hockney once in MOMA. "A Bigger Splash" is a movie showing one of the ways he works. Here an assistant traced a photo projection onto canvas for him to paint. An opaque projector would have made my twiggy painting a lot easier to do. The refinements today= Bugs? Buds? Twigs and more twigs.... it's coming along.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
dagger brush
I've two paintings going now. One is of an orchid for the Florida show. The 2nd painting is of shoreline brush by the pond we often walk to. I'm finding I don't have the right brush for painting the twigs. Best would be a dagger brush that has a long point and is flattish. I've been using acrylic medium to get the paint to flow. I'm striving for graceful, tubular twig lines. A liner brush, which I also don't have, would make dark edging easier. I need a trip to the store or to loosen-up my application. If I put in 2 hours in the studio I consider it a good work day.
Monday, July 28, 2008
acrylic on paper
Friday, July 25, 2008
"Wood Ducks"
acrylic on canvas
38" x 42"
This is the last of the duck/bird series of paintings for now. Some paintings take longer for me to decide that they're finished. Paint supplies came today from http://www.utrecht.com/. I've used them for years. Watch out when buying cerulean not to get their "hue" but the "chromium".
Our grand daughter at camp in Maine called us from the top of Mt. Washington. I loved hiking the Presidential range at her age, too. Our other teenage grand daughter did a watercolor along with me yesterday. When we finished we ate the cherries in our still life.
38" x 42"
This is the last of the duck/bird series of paintings for now. Some paintings take longer for me to decide that they're finished. Paint supplies came today from http://www.utrecht.com/. I've used them for years. Watch out when buying cerulean not to get their "hue" but the "chromium".
Our grand daughter at camp in Maine called us from the top of Mt. Washington. I loved hiking the Presidential range at her age, too. Our other teenage grand daughter did a watercolor along with me yesterday. When we finished we ate the cherries in our still life.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
"Black-Crowned Night-Heron"
I'm refining another painting done 2 summers ago. I've added rocks in the river, a hidden fish, and made the bird smaller. Still working on the wood ducks, too. This hot summer weather slows me down.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
"Mergansers"
acrylic on canvas
46" x 50"
Finishing touches to this painting from last summer went on this morning. Later today we head to Providence for their monthly Gallery Night. There's a new school/work space for artists called the Steel Yard. They do community outreach with a bike repair class, pottery, and metal welding.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
November show
http://www.meghancandlergallery.com/ To see a few more flower paintings go to this web page. It's where I'll be having the show in November.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
preliminaries
This is an example of acrylic on paper as I try to decide what to paint on my new canvas. My gallery in Florida wants me to paint flowers. They can sell them. I'm having a show there in November. I'm considering doing more big flower paintings but experimenting with landscape and still life first. Cropping with newspaper is an easy way to see different views of an image. Sometimes a preliminary on paper is worth saving.
Monday, July 14, 2008
acrylic on paper preparation
http://sanmiguelicons.com/ This is my sister-in-law's web page. I love her and her work.
Today I was thinking about my next canvas and what a corporation might like to hang in their office. I ended up doing acrylic on paper of shrubs by the pond we often walk to. We picked alot of wild blueberries and blackberries on our hike. Delicious. Still finishing-up a magnolia painting I'm working on. I always have several things going at the same time. It's helpful to switch around but over-whelming if I try to work on more than three at once.
Today I was thinking about my next canvas and what a corporation might like to hang in their office. I ended up doing acrylic on paper of shrubs by the pond we often walk to. We picked alot of wild blueberries and blackberries on our hike. Delicious. Still finishing-up a magnolia painting I'm working on. I always have several things going at the same time. It's helpful to switch around but over-whelming if I try to work on more than three at once.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
new stretched canvas
One of my favorite things is a newly stretched canvas ready to paint. As I finish-up some duck paintings I'll take the extra bits of paint and slather it on the new canvas. After a few days I'll have a good underpainting surface. Maybe then I'll also have figured-out what subject to paint next.
Friday, July 11, 2008
portraits of my grand daughters
The first instruction I got was from my mother on how to paint portraits. She had studied at NY's Art Student League. She'd have a friend pose for us and set-out the pastels. Dark green and alizarin for face shadows, dark background to contrast beside the light side of the face. Summer is our extended time with our grand daughters. They posed briefly for these portraits but then I had to work from photos I took. Oil paint would have been easier to work with. Acrylics dry darker so it's much harder to work back into a surface. These portraits were done awhile ago. The girls are teenagers now.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
paper first
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
"Red Rose"
acrylic on canvas
46" x 50"
Tonight is Corporate Night at the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. I've been in their loan program for years as well as included in the museum collection. This evening is special because our 16 year old grand daughter will be going to the event with us. "Red Rose" is one of my paintings in their program. The sprinkling head on a watering can is call a "rose". Watering cans have been a favorite subject matter for several paintings.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
"Storm Struck Pine"
"Storm Struck Pine" is a small acrylic 18" x 20"
"Massachusetts Studio" acrylic on canvas 46" x 50".
Summer of 2007 this was selected for a show at Audubon's Moose Hill center in Sharon, MA.
Today we delivered work to the Munson Gallery in Chatham, MA. Cape Cod. The yellow painting is of my studio here in Walpole. Our son has a smaller version of this painting done with a blue palette. It's now in Seattle hanging in a red room. You can partially see a study for the Great Blue Heron painting on the wall behind the easel.
Monday, July 7, 2008
"Buffleheads"
Sunday, July 6, 2008
"Outdoor Goldfish Bowl"
Taking the indoor fishbowl outside in summertime made wonderful complicated designs.
22" x 18" acrylic
first post
In this blog I intend to show my techniques of working in a studio alone, a year's work. I change studios twice a year, North and South. I often start by revising paintings finished the year or two before. Looking at paintings after a time away allows for a fresh perspective.
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