Late Afternoon Glow

"Late Afternoon Glow"

24"x 24" oil on canvas

The Alaskan winter days have beautiful lighting.  It's either looking like sunrise or sunset most of the day, unless it's plain 'ol darkness...then it's just dark.

This painting was done from a reference photo taken at 3:30 pm.  The sun just rides along the horizon in December.  This glass building was glowing.  If I turned around, I wouldn't be able to see the sun from my vantage point....but this building was reflecting everything from the southern skyline.

Traffic....if your a night lights junkie like me, traffic in the winter up here is pretty beautiful.  

And if I'm not wearing my glasses... all those lights have a large halo effect.  

Cool...

Of course, this painting and the colors are filtered through my heart and mind...

a little bit amped up...... cause that's what I see.

Artists, don't be a journalist with your art......be a poet.  

Show the world your heart.  Don't be scared... show us what you're made of. 

I love that about art.

Thanks for looking!!

 and reading.

Italy.....sigh.....

My trip was wonderful...2 weeks in Italy painting and playing.........and eating.

I'm ready to look for property for sale over there...haha...that's what happens when I really enjoy myself..... I start looking at the real estate market and imagining myself in a whole new setting.

I'd have a Vespa, that's for sure......one of the oldies, painted in a pale bluish green color.  I'd make pasta and use fresh vegetables from my garden, with olive oil on top.....and I'd eat warm, fresh picked plums everyday......sigh.....

Okay, I had a great time.  The other artists I went with were sweet and funny, their spouses...sweet and fun....the artist that was teaching the workshop, great!! (Darrell Anderson....amazing artist....you should check him out)

I had a dream the night before we started painting....I was struggling with an animal......it was trying to bite me....it wanted to harm me. At the end of the struggle and dream....I escaped.  The next day, I began painting in a way that I've always wanted to paint.....loose...juicy.....with my heart, not my mind.

I love all the paintings I came home with!!  I love them!! 

I needed to go halfway across the world, be with new people in a new place to find this.

And to think, it all started this January with a daily picture calendar about Italy....too cool!!  

This was painted on the side of a small road, in Montisi, Italy......in all fairness, most of the roads are small over there.... 

I'll post some more Italy paintings soon.

Thank you for reading and looking!

Choices....

6" x 8" oil

I was out in my studio cleaning up yesterday, and I found this painting. The painting below.....in the post before today's, I was painting a sunset on my porch.  Well, after I was done and having a cup of coffee inside my warm kitchen......the last burst of the sunset was lighting the sky on fire.  I looked out the window and it had gotten crazy beautiful!

How could I stand there and drink coffee while a gift was being presented to me?  My set up was all still sitting there......I thought I might have about 5 minutes of that color,  so I got back out there and quickly captured my impression of what I saw.

It's always a choice.  Should I enjoy the beauty in a quiet way, just look, breath...soak it into my mind.

Or.....should I climb inside the beauty...feel it....express it the best I can?  

That's a tough choice.....but I love these little moments.  I had no idea I would be asked to make the choice when my guard was down and sipping my coffee!  and that's how life is....I love it.

That day I asked the universe......"show me how to paint it!"

I'll sit and soak it in peacefully another day :)

First post of the new year......

I set up my painting box on my deck railing....I'm still trying to get comfortable with moving my painting supplies around.  So here I am painting out side but only a few feet away from my studio.  I'll get there....I just can't seem to find a box that is lightweight, fits on a tripod and I can paint small or up to 16" x 20".  This is a great set up for larger paintings, but this Guerrilla painting box is big and heavy.

I want a set up I can travel with....like airports and fits in my luggage kind of traveling.

So, we'll see.  Anyways this was at about 3:00 to 4:00pm in Anchorage, Alaska.  You can see the sun is getting low and by the end of the painting...I'm catching the sun setting.  This time of year it happens fast.  I took pictures and called it quits...but at 4:15 to 4:30 the sky was on fire and the colors were out of this world.... next time.  Today I just stared, awestruck.  As my sister told me the other day....sunsets are God's paintings.  And today that thought came to mind.

Here's my finished painting.  I'm happy.  

I think I'm making some headway on these 

outdoor paintings!

Thank you for looking and reading. 

Alaska sunset

Alaskan Sunset

6" x 6"  oil

We had a beautiful, clear day here in Anchorage, Alaska.

 I knew I wanted to try painting the sunset today, but it was pretty cold..... -5.

This sunset was happening at about 3:45. 

  

So I set up in my yard....close to the house where I could zip inside and 

warm up by my wood stove.  This was quick, but fun.  I like painting outside, maybe next time it will be warmer.

Thank you for looking!  :)

The Beach.....

Tonight, in Anchorage Alaska, it's snowing.  It's so peaceful and beautiful....

..but....

I have the beach on my mind......I'll switch gears soon enough. 

I'm still enjoying the warm sunshine, crashing waves and ocean breeze in my head.

I had to try painting it.

Thank you for looking!

Sunset

Playing around with my paints again....

I still haven't found it, but I'm getting closer.

Thank you for looking!

Back road

This is a small painting I played with yesterday.  

It felt good painting it.

A sneak peak.....

I just got done hanging a small collection of paintings at 

Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge,

here in Anchorage, Alaska.

The paintings are for sale and on display for the month of September.

Tomorrow night is a small reception from 5pm until 8pm.

I've heard there will be truffles...chocolates and drinks at this little soiree!

Painless....

Thanks for looking!

Sunset

"Sunset"

11" x 14"  oil

July Roses

July Roses

#9 

I was playing with a pallet knife on this one.

I'm tired of looking at my brush strokes....so out came the pallet knife!

This rose bush is on the corner of my house.  

Somehow it's managed to grow in spite of moose munching on it all winter and spring.

 Over the years it's grown to be about 6' tall.....in spite of all the munching and pruning.

What a survivor!  The roses are so pretty and they smell wonderful.  They're in bloom now for a few weeks and then they'll bloom again at the end of the summer.

This is the first time I've painted them.

This is #9 of my plein air paintings.....I'm going for 200.

That's my goal.  I have a ways to go. 

Thank you for looking! 

Morning sun

14" x 8"  oil

Okay, this is painted on clear plexiglass.  My outdoor paintings have been fun to paint,

but when I bring them indoors....all the color seems to drain out of them.

An amazing plein air artist, Darrell Anderson, has been helping me out ( Thank you Darrell!!!)

  He said to "try putting a sheet of plexi-glass over the painting and paint it again...now with colors pushed bolder and use the style of whoever your painting "hero" is."

I loved doing this.  just like he had told me, the pressure of messing up is gone.......

 and I just played!

Very fun!  I'm going to try this with a bunch of my paintings!!

Darrell is an amazing artist, and he also teaches......

He lives in the Seattle area, and teaches often at the 

Winslow Art Center on Bainbridge Island!

Check out his work.....just beautiful! 

Sings with color!!

More clouds.....

Clouds #3

5.5" x 14"  oil

More clouds from my windy plein air evening.

Clouds on my mind again!

Clouds #2

5.5" x 14"  oil

I was very distracted by clouds all last summer.  Size, shapes, mood, color ~ I wanted to paint them,  take photos of them, describe them to people.  I found myself pointing them out to everyone...talking about it to you on my blog.  Then one day, as mysteriously as it came , the distraction quietly crept out of my mind, I don't know when.

Yesterday, it came back.

Last night I had a great view.  The wind was blowing and the clouds were moving and shifting, 

I gave it my best shot and painted a quick as I could.  I finished a couple small studies last night out in an open field.... then I went home, warmed up and went back to take a bunch of photos.

Clouds are so cool.

Inlet sunset

Inlet Sunset

I painted this a few nights ago....on my parents deck. 

 They have an amazing view 

and we've been having beautiful clear skies.

The sunset was great!

I gotta say....I'm really loving this painting outside thing!

I've been painting in my studio for years,

funny how I didn't think of this earlier  :)

Inlet view

Alaskan Inlet

In the summer this view is creek, grasslands and ocean with the mountains in the background.

Throughout the winter it turns to creek and silt-covered ice chunks....and mountains.

I was so fortunate to have this beautiful scenery in my backyard growing up.....my 

parents house.  I love being near the ocean.  

The sounds, the smells....the wonderful wind and the sight of it feels like home.

  My ongoing plein air experiment..... my parent's deck made for a great spot to try 

it out!  I can't wait till it's alive with color.  I'll try again when the ground comes to life.

Thank you for looking!

Plein air....kinda....

Plein air?  okay....does it count if I sat in my car?

I was comfy parked in the parking lot with my set-up in my lap, and supplies in the 

passenger seat :)

I'm still getting used to hauling my stuff around, but it was fun not painting in my

studio.  Kinda like a pic-nic.... food tastes better when you're outside.

I bet this painting on location thing is going to be a new favorite.  

And if you would have told me this a year ago, 

I would not have believed it!  

Funny how things change when you least expect it.

California Oak

"California Oak"

I painted this one a while back. 

 My old computer has been dying a slow death....I bought a new Mac Laptop Pro......*LOVE*........sigh...... So that's where I play lately.

All my older painting images are on my other computer.....so this past weekend I was bored and rooting around in my old computer files....look what I found!  I had forgotten all about this painting.

It was painted about 3 years ago, around the same time I wrote a ghost story called "The Orchard".

When I printed out my novel and put it in a binder....this painting seemed perfect for the cover!

I found the novel on the computer too....February just got a whole lot more interesting.

I always find myself daydreaming of tropical paradise in February.  Winter is long up here in Alaska...these last few months drive me crazy.  I just need to make it to the middle of March and I'm good to go again!   I need something to occupy my mind.

Now I have a story to edit!  I still need to go out to my studio and paint something sunny and warm, 

but I have some new ideas floating around in my head of other projects to take on!

I like the sound of that..."take on" ....kinda like....

"Bring it!"  love that one too :) 

Okay, that's my post for today.....

thank you for looking!