OPA Salon Show Inspiration

It was an honor and a pleasure to be included in the OPA Salon Show at Castle Gallery Fine Art in Indiana.  It was a beautiful show with close to 300 paintings.

They also had a fun filled weekend planned

with demos, talks, and a wet paint competition and sale.

So thrilled to get an award of excellence from Wet Paint judge

CW Mundy!!!

John Michael Carter demos a beautiful head study.

I won a chance to buy this awesome 8 minute pear study by CW.

For sure my lucky day:))))

CW Mundy demo's a great still life.

How beautiful the reflections are!

Me rubbing elbows with the masters:)

I left completely inspired!!!

Thanks to all who worked so hard to make the show and the weekend

a great experience

Thanks for viewing my blog!

Happy Labor Day!

For Sale

8x10 oil on board

I want to wish all my friends a happy Labor Day

by sharing this plein air painting done

during my recent painting trip to Carmel.

It was heavenly there!

I seem to paint flags lot.  While they are 

always challenging, they are also really fun to do.

Confession:  yes, I'm going to work a little on  Labor Day,

because I LOVE what I do:)))))

Thanks for following along.

Plein Air Diving Competition

And a funny thing happened.....

on the Jersey Shore

hilarious really if it didn't happen to you.

The Place:

I spent an entire afternoon painting Polly's Bait and Tackle on a dock on the bayside.

It's was very windy so I tied a beach umbrella around a piling and set

up my easel in the shade underneath.

I kept my left hand on the easel the whole time even though it was

heavily weighted down.

Until I didn't.

Honestly I felt the wind had died down late in the afternoon,

and I was getting tired, and I needed to clean my brush.

So for one second I took my left hand off and THAT was THE MOMENT

my entire painting kit did a back flip off the dock 

four feet down into the murky water.

My jaw dropped with shock!  

Just before I shouted a four letter exclamation (oops) in front of

a deck full of families eating dinner after taking a ride on the Pirate Ship,

most of which turned to look as I jumped into the water before everything floated

away on the tide.

After all I still had another day, I needed my stuff!

I knew it was low tide but it was deeper than I thought!

The Ugly Truth:

Everything you see here except the umbrella went in,

the palette box, backpack, easel, painting, me....

The Challenge:

It was clearly more challenging getting out than it was getting in.

After all it was a boat dock and not a swimming area.

But I didn't even think about that until a nice group of ladies ran over to ask if I was OK and

"Can you get out"? 

hummmmm

I hauled myself into a near by boat, no small feat I might add,

and they helped pull the ropes in so I could reach the dock.

Nice peeps, we'll probably keep in touch.

Most everything was salvaged successfully.
( Except sadly a few of my favorite Rosemary Brushes:((((

My new fried Polly from Polly's Bait and Tackle let me use her crab net

to fish out my turp can, part of it at least, once I realized it was missing and

the water settled down enough for me to see something shinny on the bottom.

Everybody need a little help from their friends:)

The plein air adventure continues.....

Next time more about the show and what I painted there...

Thanks for following along!

Plein Air Diving Competition

And a funny thing happened.....

on the Jersey Shore

hilarious really if it didn't happen to you.

The Place:

I spent an entire afternoon painting Polly's Bait and Tackle on a dock on the bayside.

It's was very windy so I tied a beach umbrella around a piling and set

up my easel in the shade underneath.

I kept my left hand on the easel the whole time even though it was

heavily weighted down.

Until I didn't.

Honestly I felt the wind had died down late in the afternoon,

and I was getting tired, and I needed to clean my brush.

So for one second I took my left hand off and THAT was THE MOMENT

my entire painting kit did a back flip off the dock 

four feet down into the murky water.

My jaw dropped with shock!  

Just before I shouted a four letter exclamation (oops) in front of

a deck full of families eating dinner after taking a ride on the Pirate Ship,

most of which turned to look as I jumped into the water before everything floated

away on the tide.

After all I still had another day, I needed my stuff!

I knew it was low tide but it was deeper than I thought!

The Ugly Truth:

Everything you see here except the umbrella went in,

the palette box, backpack, easel, painting, me....

The Challenge:

It was clearly more challenging getting out than it was getting in.

After all it was a boat dock and not a swimming area.

But I didn't even think about that until a nice group of ladies ran over to ask if I was OK and

"Can you get out"? 

hummmmm

I hauled myself into a near by boat, no small feat I might add,

and they helped pull the ropes in so I could reach the dock.

Nice peeps, we'll probably keep in touch.

Most everything was salvaged successfully.
( Except sadly a few of my favorite Rosemary Brushes;(

My new fried Polly from Polly's Bait and Tackle let me use her crab net

to fish out my turp can, part of it at least, once I realized it was missing and

the water settled down enough for me to see something shinny on the bottom.

Everybody need a little help from their friends:)

The plein air adventure continues.....

Next time more about the show and what I painted there...

Thanks for following along!

Minstrel painting progression and tips on inspiration

Minstrel

9x12 oil on board

I had alot of fun painting this one. I even remembered to take photos along the

way so I made a progression video you can see

here:

Why did I have so much fun?  

I'd like to share something special with you because I 

don't think you can ever have too much encouragement or inspiration

no matter where you are on your artistic journey.

Whether you're just beginning, somewhere in the middle or a tad bit

over-seasoned.  I'm a big Dreama Tolle Perry fan and she has developed

an online course that offers something for everyone.

  It's loaded with great tips and

techniques that are fun to experiment with and add to your routine if you like.

It's about much more than how to paint.

For me it's about learning to LOVE to paint again and the 

simple joy of the creative process.

She's starting another year long course in September and you can read about it here:

You can even win a free course so check it out!

I think she's going someplace fabulous next year and you can too without even taking out your passport;))))

My version of the exercise in week two.

Dreama's Cupcake

I find these exercises to be a great warm up and then you can bake your own cupcakes 

just the way you like. 

I had an attitude adjustment about my approach to painting and was able

to release my judgement and attachment to outcome.

(just one painting at a time;)

And THAT is why I had so much fun painting the Minstrel.

Happy painting and thanks for following along!

Alive and Well

Tracks Less Traveled

9x12  oil

painted plein air in the Adirondacks

I am so thrilled and honored to have been accepted into the

OPA Salon with this painting.

Such a delightful surprise and I'm feeling really fortunate.

I know! I could hardly believe it myself:)))))

But here's proof: click here

and you can see the acceptance list.

Pinch me please:)

I've really missed blogging and sharing with you, just been so busy painting! If you missed my

last newsletter you can check it out by clicking here.

It's all about the trip organized by Eric Rhoads to the Adirondacks called Publishers Invitational

which was one of my ultimate painting experiences.  

I can't say enough about these trips I've been on.  Having the time to really

focus on just painting in a beautiful environment with other artists is wonderful.

My first trip was to Fall Color Week when I only knew one other person.

Since them I'm hooked and have met lots of great people. The next one is

this fall and you can find the info here if you're interested.

Hope to see you there!

Plein Air on a Texas Dude Ranch

Deerly Beloved

12 x 12

oil on museum board

I went on a painting trip to the Silver Spur Ranch in 

Bandares, Texas.

They had tons of things to paint and I'd love to go back.

I'll share some more of my plein air paintings that I did there when I get back from the 

Plein Air Convention in Tuscon.

But right now I'm off to paint some cacti there.  Can't wait!

I have to give credit for this painting's clever title to my

friend Robin Cheers.

I was looking for something that combined the cow skulls

with the well worn John Deer tractor

and Robin said it perfectly- thanks!

You can see Robin's work here.

Thanks for letting me share my artwork with you!