Waterlily Study

"Waterlily Study"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard
This is another DPW Challenge photo that I used to post on that site.  I struggle to paint from other people's photos, as they don't have the same outcome in mind that I choose when I shoot my photos.  Yet, I did it.

Now here's a tidbit for you.  I left about 50 primed panels in Iowa last week when was there. Yup, a whole tote full of them, PLUS the paintings I did while I was gone. In the confusion of leaving the WONDERFUL Andrew Orr workshop, my tote apparently became invisible and eluded my final gaze.  They are being shipped to me, so in the meantime, I'm using the few remaining panels I have in my studio to make my posting deadlines.  Sheesh!

Carol

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Rainbow Cloud

"Rainbow Cloud"
6" x 6'
Oil on hardboard
High cumulus clouds drifted over the lake that evening, but so, too, were some colorful low lying rainclouds that caught the light of the setting sun behind me. It was the strangest sight to see rainbows in the clouds that were actively dumping into the huge body of water near where I live.  

Carol

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Reflecting

"Reflecting"
10" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel

There were bushes at the edge of the lake on the distant shore that had turned yellow and red before any on my side of the lake. I saw them that morning and decided to document them with only a few strokes.  

Quick, thick and juicy brush studies are fun to paint in thirty minutes or less. They loosen my hand, my heart and my mind for whatever I'm about to paint. It's an exercise that happens to become something tangible.

Carol

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Serene

"Serene"
12" x 12" 
Oil on wrapped canvas
Across the lake, way on the other side is where I think morning originates.  How small of me to limit my thoughts to only as far away as my thoughts wander and linger.  But I think it's human nature to keep enormous concepts like orbits and the cosmos in human scale. Well, it's my nature, anyway.

I painted this sky and yesterday's on canvas to see if I could. All the skyscapes I've made have been on panels. I think my technique worked well enough to take sky to the next level.  I'm going to try to expand my soft skies to include soft solid forms, too. I'll ease into it, but know it's coming.

Carol

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Quiet

"Quiet"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
There had been so much going on; planning, laughter, cooking, conversation, entertaining, frivolity, feasting, then nothing but quiet. The quiet of a household after a five-day party is often as unnerving as the commotion of a full to overflowing house. This painting depicts what it felt like when they all left. Quiet. 

My family celebrated a fifteen-year tradition of Faux Thanksgiving over the weekend. Friends and family came to eat turkey and play for five days.  It happens two weeks before real Thanksgiving every year.  And every year it gets louder while they're here and quieter when they leave.  For all of this, I am thankful.

Love,
Carol

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Bleeding Heart

"Bleeding Heart"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
The sun rose that morning with more fanfare than the day warranted.  It bled all over the horizon, leaking onto the coastal waters and even tinting a rock or two.  Nobody even saw the orb responsible for this much drama.  

Another sky while my life gets sorted. Or is it sordid?  Either way, you get sky.  :-)  

Carol

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Rising From the Depths

"Rising From the Depths"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
Morning is so worth witnessing when there's a place to watch the sun rise from the depths of her nighttime hiding place. She brings with her such dandy colors and patterns and tosses them into the air with reckless abandon.

Sky, sky sky.  Does she know how to paint anything else?   Yes, and she's doing it behind your back.  Wait a few more days and you'll see.  Yikes, I hope so, anyway.

Carol

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Mattison Lake

"Mattison Lake"
8" x 10"
Acrylic on wrapped canvas
I was on a pontoon, anchored and painting. The wind kept me pointed toward this view for long enough to do justice to the choppy water.  

Plein air on a pontoon is one of my favorite painting venues. I wish I owned my own pontoon, but then I'd have to live on a lake to make it worth my while.  I'd like that, as well!

Carol

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It Feels Like—Home

"It Feels Like-Home"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

I've been thinking about water lilies, but my thoughts have migrated to the under-side of the pad. What goes on under there? Is there a small universe, a microcosm to which we dry folks are not privy?  Does it feel like—home to creatures we never see? 


I've wanted to paint from this photo for a while, but hadn't chosen a blue or a palette of greens.  Prussian, Viridian and cadmium yellows did the trick. Oh, and I sponged on the blue.

Thanks for visiting today.
Carol





Turning

"Turning"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard
Along the bank of this stream was a bed of weeds that shone with such a vibrant red orange that I had to stop to photograph them. They were NOT indigenous to our locale.  Had someone planted them to amuse, bewilder, astound? 


I put the deep red weeds in the foreground of this traditional piece to give it life. And because of it, I tucked a bush in the background of the same color.  It had to be there.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Carol

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Afloat

"Afloat"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
I spent time in a kayak one morning last summer, bobbing on Lake Michigan. I loved being close to water level with the ability to focus where land was not in sight—for a few seconds at a time!  Self-inflicted terror is what it actually was.  I found myself stealing peeks toward shore for comfort. 


This is another of my recent paintings, where sky is the primary player.  I have enjoyed this exercise in dusting wet paint with a mop brush.  I've already begun to use it on other pieces.

Thank you for drifting along with me today.
Carol

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Winding Through

"Winding Through"
10" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel






















There were narrow places in the stream that you could step over, others wide and deep enough for fish to gather.  Every step of the way was intriguing and teeming with life.  


If you look closely at this piece you'll see the calligraphic strokes of my rubber tipped shader. I toned the canvas with burnt umber so those marks reflect the underpainting, and not white.  There are times when this technique just feels right.

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Colorado Stream

"Colorado Stream"
14" x 11"
Acrylic on wrapped canvas






















I had chased this little stream with my eyes as we drove toward Rocky Mountain National Park. I wasn't about to get out of the car to traipse around the countryside to document it.  But suddenly the road came close enough, and I leaped out and shot a dozen or so.  

That sounded like I was moose hunting, didn't it?  Well, actually I was.  Not with a gun, but my point and shoot camera. Just down stream from here, on the way back I did find a moose.  She was grazing with her calf.  I have it cropped and ready to paint, but haven't begun yet.

This piece is in my gallery on Dailypaintworks.  It's also for sale on their auction site.

Thank you for wading in to say hi.
Carol

Devil's Thumb Ranch Pond

"Devil's Thumb Ranch Pond"
8" x 10"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Probably it had a practical use, this little body of water, but to me, it was a little gem with nothing between it and me but air.  Everything in Colorado is on a grand scale, so this meandering pond, or brook, or creek was approachable, and much to my liking. 


This is one of several pieces from a memorable trip.  It can be seen and for purchase on Dailypaintworks.com.


Thank you for stopping by.
Carol