Blog

Today has been a twofer...I have been working from photos taken over the last 2 years and from works started but not completed. Our trip through west Texas and the SW really contributed to my file on "road trip paintings," paintings of abandoned or soon to be abandoned motels. These evoke memories of my childhood when my father thought a good vacation was to put 600 miles on the car each day! If I didn't take my nose out of my comic book I would have missed the Grand Canyon. These are also the places my husband and I stayed when we were first married and couldn't afford anything else. I am afraid that all too soon these will completely disappear from the landscape.

While I am known for huge vista paintings, and still really like capturing those vast skies, etc., I have been mulling this motel thing for almost a year....well, I must have saved at least 15 images...and some pochade starts...and now I am on a tear. Nothing like cold, snowy weather to drive one into the studio and work non stop. So here is #2....this is from a sketch of the back of a motel in Red Bluff, California. Obviously a brief sketch as the light was almost gone.

I have been thinking of this for quite awhile...documenting old motels and highway attractions. I made several field trips with this in mind, but found that they are becoming a vanishing breed. So I have decided to start now while there are some left. I especially like this real old auto court...and even though it is not operational anymore, it was a great subject. So this is #1 in my "Great American Road Trip" series..."coming to a gallery near you..." (Well, maybe.)

A friend of mine, an avid hiker asked me if I could paint a picture she took when hiking in France this year. I may have given a tepid response prior to seeing the picture. It is relatively easy to turn down a commission from a stranger if the scene is not something I feel I can paint with integrity...but a friend's request...now that is harder. When saw the picture however, I knew it would be fun to paint. True it is a bit more green than my desert works, but her sense of composition was great and I wouldn't have to edit it into something she wouldn't recognize. Also, I found getting out of my High Desert rut (although it is a rut I love) was refreshing for me. Hope she likes it! (it is only 90% done...will look at it tomorrow and see about hilights...any value adjustments, etc.) Also, the photo is not my best effort, as it is an unfinished piece.

As winter comes on...there was freezing rain today...I am taking the time to go through old photo reference and work on some pieces I have wanted to paint for quite awhile. This particular view of the lower trail around Smith Rock is one of my favorite areas to paint. In good weather it is a great plein air spot...but on days like this I can feel warmer by just painting these favorite places.

Sometimes when a commission "rests" in the studio it continues to beckon for "one last stroke." That is what happened with this painting...my client will pick it up later this month, but it has been in the studio for two months or more. Over time I realized that there was not enough value contrast...so I continued to work on the shadows. Today I realized I had veered to far and almost panicked. But a couple of hours later I had undone some of the over-painted quality...and yet had reinforced the focal point and the value contrast. Whew! I am glad I made changes from what I at first thought was done...and really glad I undid some of the later work, but am thinking of putting other commissions in storage prior to their pick up!!! (ps. the color photo has more intense chroma than the actual painting...but I am waaaaay too tired to adjust the photo today.)

I have been painting a lot and not blogging. Just completed two commissions. This painting, 40 x 40 was a real joy to paint as it is of my favorite subject...the wonderful cloudscapes I see out of my window. I didn't have to travel far for the photo reference...just stepped outside. And when I wanted to have a real life look (40x40 is too big for a plein air) I just had to pick my day. Not all have these clouds, but almost every evening we get some dramatic cloud shadows on the mountains.

Walden had his pond; I have mine. There is an irrigation pond about two miles from my studio...this pond is especially beautiful as it is quite large, and the vegetation frames a wonderful view of Gray Butte and Smith Rocks about 15 miles in the distance. I come here quite often to either paint or photograph the pond in different light, in different seasons. This larger,studio painting is of the pond as it was a few days ago...late autumn, a crisp afternoon.