No. 485 Colleen's Bike Day 3

 

Colleen's Bike - Plein Air

Oil on Linen Panel

5" x 7"

SOLD

 

 

 I am proud as punch of this little painting. When I saw Colleen's collection of old bikes in her Coupeville garden, I knew they had to be painted. Could I paint something as complicated as a bike in plein air? I had serious reservations about that. It was a beautiful afternoon, though, and Colleen was very generous with permission to move the bikes anywhere I wanted to. So, I gave it a whirl. The bike is far from perfect but considering it was painted in plein air, I'm very pleased. Can't wait to go try it again!

 

 

 

 

 

Next time, I'd like to get more of the background in the painting.

 

 

 

 

 

Another bike in Colleen's collection.

 

 

No. 484 Day 2 The Neighbor's Hydrangeas

 

 

 

The Neighbor's Hydrangeas - Plein Air Mini

Oil on Linen Panel

3" x 5"

Sold

 

I noticed the beautiful way the morning sun was lighting up these lovely hydrangeas during my morning walk with my neighbor, Melissa, and my dog, Loui. It took several days before I decided they absolutely had to be painted. I'm very happy I caught them before they faded or the neighbor used them for a bouquet.

 

If you would like to see more work by artists participating in the 30 in 30 challenge you can click here. Get comfortable with a cup of coffee or tea, scroll down to the bottom of Leslie's post and you will see thumbnails of many paintings. Just click on any interesting painting you see to get a better view and read what the artist has to say about their work. Happy art viewing!

 

 

Hydrangeas in my own backyard after a summer rain shower.

 

 



No. 483 30 in 30 Challenge Day 1

 

 

 

Antique Rose Festival

Oil on Linen Panel

5" x 7"

 

 

Leslie Saeta is at again. Best known for her blog radio show "Artisits Helping Artists", she has reissued the 30 in 30 day challenge. I think this is her third year encouraging artists to produce thirty paintings in thirty days. The number of artists accepting the challenge each time increases dramatically. I understand the September challenge has over 500 artists participating! I first accepted this challenge in January. Why not do it again?

 

The challenge is loosely structured and entirely self policed. A theme is encouraged. So while painting everyday isn't a problem for me, posting to my blog is. So my personal challenge is to catch up on posting paintings. Also, as a theme I would like to work on is clouds. I will probably stray from this theme quite a bit but be ready to see quite a few cloud paintings. :)

 

The painting above is a plein air piece painted at the Antique Rose Festival at the beginning of summer (yes, I'm that far behind). I finished it recently for one of the art festivals I participated in this August.

 

 

 

 

Another rose from the festival. It looks like it has already been painted!

 

 

Hmmm, this photo might become a painting some day.....

 

 

 

 



No. 482 Quartered Rose

 

 

 

Quartered Rose

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

 

All I can say is I do love a quartered rose. :)

Painted from photo I took at the Antique Rose Farm this spring.

 

 



No. 481 Backyard Bouquet

 

 

 

 

Backyard Bouquet

Oil on Linen Panel

7" x 5"

 

 

As far as painting subjects go, this time of year can be overwhelming. The weather has been wonderful for going out into the countryside to paint plein air and my backyard is full of beautiful flowers demanding to be painted. What makes it even worse is the realization that the grey days of fall/winter/spring are not far away. What's a frantic artist to do?

 

 

 

 

Julia Child roses from my backyard.

No. 480 Pansies Pose

 

 

 

 

Pansies Pose

Oil on Linen Panel

7" x 5"

 

Still working with ideas I've learned from Lisa Gloria. It never ceases to amaze me how difficult it is to do a good painting of pansies. They look so darn simple!

 

A couple of late summer photos from the island.....




 

 

Sunset on the Coupeville waterfront last night.

 

 

 

 

And now it's time to slow down and get the girls ready for school. Sigh....

 

 

 

No. 479 Demo 2 from Fresh Paint

 

 

 

Fresh Paint Festival Demo #2

Oil on Canvas Panel

9" x 12"

 

I've discovered our fence is a good place to prop up a painting for a quick photo. :)

This is Sunday's demo from the festival. The flowers are geraniums from my backyard meant for decorating the booth. On Saturday, I kept noticing them while I was painting the pears. On Sunday, I could resist no longer.

 

 

 

 

 

They have a lot of extra room in front of the booths to set up for a demo. Notice the geraniums have been whisked out of the booth and into a shadow box to pose for my painting. :)

 

 

 

 

Just before the festival ended I ran down to see the tall ships.

 

 

 

My husband, Don, loading up the truck after the festival ended. Thank you, Don!

 

 

My "End of Festival" treat. :)