Chapeau

Another picture I found of Marie Antoinette shows her in a wide-brimmed hat, possibly setting out for  a garden party with all her courtiers.  Something new I tried on this series was painting on gessoboard.  It's very absorbent, and has a completely different feel from painting on canvas.  It takes some getting used to, but I like it.

Chapeau is 6x6" acrylic on gessoboard.   

A la Mode

A la Mode is 6x6" acrylic on gessoboard.

Bedazzled

Bedazzled: For our show this Friday at Detour Salon, we are exploring the themes of Marie Antionette!, big hair, hats, and confection. Yum.

Bedazzled is 6x6" acrylic on panel.

Ringlets

Ringlets is 6x6" acrylic on panel.

Emerald Moonlight

 

Emerald Moonlight is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.   

Homecoming

Thinking of the East in Summer!

Homecoming is 20x20" acrylic on canvas.

Orchard Morning

 Geometry of Orchards:  Why is an orchard endlessly fascinating to look at?  Maybe it's the dynamic combination of organic and geometric elements.  As we know, contrast rocks.  I've been trying for that vibration as I put together orchard-y compositions.  I'm still focused on texture and warmth in high-horizon "hillside" composition. 

Orchard Morning is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Summer

Keep your appointment with the muse -  In her book "Art at the Speed of Life",  Pam Carriker talks about putting boundaries around your creative time.  "You need to give yourself permission to keep your appointment with your muse, " she says.   I love that.  I fight off dragons every day to keep that appointment!

Summer is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Orchard Afternoon

May 27, 2011  Memories of Trequanda:  Eight years ago this month, fifteen of  us rented a farmhouse in Italy and settled in to paint. It was magnificent; there were views in every direction!  Across the valley of rolling olive groves and vineyards we could see the hilltown of Trequanda.   On the farm, after a day of painting in the sun,  we were well fed!   The farm's "fattoria" produced wine and olive oil, but I'd never had olive oil like this.  It tasted like grass, with a bite.  As I think of Savoring the Flavor, I remember the beauty and pungence of that setting, and I had to paint the hills and olive groves again!

In the evenings, we'd set our day's paintings on the hearth, gather around the fireplace, and see what everyone had painted.  Some artists painted 5-7 paintings a day!  It was amid this breathtaking work ethic that  several of us cut our plein air "teeth. "  A heady time it was.

Orchard Afternoon is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Temptation

Well, with a juicy apple like that, anything could happen. 

Temptation is 6x6"acrylic media and collage on panel.

Bubbly

This was fun.  I'm still feeling warm and antic.

Bubbly is 6x6"acrylic media and collage on panel.

Nectar

Savory Thoughts:  Outside it was raining and chilly.  Inside the studio was warm conversation and hot cappucino.  And on the easels - gorgeous still lifes!  All savory.  So I took a stab at some still lifes, too.  I haven't done any in a while.  I decided to try simplified compositions on complex surfaces.

Nectar is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Ambrosia

Simplify: I tend toward the baroque.  So restraint is always a challenge.  I tried to pare back even more, with more geometric shapes and a limited palette.  I do like warm and cool violets with red-orange. 

Ambrosia is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Toward Home I

Geometry Swallowed my Metaphysics - This was said by abstract expressionist Barnett Newman about Piet Mondrian.   No, I won't be comparing myself to the rectangle-loving Mondrian!  But I confess I'm interested in experimenting with some geometry inside the organic-scape.  It's that contrast that's sneakily captivating.  Metaphysics, move aside!

Toward Home is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

The Moon Spilled Rubies

Like Pulling a Piano Out of a Swamp - I'm still trying to get back into the groove after too many vacations.  We've got a luscious new challenge, Savor the Flavor.  I've now got lots of intriguing starts in the studio.  Finishing is the challenge.  Struggling toward the finishes,   I must focus on:  a)  crafting good shapes, b) constantly reclaiming the light/dark pattern, c) rigorously staying on-composition.  In the famous  literary publication Southwest  Airlines Magazine (April 2011) actress, singer and musician Zoey Deschanel  talks about creating something where nothing existed before.  "Sometimes being creative" she says, " is like pulling a piano out of a swamp. "  That girl knows what she's talking about.

The Moon Spilled Rubies is 8x8" acrylic media and collage on panel.  

At the Edge of the Fields

Live, Laugh, Love - and Clean Your Room This weekend as we put together a teenager-sleepover, one of the kids texted home: "Dad, what's the plan for tomorrow?"  Dad texted back "Live, laugh, love - and clean your room."  Isn't this exactly right?  We had a lovely time displaying our Daily Painters Project work at the Encinitas Garden Festival this Saturday.  We lived, we laughed, we loved.   Now it's time to Clean our Room/Studio and begin to paint for our next challenge; Olive oil, Italian bread, rolling vineyards, sunbaked olive groves.  I've begun to warm up my palette after the Blues and Greens of the past two challenges.  Here I am remembering  Italian vistas and Savoring the Flavor.  I'll be focusing more on reds and yellows this month, lots of warmth.  

At the Edge of the Fields  is 8x8" acrylic on canvas.

Fallbrook Spring

Not knowing?   Many artists discuss the importance of knowing what you want your painting to look like before you start painting it.  Do the value sketch and stick to it.  Other artists say they have no idea how the painting will look when they're done.  They just get started and see what happens.  About planning paintings, Richard Diebenkorn is quoted as saying  "If I already knew how the painting was going to look, I wouldn't bother to paint it."  Some would just prefer the excitement of finding the painting as they go along.  Some have no choice in the matter. Like me!  I start out with an idea, but as I go along I get other ideas and pretty soon...well, something else emerges.  It's a constant state of discovery!  So I embrace the suspense of the process.  Let the magic creep in.

This is another in my Fallbrook series.  I've used a cooler palette to evoke the freshness of spring. 

Fallbrook, Spring is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Across the Meadow - Aqua Mist

Deja Vu All Over Again!  A further effort in my series, Across the Meadow.  A continued study of texture and simplicity of composition.  

P.S. Today is Patriot's Day in Boston!  Longfellow echoes in my ear: "Listen my children and you shall hear/of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere..."

Across the Meadow-Aqua Mist is 8x8", acrylic media and collage on panel.

Forest Garden

"Go often to the house of thy friend.  Weeds choke the unused path."  I rediscovered this wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson upon returning from vacation.  (I golfed and did not paint one stroke. )  You know where this story is going.  Upon re-entering the studio, it was just as if I had never painted before!    Ah, well.  Time to hack away some weeds, as we do in the garden, to find our friend.  

Forest Garden is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.

Fallbrook Summer

 If not you, who?   Do you have those days when it's so hard to walk away from Life and get into the studio? The demands are urgent!  The tasks are important!  Yes, they are.  But.  At the same time, I think you have to remind yourself that when you paint, you create something - where nothing existed before.  You're making something out of the ether.  And if you don't do it, who will?   And if not now, when?  The family is never fed, the house is never clean.  You feed them, they're hungry again.  So forget it.  Go create something which will at least outlive the car repairs.

Fallbrook Summer is 6x6" acrylic media and collage on panel.