Sky Over the Desert

"Sky Over the Desert"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
That evening was windier than it had been all day, and the horizon was becoming indistinct. Sand commingled at heights normally reserved for birds of prey, and come morning, the gritty sherbet-colored mix would return to tan. 

It's been a while since I've painted  a simple sky, but I was moved to make one this morning.

Carol

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Morning Behind Me

"Morning Behind Me"
4" x 4"
Pastel on hardboard
I saw this sky in my rearview mirror as I drove that morning. The opalescent colors lingered in the humid air and presented me with a rectangular gift of color for about twenty minutes. 

I tested a couple of products to achieve this texture.  I painted Liquitex clear gesso onto an aquabord panel. The gesso gave additional tooth to an already textured panel.  I didn't  sand it, just toned it, as usual, and proceeded. I'll be experimenting more as time goes on.

Carol

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Passionate

"Passionate"
8" x 10"
Oil on hardboard
The sky was filled with a glorious light that burnished every surface with a golden patina. I love this quiet time of day when nature exhibits her version of how passion looks. 

 No matter how I adjusted it, I couldn't get the sky color here to match that in the painting, where it's a drabbed periwinkle, not cobalt blue. The rest of it is reasonably close, however.

Carol

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Morning Over My Lake

"Morning Over My Lake"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
My lake enjoyed a break from winter's harsh thrashing when a fifty-degree day blew through. Some of her ice melted when the temperatures rose, and warm rain puddled on her frozen surface like a tepid bath. Did it feel like a promise of Spring?  It did to me. 


I have a solo show coming up in July.  It seems like a long way off, but not really, when I consider I need some new large art. One of the large pieces I plan to exhibit will be a composite piece of about fifty of these sky paintings.  I have some ideas percolating as to how to accomplish my dream, but nothing firm yet.

Carol

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Got Kites?

"Got Kites?"
8" x 8"
Oil on hardboard 
The prairie, vested in verdant attire, beckoned for me to run in zigs and zags with a paper kite. Spring was in the air, and soon, too, would be the carefree symbol of my joyful youth.

I long to fly a kite in the balmy skies of a month with fewer than five letters in its name. Doesn't January take her sweet time?

Carol

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Rise and Shine

"Rise and Shine"
10" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel 
My mother used to waken me and my siblings with cheerful encouragement, especially on summer mornings by saying, "Rise and shine, the day's a wasting."  I don't remember ever wasting a day as a child, or as an adult, for that matter. Nor do I remember her being so mean as to waken us at daybreak.  She was a great mother and my friend. 

I'm testing my ability to paint sky with traditional oil paints. I've used primarily water miscible paints from the beginning; however, I'm taking AND teaching a workshop in the next few months so I'll be using these to get accustomed to them — and using mineral spirits instead of water!  Yikes.

Carol

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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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Rye, Wispy

"Rye, Wispy"
6" x 8"
Oil on hardboard
I tickled my own fancy with the title of today's painting. It was just going to be "Wispy," but when I looked at the field of ... rye, I couldn't help myself.  I'm being silly, of course, but I'm allowed. It's my blog! 

I worked on two knife paintings this morning and made messes of both of them. So I decided to write a short story instead. Once it was under way, another painting, this one, came easily.

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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Watery Dawn


"Watery Dawn"
5" x 12"
Oil on hardboard  
Dawn lifts her silky veil to reveal the blush of a new day. Doze a few moments too long and you'll miss her show altogether. Best begin sipping your coffee in the darkest hour... and wait. It'll be worth your while.   

When I had the panel cut for my commission piece, I asked that the rest of the board be cut into some different shapes and sizes. I've gessoed dozens of new panels to explore some familiar subjects in new formats.  

Carol


Sunset Ridge

"Sunset Ridge"
20" x 16"
Oil on hardboard




















The splendor in the sky that evening filled my window from top to bottom instead of puddling only around the sill.  I decided to present it as I had experienced it—vertically.  Fortunately. There were so many changes as I worked my way down the panel that I was happy to have the extra space to move from one color and texture to the next.  

 I hope you enjoy this larger size and format from what I've been painting recently.  I found a stack of these panels under my drawing board, so I'll be making more of them in the weeks to come.

Carol

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Little Puffs of Steam

"Little Puffs of Steam"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
They weren't serious cumulonimbi drifting across the plains, but more like little puffs of steam, the kind that sputter from a too-full tea kettle before it boils onto the stove. Or the steam iron that spits angrily the second you hold it over the blouse you simply have to wear that day.

I'm working on a large rose painting that is requiring more of my attention than usual, but she'll be worth the effort.

Carol

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Tumbling Turmoil

"Tumbling Turmoil"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

Sunsets are often yellow, orange, and red. And because red has the longest wavelength of any visible light, when it’s on the horizon, where its extremely long path through the atmosphere, it blocks all other colors.
It's another sky painting for while I'm working on a large rose painting— that's going slowly. 
Carol

Majesty

"Majesty"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
The sun nestled into a bank of clouds, upstaging the mountains, and snuggled in the downy fluff like a kitten in a basket of tangerine yarn. 

Here's another in my series of skies. I cobbled this one from several photos in my files.  While I still have paint on my tiny Styrofoam plate, I'll probably make one other one to post tomorrow night. I love making them.  Can you tell?  

Carol

Evening Attire

"Evening Attire"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
My destination was further away, and took longer to get to than I expected. I had been looking down at where I would step next as I crossed the field.  When I looked up the sky was wearing evening attire the color of ripe mangoes.  

Another sky painting for the collection. I tried not to make this one too soft.  Edges on clouds present a different atmosphere. I had to concentrate on leaving them.  I'm a soft cloud person.  

Carol 

Good Morning

"Good Morning"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
"Good morning my love, come see the sunrise. I'm glad you're waking up to watch it with me.  I wasn't going to waken you, but now that you're... honey?  My darling?  It's okay, we can watch the sunset tonight, instead." 


I enjoy making these small sky paintings.  They give me satisfaction and joy to be able to produce them from passion within.

Carol

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