Artistic Liberties

Like most artists, I will often take some artistic liberties with my paintings.  I will add something like snow on a mountain long after the last of the snow melted.  Or in some cases I will take it away, using my memories of greener times to influence my work.  I will often do a quick study while outside then work on a larger piece in my studio using the original study as my inspiration.  Light changes quickly so I will take photos to help remind me of what it was that captured my interest in the first place but photos never come close to capturing what the naked eye sees while out in the field.

Cache Valley - Enjoying Summer

I love getting outside to paint.  Everywhere I turn there is something new and different to paint.  The sun falling on a barn- the new growth on the trees - the snow lingering on the mountains - the newly plowed field.  I am never for lack of subject material.

Before I started painting I think I just wandered through life not noticing the shapes, colors and patterns that were all around me.  I saw trees, barns, houses, man, woman or child.  I labeled what I saw but it wasn't until I took up painting that I really began to think and see in shapes and values.  My family will laugh when I get all excited and say "Look at the wonderful dark shape and how it intersects with that light shape and how it connects and flows over to there!"  I wish everyone could sample seeing the world through the eyes of an artist but then maybe that's why I and others paint.  We want others to share in our experiences.

Second Cutting

16x20 oil on panel

Late Snow


18x24 oil on canvas

Painting in Spurts

I get on a roll with painting and I lose all sense of time and space.  I forget to eat.  I forget to drink water.  I even forget I have a family.  I travel some place when I'm painting and sometimes forget to come back.  Today was like that.  Here it is 4 pm and I haven't eaten lunch or drank anything since breakfast.  I think husband and son have each poked their heads in here but I honestly can't tell you what they said.  I hope it wasn't important.

In last weeks workshop the individual head studies were each done in about three hours.  That included jockeying for position with the others in the class, setting up our easels and giving the models breaks about every 20 or 25 minutes.

I worked on two of the paintings today.  As usual, I'll probably make changes tomorrow or the next day but I wanted to post what I've done today.  Click on the paintings to see more detail.

Blogging each day has helped me to keep my focus on painting.  If I take a break from my easel, I often find it difficult to get back at it but if I continue painting then the momentum builds and builds until I feel like an obsessed woman.  What a high!!!!  Legal and fun.

These are both 12x16 oil on canvas.

I have come to realize that I love painting anything that is living especially people.  At least for now, I don't relate to barns, buildings or other inanimate objects.  There is something about people that intrigues me.  We are each a compilation  of all of our experiences and those experiences can often be seen in our eyes and in our body positions.  When painting people I try and capture that essence - that distillation of who they are or at least who they are presenting to the world on that particular day.

Here is what is on my easel today.  It is a painting that I began last week in a workshop. I've already made some adjustments to the hair but haven't photographed the changes yet.

Art Workshops - Love or Hate?

I'll be the first to admit I find art workshops challenging on many levels.  First there is the part about learning something new that gets my brain to sizzling not to mention being surrounded by what I always perceive as better artists.  These past six days I've been in such a surrounding.  

Mike Malm, a local yet renowned artist held what turned out to be an awesome workshop on painting the figure using live models.  Four of the six days Mike demonstrated his techniques for painting under different lighting conditions.  Mike would paint in the morning and we would paint in the afternoon.  On two of the days, we painted all day.  I can't say enough about what a wonderful instructor Mike is.  He seemed to meet each of us at whatever level we were at.  My experience would have been made easier had I taken a drawing class in the past.  In spite of my not having had formal art training, I think I did ok.

Here are four of the six paintings I did during the week.  (I still need to photograph the other two.)  I will do some more work on these paintings now that I'm home but wanted to post what was accomplished in the workshop.  

Family time

My granddaughter, Rachael, graduated a couple of days ago.  I could go on and on about how quickly these years have passed but that would only make me feel old so instead I'll focus on the joys this past week have brought.  My daughter, Lisa, flew in from Portland and my sister, Dottie, arrived from California.  My son and daughter-in-law put us all up for what can only be described as one of my best weekends in a long time.  To have all my children under the same roof again can only be understood by those of you who are parents of grown children.  My heart and my face are still smiling.

On Friday we reluctantly dropped my sis off at the airport and Lisa came up for the remainder of this holiday weekend.  We have been going through old photos, reminiscing about old times and sharing stories of what is going on in our lives now.  One of the fun things was to see Lisa's excitement over some abstract paintings that I had done.  She said, she really, really wanted some of them so they will soon be gracing the walls of her new apartment.

My first art teacher once advised us all not to give our paintings to our friends or family.  I couldn't understand her logic until I experienced what she was talking about.  She said not everyone you give a painting to was going to want it or want to hang it in their house and giving them something would only make them feel obligated to hang it even if they didn't like the painting they received.  At the time, I thought all my friends and family members would just LOVE to hang MY paintings on their walls, even those early, not so good paintings.  I've found over the years my art teacher was right.  So, to see Lisa go crazy over some abstract paintings that I had piled upside down on a shelf made me feel good especially since my husband's comments when he first saw them was something like he'd never pay good money for them.  Although I totally loved painting these abstracts and would have framed and hung them in a skinny minute, his comments led me to not try to paint abstracts again.  It's nice to know these will have a home.

Any excuse will do

I fractured a couple of ribs on Saturday and am limited to what I can do comfortably.  Sneezing, hiccuping, coughing or cleaning the house are not on the list.  Painting, however, is.  So, I'm enjoying the luxury of painting without experiencing the normal "guilt" that goes along with taking long days for myself.  Here are my latest creations.  The aspen trees are getting their new leaves and they inspired me to recapture a taste of autumn.  The paintings actually have richer darks than the camera has picked up.

A Taste of Autumn

oil on multimedia board 11x14

Sunday Afternoon

oil on multimedia board 11x14