In the Sun - NFS

7/25/10 "In the Sun", 12" x 10", Oil
This is a limited stroke/limited time exercise.  I love doing exercises like this--the abstraction and the lack of finish.  Maybe it is because when doing exercises like this I feel most like I am in the unfettered state of my childhood mind--without preconceptions or second thoughts and there is freedom in that.  However, I didn't do this entirely without a plan. I took Peggi's advice and made a line down the middle of my palette with darks on one side and lights on the other--I painted everything in sunlight from the light side of the palette and everything in shadow from the dark side of the palette.  More than one artist has said that everything in the painting is a reflection of what is on the palette.  If you are wondering about the shoes, they do look a bit like flippers, but actually they are my oversize green crocs. 

During the next week I will be on Lopez Island for the Plein Air Washington paintout, and then the following week off to Alaska to paint in Denali.  I've heard there is bad cell coverage on Lopez and last time I went to Alaska there was no cell coverage at all outside of Anchorage.  If there is not an in-house network, my broadband computer connection will be kapput, so I may not be posting much for the next two weeks--yikes--a posting vacation!  Maybe on the weekend when I will be home for a couple of days.

Blue Dress - NFS

7/24/10 "Blue Dress", 12" x 8", Oil
My daughter was willing to pose for me so I took the opportunity to again try the PKR exercises.  Since my daughter is a violinist, we have many conversations about the parallels between music and painting and one of them is the need for structured practice related to specific skills.

Mt. Stewart

7/23/10 "Mt. Stewart", 6" x 8", Oil
Today was spent entirely in a process of experimentation--of trying to figure out how to re-do a painting and actually make it different. Several tries were scraped off. Above is one of the results.

Mt. Stewart

7/22/10 "Mt. Stewart", 8" x 10", Oil
This was the first painting I did last week up in Cle Elum.  There was wind gusting to maybe 30-40 mph, it was cold and I had some phthalo's on my palette.  I tried re-doing this painting today with a different palette and different size, but after that effort, I decided that there was some energy in this painting that was hard to duplicate.  This is the spot where the West Fork of the Teanaway meets the North Fork--some ways behind where I was painting.

Peoh Point - SOLD

7/21/10 "Peoh Point", 8" x 10", Oil
This little painting won first place at the High County Artists Fresh Air Painting Competition last week.  My friend, Pat Clayton, won Best of Show with a wonderful horse painting.  The group of artists who put on this show are so generous and welcoming and the area is one of the finest places to paint I know of--because it is beautiful, it is the gateway to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area and it is sunny most of the time!  Peoh Point is an icon of the town of Cle Elum and so it is always a "must paint challenge."

Bank on Box Canyon Creek - NFS

7/20/10 "Bank on Box Canyon Creek", 8" x 10", Oil
I was so frustrated with my first two attempts on this painting day, that I decided to do timed paintings--one I posted a couple of days ago.  This is the other one that is a 35 minute painting.  It is amazing to me, as I mentioned before, how limiting the time for a painting both focuses the mind and prevents the second guessing that is the ruin of many a painting.

Tucquala Meadows - SOLD

7/19/10 "Tucquala Meadows", 9" x 9", Oil
After painting all morning at Salmon La Sac, my friend and I drove up a long, dusty and bumpy road to a high meadow just at the entrance to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.  This was the study I did before we packed up and headed back down.

Lake Kachess #2

7/18/10 "Lake Kachess #2", 8" x 10", Oil
Do you ever want to just slap the paint on and not be so careful?  This is such a painting.  I just wanted to let loose and paint in a more abstract way and not worry what it looked like or if it looked like anything.  It took probably less than 20 minutes.