Abigail Adams

8x8 oil

Abby lives next door. 

Shady Lane

8x10 oil

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  I took a walk down this shady lane today.  Happy Memorial Day!

Still life#7

8x12 oil

I was given a gift of a bouquet last night.  I didn't intend to paint it today but it called to me so I gave it a try in between planting way more tomato plants than I should have.   

Still Life #6

I thought I posted this already but apparently not.  Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm controlling Blogger or it's controlling me.

8x10 oil

Another day at still life class.  I'm going to post this on the Daily Paint Works Paint Your Vegetable Challenge:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges

Value Study Challenge

8x6 oil

The DPW Painting Challenge this week was to paint a value study using burnt umber.  In addition, attempt to do a composition of a dominant amount of one value range, a secondary amount of another and a smidge of another.  I chose dominant LIGHT value, secondary MID value, and a smidge of dark.  No colors or white allowed.   If you'd like to see the other submissions, look here:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenge/76971AF9-D076-41d4-93B5-26A408C9E2d9

Spray Bottle

9x12 oil

I know, crazy huh?  But I'm becoming addicted to challenges and this challenge was posted by Kim Rempel whose blog I love following:  http://eatdrinkpaint.blogspot.com/

The challenge was to paint mundane objects.  I thought this would be easy but it wasn't.  And there are a million things wrong with it but who cares?  I was challenged, learned a bunch of stuff, had  a lot of fun and that's the point.

Bath Day

I HAD A BATH TODAY.  I HAVEN'T HAD ONE ALL WINTER...

I HAVE NATURALLY CURLY HAIR

DON'T I LOOK FABULOUS?

STRIKE A POSE

Cloud Practice

8x8 oil

Sara Linda Poly, http://www.saralindapoly.com/ was the speaker at the  St. Michaels Art League 

http://stmichaelsartleague.org/index.html  meeting this Monday.  Sara talked about painting clouds.  She's an accomplished cloud painter.  Check out her link because she has a lot of information on painting and on how to paint clouds including a link to the Cloud Appreciation Society.  Seriously.  http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

So I gave it a try today.  Here's the thing...clouds don't stay still.  My painting changed so many times it was ridiculous.  I'll be working more on clouds.  But it was fun seeing all those colors in the clouds, watching the shapes change by the minute and listening to Martha snore-there's cloud music for you.  

Amanda, Jan and I went to The Bridesmaids.  Hysterical.  Girls...grab your girlfriends, daughters, sisters and go.  I guarantee you will laugh nonstop.

Mouser

10x10 oil

 I've had a lot of cats and the most important criteria for me was that they be excellent mousers.  And they all were.  No cats now, and only an occasional mouse because I have gobs of snakes...in the garden, in the yard, in the woods, creeping out of the Bay, slithering away.   

So, this is my entry for the latest DPW Challenge:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges

While I was painting it, the sky kept getting darker and darker.  My cell phone rang and it was the Emergency Services of Talbot County saying there was a toronado warning and to take cover.  Where does one take cover on the Eastern Shore?  We have no basements because once you start digging, you hit water and these are the flatlands as far as the eye can see. 

Alien Kitty

The Daily Paintworks Challenge is to paint this kitten:

 Tried a few times and wiped everything so I picked up the charcoal instead and produced Alien Kitty.  Good thing I'm taking a drawing workshop soon.  I'll try again tomorrow.

charcoal sketch

Beefeaters?

9x12 oil

My father-in-law loves Beefeaters.   Whenever we go out to dinner  he orders Beefeaters on the rocks and 9 times out of 10, the waitperson returns to tell him the bar doesn't have any Beefeaters.  He sighs and orders a substitute.   So what's in Beefeaters?  Juniper, Seville orange peel, almond, orris root, coriander, lemon, angelica root and seed, liquorice-and lots of alcohol.  Sounds downright medicinal.    Happy Birthday Ernie and cheers.

Flamingo Cocktail

What do flamingos and gin have in common?

The Flamingo Cocktail
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 oz Apricot Flavored Brandy
11/2 oz gin
1 tsp grenadine

I cleaned my studio today in an attempt to get organized.  Time for a cocktail but mine will be a margarita.

Still Life Class #5

8x10 oil

That peculiar looking orange is a mineola orange.  Never had one before and didn't get to eat this one either.

Workboat sketch

During Lee's workshop we went to Hambleton Boat Yard in Bozman, Maryland to sketch.   Measure, check your angles, measure again, relate this to that.  Important stuff because a lot of bad paintings come from inability to draw.  I need to spend a lot more hours drawing and workboats will be a great model.  Happily, I live in the Land of Workboats.

Lee Boynton Workshop part 2

Here's a cool thing I learned at the workshop.  I'm a great waster of paint.  Lots of people put saran wrap over their palettes and put them in the freezer.  I have no room for that, not with fish bait, pizzas, and ice cream.   So here's a small plastic container full of leftover paint.  I can stack a couple of those in my freezer.
He suggested the attitude you should bring to each day of painting is:  I'm going to hit a home run.

We have a lot of  alleyways throughout Easton chock full of old barns, shacks, garden sheds and apartments.

8x12 oil

Lee Boynton Workshop

I spent the past few days in a Lee Boynton workshop.  http://www.leeboynton.com/  One of the fun things about the workshop was the chance to buy more colors for my oil collection.  Lee uses an expansive palette.  Here were some new colors for me:  Holbein Cad Red Purple, Holbein Nickle Yellow, Cadmium Green Light, Holbein Oxide of Chromium, Old Holland Blue Violet, Holbein Mineral Violet, Holbein Mars Orange, Holbein Mars Violet.  Also got to try a new medium soup:  one part stand oil and 5 parts Gamsol.  It made for very juicy paints.  He squirts it in his whites.  But I might just put it to the side and dip in it for the future.  Lee handcrafts his own wooden palette.

Here's Lee beginning to paint on his Open M.  That's my beloved Art Box designed by James Coulter to the left.  And another one to the right.  That easel has become a big seller on the Eastern Shore.  http://artboxandpanel.com/.  I learned about it from Carol Marine.  http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/ who is a fountain of knowledge.
And my first painting of the day was of an oak tree I've driven past many times but never thought about painting because I was usually driving my daughter to and from The Miles River Horse Farm, always in a motherrush, but it still caught my eye.  Now I know that tree a little better.  Not a great painting but, hey, it's a workshop, and I had a blast painting that tree cause it was a beautiful day.  Lots of people drove by and yelled, "great tree."

8x12 oil