Almost there ...

OK, this one is oh-so-close to being finished!

Dog Tired WORK IN PROGRESS



As I get closer to finishing, I’ve started working on each dog in detail, finishing that one before proceeding to the next. Now I think they’re all done, except for Matilda (far right), and I’m tweaking the blanket a bit. I’m contemplating the background, too -- I think it needs to be a little lighter, and maybe tinted a little more toward the teal. We’ll see.

I SO much wanted to finish this today; it was hard to stop myself from rushing through it, racing against the fading light. I was up a little too late last night (I have a part in a local theatre production of a Christmas comedy, The Trial of Ebeneezer Scrooge, and I was at rehearsal until 9:30, then a long drive home), I got a bit of a late start today (lazy, rainy Saturday morning, you know) and the light faded even earlier than usual because of the overcast sky.

I know, I know: excuses, excuses!

Here, let me distract you with a picture of some pretty lilies ... ooooo!


What? Lilies in November??

See ... you were distracted, weren’t you?

But anyway, hopefully if all goes well you’ll see the absolutely finished painting tomorrow ...

Good night, all!

I love painting.

WORK IN PROGRESS ...



I love to paint. I love painting animals. I love painting flowers.

But I especially love painting landscapes.

This one is bigger than my usual: 30 x 24 inches. It’s a picture of the overflowing pond out in the north pasture across our road, with the tall grasses along the roadside in the foreground. I think the finished painting will look a lot different from this progress photo. I’ll just have to see where this one takes me ...

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

The Power of the Artist

work still in progress ...
18 x 24 • acrylic on Gessobord


OK.

So I hope none of you who have been following the progress of this piece had grown too terribly attached to the handles on the vase.

Because – and being the sharp, observant bunch that you are, you more than likely already noticed this – they’re gone.

After my morning painting session I was chatting with my husband over lunch about how I didn’t really care for “those handles on that green vase in my painting,” and he said, “Hey, you’re the artist. Get rid of ’em.”

I said, “Hmmmm.” And I thought about it all the rest of the way through lunch, and then I came back up to my easel and studied the painting for about two minutes and thought, OK, they’re outta there!

Here’s what I did.

These blue handles just weren’t adding anything, so I handed them their walking papers.


First, with a mixture of black and caput mortuum violet, I drew where the left side of the vase would be if the handle was gone. Drawing this line felt a little like making graffiti on a public sign or something. But I got over it.


All I had to do on the right side of the vase was to paint out the handle.


At this stage I noticed the shape of the left side of the vase was a little out of whack; in the first picture at the top of this post you can see that I fixed it so that the vase would look more symmetrical. And I left a lost edge where the highlight on the edge of the vase was the same brightness as the light through the window. And I started adding detail to the empty tin container on the right.

So the title of this post doesn’t refer to anything really deep or philosophical. Just that as artists, we can change our composition at any stage. If something’s not working, paint it out. If something’s missing, paint it in!

If only real life were that easy! :)

More work in progress ...

18 x 24 acrylic on gessobord
work in progress ...


Well, here’s where I had to stop yesterday ... and today seems to be a day full o’ errands, but hopefully I can squeeze in some time at the easel later this afternoon.

Gotta run!

Country Roads

1 Thessalonians 5:16 (from The Message translation)

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Bayou Country Road work in progress.
5 x 7 acrylic on Gessobord

Today is a very busy day in the middle of a very busy week, but I wanted to take just a minute for a coffee break to show this little one I started yesterday.

I love country roads. Winding ones through the forest, curvy, scary ones in the mountains, meandering ones through pastures,
straight-as-an-arrow ones through the desert. Like the one that I posted in my blog entry when I was blog-tagged last May.

I'm having to work extra hard to carve out painting time this week, and I only had a few minutes for it yesterday, but I made a good start on this one, I think. This is just about a mile down from our house, on a little dirt road that branches off from our main road. Another beautiful spring morning. Can't wait to get back to it!

And now I have to dive back into my busy day ... cheerio, all!

New Year Goals, continued ...

Midwinter Moon acrylic on gessobord work in progress

Forgive my very short post today, but it’s late, it’s been a busy day, and I’m very sleepy ...

Here’s one more thing I’m going to accomplish in 2008:

Transform one of the deserted rooms upstairs into an inviting, comfy, cozy guest room. Paul’s parents are planning to visit in July, so this one has a very specific deadline. I’ll break this one down into subgoals with deadline dates, and it will be fun to photograph the progress.

Sweet dreams, everyone!