Decarli Restaurant and Catalyst Wedge

These are 3 out of 5 paintings that will be on display 

at Decarli Restaurant from July 8 - September 8, 2015. 

 Ominous

48" x 36" x 1.5
oil on canvas
$1200
Click here to purchase

Grasslands
48" x 36" x 1.5
oil on canvas
$1200
Click here to purchase

Coastline

48" x 36" x 1.5

oil on canvas

$1200

Click here to purchase

Here is my husband, Lad, hanging them!

Process: right now I am using a Catalyst Wedge in my work. 

I took a close up of this photo of Coastline so that you might see it closer.

Catalyst Wedge  

I like the wedge because it allows me to move color 

and drag it around and extend a simple movement or direction. 

Does this make sense?

I have tried an old credit card, palette knives, matte board, 

card board, etc., but I like the Catalyst Wedge best.

I am anxious to try the squeeguee like artist Charlie Hunter.

Do you have anything that you prefer or that 

I might have missed? :)

 Listening to while I paint:

Audiobook:  

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Podcasts: 

Beyond the To-Do List, hosted by Erik Fischer

The Nerdist, John Cusack, hosted by Chris Hardwick

Artists Helping Artists, hosted by Leslie Saeta

The Chalene Show, hosted by Chalene Johnson
Social Media Examiner, hosted by Michael Stelzner
"Wait, Wait.... Don't Tell Me!", hosted by Peter Sagal
Splendid Table, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper
American's Test Kitchen, hosted by Christopher Kimball

Truth For Life, hosted by Alistair Begg

Music: 
My iPod

Really helpful!:
I am continually checking a dictionary, thesaurus, spell check, but one thing that has been particularly helpful is the grammar check. Please excuse any errors that I make and tell me! :)

Eric Jacobsen's Workshop

I went to Eric Jacobsen's workshop at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island,

What a beautiful place to paint!

He gave a demonstration....

in which he emphasized that his directional "lines" in the painting 

would lead you to the big oak tree... 

where the center of interest is....where you want the eye to get drawn to. 

Later on he said that the....

sky = 1st light source

ground = 2nd light source

hill = 3rd light source

upright (the tree) = 4th light source

On our second day he had us make 4 different versions of our composition.

 I decided to do two vertical.....

and two horizontal. 

Eric seemed to think that the top horizontal one was just right!

And this is what I painted.

"Sauvie Island 2"

10"x 8"

oil on gessoboard

$195

Click here to purchase

This is Eric.... 

a fabulous teacher, and very nice guy!

(photograph credit to David Burbach)

Audiobooks:
"The Hundred-Foot Journey", by Richard C. Morais, narrated by Neil Shah (I haven't seen the film yet! Starring Helen Mirren. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEO1TWeM5JU )

Podcasts: 

The Lede, hosted by Jerod Morris

Artists Helping Artists, hosted by Leslie Saeta

Social Media Examiner, hosted by Michael Stelzner

"Wait, Wait.... Don't Tell Me!", hosted by Peter Sagal

Music: 

My iPod

Hawaiian Turtle

Hawaiian Turtle

30"x 40"

acrylic on canvas

SOLD

This was for clients whose favorite vacation spot is Hawaii:

"We go to Hawaii as often as we can- We fell in love with the islands when we took a Hawaiian cruise in 2006. 

Each Island is so unique.  Our favorites are Maui and the big Island of Hawaii.  We've gone back 5 times since that cruise. We've been lucky enough to discover turtles in the water or on the beach each visit.  I'm always fascinated with how slow and agile they glide through the water. The photos we shared with you for this painting were from a visit 3 years ago to the Kona side of Hawaii.
The beach was very quiet that day, and we discovered several turtles resting on the beach near the black rocks.
We couldn't stop looking at them and comparing their shells and unique characteristics. This guy in particular seemed very tired and happy to just nap on the beach and soak up the sun! We sat down near him and did the same ; )"

Here is the process:

I drew out the image with vine charcoal so I could erase it (if necessary!), then I'd fix it or secure it with a workable fixative.

Thank goodness for Brian Buckrell! 

He is a wonderful painter. He introduced me to acrylic pens. I have only begun using them, but they helped me draw out the lines on the turtle. 

Listening to while I paint:

Audiobook: "Someday, Someday, Maybe", by Lauren Graham read by the author

Podcast: Social Media Examiner, by Michael Stelzner

                 The Nerdist, by Chris Hardwick

              Here's The Thing, hosted by Alec Baldwin

              The Alton Browncast, hosted by Alton Brown
               Oh So Pinteresting, hosted by Cynthia Sanchez

Music: my ipod

A link that I found that will help me with my grammer!

 

German Landscape

German Landscape
6"x 6"
acrylic on gessoed hardboard

Framed

Available at Daily Paintworks.

Color Sketch For Shea Center Painting

5"x 7"
Acrylic on board

Here is a color sketch for a painting I'm doing for an auction for the Shea Center in San Juan Capistrano, CA.

"The J.F. Shea Therapeutic Riding Center is dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities through therapeutic horse-related programs."

"The Center's staff is highly skilled in developing and delivering therapeutic programs to address physical and cognitive challenges. We have treated more than 70 physical and cognitive challenges including: cerebral palsy, spinal cord and brain injury, muscular dystrophy, mental retardation, Down syndrome, multiple sclerosis, attention deficit disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and hearing and visual impairment."

I was able to tour the center while visiting Southern California this summer and was very impressed with the facility and the services they offer.

Plus, my sister works there! ;)

The painting is of the open space in San Juan Capistrano and is done from a photo, with permission, from the Friends of Sam Allevato website.

A Colorless Challenge

This challenge from Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks blog was tough for me! As you can see, the reference photo is colorless.....thus the challenge. Make up the color! How hard can that be? It's farmland and sky! Ahhh, but there are MANY different colors of blue and green and gray. I spent several hours on what I thought would be very straight forward and simple! After painting many, many swatches trying to decide on the right color for the mountains in the background, I reminded myself (as I often do) that I could paint this a billion different ways and just pick a color and start!!! Unfortunately I lapsed back into indecision when I got to the foreground and had to remind myself again! Trial and error and thinking and planning are good , up to a point......then you just have to paint!
The good part of this was that after I decided on the colors, and established the darks and lights, I found myself referring to the photo less and less since it wasn't providing me the color information I needed. It made it very clear just how much I rely on my visual resource!

4"x 12"
acrylic on board

Click on image for larger view.

Enjoying Autumn

5" x 7"
acrylic on masonite
sold

My latest submission for Different Strokes From Different Folks.
Click on image for larger view.
Click here to bid.

Oregon Farm Landscape

5"x 7"
acrylic on masonite

We have beautiful farmland in Oregon. I am trying to loosen up my brushstrokes with a lot of squinting and a time limit!
Click on image for larger view.

Rehoboth Beach Landscape

5"x 7"
acrylic on masonite

Here is the second painting from a photo from Karin Jurick's site Different Strokes From Different Folks . Surprisingly, painting the sand and grass was hard!