Canada's Triple Crown

The sun came out again for us on the last day and we had that 

unusual combo of fall color and snow.

Triple Crown

9x12

oil

I took out my last 9x12 panel after the first painting,

divided it in half and did some quick value studies of

the same scene using different colors.

I know this sounds odd because so many painters go out

and work on color studies that match the scene, but all I

think about is value and pushing colors to match 

my own vision, mood, or sense of harmony.

In fact I make an effort to not be influenced by local color,

like a green tree for example.

I'm more of an impressionist than a tonalist because it's

what I enjoy the most.

There is no right or wrong here.

These each took about 20 minutes and it's a great way to 

clean up your palette after a painting trip!

Thanks for following along.

Canada, Seeing Double!

The thing about painting trips is that it stretches you as an artists.

It forces you out of your comfort zone and to look at things with fresh eyes.

It also made me choose a subject that I wouldn't normally paint.

Canadian Vista View

12 x 12

oil

I usually go for structure over pure landscapes and definitely

not vistas.  It's a personal preference but partially because 

I feel like these views are so majestic I'm not sure I can convey that feeling.

But this is where my friends landed so I gave it a whirl.

I can really see why people get into painting mountains.

Funny thing, below is my friend, Mary Burkhardt's painting next to mine.

Even though the interpretations are very different it almost looks like the 

same painting extended!

Seeing Double

Thanks for following along!

Banff Vermilion Lake

We drove to Banff one chilly morning and painted with a group at

Vermilion Lake.

A beautiful place with foggy moody weather,

and a variety of ducks and geese.

Incoming

12 x 12

oil

Afterwards we were feeling tired and hungry so went to the Fairmont Hotel in Banff

and had a wonderful late lunch in the Rundle Room with a beautiful panoramic view of Mount Rundle.

Did I mention we were feeling a little lazy and cold so decided to splurge and leave our car at the valet.

We didn't think twice about it till we came out after an hour to pay and the attendant asked us for 40$.

More than lunch!!!LOL 

Yeah, I know.

Thanks for following along:)

The Canadian Plein Air Adventure Continues:

We were always on the lookout for critters and good places to paint

without too much snow and ice.

Bears! OH MY!

Mama and three baby grizzlies. We chose to head in opposite directions.

Photo courtesy of Brian Smith.

Canada has lots of trails to hike and we could just pull into a parking lot and find great views just off the road.

Snuggled Against The Cold

12 x 12

 oil

This was a fun one to paint with the group of trees snuggled together still wrapped in their blanket of fall color to keep warm as long as possible.

And afterward we stumbled upon this striking view.

Room To View

9 x 12

oil

Other critter sightings:

Rocky Mountain Sheep

Goats

and a very fluffy coyote!

I did see and elk but couldn't get a photo and I was really disappointed not to see a moose!

Some people saw lots of them.

Darn, guess I'll have to go back;)

Thanks for following along!

Cozy Fire

There was only one day in Canada that kept us house bound.

We painted my friends husband reading his book by a cozy fire.

Cozy Fire

9x12 oil

In the afternoon Gene Costanza treated us to a demo that he

did from a couple of different plein air studies.

I might add that he made it look effortless.

I love how the mountains fade into the sky!

demo by Gene Costanza

Thanks for following along!

Sunshine on the Mountains

This was truly a spectacular day!

My painting pal Mary Burkhardt and I drove down to a beautiful bridge.

We painted one side in the morning and the other side in the afternoon!
A bright and sunny day!

Canadian Morning

12 x 12

oil

Canadian Afternoon

12 x 12

oil

Thanks for following along!

Canadian Rockies

Out of all my travels I’ve never been to Canada!  So I was very excited to sign up for Fall Color Week put on by Plein Air Magazine.  We all met at Kananaskis Lodge to paint the fall color and ended up with a bonus- snow!

The snow fall came early this year and the combo of color and snow was spectacular.

This is my first ever plein air snow painting!!!

Snow Fall
9x12
oil

It’s hard to describe how majestic and imposing the Canadian Rockies are!

I’ll break this up into a few postings.

Did I mention the wildlife?

Artist's Tip:  For my fair weather friends, if you dress right it's
quite comfortable. I took my Antarctica clothes, but just wore my regular
hiking boots with foot warmers.
It's all about the layers: a Merino wool shirt followed by a inner and outer fleece,
an inner jacket followed by a down jacket.
Two hats, one baseball with a visor and another wool cap on top to keep my ears warm.
I wore three layers on the bottom, long underwear, fleece pants, and a third optional waterproof, windproof pair.  This outer pants have a zipper all the way down  the leg so they are very easy to add if the wind picks up or shed if the sun is out.
Of course there were hand warmers in my gloves and boots.  I wear painting gloves all time but topped them off with finger-less mittens.  I knew finger-less mittens had some sort of purpose and this was it!

Thanks for following along!

Last Day Left

SIZZLING HOT SUMMER SALE

I'm calling it a Hip-ster Celebration and you'll know why by clicking here: 

You'll get all my latest news!

I've put together a summer collection at 30 % off until July 31 only.

Featured paintings:

Quiet Conversation

oil 12x12

Was $1100  Now $770

Buried Treasusre

oil 12x12

sold

Until July 31st

Free shipping USA only.

To purchase click here:

Thanks for following along!

Two Days Left!

SIZZLING HOT SUMMER SALE

I'm calling it a Hip-ster Celebration and you'll know why by clicking here: 

You'll get all my latest news!

I've put together a summer collection at 30 % off until July 31 only.

Featured paintings:

Oleander Lane
oil 9x12
Was $950  Now$ 665

Hill Country Hotel
oil 9x12
Was $950 Now $665

Until July 31st

Free shipping USA only.

To purchase click here:

Thanks for following along!

Sizzling Hot Summer Sale

SIZZLING HOT SUMMER SALE

I'm calling it a Hip-ster Celebration and you'll know why by clicking here: 

You'll get all my latest news!

I've put together a summer collection at 30 % off until July 31 only.

Featured paintings:

Empowered

12 x 12 oil

Was $1100  Now $770

Mending The Nets

12 x 16 oil

Was $1250  Now $875

Until July 31st

Free shipping USA only.

To purchase click here:

Sizzling Summer Sale

That's right it's sizzling hot!

And I'm having a sale.

I'm calling it a Hip-ster Celebration and you'll know why by clicking here: 

You'll get all my latest news!

I've put together a summer collection at 30 % off until July 31 only.

Featured painting:

Bucket List 12 x 12 oil

Was $1100  Now $770

Until July 31st

Free shipping USA only.

To purchase click here:

Cuban Transformers

Cuban Transformers

9x12 oil

plein air

available

Cuba has alot of stuff lying around which is one

of the things I found most appealing.

Of course there was lots of crumbling textures too.

One man's junk.....

Check out my solo show on Cuba below!\

Cuba, Faded Beauty

Solo Show at South Street Art Gallery, Easton. MD

May 1, 2018- May 27th, 2018

PREVIEW THE SHOW HERE

Thanks for following along!

Cuban Mariachi

Cuban Mariachi

9x12

Plein Air Cuba

available

This band was very popular in Old Havana and played

a different restaurants on the square.

I even bought their CD.

Brings back lots of fun memories of our group dancing.

On this day I caught them at a resto with the Capitol building

in the distance.

Check out my solo show on Cuba below!\

Cuba, Faded Beauty

Solo Show at South Street Art Gallery, Easton. MD

May 1, 2018- May 27th, 2018

PREVIEW THE SHOW HERE

Thanks for following along!

Cuba, Plein Air

Painting in Old Havana, Cuba

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of visiting 

Cuba on an historic painting trip with 100 other painters.

My favorite place to paint by far was Old Havana.

 I haven't even scratched the surface of everything I saw there

that I want to paint.

Check out my solo show on Cuba below!\

Cuba, Faded Beauty

Solo Show at South Street Art Gallery, Easton. MD

May 1, 2018- May 27th, 2018

PREVIEW THE SHOW HERE

This is one of my plein air paintings done on location.

 Cuban Quartet

9x12

available

When you get this I'll be participating in Paint The Town,

held in Marble Falls, TX.

If you're in the area come join the fun.

Check out my painting location by sending me an email!

Schedule of events here:

https://www.hlcarts.com/event/218-paint-the-town/

Thanks for following along.

We're gonna have a good time:)))

PACE18 with Bruce Bingham

Jeanne with faculty hat, Mary and Moi

This is from the day we went to

El Rancho de las Golondrinsa.

Windy is an understatement.

It was a full on dust storm with hats flying and

easels tumbling along like the tumbling tumble weeds.

No kidding.  There were gusts up to 60 mph.

Plus plenty of time to be silly.

Jeanne, Hai Ou and Moi

Winners

All paint and no play makes for a dull day;)

Hate to say goodbye to Sante Fe.  Good times.

PACE18 Demos

Part of the fun of being at PACE18 

is seeing all the great demos.

My favorite this year was Kevin McPherson.

This is his beginning, middle and end.

He painted this really complex scene from a water color

he had done in Italy.

I really related to the way he mixes his color.  He uses the

same value for as long as he needs to and bends the

different colors to a warm or cool bias on his palette.

I was relieved that he doesn't make separate piles

of each color and leave them because

frankly I'm just not that tidy and that technique never seems

to work for me.

Of course he made the whole thing look really easy!

Upcoming:

Paint the Town Marble Falls

and

PREVIEW THE SHOW HERE

Cuba, Faded Beauty

Solo Show at South Street Art Gallery, Easton. MD

May 1, 2018- May 27th, 2018

Thanks for following along!

PACE18 with Bruce Bingham

PACE18

Too much fun? No such thing.

Nobody can accuse us of not having enough fun.

left to right:

Shelby Keefe, Brenda Boylan, Nancy Tankersley, Moi, and Jeanne Reavis.

I had so much more fun than last year when I ended up in the La Jolla hospital with a pinched nerve in my back.  What a drag.  This year I came away with tons of inspiration and some

new techniques. YAY!

The first morning we were there we found a spot to paint along a road not far from the hotel.

It was a little windy as you can see by the flags  on the right below

below but nothing like later in the week.

I'll break this up into a few more posts so it won't get too long.

Upcoming:

Paint the Town Marble Falls

and

PREVIEW THE SHOW HERE

Cuba, Faded Beauty

Solo Show at South Street Art Gallery, Easton. MD

May 1, 2018- May 27th, 2018

Thanks for following along!

Cuba, Faded Beauty

 What's inside?

All my paintings are packed and shipped to

South Street Art Gallery, Easton, MD.

for my May show:

Cuba Faded Beauty.

The key to doing a solo show is getting organized

and keeping focus.

I shipped these boxes three different ways to

save on expense.  The smaller ones could go priority mail.

The next size was less expensive to send Fed X.

The the big guy in the back had to go by freight.

Sneak peek at what's inside;

Cuba Style

12 x 16 oil

I'll be sending you more images of the show via my blog so please stay tuned.

Next I'm off to the Plein Air Convention for lots of fun and inspiration!

Don't forget The Painted Garden Show at

Beach Gallery, Va. Beach, Va.

opening this weekend.

Thanks for following along!

AIS Show and Workshop with Kim English

Tea Time 9 x 12 oil

I enjoyed my trip to Cincinnati for the

American Impressionist Society

Small Works Showcase

held at the Greenwich House Gallery.

I ran into my friend Inna Cherneykina from San Francisco

and it was good to paint together again.

She won the wet paint division, I was so happy for her!

There was snow! No this is not a black and white photo. Yet,

we were able to have the Kim English workshop anyway.

Nancy King Mertz and I getting ready to get started.

Kim gave us a work out with about three zillion three minute poses.

Great practice and I learned some things.

Kim showing us how it's done in a 3 minute gesture painting.

Another one of Kim's at 12 minutes.  He really makes it look easy.

And here's my favorite of the day.

It was a great trip and it was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones.

Thanks to the team at AIS who worked so hard to put together

a great experience.

Thanks for following along!