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. 820 Please Don't Make Me Sneeze

Please Don't Make Me Sneeze

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Click to Bid

  I cut these sunflowers at Bailey's U-Pick farm. It was a bit of a dangerous operation as the bees were everywhere and really didn't want to give up those flowers.
 
Did I mention how disappointed I am that sunflowers make me sneeze?

No. 819 The Onlooker

The Onlooker

Oil on Canvas Panel

6" x 8"

Click to Bid

I painted this before I realized the sunflowers were making me sneeze. :)

It's also part of a class lesson on developing a focal point. Not sure of my success here. What do you see as the focal point?

No. 818 Fall is Here!

Fall is Here!

Oil on Canvas Panel

6" x 8"

Click to Bid

 

I so enjoy painting sunflowers. After sneezing and sneezing and sneezing, it finally occurred to me that perhaps I wasn't coming down with a cold. It was those silly sunflowers! Maybe it's time to find a really nice silk version. :(

Another pic from the pumpkin patch.

No.817 Nesting in the Pumpkin Patch - Plein Air

Nesting in the Pumpkin Patch - Plein Air

Oil on Canvas Panel

6" x 8"

How could anyone resist painting these adorable squash and pumpkins?

Click to Bid

 

A pic of my pochade box, painting and adorable subject.

Carol painting away and looking picturesque as usual. :)

No. 749 Bailey's U-Pick - Plein Air

Bailey's U-Pick - Plein Air

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

Click to Bid

When the weather is fine my wonderful students let me drag them into the field to paint - literally. We were painting in a field. :) I enjoyed the view so much I stayed after class to paint it myself. Thank you to the Bailey family for always being so gracious about us painting on their farm. Also, a huge thank you to my students for taking on the plein air challenge.

Here's a little video of our experience:

And a link to the 1 minute video, just in case you can't see the icon:

Click HERE

~ Susan 

No. 668 The Cinderella Pumpkin

 

 

The Cinderella Pumpkin

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

 

Love the intense color of the Cinderella pumpkins. All the different types of pumpkins you see these days are amazing. One farm we stopped at had a display of 50 different varieties. Who knew?

Click to Bid

No. 660 Valley Sunflowers

 

 

No. 660 Valley Sunflowers

Oil on Linen Panel

7" x 5"

 

Some more flowers from the U- Pick patch outside of Snohomish. I tried to stop there today after class to refresh my stock. I was very disappointed to find it was closed for the season. I had visions of sneaking in to cut some of the few remaining flowers I could see from the road. Then reason returned...

                                                                                        Sneakily,
                                                                                               Susan

Click to Bid

No. 656 Imported Pitcher

 

 

Imported Pitcher

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

 

Thrift shopping is a family thing. Renee found this fabulous brass pitcher for me in a thrift shop in England. What a find! Thanks again, Renee!

 



No. 654 Pumkins with Sunflowers

 

 

Pumpkins with Sunflowers

Oil on Linen Panel

7" x 5"

Click to Bid
 

 I went a little bonkers the other day. I stopped at a farmers market on Marsh Road just outside of Snohomish and discovered U-pick flowers were only 20 cents a stem. What a deal! Many flowers came home with me...

 

Dreamily,

Susan



No. 516 Autumn Still Life

 

 

Autumn Still Life

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

 

This orange pumpkin was carefully chosen at the pumpkin farm for it's fabulous stem. What a great stem! I'm feeling wistful because I wasn't the only one to love this little pumpkin. My daughter, Megan, decided she must have it to carve for Halloween.

 

 

No. 509 Plein Air Pumpkin Mini

 

 

Plein Air Pumpkin Mini

Oil on Canvas Panel

3" x 5"

SOLD

 

I made a quick stop at Stockton Farms vegetable stand in Snohomish the other day. I had 45 minutes to paint this. That included set up, painting time and take down before I had to pick my daughter up from school. Phew! Needless to say, the painting was finished at home.

 

It's been terribly busy around here - again! I finished the large painting I'd been working on for the PAWA show and most recently have been putting things together for my booth at the holiday bazaar at Olympic View Middle School tomorrow. If you are local and would like to check it out they are open from 9am - 3pm.

 

I can't wait until the only thing I have to do is a painting a day.

Day 335 PAWA Paint-In

PAWA Paint-In

Oil on Canvas Board

6" x 6"

During the winter PAWA, the plein air group I belong to, has paint-ins instead of paint-outs. Still lifes abound as well as live models in a warm, dry studio. Okay, we had two live models. A pot luck and a painting exchange break up the morning and afternoon painting sessions. Also, there is the big reveal of paint out locations for 2014. I understand water in all it's wonderous forms is our theme next year. I have to say I enjoy the paint-ins almost as much as the paint-outs.

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Day 334 Plein Air Up Close

Plein Air Up Close

Oil on Canvas Board

5" x 7"

While painting plein air, sometimes it's just as fun to paint what's right in front you instead of a grand vista. The texture of these spent flower heads against the red leaves of a fall tree really caught my eye.

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Day 324 The Mayor's Pumpkin

 

The Mayor's Pumpkin

Oil on Gessobord

6 x 6

 

If you happen to be in Downtown Snohomish take a moment to stroll by the mayor's home. It's an interesting place because it was once a church. The artist in Mayor Guzak shows through in her lovely landscaping and seasonal displays. How often is the mayor of a town a professional artist?

 

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Day 322 The Grand Plan

 

 

 

The Grand Plan

Oil on Canvas Board

5 x 7

 

I recently came up with a grand plan of arranging larger, more complicated still lifes. Then over a couple days I would do a few paintings of small sections and end with a large painting of the entire still life. That was over a week ago and this small painting is all I have to show for my grand plan.

 

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Day 313 Blogging by Candlelight

Blogging by Candlelight

Oil on Canvas Board

5 x 7

We just lost our electricity due to a wind storm. Luckily my iPad is well charged...
Here we have more of Renee's copper, my favorite squash, and leaves from our dogwood tree. A long time ago I had a request to show a bit of my process. So if you are interested, I've posted a few of the steps below...

Ooooo, a white canvas. Some people find white canvases a little daunting.

I started off by toning the canvas with a burnt sienna colored wash. Then the main shapes were loosely drawn in.

At this point I've blocked in the largest color shapes. Now comes the hard part...

Here you can see I've refined the colors and shapes and added some details. The finished painting is of course back at the top.
Well what do you think? Was this interesting at all? Would you like to see more inbetween steps like this?

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Day 310 Missed Opportunity

Missed Opportunity

5 x 7

Oil on Canvas Board

Why, oh why did I not think to use fall leaves in my still lifes earlier? Thanks to an earlier wind storm, this was the last of the maple leaves on our tree.

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Day 309 Light It Up!

Light It Up - Plein Air

Oil on Canvas Board

6 x 6

This is from Eric Jacobson's workshop in Gig Harbor. The day started out grey and foggy but as the afternoon progressed the clouds began to break up. At one point, the sun lit up the sailboats across the bay in the marina.

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Day 307 Still Playing with Squash

 

Still Playing with Squash

5 x 7

Oil on Canvas Board

The title says it all.

 

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