Rushes at Delta Ponds 8"x 10"

The plein air group painted at Delta Ponds last Friday.  I felt like I was finally getting the idea of how to do distant bushes, trees etc.  I love the water color but I couldn't seem to convey a mass of rushes.  I'll work on that.

Looking West at Delta Ponds 8"x 10"

Delta Ponds is such an amazing place.  So many views.  This is one of 2 I managed to do last week.  We have rain again and the garden is so overgrown and needing attention that I won't be able to paint for a while.

Lupine Trail 8" x 10"

The lupines at Delta Ponds are beautiful.  This is the last painting I did before going  to my dad's for a week.

Delta Ponds with Lupine 8"x 10"

I'm hoping to try using a slightly larger canvas for a while.  It didn't really take much longer.  I really like this composition.  I wish I could get all the values right.  It seems like a good one to try redoing inside.  I plan to go out to the ponds again today but then I have to be out of town for a week.  Seems so sad to leave since we finally have a spell of sunny weather.

Sunlit Dining Room 6"x 8"

I had to do this from a photo because the sunlight was so fleeting that day.

Tree Peonies 8'x 6"

These peonies have been sitting on the dining room table begging to be painted.  It was fun to paint in the main part of the house and Lulu liked having me down there too.

Angela with her Shopping Bag 8"x 10"

Angela posed again.  I wanted to try putting a face in.  I guess the composition is a little weaker than the first attempt.  It was a fun but exhausting weekend.  Glad I'm retired and can rest today.

Tall Trees 9"x 12'

You can see this stand of fir trees looking east from Tamarack Center where we had our workshop. Unfortunately there is a housing development nestled into the area to their right.  I tried to leave the houses out but wasn't able to imagine what the bases of the trees would look like.  I think it has potential.  I'd like to lighten it and work on the sky more so I won't scrape it off.

Woman Seated in a Garden 6"x 8"

Jerry's wife Angela came and sat for us in the afternoon.  Several people liked this one but I scraped it off.  I think that light spot on the left next to the tree is a real composition flaw.  I think if it were a little darker that would solve the problem.

Figures on a Boat 8"x 10"

Our plein air group had a work shop with Jerry Ross this weekend.  It was lots of fun.  If you don't know his work, he advocates stopping before the painting reaches what would be traditionally a finished state.  This maintains the original freshness and vigor of the sketch.  This was my first try from a photo he had taken in Italy.  I love this one.  The placement of the figures, their silhouettes against the sea and sky.  But I can't bring myself to think of it as a painting that can be framed and hung on a wall.

Delta Ponds Late April 6"x 8"

I spent a lot of time on this.  I like the composition and some things work but there are lots of things I'd like to improve

Fadeley Farm 6"x 8"

Our group got invited to a private farm south of Creswell last Saturday.  Beautiful sunny day.  I used my old Easy L easel.  I've had a lot of trouble with paintings coming out dark and this one did too.  I think maybe it's because the palette had medium grey paper under the plexiglass.  I had been using one of James Coulter's palette boxes with very light grey paper lately.  I scraped this painting off and have replaced the paper but I think I may put even lighter color paper in and see if I do better.  Something I'm working on.

Fisher Unit Late April 6 x 8"

This is my favorite of the 4 I'm going to post today.  I'm happy with the bare trees.  I probably should have put the middle trees a little to the right so it wasn't dot..dot..dot, but gosh, I don't think that fast.  Also need some sky holes to make those trees airier.
The good weather came on quite suddenly and I've been too worn out to post til now.  A little blustery today, but not bad.

End of Shore Lane 6"x8"

The Plein Air group was scheduled to paint at the Eugene Yacht Club but I couldn't figure out a composition so I went to the little park at the end of Shore Lane which is very close.  Although I wish I had done better (what else is new?)  There were a couple things that worked that I want to remember.  I've been trying to figure out how to do bare trees.  Here I used raw sienna mixed with the blue sky color and it came out pretty close.  Some sky holes would help too.  I love the sky color in the middle and it was mostly veridian and white, a little ultramarine.

Happy Little Hellebores 6"x 6"

These little guys don't seem to mind the continual rainy weather we are having at all.  They are better sports than I am.

Apricot Tulip 6"x 6"

This was my second attempt yesterday.  I really loved the way the different facets of the jar cought the color.  I think I'll try painting this jar and another for a while to see if I can work on simplifying glass.

Purple Anenome 6"x 6"

My attempt here was to try to simplify the areas I paint.  To just o go for the main impression in the glass and the light and dark of the flower.  I thought it was a dismal failure so I wiped it off.  Now it doesn't seem so bad.  Glad I took a photo.

Broccoli 6"x 6"

This was kind of fun.  A little bit like painting trees--which seems impossible given our weather so far this year.

Scissors and Thread 6"x 6"

I've had these sewing scissors since I was a young woman.  They are really wonderful--and ever so sharp.  Drawing them was a real challenge.  And then there was all that shiney stuff, reflections.  Kind of a nightmare.  I couldn't figure out which were islands and which were oceans.  Now that it's over, I think it would work well to paint the black parts of the reflections first--call them islands and then the lighter color parts for ocean.  Bling last, of course.

Tom Turkey 6"x 6"

We've had turkeys roaming the neighborhood for a few months.  A couple weeks ago there were 13!  Two toms and 11 hens.  We live just to the west of the downtown core so it seems pretty special.  The males were all puffed up.  It must have been mating season, I'm guessing.  This was fun.

It's All About You...And the Paint, Little Tomato 6"x 6"

I had fun doing this one which an unusual experience for me.  I tried a few different tactics, mostly because of conversations with women at Tues. night painting.  Sarah said she always mixes up a bunch of paint, which I haven't been doing lately.  That was really useful and cut down on time--just adjusting the color rather than mixing a new batch for every color change.  I also had cleaned some old tired brushes I used to like with Murphy's Oil and they work pretty well.  They are Princeton 6300 flats.  I liked them so much that I ordered some more.

Looking North at Checkmallow 6"x 8"

This is the first one I did Friday.  I had a hard time figuring out how to do a lot of foreground grass.  There was kind of a puddly area where the dark is.  When I came home I moved one of those dark low spots in front of the taller tree.  I sure have a habit of making evenly spaced dots.  I'll photograph it again after it's dry enough to remove the bug.  I am starting to like this one.

At Checkermallow 8"x 6"

Friday was pretty nice and the plein air group was at Checkermallow on Royal, one of my truly favorite places to paint.  I had gone the day before and done several thumbnail sketches and this is a scene that I thought might work for an abstract interpretation.  There were reflections that day so the water wasn't just one huge mass.  Actually I thought big masses might work but this was so awful.  I didn't know how to interpret all that green grass or all the choppy water.  This is the second one I did Friday.   It is gone now, scraped off, thank goodness.

Model at MK 16"x14"

Last night I had the head too small for the body so worked a little this morning to try to get body parts more in proportion.  The close arm still seems too long but I think I will try to live with it since I don't think I can or want to rework the hand area.  I'll see if I can manage to pull it together next week.

Model in a Yellow Robe 8"x 10"

This is from the Tuesday night painting session at Maude's.  I am really enjoying these sessions and will try a bigger one next time.

2 Egg Yolks, Glass Bowl & Shells 6" x 8"

There are a few things I wish I had done differently but am pretty happy with this one.  I hadn't really thought much about that little membrane in eggshells before--the way it bubbles up.  It got even bigger toward the end of the painting.  I guess that was caused by the heat of the light.  Other action during the course of the painting was one of our many resident ladybugs taking a stroll on the rim of the bowl.

Delta Ponds First Take 14" x 11"

I've been working on an idea that will take a while to follow through.  I'd like to make larger paintings of my little 6"x 8"'s.  My original idea is that I would try to do somewhat abstract landscapes that would have texture and layers of color.  I doesn't seem like I am able to make them abstract at this point so I'm going to work on texture and layers.  I worked on these 2 days ago and they still aren't dry so I'll put them aside for a while and work on ther stuff.
This post is for both of the paintings I put on today.

Golden Gardens First Take 14"x 11"

Golden Gardens February 6" x 8"

It looked like the sun was about to come out and it was 58* so I thought I'd try painting.  It kept getting grayer and grayer.  By the time I quit my hands had gone from being cold to a sort of tingly clenched up.  I'll make sure I have my gloves next time.
The purple of the background trees seemed so bright outside but here at home it looks brown.  I'll try not to grey it so much next time.  The shape of the water was actually to the right of the background scene so I was pretty happy that I was able to alter the composition.  I got lost when it came to those foreground trees.  Still not sure how I should have handled that.
Heading up to my dad's in a couple days so won't be able to paint for a while.

Summer Pickles 6"x 6"

These pickles were pretty fun to paint.  I'll probably try them again.