Winter Shadows, 6x8, oil on panel

Summer Walk, 6x6, oil on panel

This is a little oil sketch I did today - not from life though. It's been fun to learn to paint snow. Now if I can just translate it into a larger painting . . .

Bulls Eye, 8x6, oil on panel

Blue Bowl, 8x8, oil on panel

Autumn Aspens, 6x8, oil on panel

 

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Little Longhorn, 6x8 oil on gessoed panel

 

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Snowy Stream

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Snow Light, 9x12, oil on hardboard panel

This is an 9x12 that's headed to the Paisley Porch Gallery in Glenrock tomorrow. I may list it on the DPW auction site also. That's my priority for today. To get this framed and something listed.

In The High Country

This is the first thing I've painted in three weeks! It felt really good after so long away from it. There was just too much going on over the holidays - which was very fun. I'm going to be listing some paintings on an auction site called Daily Paint Works. My goal is to get 3 paintings on there next week. And another goal is to be more consistent here.

Christmas Card

This is the painting for my Christmas card this year. I finally got around to it!

Blue Bowl, 8x8, oil on gessoed panel

A little still life with some primary colors. I'm liking this still life painting - just to be painting from life is so much more interesting sometimes! And a very good school master.

Open Water, 8x8, oil on board

It's beginning to look like winter around here and I'm highly motivated to paint some snow scenes! I'm going to try to actually get one painted for a Christmas card this year. I always intend to do that and never get it done. This year I think it's going to happen. As always these paintings are for sale. Just contact me if you're interested. And happy December 1!

Winter Squash and Apples - It's What's For Dinner

This is what I am considering my first attempt at a "real still life". By that I mean one that was set up with all the drama, composition considerations, etc. I'm pretty pleased with it, thanks to Jeanne Mackenzie, (www.jeannemackenzie.com) an artist from Laporte, Co and a great teacher! I made a trip last week to get some instruction and to my delight she had this still life set up for us to paint. I've been wanting to paint some still lifes for quite awhile, but for some reason just not able to get it together to tackle it. I find myself more and more desiring to paint from life and since the wind hasn't stopped blowing for the past 2 weeks I'm staying in to paint. So, this was perfect timing and now I'm really excited to do some more of these! And as I told my husband, one of the great things about this kind of still life is you can eat it when you're done! :)

The Paisley Porch Gallery Christmas Show and Sale

These paintings are both 6x8 and will be part of a Christmas Show and Sale that we put on each year. This year the show is running from November 7 through January 7. All the paintings are small and unframed. As you can see from these two, I used a palette - or painting - knife towards the end which gives them a bit more texture. Lots of fun!

The Value of Default Mode

A "default" plein air day.

A friend of mine recently mentioned being on "default mode". As we talked more about it I began to realize the value of being in default mode. We all do things by default. You know, the things we do without considering whether or not we want to do it. The things that are in our routines. It makes life so much easier. Fewer decisions over what is on the agenda make it easier to get to the agenda.

A while ago I designated Mondays as Marketing Mondays. Like most of us, I hate all the paper work, marketing stuff, errands, and any other miscellaneous tasks that involve my work, but aren't the fun part. Years ago I read that I'd need to spend at least as much, if not more, time marketing than creating. I was, of course, in denial about that for a very long time. Probably until I designated Mondays for marketing! Then I soon realized I could easily designate 2 days for that, especially since I lumped EVERYTHING besides painting into that designation. So, now I have 1-2 days a week as default mode marketing/everything else days.

What about other defaults? Well, yes, I've begun to see the value in having default painting days. Most of my painting buddies don't have as much time as I do to paint. I'm very fortunate to have at my discretion the ability to make my own schedule, but I know that until I really designated my default paint days, I found SO MANY other things to do, because if I got up in the morning and wasn't especially fired up to paint, well, no one was expecting me, so I simply found something else calling my name that day.

Default mode has simplified my life - and aren't we all looking for that! I'm developing default exercise. It's a given that I exercise at 6 am 3 mornings a week, go to kickboxing (which I love!) once a week, and take Riley the dog for a walk at noon. Except Tuesday because that's my (default) day with my painting buds. I haven't quite mastered default on the workout yet. I have to admit that some mornings I head straight for the bathtub instead of the workout corner. But I have managed to keep the walks up consistently.

The value of default is that it gives me structure without too much restraint. It gives me freedom by setting a schedule so that by the end of the day or the end of the week, or the end of the year, I'm not feeling bad because I didn't do what I intended to do. It gives me freedom to thoroughly enjoy my "free time" with no guilt lurking in the back of my mind. And I actually accomplish the things I set out to do!

So what default mode do you need to set, or reset, in order to make the things happen that you want to happen?

Three More

Three more quick plein air sketches. As you can see, its from the same place as the day before. The photos aren't very good - I took them in the bright sun with the paintings laying in the grass. I'll have to take some better photos at home. I'm hoping to use these as references for a few larger paintings when it's not so nice out! One more foray to the area today.

Painting at Duncan's Ranch

Two of my faithful painting buddies! Cheryl (above) and Sharon.

The scene and my painting.

We ventured out yesterday and what a beautiful day it was! A little cold as you can see by Cheryl's and Sharon's dress. We had intended to paint most of the day, but I think we all forgot how cold it can be with clouds and an ever so slight north wind. So we stayed for one painting and then made a run up the road a ways for some photos. I'm headed back there today with a few more layers and my lunch! This won't last and I want to take advantage of it while I can!

Reshaw Bridge Mural Finished

The finishing touches have been added and all my tools and paint are packed up and stored away at home again. Too bad I can't figure out how to line these up so it's one long image. Oh well, you get the idea, I think. Next week will be on to something new.

Fun!

Now the real fun begins. These posts aren't really crooked by the way. I was holding the camera crooked. I'm sure it will take me as long to do the bridge as it did to do the landscape. Very fun though!

Mural Paint

I have been using sample paints from Home Depot for this mural. It's very handy and they'll mix whatever color you want. I've always mixed my own colors in the past and that gets a little tricky because wall paint doesn't behave like artists paint. This is much better and reasonably priced!

Day 2 of mural painting. It's beginning to take shape. I'm hoping to get far enough tomorrow to be able to take the scaffold down and work from the floor! Chalk lines sure do come in handy for something like this!

I started a mural today at the Evansville Community Center. Here's a couple of pics of it. It's going to be 6 1/2 feet by 22 feet when it's done. So far, so good.

Come and Paint!!

I will be hosting an Oil Painters of America paint out at my home, on September 24. Here's a couple of photos from my front yard and back yard. We have a variety of terrain and comfortable accommodations for all. This is the first time hosting an event like this and I think it will be fun! It's open to any oil painters whether you're a member of OPA or not, so come on out and paint with us. The details can be found on the OPA website or email me and I'll fill you in.

Summer Serenade

We returned to the same location the next morning. It was warm and sunny, so the landscape took on a brighter look. The block in from the previous day was a good foundation to build the rest of the painting on. Here's my finished piece, titled Summer Serenade. To my great surprise and delight it received the Wyoming Land Trust Purchase Award in the Prairies to Peaks plein air competition!