Streaming Amethyst

"Streaming Amethyst"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 
The sky reflected an amethyst quality onto the stream in front of me. I was tempted to wade into it with a fine mesh net to gather  the precious booty. 

 I love how water takes on the colors of what surrounds it and is in it. Here, I considered the sky, weeds, trees and rocks as I painted.

Carol

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Stacked

"Stacked"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
I hobbled barefooted across the smooth limestone rocks on the Lake Michigan beach, up on the northern shore of Door County, Wisconsin. For the most part, the rounded stones washed ashore and scattered randomly along a specific stretch of beach. But I found a cluster of them that had been stacked — by hands. Chubby, cherubic hands.  

The stones are so sensual. You can hear them before you see them as they rattle up to and away from the shore. They are a pale dove gray and feel like something you'd purchase in a spa shoppe to fondle away your woes.  They're so unique that they'r protected by law. You can't remove them from the beaches. None.  Just photos…

Carol

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Rapids

"Rapids"
  9" x 12"
Pastel on black canvas 
I heard the sound of splashing water before I even saw the blue reflection of sky on its surface. It wasn't a large rapids, but several small ones disrupting an otherwise serenely winding stream at the base of a stack of gigantic Colorado boulders. 

Constructing this landscape was almost as much fun as happening upon it. 

Carol 

Castlewood Canyon

"Castlewood Canyon"
12" x 9"
Pastel on black canvas



















I wandered around Castlewood Canyon in Colorado to enjoy a completely different kind of landscape from where I live. The rocks were plentiful and large, the trees were not placed in the ground by landscapers. This was nothing like Illinois.  

I managed to make the rocks look solid, so I'm going to try another couple of paintings of the same area.

Carol

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Rock Pile

"Rock Pile"
4.5" x 5"
Pastel on sanded paper
The sky, trees, rocks and weeds intrigue me when I visit my friends in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  The shapes and colors are so different from what we see here on the suburban prairie. 

 As I have mentioned before, I am repainting some of the subject matter I've painted in oil and acrylic in pastel. I find it very satisfying.

Carol

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Rock Me

"Rock Me"
9" x 6"
Pastel on sanded paper




















Rocks intrigue me — especially rounded ones. I love the way they look, sound and feel. I found these river rocks and photographed them, then immediately began humming the old Sesame Street jingle, "One of these things is not like the others…"  

It's my first attempt at painting rocks with pastels. I'll be doing THIS again. I enjoyed it thoroughly.  

Carol

Pine Family

"Pine Family"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel
In a sunny spot on the forest floor pine siblings are in their third or fourth summer at their parents' feet. 

 I received a gift of many small canvas and hardboard panels recently, so I will be painting in different sizes than my customary 6" x 6" square.  I'm excited to try a new format, although some of them are squares... but 4" x 4".

Carol

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Sunday Morning

"Sunday Morning"
9" x 12"
Oil on canvas panel
We set up in a couple of different areas to chase the light that Sunday morning. First, as close to the car as possible, then on the other side of the poison ivy and finally in a cove where the wind wouldn't gnaw at my bare hands.  This is the view in the last location, but in reality there was only one rock. It wanted company.

I'll be painting a lot of trees this summer as I paint en plein air, using Andrew Orr's palette of colours.  I'm enrolled in Andrew's workshop at the end of this month in Iowa. No greens were squeezed in this exercise. Instead, I used Cad Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine and Burnt Umber.  A smidgen of Cad Scarlet warmed up some of the greens and the water.

Carol

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Rocks of Ages

"Rocks of Ages"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
There are few things older in my collections of natural things than my rounded rocks. Few things more satisfying to fondle, ponder and photograph. Now that I'm comfortable painting them, too, I'll create more compositions with rocks to offer for your viewing pleasure.

I'm tickled to announce that two of my paintings have been used in the Dick Blick Spring Sale catalog that arrived in the mail this week.  Both are on page 60 with attribution under each. 

Carol 

Rock Pile

"Rock Pile"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Loving gifts of miscellaneous beach rocks collected at my side the day I took my grandchildren to the beach.  Granmama became the recipient of many and varied Lake Michigan rocks. 

This is my last rock painting for a while.  Maybe.

Carol

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Rock Band

"Rock Band"
10" x 10"
Oil on wrapped canvas


Yup, Rock Rand.  Take a look at the painting.  Get it?  I've been collecting banded rocks like the ones in this painting since I was a child. I pick them up whenever I see them and put them in my courtyard or on a shelf with others in my studio. Banded rocks delight my sense of whimsy. 

I'll be leaving rocks pretty soon, but not quite yet.  I have another idea to present. THEN it's back to roses.  I bought a bouquet of them for myself today.  I sold some art, got a commission and scheduled a workshop, so I'm celebrating with the other thing that delights me.  

Carol     

Hope

"Hope"
24" x 24"
Oil and Acrylic on wrapped canvas 
January is a time of regrouping, renewing and becoming who we want to be, for whatever reason. It's a contemplative time, a meditative time and a time to give up or re-up. 

I spent today making this large painting filled with imagery and symbolism in honour of those of us who are in flux, in quandaries or just plain sick (and tired).  Give it your best shot, darlings! There's hope. Spring is within reach.

Love to all who ... struggle,
Carol

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Red Rock Canyon

"Red Rock Canyon"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel
It was one of those sapphire skies that hangs majestically over parts of the country where I don't live!  This particular one was in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada.  I stopped there on my way to experience Hoover Dam.  

Today I worked on several paintings, including this one. On Tuesday I'm going to spend the day in Kenosha, Wisconsin at the Transparent Watercolor Society of America show. With my roots in watercolor, I still aspire to entering a piece in this competition... some day.

Thank you for being here today. 
Carol



Castlewood Canyon Rocks

"Castlewood Canyon Rocks"
7" x 5"
Oil on wrapped canvas






















Last fall while I was in Colorado, I made a trip with my friends to Castlewood Canyon.  Not far from where we were staying, this place just appears out of nowhere, mystifies its visitors, then turns back into prairie again.  I suppose canyons are like that. 


This small piece, rectangular for a change, is the first in a little series I'll be posting on Colorado memories.  I'm gearing up to paint a few new serious florals and still life pieces, and landscapes of places I adore are my warmup exercises.  And this is my first experience with Paynes Gray in oil.  I mixed it in conjunction with Gray of Gray.  I happen to like it.

Thank you for hiking here today.
Carol

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Gull Stones

"Gull Stones"
8" x 10"
Oil on wrapped canvas
There weren't as many seagulls up in Door County as I thought there would be, considering the amount of water and the number of tourists.  This, one feather was the only evidence of their presence. Although, strangely enough, someone standing next to me with binoculars said he was watching pelicans circle overhead.  I Googled it when I got home. Yup. White ones.

The weave of the canvas shows through my thin painting style, and gives a neat texture to these rocks.  It's more pronounced in the photo than in real life.

This painting is listed with, and for sale through a Daily Paintworks Auction.

Thank you for visiting today,
Carol