Painting: Peony

This one is 24 X 36, a respectable flower by any measure. These two paintings will be available at Aurora Gallery (see address in sidebar) in a week or so, as soon as they are framed. Anyone interested in some flower power?

Painting: Gerbera daisy

I love flowers. I love to paint flowers, too.

This flower seemed like a good idea when I started. It's bold and bright and beautiful. I put down my under painting and blocked in my dark and light pattern.

Then I started to paint. Man, there are a LOT of petals on a gerbera daisy. Lots of them. Should I paint all of them? Should I paint a few? Suggest some? Leave some out?

And the biggest question of all:

Why didn't I think of these things before I started?

Gerbera Daisy, 18 X 24 on Wallis Paper, pastel

Next time I'll consider painting a tulip.

Autumnal Equinox on MONDAY

So, one more day to relish summer. Too bad it's cool and rainy. But, I will share another rendition of "Summertime." Hope you enjoy it like I did.

Guess now I'll have to find some fall music I like as well...

Charcoal Sketch

It's been a while since I've done figures in charcoal, but I liked this one. My young friend, bass player, model.

In fact, she modeled for one of my paintings at the Kingstad Gallery. I can only hope that she will be in my life for the long haul. She's a remarkable young woman and it's a pleasure to know her.

Happy birthday, Katie.

Summer Time

Today was cloudy and cool. The leaves are changing from bright green to soft yellow and red orange. I am not ready for summer to be over!

But, it seems the Summertime is nearly over. Click on the word "summertime" to listen to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong do a beautiful rendition of one of my all time favorite tunes!

Show Time!!

More than 100 paintings are hanging at the Kingstad Gallery (mine included!) waiting for you to come and see them.

I hope that you will be able to attend the artist's reception on September 30, but the show will hang until December 5, so there's plenty of time to come.

You won't want to miss seeing stunning work by Kitty Wallis, Celeste Bergin, Mitch Baird, Cathleen Rehfield, Eric Bowman, Eric Jacobsen, and George Broderick. And that's on top of the amazing work by others in our group.

Click on the words "Kingstad Gallery" above for a sneak preview and directions to the gallery.

Hope you can come!

Kitty Wallis Workshop: final painting

Our final day of painting was at Summerlake Park in Tigard, OR. There were MANY people in the park, there to enjoy the sunshine and lake setting. Talk about distracting! Especially the fairy birthday party celebration. Here I am trying to paint a lake and there are all of these adorable fairies with wings and tutus running around.

Portland Plein Air and Studio Painters Show

An exciting week ahead! Wednesday, September 10, is the opening at the Kingstad Gallery of a beautiful show, "Expressions of Nature/ Expressions of Self." We've been painting for a year, much of it working on painting more expressively, and now you will have an opportunity to see the fruits of our efforts.

Master pastel artist Kitty Wallis is a member of Portland Plein Air & Studio Painters. She, along with 19 other group members (including me!) have been juried into the show. We are excited to also have the gracious participation of five world-class guest artists in this eye-popping show. You won't want to miss seeing work by Mitch Baird, Eric Bowman, Scott Gellaty, Eric Jacobsen and Cathleen Rehfeld. These are modern masters.

Kathy Delumpa Allegri, Celeste Bergin, Brenda Boylan, Jonathan Farley, Kathy Fisher, Carrie Holst, Amanda Houston, Kimberly Kent, Bev Drew Kindley, Mary Luzinski, Cris Merrill, Michael Orwick, Carolyn Rondthaler, Quin Sweetman, Barbara Szkutnik, Maeona Urban, Katherine van Schoonhoven, Jack VanNess, Kitty Wallis and Vicki Zimmerman

Guest Artists: Mitch Baird, Eric Bowman, Scott Gellaty, Eric Jacobsen and Cathleen Rehfeld

Show opens Wednesday, September 10.
Artist Reception Tuesday September 30.
[click on image above for gallery hours]

Art Fairy

Probably there's no such thing as an art fairy. But today, I saw this vision and I have to confess. I wished she were a real art fairy. Waving her wand over my sometimes mediocre art and magically making it wonderful. What a thought!


There are no short cuts with art. It's all about hard work. And lots of hours. Some call it putting miles on their brush.

Today was the last day of the Kitty Wallis workshop. I painted a decent painting of a lake. I'll post it another day. But today, I wanted to post the fairy. And say that she is the stuff of fairy tales, not reality. I have some miles to put on my brush.

Workshop Day Two -- painting

My second day's painting was a little bit of a challenge. I painted another artist painting the landscape. The wind was blowing enough that some artists lost their pastels into the grass when it all turned upside down.

It was another beautiful day in Westmoreland Park and the ducks swam in ponds that looked like paint!

More from the workshop

Yesterday's painting was so, well, so something (abstract, watery, vibrant, weird) that it stopped these two bikers in their tracks. Today's painting wasn't as successful. But, there's one more day to paint with Kitty Wallis. Any day painting with Kitty is a great day.

Studying with a master: Kitty Wallis, Day One

Here I am, ready to begin day 2 of a three day workshop with Master Pastel Artist Kitty Wallis. My weariness about painting the landscape falls away when I watch her paint her demo. First, she boldly creates a water-based under painting that looks like a big mess. Of course, it's exactly what she needs as a structure for the rest of the painting. Then, she adds pastel. And ...

ZING!

POP!

It begins to jump off the page.

I'd like a super-sized order of zing and pop. Can I have some ketchup with that?

My first painting looks really interesting from 20 feet. Keep your distance!

Trying new things

Once a month, I participate in a structured critique. It is not easy putting artwork up to be evaluated, but I think that it's been a good experience for me. First of all, I always learn something about how to improve my work. I usually learn something about myself, too.

Today I discovered that I am impatient in a slump. I'm not giving up or anything, but the new things I tried this week were not rousing successes. Somehow, though, I don't mind too much.

Here are the two I brought in for critique. They are small, only 11 X 14 and 12 X 16. Compared to my usual 18 X 24 or larger, quite small. I can see how working small caused me to tighten up. Use a tentative stroke. Feel inhibited, in a way. The consensus was: work big! I think I'll do that tomorrow.

Intake at the Kingstad Gallery

It was an exciting day! I packed up 10 paintings and drove them down to Beaverton where they were considered for the show "Expressions of Nature / Expressions of Self" at the Kingstad Gallery. Jurors for this show are Lora Fisher and George Broderick.

Some paintings were not accepted in the show, but many were accepted. I got a sneak peek at many of the paintings that were entered and WOW, it will be a great show.

The show will open September 10 with the opening reception September 30, 6 -- 9 pm.