No. 883 Gus McManamen

Gus McManamen

Oil on Canvas Panel

6" x 8"

Sure, life is busy with a painting a day challenge so why not add a kitten to it? Not busy enough? Okay why not add two? Are we completely crazy yet? YES!

Yet to be painted - Mousse (as in chocolate mousse) McManamen

Even with the huge distraction of two kittens the painting challenge continues. A huge thank you to everyone that has subscribed to my YouTube channel. Much appreciated!! I've heard you are not receiving notifications of the newest video being posted. When you are on YouTube click on the little bell next to the subscribe button for my channel and I think that will do the trick. In the meantime here are some links...

Click HERE for a peak at this video.

Click HERE for a peak at my most recent video uploaded at 2:00am this morning. :)


I have a vague memory of the "HERE" links not working in the email version of this post. If that's still the case here are the two links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD4MTRwXXTU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4NZHj77hFU&t=2s

No.882 Fall on Highway 2

Fall on Highway 2

Oil on Panel

5"x 7"

Wow! Fall is spectacular right now up in the mountains. I was really lucky to spend several days painting and taking photos in the Leavenworth area. A big thank you to Jodie and Bruce for letting me stay at their cabin. I'm just wonderstruck at all the beautiful fall color I saw up there.

On a separate note I've started a new project! I'm returning to my original 365 day painting challenge but this time I'm documenting it via time lapse video. This way you can see not only the paintings but also how they are created. I will post video twice a week. It's been a struggle to add all of this to my regular schedule. I hope to find shortcuts and get into a rhythm soon. I probably won't post daily to my blog this time though. If you'd like to keep updated on my progress I would love to have you subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Click HERE to view the first video.

No 881 Rainier Over Ebey's Landing at Sunset

Rainier Over Ebey's Landing at Sunset

Oil on Linen Panel

5" x 7"

Sold

It was a lovey evening at Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island with super clear skies. Skies so clear you could actually see Mt. Rainier!

This is one of many paintings that found new homes last weekend at the Coupeville Arts and Crafts Fair. Thank you so much everyone for adopting one or more of my paintings! It is much, much appreciated. I hope you enjoy them immensely!

No 880 In the Garden at Captain Whidbey Inn

In the Garden at Captain Whidbey Inn

Oil on Birch Panel

5" x 7"

Almost there! Mostly packed for the festival in Coupeville this weekend. A few loose ends here and there. Meg and I will head for the ferry tomorrow morning. Looking forward to getting this party started!

If you are planning on coming (it's a terrific arts festival so come if you can!) my recommendation this year would be to come on Sunday. The weather looks absolutely perfect, 70 degrees and sunshine. Sundays are usually a little more relaxed too. Be sure to get there early when parking is ample and it's easy to move from booth to booth. I'm in booth 197 on the waterfront next to Toby's.

Hope to see you there!

Click here for the festival website.

No. 879 Sequim Lavender Fields

Sequim Lavender Fields - B and B Family Farm

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

In the middle of July I traveled with two of my students to the beautiful Sequim lavender fields. It was a great trip, the sent of lavender wafting around us as we painted those beautiful purple rows.

I found my all time favorite coffee drink, a lavender and honey latte, at the Hurricane Coffee Shop

in downtown Sequim. It sounds a bit odd but it was fabulous!!

Thanks for letting me tag along Connie and Carol!

 

Som of my photos from the B and B Family Farm.

No. 878 Claudia's Irises

Claudia's Irises - Plein Air

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

In class we had a whole month of painting irises in preparation for painting in Claudia's lovely garden. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to paint there a couple of different days. Claudia's husband, Dan, works long and hard in their garden and it shows!

Thank you, Claudia and Dan!

No 877 Coupville Wharf at Low Tide

Coupeville Wharf at Low Tide

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Wow! I hope you are having a great summer. We've had an excellent one. Filled with lots of new places to explore and paint, I couldn't be happier. It's that festival time of year though. So it's time to settle down and get ready for the Coupeville Arts Festival. It will be my only festival this summer unless I get a last minute call from the Fresh Paint folks.

I've been redirecting a lot of my online activity from my blog to Instagram. So if you are on Instagram please follow me at scmcmanamen or https://www.instagram.com/scmcmanamen/ 
It's much easier and less time consuming to post there so that's where you will see most of the action. :)

No. 876 Little Ones

Little Ones

Oil on Canvas

5" x 7"

Before painting this, I had no idea how difficult painting cute, fuzzy, little chicks could be. 

No. 875 San Juan Capistrano Mission - Plein Air

San Juan Capistrano Mission - Plein Air

Oil on Gessobord

5" x 7"

This is from my trip to teach in California in February. Peggy took me to the San Juan Capistrano Mission to paint. Wow! I could've painted there for days. Thank you again, Peggy! You're the best!

No. 874 Tulips in Glass Vase

Tulips in Glass Vase

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

Tulips are not easy to paint. Flowers in general are not easy to paint. I had a tough time this year doing any still life with tulips that I was very happy about. I did end up being pretty happy with this one.

No. 873 Clouds Over Mt Vernon

 

Clouds Over Mt. Vernon

Oil on Canvas Panel

5 x 7

Sold

The only thing prettier than the tulip fields are the clouds above them. 

No 872 Skagit Valley Magic

Skagit Valley Magic

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

Sold

Another take on the tulip field/cool old barn combo.

No. 871 Tulip/Barn Magic

Tulip/Barn Magic

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Really, what could be more picturesque than brightly colored tulip fields ending in a cool old barn?

No. 870 Emerald Bay - Plein Air

Emerald Bay - Plein Air

Oil on Gessobord

5" x 7"

Way back in February, my dear friend and past student, Peggy, invited me down to California to teach small painting workshop. What an amazing treat! It was the perfect break from all the Northwest cold and grey. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Not only was teaching the workshop fun but Peggy took me out to do a little local plein air painting too.  Thank you again, Peggy, from the bottom of my heart!!

Palm trees are so cool.

Me holding fresh picked grapefruit right off the tree! I'm still amazed!

No. 869 Charmed by Charles

Charmed by Charles

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

Oh, my poor neglected blog! Thanks for hanging in there with me. Things have been beyond busy around here, in a good way though. The Mt Vernon show way exceeded my expectations. Don and I went on a great PAWA trip to the eastside of Washington. We've had lots of plein air field trips in class. Last but not least, four of my paintings have found their way into local art shows.

"Charmed by Charles", a fabulous rooster I met at Bothell Country Village, is one of two paintings excepted into the Little Gems Show in Anacortes next month.

No. 868 Roaming the Village

Roaming the Village

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

Oh, my! We had some terrific bird paintings come out of class last month. Yes, our theme was chickens.  I found this fellow calmly dodging a toddler at Country Village in Bothell.

On a separate note, after weeks of feverishly working on paintings for the Rexville Grange show, I'm happy to say they are done and delivered! For those who are interested in attending this great little show while they are checking out the daffodils or tulips in Mt. Vernon...

No. 867 Tulip Fields at Sunset

Tulip Fields at Sunset
Oil on Gessobord
6" x 6"

I just finished painting a 12" x 12" version of this one. Wow, that was a gorgeous evening. The perk of spending an entire day in the tulip fields is you get to see these special light effects.

Click to view auction

No. 866 The Tulip Bus

The Tulip Bus

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

The bus the field workers ride out on and a very handy focal point. :)

Click to view auction

No. 865 Return to the Fields

No. 865 Return to the Fields

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

It's that time of year! Spring has arrived and the tulips are poking their heads up in the garden. For me that means getting ready for the art show in Mt. Vernon. I really enjoyed getting to know the local artists there last year and look forward to hanging out with them again.

I'm giving you guys first shot at my newest collection of tulip field paintings before I take them up to the show...

Click to view auction

No. 864 Return to the Wetlands

Return to the Wetlands

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

Click to Bid

Once again returning to the wetlands near my home on a grey but not super soggy day. I have to say I'm really starting to dig this winter color palette.

No. 863 Primrose Gratitude

Primrose Gratitude

Oil on Gessobord

5" x 7"

Click to Bid

The last of the January primrose paintings. I found this old Coca-Cola tray at an antique store in Snohomish. At the time I felt a little guilty about buying it. Guilty no more! I LOVE those primroses in that old tray. They make me smile every time I spot them outside the front widow.

No. 862 Toolbox Meets Primroses on Steps

Toolbox Meets Primroses

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Click to Bid

Two of my favorite subjects this January- together!

This is my favorite winter plein air painting layer. It's a second hand cashmere sweater - soft, thin, warm, colorful and wonderful. I purchased several of them from Thredup.com averaging about $20 each.

No. 861 More Primroses

More Primroses

Oil on gessobord

6" x 6"

Click to Bid

On yet another fabulously wet and windy day, I sat on my own front porch and enjoyed painting these cuties.

If a pair of feet could have heroes these boots would be mine. They are waterproof, insulated boots by Vasque and kept my feet warm and dry no matter how wet the day was.

No. 860 Primroses Tucked on the Side

Primroses Tucked on the Side

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Click to Bid

Money well spent on these primroses as they were a bright spot on particularly grey days.

My favorite gloves when painting this time of year. They transform from mittens to fingerless and back again to mittens when the fingertips get frosty.

No. 859 Bailey's in Winter

Bailey's in Winter

Oil on Canvas

5" x 7"

I've spent a lot of time here during the fall but never in the winter. It was a windy, rainy day. I was super lucky to get permission to set up under the eave of the closed vegetable stand where it was dry and wind free. Few! What a difference!

Another important piece of my winter plein air gear. Layering is key and this Odlo insulating base layer made a big difference. Also purchased on sale via REI.

No. 858 Toolbox Meets Pumpkins

Toolbox Meets Pumpkins

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

The next benefit from painting outdoors in January is freedom from cabin fever. I had never really noticed how trapped I was feeling until I no longer felt that way. Good clothing really goes along way in this department. Actually I was inspired to do this whole painting outdoors thing by a Norwegian saying, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes". You may want to argue about this but I felt there had to be something to it. 

So in December, when all the good sales were on, I invested in a NorthFace coat from the garage sale department of REI. I'm telling you right now, it made all the difference!

This mid calf length down coat was secret to my winter outdoor painting success. Sure I looked like a small round abominable snow person but I was warm!

No. 857 Sunset at Lowell Riverfront Park

Sunset at Lowell Riverfront Park

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

Click to Bid

When a person has been in my class for awhile I often have them tell me how much more they see in everyday life since starting class. Everywhere they go they see more color than they ever did before. I think it is a particular gift of being an artist. It's like layers of veils being removed from our eyes.  So exciting!

Well one of the best gifts of painting outside this January was having a few more veils removed from my eyes. It took a bit more time to notice the beautiful colors everywhere but they were most definitely there!

No 856 Taking a Break

Taking a Break

Oil on Gessobord

5" x 7"

Click to Bid

This one is part of my January painting challenge. I was really happy to complete the challenge painting outside every day during the month of January. I made lots of great discoveries and will share those with you in the following days. 

Almost immediately after the challenge I was given the opportunity to teach a small workshop in southern California. How cool is that? I'll share more about that very soon too!

Most recently I've been having a blast watching the Olympics with my family. I thought this painting of a pair of ice skates was timely. :)

No. 855 Perfect Primroses

Perfect Primroses

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Click to Bid

 

It's always so wonderful to see those first primroses show up in the stores. These three are from a flat of 12 that I got at Costco for only $11! I might have to head back and see if I can snag another flat...

No. 854 Persistant Pumpkins

Persistent Pumpkins

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Finally! I got a chance to paint these pumpkins.

No. 853 Neighborhood Wetlands

Neighborhood Wetlands

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

I discovered this place close to my home on a bike ride the other day. I was totally surprised and had no idea there was public access to this little gem of a wetland. I hope it survives the nonstop development in this area.

No. 852 Winter Sunset on Baker

Winter Sunset on Baker

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

A sunset off of Lowell-Larimer road during our very short but glorious break in the weather. Loved the rain puddles in between the furrows in the field reflecting the sky.

No. 851 Mt. Baker from Penn Cove

Mt. Baker From Penn Cove

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

While I continue to paint outside everyday, I've not been so good about posting. Few of the paintings are finished outside because it's just too cold and wet but this past Sunday was a different story. It was a flat out gorgeous day and a perfect one to visit Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

Morning ferry ride.

Looking back from the ferry to my home town of Everett.

Calm waters at the wharf in Coupeville. Gosh I love that little town.

View from the ferry trip home.