Morning Has Broken

Morning Has Broken   12" x 12"   Oil on wrapped canvas   $200

A month ago I went to the Botanic Gardens earlier than I'm normally out of bed. It was a beautiful summer morning with low humidity. The sun, low in the sky, cast shadows like I had not witnessed before. I was rewarded for my early excursion.

I've been gone. I've actually been here, at home, but not so much in my studio. I gave myself permission to rest, to become fallow, replenish, refresh and do nothing.  Nothing turned out to be preparation for three exhibits, several house portraits and commission pieces, but I'm not compelled to post.  Not yet, anyway. I'll share with you the triptych when it's hanging in Wisconsin.  I'll announce the shows on a different day. For tonight, I'm just dipping my toes back into the pond and sharing a rose that dazzled my senses.  She will be in one of my shows. But more about that next time. 

Carol                 


Fragrant As She Looks

"Fragrant As She Looks"
24" x 24"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
I painted on this large painting with my friends on Thursday. In my haste to get home and finish her, I left ALL of my paints and my favorite brushes at the painting site… an hour away from home. Of course, I didn't realize it until I was ready to unload my car.  So I repeated my trek to Woodstock to fetch my precious materials. I got home at ten o'clock at night.  Oh, I did paint, but only for an hour. Then I finished her today. 

On my way home, the first time, I photographed 77 new peonies. I have subject matter for some pretty strong paintings.

Carol

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My Friend

"My Friend"
8" x 8"
Oil on hardboard
My daughter sent a photo to me today with "My Friend" in the subject line. I thought it was going to be a photo of someone she works with. Not even close. It was something growing in her yard. Something purple and very much in keeping with her taste in flowers. I'm honoring her with a painting of her "friend." A portrait, of sorts. For you, my dear Natalie. 

Love,
Mom

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Blue For You

"Blue For You"
!0" x 8"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Spring pansies are on racks at the entrance to my grocery store. This one was among the beauties being jostled by the wind as I walked in to pick up a roasted chicken the other day. I'm so desperate to see growing, living things I'll settle for hot house pansies as subject matter.  

I haven't painted a yellow and blue pansy before. It was fun to determine the shadow colors in the folds. The other thing that was fun to observe and paint was the veining, not just the bold purple ones, but the subtle veins that created shadows.  They're easy to see in the actual painting.

Carol

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Yellow Rose

"Yellow Rose"
16" x 12"
Pastel on black canvas



















"She's the sweetest little rosebud 
That Texas ever knew,
Her eyes are bright as diamonds,
They sparkle like the dew;
You may talk about your Clementine,
And sing of Rosalee,
But the Yellow Rose of Texas 
Is the only girl for me."

I noticed that many of my cohorts are painting roses this time of year. I wonder what that's about?

Carol

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Lotus

"Lotus"
6" x 6"
Pastel on black panel
I photographed this lotus a few years ago, but haven't painted her. I'm not sure why, but here she is now. The water these plants grow in at the Botanic Gardens is dark and the pads are jade in color. 

I like the black of the panel showing through, but it really does look more appropriate in person than in the photo of my work.

Carol

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By Any Other Name...

"By Any Other Name"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
It's been three months, well nearly, since I've painted a rose. I've dabbled with new subject matter, dipped a toe into the warm waters of another medium and generally spread my wings, but here I am, back to my roots, the place I long to be — at my easel with a rose. And yes, she smelled as sweet as ever. 

 Carol  

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Hanging Geranium

"Hanging Geranium"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
In late spring, a basket of geraniums was hanging at eye level in my neighborhood. I saw her from afar and I knew she'd be outrageous subject matter when photographed close up. To my delight, there was even more going on than merely colorful, full-blown blossoms.  Her hanging buds enchanted me. I love summer flowers! 

I've been wanting to paint this since I shot it in April.  After painting so much green in the last few weeks, for a change of pace I treated myself to the complement of 
green.

 Carol

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Papaver Nudicaule

"Papaver Nudicaule"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard
My lavender poppy had opened during the first light a few mornings prior, and this was her final hour — the end of what had been a beautiful run.  She was bulbous when she first appeared, but svelte petals unfolded, revealing her gorgeous center.  Tonight would be her final appearance. She'd drop her seeds and become a fertile memory to those who had known her in her prime.

This was actually painted from a photo of a white papaver that I found early in the spring at the Botanic Gardens. I wanted to paint it while poppies were in bloom, but something else auditioned and won.   So here she is in July, none the worse for wear.

Carol

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Evening Sunflower

"Evening Sunflower"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard  

Around her coffee-colored face, she wore a headdress as bright as the sun itself. Sunset having taken its final bow, the event was about to begin. No one suspected that, despite a lifetime of performing, Sunny had butterflies ... in her stomach. 

This is a painting based on the photo on this week's Dailypaintworks.com Challenge.  It's been ages since I entered one of Carol Marine's Challenges, but this one seemed like the perfect subject to paint on the Fourth of July.

Carol

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Big, Fat Peony

"Big, Fat Peony"
14" x 14"
Oil on hardboard 

 
She was a beauty, this big, fat peony. I found her hiding her girth in the shadows of one of my favourite gardens that spring afternoon.  She was no spring chicken, but heading into her golden years, edges fraying, and about as full-blown as she would get. I loved every bit of her roundness, her vitality and her personality! She had all the young buds bobbing in the sunshine.   

Thanks to those of you who wrote to me when you noticed I had not posted in a few days.  I've been painting house portraits, but I took a break from them to delight my spirit by doing this painting.

Love to you,
Carol

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Verve

"Verve"
24" x 24"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
When I talked with my friend about painting this hibiscus from a photo I took at the Lincoln Park Conservatory on Monday of this week, my concern was entirely about maintaining the verve I had captured in the photograph. I do believe I did it! 

Today was a rainy day in Chicagoland. Okay, we had 4" of rain today, so it was a perfect day to paint ALL day. I began this at eight o'clock this morning and finished it at eleven o'clock tonight.  "Alla prima." In one sitting, wet on wet.  I ate, meditated, napped and ate again, but that is all I did once I began. I love rainy days.  

Carol

Mother

"Mother"
24" x 24"
Oil on Museum wrapped canvas
April seems to be the month for losing mothers in my circle of friends. I lost mine in April, too. My post of a pink peony today is in honour of all the mothers who have left us and are now "safely home."  

All those petals pointing in so many directions in a gazillion shades of pink, may have daunted me in the past, but I rose (peony, actually) to the challenge and passionately painted this piece without fear or trepidation.  Love was the motivator.

Bless our mothers.

Carol

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Priscilla

"Priscilla"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Slowly, she unfurled one petal after another to reveal her tender bits. Priscilla's heavenly scent would now attract a myriad buzzing suitors to gather her fragrant pollen. Imagine the taste of the honey this beauty might flavour. 

It's been a while since I've painted a rose, my favourite subject matter.
 
Carol

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Calla Curl

"Calla Curl"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
The spathe curls around her spike like she knows there is a big ice and snow storm decorating our zip code with crystalline ornaments. Tree branches are balancing snow flakes like stacks of white china plates on spidery networks of narrow shelves. It's February and we are getting our first REAL snow. 

This is from the last of the photos I took in line at the grocery store checkout.  I'll find more callas and do a few more ... soon.

Carol

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Antique Hydrangea

"Antique Hydrangea"
20" x 20"
Oil on wrapped canvas
I walked into the produce department of Whole Foods to buy cherries and watermelon, but walked out with three stems of hydrangeas instead. I tried not to fall in love, but I tumbled at the colorful petals, the texture, the massive heads.  I'll be painting these bad boys again! 

Each head is a different color and every cluster of four petals is unique, too. I will have a lot of fun making art from my "fruit substitute."

Carol

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