Poinsettias

This is one of the paintings I plan to hang in the Emerald Art Center member gallery for the month of December.

Jackson School Lavender Farm

This farm is on Jackson School Road in North Plains, along the Oregon Sunset Corridor. It's one of the farms Patti McNutt, Sarah Peroutka, and I visited during the Lavender Festival Paint Out. We've been having a blast painting lavender! The weather has been hot, hot, hot, but as long as we can find a shady tree we're good.

This little hut was sitting next to the lavender field - not sure what it's used for - it seemed too small to be a shed, but it looked charming sitting in front of those huge trees.

May Days

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I'm still floating on a high from yesterday's art exhibit at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum. The venue was beautiful. The folks from the museum, Mark Tolonen and Irene Zenev, did a fabulous job of displaying the paintings and hosting the reception. We had a successful turnout and just had a great evening. I really appreciate the help and support of everyone involved.

I'm taking a little break from landscapes to paint flowers. Our garden has exploded in color and I'll need to paint fast if I want to capture the season. The flowers in this painting were part of my Mother's Day bouquet. They're still fresh and beautiful. So much color - so little time!

Lavender Lake Farm

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What could be sweeter than painting in the middle of a lavender field?

Spring's Gift

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Spring has arrived and so have our bees. We installed them in the hive on Saturday. So far, so good. Today I'll be checking to see if the queen has settled in. She arrived in a little cage that is about the size of a finger. We plugged her cage's opening with a gummy bear and then placed the caged queen into the hive. It takes the bees about three days to eat through the gummy bear. This three-day captivity of the queen allows some time for the bees to become acquainted with her and accept her as the queen - otherwise they would kill her! Hopefully all is well today and she is free to begin her work.

Bees are absolutely amazing - I'm so happy to have them in our yard!

Covered Bridge at Dorena

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I spent some more time on this painting and like it better. Perhaps this one has a bit more depth and interest than the one posted previously. I felt I was beginning to slip back into old habits, so watched Julie Ford Oliver's tutorial on fracturing again. After viewing the tutorial, I approached the painting more assertively, and I like the result - it reminds me of the beautiful day we drove down to Cottage Grove so I could paint the old covered bridge.

September Challenge #25

This is the same oak leaf I painted for Challenge #6. The leaf has been sitting in my studio, turning brown. I thought it would be interesting to try it again using the fracturing technique.

Only 5 days left in the 30 day challenge. I've learned a lot during this time. I've adopted the painting technique created by Julie Ford Oliver, and I'm beginning to be more adventurous with color and brushstrokes. Still not where I want to be, but I feel that I've made a little bit of progress this month. Composition is a weak area for me, and I can see that weak composition results in a weak painting.

During this challenge, I have used a slow-dry medium that Mark Carder recommends. Mark is a realist painter and has an interesting theory about color. It's worthwhile to watch his videos. If you click on his name, it will take you to his site. He also gives a recipe for his medium. It makes oil paint behave like soft butter and it stays open for several days. I love the stuff.

The down side is that paintings take more time to dry. I have an embarrassing situation right now -  one of my paintings sold and I can't ship it yet because it's still wet...a very amateur mistake. At any rate, I'm going to hold off posting to Daily Paintworks until I'm sure the paint is dry enough to ship.

The big lesson for me is that it's not realistic for me to paint every day while I'm working at an outside job. Practice is so important, but for me it has to be balanced with my other responsibilities. I like the discipline that comes with painting, so will probably try to paint on weekends and 2-3 times during the week.  I'll be retiring next June, and then I can devote more time to painting.

I'm eager to hear what other artists have discovered during the month. Hopefully, Leslie will offer a "lessons learned" session in October.

September Challenge #20

Wow! It's day 20 of the September Challenge. Only 10 more days to go. This is a small painting - 5"x5", and I was able to finish it by 7:30 this evening. My husband looked up the name of this squash - it's called "Festival", and is a type of acorn squash...so this is another painting of acorn squash with acorns.

September Challenge #19

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Well, it's another late evening for me.  This is the last hurrah for these flowers, and frankly, good riddance - I'm sick of painting them.  The squashes are "decorative gourds" from the market. I didn't know acorn squash was a gourd...I'll have to look up that definition. The pumpkin is quite a small one, but it was difficult to paint. Anyhoo, since I was painting way into the evening, I thought I'd call this one "Autumn Evening." Not very original, but it's all I got!

September Challenge #17

I'm really pushing the time limit on these paintings this week.  I'm trying to concentrate on the painting, but feeling a bit rushed. Hurry up, weekend - I need more time to paint!

These yellow flowers are a type of mum. I attempted to paint them once before without much success. They're about to fade so I thought I'd give them another shot before they are thrown away. It's good to to see the squash and gourds in the market. Soon there will be pumpkins!

My husband picked up the little acorns on a lunch time stroll at work because I'd been complaining that there were no uneaten acorns in our yard. The neighborhood squirrels have been chomping them all!

September Challenge #11

Just a quick post. I'm running late this morning, so will wait to comment until this evening.

Update: This painting just gave me fits.  I was still working on it at 2:00 a.m. this morning. (That's why I overslept!)

I think there were two reasons for the struggle. The first problem that presented itself was my old nemesis, composition. I thought this arrangement looked ok, but once I got it on canvas, I wasn't happy with it - I need to do more work on composition. The other struggle was with the yellow color...maybe too acid. I use a simple five color palette and can mix most colors with it, but the mixed yellow for this painting wasn't what I was looking for.

I'm just whipped from not sleeping last night, so this evening's painting is going to be something simple...although that's no guarantee that I'll get it finished at a reasonable hour.

September Challenge #9

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These flowers were from our garden in mid-summer. I painted them from a sketch I had done in July. I usually don't do sketches, but I found it to be so helpful in working out the composition. I plan to do preparatory drawing from now on.  Another example of how a little preparation saves time in the long run.

September Challenge #8

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Today is the first day of week #2 in Leslie Saeta's 30 day challenge. So far, so good. Painting in the evening after work wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, although I confess, there are some little jobs around the house that didn't get done.

I'm continuing to use the fracturing technique that was created by Julie Ford Oliver. I find this style to be quite liberating. I still have a lot to learn, but I think it's an enjoyable way to paint.

September Challenge #7

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For day #7, I wanted to try a different painting style. One of my very favorite artists, Julie Ford Oliver, uses an interesting technique that she has developed, called "fracturing." Her paintings are to die for. They are so full of color and movement. Every piece she creates is pure poetry.

Julie created some instructional videos on fracturing. This week, I viewed them and decided to try the fracturing technique during the 30 day challenge. I have to tell you, I just had a ball painting these cupcakes. I'm going to keep practicing until I can become proficient at this technique. Fracturing adds a whole new level of fun to painting!

September Challenge #5

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September Challenge #5. This is an heirloom tomato. My co-worker gave me tomatoes from her garden, and they have been absolutely delicious. It's near the end of the season, so I probably won't be painting any more tomatoes this month!

September Challenge #3

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Day #3 of the 30 day challenge. This is the first work week in September. I'm up for painting tonight and that's a good sign. I think if I can make it through this first week, the following weeks should be fine.

As you can see, I'm looking around the house for stuff to paint.  The scattered oak leaves in the garden remind me of autumn, so I picked up some of them and plan to include a few oak leaves in my paintings.

September Challenge #2

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Today is day 2 of  Leslie Saeta's 30 day painting challenge. I enjoyed visiting Leslie's site to see what others are doing. There are about 325 participants, and there is some wonderful work being exhibited.

This challenge actually presents two challenges for me. The first is creating a discipline to paint every single day. Even if I don't produce a painting every day, I want to get into the habit of being at my easel on a daily basis. My second, and greater challenge, is the challenge of finding a painting subject. For some, this comes naturally...they are able to see many possibilities around them. Not so easy for me, so my challenge is to be open to new ideas for painting topics. I suspect the discipline of painting every day will help.

At any rate, this painting is my entry for day 2. The colors in the heirloom tomato and in the oak leaf herald the end of summer and autumn's onset - my favorite time of year.

Melon and Strawberries

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Our favorite time to dine is on Saturday morning. This is the fruit plate that accompanies the cheese, herb, and mushroom omelette.

Teacup with Flowers

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This painting was a bit of a bear to paint because of all the white. It took me a couple of days, so I am for sure out of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. That's ok, though. I think I'm going to spend more time on my paintings. It's enjoyable to have something on the easel that I can work on in my spare moments, and it takes the pressure off trying to produce something every evening.

Mums

Mums generally bloom in the fall, so I imagine these are hothouse flowers. It's too soon for spring flowers to bloom in our area. It's still cold, dark and damp. We're eager for spring to arrive.