Summer Song Finished

Summer Song © 2008 by Karen Mathison Schmidt
16 x 20 • acrylic on cradled Gessobord • sides painted dark brown

Sold • private collection, Puyallup, Washington

I think I’ve mentioned before that the natural landscape around here has a wildness to it, much different from the manicured beauty of the lawns and gardens of our old neighborhood in town. And I love them both. Walking through our old neighborhood, and walking down these country roads. Most of the time with one or more of our dogs.

I started this painting a while back, let it rest a while, then put it back on the easel a couple of days ago. It has everything I love about painting: a carefully planned composition, but with loose brushstrokes, lots of layered color – a complete joy to paint!

Here are some details:

Painting Large

After the Storm © 2008 by Karen Mathison Schmidt
24 x 36 x 2 inches deep • acrylic on 2" cradled Gessobord • sides painted dark brown

Sold • private collection, Puyallup, Washington

I LOVE painting large ... and this painting was so very fun to do, with my favorite vivid colors. I used brushes on the sky, and palette knives on the mountains, making for quite a bit of nice texture in the foreground areas.

Here are some close up details:









Hey, I have some exciting news concerning my art, which I’ll share in a post in the next couple of days!

Painting is not just painting.

That's right, painting is not just painting. It's also power washing and scraping and sanding and priming. Charlie the painter and his assistant, Randy, have been hard at work for 3 weeks now, and they’re almost ready to open the paint cans. Prepping this house for painting is a tedious, seemingly endless job ... I'm sure glad I'm not the one doing it! Charlie says he's beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though ... just a few more non-rainy days should do it, then the actual painting will be a piece of cake.


Here’s Charlie on an awesome piece of equipment we call the "man-lift." It's pretty cool. Charlie can move it around and manipulate the position of the basket without leaving the basket. It moves at the heart-stopping speed of about 1 mile per hour, which somewhat lowers the danger of the operator getting thrown from the basket accidentally.


And here's the front of the house after power washing and sanding and scraping. Some of the trim has been primed already. Also, take a gander at the new half-round window in the attic. Notice the window guys forgot to take the label off the outside of the window. Never fear – Charlie can take it off when he goes up there in the man-lift to paint.


Our electrician, Stacey, is hard at work updating all the wiring on the second floor (my brother Alan did most of the work on the first floor already, enabling us to move in when we did last summer), and Charlie used a couple of rainy days a while back to paint the room that will be my studio/office, so it won't be too long before I'm able to move out of the breakfast nook where I've been working for a year and a bit. I can hardly wait! And even though the vista is beautiful from up there, I will miss this view whenever I look up from my work to gaze out the window here in the breakfast nook:

Holy Spirit, Peace divine!
Still this restless heart of mine;
Speak to calm this tossing sea,
Stayed in Thy tranquillity.

– Samuel Longfellow, (1819-1892)


Whenever we are outwardly excited we should cease to act; but whenever we have a message from the spirit within, we should execute it with calmness. A fine day may excite one to act, but it is much better that we act from the calm spirit in any day, be the outward what it may.

– J. P. Greaves

Friday

Friday.

Exhausted.

Mañana, amigos!

Afternoon Encounter

Ha! You thought this was one of those abandoned blogs floating around in cyberspace, didn't you? Although technically I guess they don't really float around, they just sit there.

Well, I'm back. I know, I know, I've said that before, but this time I mean it. No, really. I'm serious. Really.


I walked out in my front yard this afternoon for a much needed break from working inside, and I saw these gals out in the pasture, enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been blessed with for the past few days. I ran back inside to fetch my camera, and as I walked over to the fence separating our yard from the pasture, they began edging closer and closer. I figured they thought the camera was some kind of oddly shaped snack item, and I was itching to share it with my equine neighbors.


Suddenly they caught sight of something which held the attention of all four for a good 20 seconds or so. I lowered my camera to see what it was that had them so mesmerized.


Hmm.



Can it be that I, Ray, am even more handsome than I previously realized?



I never would have believed it.





My magnificence is so awesome that it transcends even the species barrier.

A new painting and a muddy driveway ...

Hey, don’t forget to visit my NEW Online Gallery! (Link on right)


Heirlooms © 2008 KarenMathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord
gloss varnish for protection & easy cleaning • sold unframed

Sold • private collection, New Bern, North Carolina

I found this pitcher way back in the back of one of the kitchen cupboards when we first moved into our house. It’s definitely seen a lot of years of frequent use, it’s a little shabby looking, and I love it! I use it to water the potted chrysanthemum on the back porch.

Whenever I remember to water it, that is.

Don’t have to worry about that this week anyway, what with the rain and all. Just when they were ready to start painting the house, too. And it’s supposed to rain every day until next Wednesday. Bummer, dudes! Oh, well, no worries. I’m sure they’ll be able to get on it the week after next. At least it will start getting a little cooler for them in September!

Here are a couple of work in progress photos:




Meanwhile, here’s our driveway today:


Imagine how it’s going to look after 8 more days of rain!

Announcing my new online gallery!

Hey, click here to check out my new online gallery!

When you go to the gallery, just click on one of the albums to go to that collection, and then at the bottom of the page you’ll see viewing options. At the bottom right you can choose background color. I recommend clicking the 2nd choice, which is dark gray. At the bottom left you can choose the arrangement. Carousel is pretty cool, but mosaic is my favorite. Or you can choose slide show, where each painting appears for a few seconds before automatically going on to the next one in the group. Carousel works the same way if you click on the play button. If you choose to stay on grid view, just click on any painting to see a larger view.

There’s also a place at the top where you can subscribe for updates, so you’ll be notified via email whenever I add a new painting.

Go there and play with it, and let me know what you think!