Continued Progress, "Bosley's Nap"

"Bosley's Nap"
11X14
Oil on Canvas Panel
Click Picture to Enlarge

This is as far as I got this morning. Half of my day was spent outside painting a garden gate that needed a coat of preserver. Painting something is not the same thing as painting my art....but spring comes and if you don't get out there and do it, before you know it, summer heat arrives and you will find me cowering in the air-conditioning. I think Bosley enjoyed my being outside with him this afternoon though. He dutifully kept the chipmunks at bay while I painted. There is more of this work to be done outside, so his painting is going to take a bit longer than usual. Stay with me and you will be able to watch the progress!

Great Beginnings, "Bosley's Nap"

"Bosley's Nap" Preliminary Drawing
11X14
Oil on Canvas Panel
Click on picture to Enlarge

My favorite subject, Bosley.
This one will eventually end up on http://thepainteddog.blogspot.com, but while I am working on it I thought it would be fun to show how I start the process. There will be precious little left of my preliminary drawings because most of them were done under the actual painting. Occasionally I will do one on some other surface just to gauge the scale and composition, but usually I just dive right into the painting surface. I am using a watercolor pencil and it can be wiped off as I make corrections. I know other painters use charcoal, but this works better for me.

When working with animals, I have to work from photos. I am not so quick that I can capture an animal that moves around about about every other second even when sleeping.

What did I ever do without this camera! (yes, that is a rhetorical question.) I have a Canon Power Shot S3. It will do more than I will ever learn how to do, but I cannot believe what a tool this has been for me to use while documenting my work. At this point I could do a commercial for Canon, I am so in love with it!!

Daily Painting Botanical, "Red Hot Radish"

"Red Hot Radish"
9X12
Oil on Panel
Price: $250.00
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If Whole Foods is looking for a veggie illustrator, I just qualified for the job. Actually, as you can see in the framed version, this would really look great in your kitchen. It was not hard to fall in love with this radish and its companions. The young woman at the Farmer's Market was charming, pretty, and told us stories about her husband growing them and then picking them the night before the market. Farmer's Markets are one of the best treats of the spring and summer season. I love the produce and the people selling. The experience just brings it all home, the real serious business of delicious food.
Anyway, here is my radish, ripe for the picking.

Daily Painting, "Red Hot" In Progress

"Red Hot" In Progress
9X12
Oil on Gessoed Panel

As far as I got today. I bought radishes at the Farmer's Market on the weekend and they are just gorgeous. And I have intentions of painting several of them, but exhaustion set in and I landed on just one for today. I also thought I was going to paint this on a white background, but after doing an underpainting in a reddish color and then sketching out the radish, I decided to go for hot hot hot. It's more dramatic than usual and I am not sure how it will end up. Sometimes that is the way it goes...you start out with one idea and the piece develops a life of its own. Still a ways to go, but it's a start for today.

Garden Torture

It all started about ten days ago....the fall of the lady gardener. (actually it started some years ago when I told my husband I wanted a cutting garden.....or, I guess if we want to be Biblical, it started in Eden, but let's not go there.) O.K. back to ten days ago. I have weeds. I mean the insidious, evil, satanic type that nothing kills. (even round-up won't do it.) I also have red clay and rocks. This makes digging an exersize out of some medieval torture. Believe me, it's no picnic. It takes me weeks to just talk myself into going out there. And I get so exhausted from doing this that painting a work of art is secondary to just trying to recover. Evidently some hateful nasty bug of some sort bit me on the elbow. I noticed a scab a few days later. Then came the other bug....this time a virus. Is this a "slam bam?" A double whammy? You betcha. Finally had to go to the doctor for meds. I am just now getting past these curses, but guess what? The weeds are still there. So back to the garden this week to attack the weeds again. I can't do this just anytime during the year. It has to be spring when the weather at least is accommodating.

No garden, no flowers to paint. The price we pay for real art. Now you know. I'll be back with you soon.

Daily Painting Floral Still Life, "Pink Peony"

"Pink Peony"
12X16
Oil on Linen Panel
Available

Click to Enlarge

Happy Mother's Day!

My daughter gave me this crystal vase some time ago. She is the most thoughtful and beautiful daughter anyone could ever have and I am one lucky Mom to have her in my life. So really, I should call this, "Happy Mother's Day to me!!" When she was little she always greeted me on Mother's Day morning with a flower from the garden on a tray with some little breakfast she had made for me. It's one of those sweet moments that stay with a mom forever. Who could ask for more?

I also want to say Happy Mother's Day to a lady named Peg who is feeling a bit under the weather these days and she told me she likes Peonies.....so this is for her, too.

Daily Painting Floral, "Peony" In Progress

"Pink Peony" In Progress
12X16
Oil on Linen Panel

The day has arrived. The Peonies are blooming and I can't resist the attempt at painting at least one of them. This is as far as I got today. The trick for me is going to be getting the light reflections on the glass vase. Still a ways to go, but I thought you might like to see some of my techniques. I've underpainted the panel with a soft reddish color in acrylic. Then I drew the design and proceeded to put in some hightlights. As I work my way down to the glass I will be putting in more splotches of white where I think the light is hitting it. Hopefully that will help me grab the reflections as I paint the shapes.

Daily Painting Still Life, "Sustenance"

"Sustenance"
8X10
Oil on Linen Panel
Available $450.00
Click the picture to enlarge
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Finished this afternoon. Hot off the easel. I even have a frame I love for this one. I am picturing this painting next to someone's reading chair. It exudes contemplation in all ways. The price includes the frame. Mother's Day this weekend.....do you need something for your Mom, the one who loves to read?

And you know, Father's Day is coming up! This seems to me to be the perfect gift for the guy who likes to read! Let me know.

Daily Painting On the Easel, "Sustenance" Part 2

"Sustenance" In Progress
8X10
Oil on Linen Panel

This is today's progress on this painting. Still have some fine tuning to do on the lettering and finish up the foreground and then I'll have it. Hopefully tomorrow.

I could have dedicated this one to "Earth Day," but I think that was last week. I have a friend....well not really a friend anymore, but someone I've known all of my life. She always used to say, "Cheryl, if your ship came in, you would probably be at the bus station." Great thing to say to someone, yes? I'm still not sure what she meant by that except she acted as if I was some kind of totally out there not quite with it odd person who was never going to have any success whatsoever at anything. And even if I did, it wouldn't qualify as "her" kind of success. I stay up late, sleep late, think hard, and work on something as if there is no tomorrow. She didn't get that.

Back to the point... if my "Earth Day" painting is a few days late, well who would know? To me every day is "Earth Day" so the idea of the designation of that day is just stupid! One of the dumbest things I think those 'feel good fuzzy' people have thought up just to make everyone think they actually have a purpose in life.

And since it's late and I have stayed up late once again....I'll finish this one tomorrow and my ship just might be here at the same time!

Daily Painting On the Easel, "Sustenance"

"Sustenance" In Progress
8X10
Oil on Linen Panel

I love books. Mostly art books and romantic collections of prose and hand-illustrated cookbooks. At least I'm not indiscriminate. It's one of those things that I have to keep myself at bay. (my mother used the phrase when expressing restraint, "Get thee Satan behind me.") We lost our Media Play store here last year and I am still in mourning. They had wonderful books in categories I liked. It was the first place I went to for children's presents.

This book, entitled "Meditations on the Earth," was a gift to me from a guy named Mike who has come and gone in my life. He left it in my mailbox one day before Christmas with a note. He is now a published author himself. And he has disappeared. He does that. Appears and then disappears with no forwarding address. For a while he was teaching business in Kansas. Before that, teaching business in Ukraine. Before that, he was in business management in North Carolina...previously in South Carolina. No moss growing on him. Last time he turned up was a couple of years ago upon the occasion of publishing his book. I think he may have gotten interest from movie producers, so for all I know he is knee deep in Hollywood froo froo and enjoying some moments of fame, though I haven't heard. Never dull...always mysterious....hardly there. Not good marriage material, but he makes for a very interesting friend. Now I am painting a picture of the book he gave me and wondering what the next chapter brought him. Wish I knew.

Daily Painting Floral, "Blue Irises"

"Blue Irises"
10X13
Oil on Gessoed Board
Available

This painting is a really great example of why I am not a plein air painter. When I took the photo the wind was blowing, for one thing. For another, this is the end of three sessions of some variable hours each. I'd be dead (and so would the flowers) before I would get this standing outside waiting for the wind to stop blowing. And do you think the sun would even stay in one place..ha ha ha. Just mention the word "chiggers" and I start itching. Leaves and dirt in my paints? Don't think so. (dog hair is the only extraneous material I allow.) Other people around watching me struggle over how much red to put in the blue? Not happening folks!! You'll just have to imagine me with my paint brushes and pulling my hair out over where to put this stem and that flower.
So to all of you plein air folk out there, hats off to you! You've gone where angels fear to tread and really deserve a big glass of red tonight.

Daily Painting Floral, "Irises" In Progress #2

"Irises" In Progress
10X13
Oil on Gessoed Board


I've not had as much time to work on this as I had hoped...was wanting to have it finished today, but you know, sometimes life gets in the way. Do you ever feel like you are running at warp speed and will never catch up with all of the things that need doing? That's a rhetorical question. I know I can't be the only one. So tomorrow is another day, as our dear Scarlett reminds us. Will finish tomorrow if the fates allow.

Daily Painting Floral, Irises In Progress

"Irises," In Progress
10X13
Oil on Gessoed Board

Click the picture to enlarge!

I'm trying something different with this one. I usually draw out the preliminary sketch with a colored pencil. (Most artists are using charcoal, I'm told. I haven't been doing that because I didn't want the black messy charcoal mixing with my paints.) But this time I then went over my sketch in alizarin chrimsom mixed with yellow ochre and a lot of turps. Picked this idea up from another artist whose work I admire and thought I would give it a try. It keeps the sketch in place as you continue to work. We'll see how this goes. Seems like a great idea right now!!

My irises are in full bloom today. They were given to me by dear friend and they reside in the front garden. A couple of years ago I thought I had lost them due to some bug that was eating away at the tubers. Somehow they survived and have come back to make me proud.

Daily Painting Landscape, "Edge of the Marsh"

"Edge of the Marsh"
9X12
Oil on Gessoed Masonite
Available
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This is from a photo I took the last time we visited Seabrook. Just as we were leaving I stopped the car and took a picture across the marsh, one last look at Marsh Point where my husband's parents used to live. Their house was like this one, hanging over the edge of the marsh.

Daily Painting Baby's Sign, "Bennett's Guard"

Detail from "Bennett's Guard"





"Bennett's Guard"
10X17.5
Acrylic on Board
NFS
Click to enlarge

Bennett is almost five months old already! This is his emblem. It took a good bit of searching around for the right theme for Bennett. I am not sure why I landed on this, but I found the Royal Beefeater Guard Bear and as soon as I saw it I knew this was it. I love stuffed bears. I still have mine from when I was little. Mine resembles the Velveteen Rabbit with half of his fur rubbed off from my holding him and loving him so much. He resides in the linen closet and every so often I take him out and tell him I love him all over again.

When my children were little we had a wonderful neighbor gentleman named Mr. Cole. We had a lake directly behind our house which was wonderful for wildlife and views and row boating. However, whenever my children were outside I was like a Mad Mother Hen worrying constantly about watching my little ones, afraid someone was going to go plunk into that lake. Mr. Cole noticed this and one day he told me that children have Guardian Angels to watch them when parents can't. No comfort to me....it was a nice thought, but I wasn't about to leave that to chance. Now looking back on it, I think Mr. Cole was the Guardian Angel because, while I was the nervous young mom, he was also watching my children. We really liked Mr. Cole.

I hope our Bennett has a Guardian angel, too...because, as you know, boys will be boys! For now he has a Royal Beefeater Guard to put over his crib!