Purple Dress

"Purple Dress" 16 x 12 In, Oil, 2019

I did a series of portraits the first part of 2019. Its a very enjoyable exercise.

NFS

 

Portrait Study #14

"Portrait Study #14", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board
This was my 2nd study done at the Plein Air Washington Paint-In in February. The model had a wonderful purple wig. The best thing about a model is that she takes breaks--forcing me to step back. When I am painting in my studio, I forget to do this at times, until I have to have lunch. And then when I go back in the studio, there it is, a totally different painting than the one I remember from before when I was standing for an hour two feet away from it and intensely focused on the painting and my palette.

Portrait Study #12

"Portrait Study #12", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board

This portrait was done during the Plein Air Washington February "paint-in" in Edmonds. We had a wonderfully experienced model who takes things into her own hands--she brought the purple wig, which made for a very enjoyable color study.

Girl in Green

"Girl in Green" 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel

I painted this lovely model at the Plein Air Washington holiday paint-in December. Thank you to this group of artist friends for all the painting adventures of 2015! We painted in Jasper National Park, Whidbey Island, Nisqually Reach, Hood Canal, Mt Baker/Mt Shuksan, among other places. There is no better way to be in nature and spend time with friends!

Thank you all!

Self Portrait

"Self Portrait", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
I have done many self portraits and mostly I toss them. I'd be interested to know how others work with this subject--I always seem to manage to have a lot of anxiety when I approach it.

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Liz - NFS

"Liz", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board
I love to paint my daughters. There is nothing more emotional.

Zangle Rainy Day

"Zangle Rainy Day", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Raymar Panel
It is actually sunny today in the Northwest--the first two days of solid sun for many days. So this painting was done last week when it was still raining--I am a little behind on my postings! You know that I paint this beautiful scene over and over, but this land of green is a challenge.

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Blue Vase - SOLD

"Blue Vase", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
It is odd that each day's painting experience is different--the energy with which I approach the painting and whether the painting quickly comes together or I struggle with it. One thing I was taught that I find myself doing frequently with the bigger panels is to scrape off passages that don't work. This painting didn't paint itself and also did not require extreme re-painting but was somewhere in between--so I will just call it the experiment of the day.

Waiting - NFS

"Waiting", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Raymar Panel
For the last few years I've been working with mostly smaller panels and I didn't think I could go back to the larger ones I painted 20 years ago. But I'm moving up! I'm actually taking old paintings and sanding them down and painting over them. There is something extremely satisfying about doing this. It is also March 21 and the sun came out today--the winter may not be completely over, but things are changing--the new rhodies we bought have buds and one is starting to bloom. If anyone around here wants to buy rhodies, I highly recommend Rogers Rhodoes. Paul Rogers has the nature of an artist--rather than miles of canvas, he has miles of rhodies and he can't seem to stop himself from acquiring ever new varieties. You have to see it for yourself. Be sure to wear boots.

Dreaming - NFS

"Dreaming", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
This is a painting of my daughter. I have a portfolio of photographs and sometimes I do the same one over and over, maybe a year later than the first--different size, different background, different brushes, different altogether. Its sort of like painting the moods of Zangle Cove, but more psychological.

Roses Late Afternoon

"Roses Later Afternoon", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
This day there was a soft light with high clouds in the sky.

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Roses in the Studio - SOLD

"Roses in the Studio", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
I am still painting almost every day, but because I'm doing a lot of experimenting, some of the paintings are wiped down at the end of the day. Some are wiped down and re-painted multiple times during the day! I was never comfortable with the 6 x 6 inch format of many daily painters and now even less so, partly because I like to use a big brush.

SOLD

Roses on the Deck - SOLD

"Roses on the Deck", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
I love setting up these still lifes in the sunlight on the back deck. This is not part of the "Red Flowers" series exactly, but it is part of the overall attempt and in this case, the goal was to work fast and loose, then leave it alone.

Roses with Teapot

"Roses with Teapot", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
I am so loving getting out on the back deck for these still lifes. I have big skylights in my studio, but that doesn't compare to direct sunlight and a warm breeze.

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Naxi Girl

"Naxi Girl", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
While doing the series of small panels it is interesting to do a larger one for perspective. This is from a photo from my trip to Yunnan Province--an area in China with many ethic minorities.

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Woman of Ollantaytambo

"Woman of Ollantaytambo", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
This is from a photo of a Peruvian woman from a trip I took a few years ago to Peru and wonderfully, to Machu Picchu. I never painted it before because though the figure is interesting, there was little drama in the photo. But because the basis of this series is the practice of figure proportion, it gave me a reason to paint it. Proportion of figures obviously varies depending on height and I tried to take that into consideration.

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Walking Through the Market

"Walking Through the Market", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Panel
I am pulling out photos of figures from past trips and just going at it--both to practice the figure proportions and to think about design. Its fun to work with a bigger canvas.

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Abstract with Greens and Reds

"Abstract with Greens and Reds", 16 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board
Ironically, the same day it was suggested that I paint a puppy, another friend suggested that I paint an abstract. So I thought as long as I was going out on a limb with a dog, I might as well jump up and down on the limb with an abstract. Pure abstraction is something I rarely do--maybe I did some in college, but if so, I don't remember. I have no paradigm for abstract painting, no rationale, no philosophy, no modus operandi--so this is just paint on the canvas--a little bit here and a little bit there. Maybe its sort of a rorschach!

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Meg in White Blouse - NFS

6/19/10 "Meg in White Blouse", 16" x 12", Oil
I didn't paint today because I was getting ready for my trip to California.  This was one of the sketches I did last Saturday when the sun was actually shining and I set my daughter up outside on the patio.  But alas, about an hour after starting the guys with the lawn mower and weed whacker came, we retreated inside and never did get back to working on it--the sun had changed too much.  So this is a "before" and hopefully when Peggi's workshop is over there will be some "afters" and I will have learned something new.  Meanwhile, I have a few extra paintings from the last week to post but when those run out, I will be taking a break from posting until the beginning of next week.

I've had this wicker rocking chair for years--I think I bought it in Germany in 1985.  The other day I found a painting by Sorolla in one of his books with a young woman sitting in a chair that looks exactly like this one. 

Thank you so much to all of you who voted for me on the Daily Painters contest.  I didn't win, but I did come in 4th, which was way beyond my expectations.

Yellow Roses Green Apples

3/25/10 "Yellow Roses Green Apples", 16" x 12", Oil 
This painting went through many iterations related to the color/value of the table top and the color/value of the background.  This is the latest one.  If I'd had more daylight, I might have experimented more.  At one point I completely lost contrast between the table top and the background, which is in itself is not a bad thing, but both were too close in value and color to the vase, so it just didn't work.  I also used fake green apples and the color was hard to harmonize.  Have to get some more real apples!  The colors are so much better.