Heavy Red Skies

In the southern mountains heavy snowfall is not the usual winter weather, rather freezing rain that coats the roads and trees with ice.  So as northerner I just had to record the first heavy snowfall I experienced here about five years ago.

Red Skies
Pastel 16 x 20

Success!

Still stumbling through the world of Google.  Somehow I have succeeded in pushing enough buttons to change the e-mail "ljlovrek@gmail.com".  Monkeys and typewriters here.  Can't wait till I get back to painting.

Don't want to loose you. I am merging blogs.

Little did I know that when I opened a new gmail address that it would create a second identical blog.
It's been a house of mirrors here.  As a  stumble through the inexplicable world of Google I hope not to loose you.

If you get duplicate requests to be added to my blog followers or be added to Google+ please bear with me.  I think this may have happened to some of you already.

Wish me luck.

Back to the Beach

Ah!  The beach is my favorite place.  This oil was done at Isle of Palms, just outside Charleston.  The houses are far from the dunes, in the evening the long backyard is filled with shadows and a distant view of the sea.  Charleston has a great  historic waterfront with streets  of huge cobbles and sidewalks of mortar and seashells.  What a wonderful place to wander.

Distant Sea
Oil 12 x 24

A Studio Painting

In the depths of last winter, I needed something colorful.  This oil was based on a photo from my garden, which I dearly love.  Unexpectedly this painting was a study of light and form, which I hadn't experienced since my days as an art student in NYC. 

IRIS
Oil 12" x 24"

 

 

 

After the Storm

This pastel was done right after the storm Sandy moved north.  The waves were huge and powerful.  The water was so high I was forced to crouch at the edge of the dunes, the beach had been taken by the storm.

After the Storm
Pastel   8" x 10"

 

Only a bit early for "Auld Lang Syne"

Since the store Christmas displays started before Halloween this year,  I'm only a bit off in the title of this week's post. 

I have a new flat file which means that many stacks of old works and materials are being resorting.  Many very old friends, "auld lang syne", have reappeared.

This pastel entitled "Autumn Lament" was a plein air piece done in October 2012.  At the time I really felt the loss of the summer as well as the passing of my beloved bulldog.  This is a spot where we often went on our walks.

Although this was chosen to be part of a regional art guild exhibit, I think the subject matter is probably too much in a minor key to make it saleable.

Autumn Lament

Pastel 6" x 9'

 

 

 

 

 

It's Been a Long Time

Needing a major surgery,  I couldn't even think about announcing my absence.  It felt too whiney.

Not posting is a major faux pas, I apologize.

But I am back now dusting off the studio and easing into the groove.

I am happy to say that there has been another sale in my absence which is encouraging.

June on the Roan
Oil  6" x 8"

Roan Mountain lies along the North Carolina/Tennessee border.  At an elevation of about 6000 feet, wild rhododendron gardens bloom in profusion in June.

The Palms

Spending most of my time in the Blue Ridge Mountains, make palm trees a rare sight.  I took the opportunity of my stay in Jacksonville Beach to study these trees.

The Palms
Pastel  6 x 8 

Trying to put the Pastels Down

Despite working on the dozen pastels brought back from Florida, I can't finish them.  Just when I think they are done, I see something else that would be an improvement.  I've been taken photos as I work just to make sure I'm not kidding myself.  Today's got very minor changes, just a darker blue sky to add a little punch.   The vast space of the beach in it's simpleness is the subject of this painting.

Afternoon Clouds
Pastel 6 x 9

Spring Memories

The golden grimes apple tree in my yard is glorious in the springtime.  Yet another pastel from the series done in April.

Spring Revelations

Pastel 5 x 7 

Still in Florida, at least on the Easel

Instead of consigning this plein air sketch to the scrap heap, I decided to redo it.  It's the first one done on my recent trip. It's hard to strike the right palette and light the first day out.  I especially like the violet reflected light on the receding wave.  Low tide leaves pools of many shapes and depths on the beach.

As the Waves Recede
Pastel 5 x 8

Beaches, Beaches, Beaches

Never imaging it would take this long to put the finishing touches on the Spring beach pastel work, I am still working away.  Not sure this is a good process, maybe too much fussing, I think I am learning to see the subtler modifications that improve the work.  However, I've also learned that the truth takes its own time to reveal itself.

On the Move
Pastel 6 x 8

Florida Revisited

Putting finishing touches on plein air pastels.   Done at sunrise I was interested in the atmospheric effects of the light through the clouds, as well as depicting the dazzling sun.

Maybe Rain
Pastel 6 x  8

It's difficult working at sunrise, conditions are changing rapidly and starting in the half-dark makes seeing colors difficult.  Returning to the same location many days in a row is helpful.

Quiet Light
Pastel 5 x 7

I wanted to experiment with showing the afterimage of the sun, as I sometimes see it after looking directly at it.

Another Asheville Urban Landscape Project Work

This pastel was started in last April from a location overlooking Asheville.  Never having done a painting with this much aerial perspective it took an afternoon of color and value adjustment in the studio.

The site is the parking lot of Zealandia Castle which is a great old building which would have made an equally interesting subject.

Shambhala 

Pastel 6 x 8

Asheville Urban Landscape Project

From time to time I have been lucky enough to paint with a group in Asheville.   Lisa Blackshear has organized the Asheville Urban Landscape Project which met last year and again this spring.  There is a schedule for this fall at http://www.wncpap.com/avl-urban-landscape-project-2014.

Meanwhile other painters in this group organized events this summer, the next:

 Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary June 24

Contact Araya Hansen araya-sol@charter.net

This is a pastel from the last spring event at the French Broad River Park.

Hanging On 

Pastel 6 x 7

Plein Air Day

After a long hiatus, got outside today.  A local group, the Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild is preparing for a show next year.  It's about the new crops, livestock, and farmers reinventing agriculture in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.  The show's title is "New Pioneers of the Blue Ridge: the Renaissance of the Family Farm".  Today we had our first outing at Mountain Farm which cultivates several breeds of goats and lavender.  Their store sells soaps, lavender teas, goat cheese.

There were more than a dozen painters and photographers at work.

Here's a small pastel sketch, before the wind forced the umbrellas closed.

Running in Place

Here is a series of pink beads made at the Penland Flamework Studio.

Pink and Amber

This is an usual color combination.  I would like to make several more, possibly for earrings.

Below a series of discs made from every pink colored glass that could be found.  Figuring out how to link and arrange them in a necklace is a challenge.

Pink Discs

A Big Pink Honker of a Bead

This one is suitable for a pendant.    Would be great with some more pink pieces on the chain.

Catching Up

Back in North Carolina.  Since not having a computer for a month there's a lot of catching up to do, while trying to stay current.

Yesterday was the Burnsville Paint-Out, wickedly cold for the middle of May, 38 degrees when I started out.

The two pastels are hanging in the Burnsville TRAC gallery, didn't think to photo in the rush to get them framed and driven into town.

But in the spirit of catching up here's a photo from the new Gift Shop artist show in April.

More Beach Time

Heading out tomorrow for Charlotte.  Had a couple hours at the beach today to say goodbye.  Love the breezes and the salt smell.

A couple more pastels from this week:

Early Morning
Pastel 5 x 7

I've been getting up very early to get sunrise images, haven't managed to be set up before sunrise though.  It's also a challenge to see colors in the dim light.  I wanted to convey both the quiet of the morning and the blinding brilliance of the sun.  In the mountains where I live the sun doesn't get over the ridge until 10AM, so the sunrise is special.   The beach has an emptiness and simplicity not present in the tangle and folds of the mountain landscapes.

High Tide
Pastel 5 x 7

Can't set up in one spot for the day, I move up and down the beach with the tide.   Have to be aware of what's happening, not overly involved in painting, so I don't get witlessly .

Back at the Beach

It's been a long time.  My computer's hard drive failed, and there's a whole saga that goes along with it.

But this blog is about painting.   Or in the case plein air pastels.  The grittiness of the sand works better with them than oils.

Nestled Inn
Pastel 8 x 10

As a retired architect it's going to take some doing to get more painterly about buildings.

Windless Day
Patel 5 x 7

Jacksonville Beach has a vast beach at low tide which is filled with shallow pools.  They change size and position with each tide as the sandy bottom shifts.

I leave in a few days for home by way of Charlotte for yet another trip to the Apple Store.  

Next weekend is a Paint-Out in my home town, Burnsville NC.   If you can come join us on the 17th, see http://ncpap.org/events/toe-river-arts-council-8th-annual-paint-out-burnsville-nc

One of my painting groups, the Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild will be having a show next summer, called 'New Pioneers of the Blue Ridge: the Renaissance of the Family Farm", we're all exciting and just beginning to think about some good plein air sites.

Gallery Exhibit

I am very happy to be selected as gift shop artist by the Toe River Arts Council.  There is an exhibit of the twelve newly selected artist which opened last Saturday and will run until May 10th.  Most of the work is from the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days event of last January.   There will be a reception in the Burnsville NC gallery April 17th from 5 until 7:30 PM.  (Happy Dance!)

October Whitewater
Oil on Canvas Panel 5 x 7

Escape from Winter

A bit of escapism from the snow to Jacksonville Beach.  I prefer pastels on the beach, rather than oils.
After a day of being Spring Break entertainment I moved further away from the entry.

A New Morning
Pastel 6 x8

 

River Run
Pastel 9 x 12

Then a return to the mountains.  The beach was so much simpler, I chose a larger format for the woods, the painting needs much more work.  But I haven't done pastels for 1-1/2 years so it was good to get back to that medium.

Penland Community Day March 1

After Bead Week, the gang stayed to help out during Community Day in the Flameworking Studio.  This is an annual event at Penland, the public is invited to make small projects in most of the studios.
In the photo below everyone seated is making a bead with an experienced flameworker coaching behind.

Community Day in the Penland Flamework Studio

Hello from Penland School of Crafts February 24

Since last checking in I have been working on some of  the paintings from the thirty in thirty in order to submit them to the annual jury for the gift shop of the local arts council.  I've been doing this at the painting group I just joined, Wednesday Painters which takes place at the studio of Sandra Gates.

Here's another painting for the jury.

Highland Lodge
5 x 7 Oil on Gessoed Masonite

 

 

A related art group the Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild is submitting a proposal for a show in 2015, a group of us are working on that too.  It's called "Sunlight, Solitude and Sanctuary : Celebrating our Highland Home"

Meanwhile at Penland it is time for Bead Week.  This is my fifth year.  It isn't a class, just a week long gathering of bead makers.   Here's the studio.

Photos of beads soon.

 

My daughter, Simone, ran this studio for about seven years, before becoming manager of all the studios.  Due to ill health she no longer holds that position.  It was bittersweet to be here at first, but the energy of the group is strong and I am now much more focused on the work.  Her name in glass near the entry.

It's late and the torch awaits in the morning.  Be back soon.

The first Day after the Challenge

To sum up a collage of all the paintings.   Assembling it led me to remember where I was each day of the month, and to decide which paintings I liked the best, and of course the least.

Thirty Paintings (well 26) in Thirty Days

As they used to say,  it's been real.

Laurel

Day Thirty - The Last Day

This morning I listened to Leslie Saeta's web radio show which were many of the artists' stories from the past thirty days.  Listening gave a human dimension to the paintings that have been posted on Leslie's site.

After yesterday's really bad "plein window" painting, I decided that I just had to do another.  Some painters from North Carolina Plein Air Painters posted snow paintings that they had done outside.  Just too cold for me.  Yesterday's painting was so embarrassing, I posted some other plein air work that I had done previously.  Today I will be happy to post on Leslie's site and on the plein air site as well.

Tree Line 2
5 x 7 oil on canvas board

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will visit Leslie's website again to see the collages of everyone's work. 
I was excited to get an e-mail from Meredith Adler I met thru the Thirty Day event and is thinking about  joining our local painting group, the Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild.

Day Twenty Nine - Snow Day

Last night I received an e-mail from the my plein air group to go out and paint snow today.  Since it was 11 degrees this morning I elected to stay and paint the view from my studio window. 

Having not done plein air since October it was good to be reminded that before I can mix the right color on the palette it is already changed. 

This image looks more like a Hawaiian volcano than a Appalachian mountain, perhaps a not so unconscious desire.

Mt Celo Volcano
5 x 7 oil on canvas board

 

Tomorow is the last day of the challange.  I hope to hear Leslie's web radio program.

Day Twenty Eight - Rocks and Water

On Day Sixteeen I painted underwater rocks and wrote about not being ready to paint the sun dapples on the rocks.

The next day I took photos of some rocks with the sunlight ripple patterns.  I was amazed at what I saw; captured the digital the patterns were rather schizophrenic.  Not what I had expected.

Today I attempted to paint from one of these photos.  Getting the rocks to look as if they are underwater is a real challenge, which I haven't mastered.  There is a very complex relationship between the rippled surface of the water, the angle of the sun and the uneven surface of the rocks.  After looking at it for some hours I understand it better, but still not well enough paint convincingly. In some areas the sunlight on the rocks seems to reflect back to the water surface creating yet another phenomenon.  Yikes!!!

Here is first try:

Almost Touching
5 x 7 Oil on Canvas Panel

 

Just got a e-mail from my plein air group to post snow paintings tomorrow.  I was thankful I made it back from the mailbox.  Talk about extreme sports.

Day Twenty Seven - Winter Whitewater

I've spent a lot of time looking at whitewater but never understood its structure so well until I painted from a reference photo.  Ocean waves on the beach seem so simple now.

Since I've been having lots of trouble with values I went back to the monochrome underpainting technique.  It does take longer, but until I learn values better it's something that's needed.  I tried a black and white reference photo, but apparently I need to spend time painting the values, not just looking at them.

Winter Whitewater
6 x 6 oil on gessoed paper

 

 

 

 

Only three more painting days left!!

Day Twenty Six - EarthSea

If you can get to the top of the highest of the mountains in the Blue Ridge early in the morning, the mists still remain in the valleys, the peaks rising through them as if from the ocean.  The clear part of the atmosphere between the mists and the clouds above is revealed.

EarthSea
5 x7 oil on canvas panel

 

 

 

See you all tomorrow.  Only a few days left.

Day Twenty Five - Clear and Blue

After a lengthy medical screening yesterday, I set about to do a landscape as quickly as possible.  Wasn't the fastest time ever, but it wasn't incredibly long.

I tried to keep the island the focus while making the overall painting more colorful than usual, still the center still needs more color.  Not sure how to do that and keep the rest of the painting from looking washed out.  Or the center from looking like a summer garden.

This is the only panel with an oil primed surface.  I was having trouble getting a bright enough color earlier this month, using only gesso, but I seem to have figured out how without the oil primer.  It makes for a smoother surface.

Clear and Blue
5 x 7 Oil on Gessoed Panel.

I keep looking out the window at the sky late this afternoon, very windy and changeable.  Maybe a painting there tomorrow.

Day Twenty Three - An Experiment

Yesterday's painting lacked graphic punch, so this attempt is to use simple forms and strong contrast to create a landscape.

As the paints were mixed even though they looked right on the palette, they were  too dark for the painting and had to be remixed.   This happened with every color but one.  Usually the paints I mix are too light,  don't understand the difference today.  Some of the original background darks needed to be further grayed once the painting surface was totally covered. The background greens need further graying as well, but time has run out.

This was a good color study for me, not only did I see how much the adjacencies matter, but the amount of the color already on the painting influencing the next color to be placed.

It could use further simplification, it would be interesting to see how far that could be pushed.

Poster Landscape
6 x 6 oil on gessoed paper

Tomorrow it's off to the medical appointments once more, so no painting. Be back on Saturday.

Day Twenty Two - Feels like the Home Stretch

After yesterday's mistreatment of the trees, I thought that would be today's painting.  I used the same reference photo, just enlarged the tree area.

They are better today.  I thought about attempting the smudgy clouds again for the twigs ala John Carlson but thought I should quit while I was ahead. 

Tree Line
5 x 7 oil on canvas panel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the paintings from the challenge are tacked to the wall.  This morning it didn't look like a body of work, now it looks like more.  Odd.

More tomorrow. 

Day Twenty One - The Great Old Hovel

Buildings of this sort are more a natural feature than a manmade object.  I've been wanting to paint this for awhile, so I finally satisfied that longing.

After looking a the painting and the photo for a long time I think the sky is backward, it should be darker on the shadow side of the building.  The reference photo is deceptive, probably because the trees on the right darken the sky.

Speaking of trees, there's another subject for practice.  These look like they are about to release spores.

Tomorrow's agenda starts with hunting for tree photos.  It's snowed here so going out to photo isn't an option.

Day Twenty - El Giganto

Today is another fragment of a larger landscape, a nearly frozen waterfall.  The spray has created an enormous icicle on the overhanging rhododendron.

Today it became very clear how hard it is to carve out time to paint daily, despite the best of intentions.  Phone calls and discussions that couldn't postponed, a very enjoyable meeting of the art guild, nevertheless it all cuts into painting time. 

Over the course of these twenty days the quality of the paintings very greatly, some are good, some are real dogs.  The result is totally unpredictable when I start out.   A microcosm of life.

El Giganto
5 x7 Oil on Canvas Panel

Day Nineteen of Leslie Saeta's Thirty Day Challenge - Winter's Tale

Today I tried to do a simple fast painting.  I couldn't.

I read or heard that starting with broad flat swaths of color was a good way to begin this kind of painting.  So that's how I started.  Sometime later when confronted by a painting that really wanted to be an abstract, I realized the the flat swaths totally lost the form.  So I tried to get that into the painting.

Wow or maybe Good Grief!

I wanted to do this scene because the snow on the ground as seen through the trees interests me. 

Also showing cloud shadow is difficult, and something to work on.

Tomorrow is day twenty!  I have been looking at three or four artists each night, as I post.  Getting to see lots of different work.  Sometimes I see work of an artist whose blog I've visited before and seeing new work is great.

Day Eighteen - Top of the World

After a marathon session yesterday,  I wanted to do something simpler today.  I thought I would work on getting a sense of depth in receding mountains.  After looking at the colors for a while I realized that the problem was value again.  So I did decided to use black and white.

I pulled out the gray scale and starting looking at the reference photo. The painting nazi took over and mixed nine shades.  She even made a painted scale, since the printed gray scale is violety

and driving her crazy.

I am still having difficulty making the foreground mountains as dark as they should be, but this study is an improvement.

In addition to depth, the forms of mountains are difficult to paint, just when you think the you've got the it, it turns into something else.  And this isn't even plein air. 

Top of the World
5 x 7 Oil on Canvas Panel

 

 

Good night all, see you tomorrow,

Day Seventeen - Rocks and Water Redux

Still working on images of the mountain stream.   The autumn leaves and the heartbreaking blue October sky made fabulous reflections on the water when I went out for a plein air session.  I took lots of photos. There's not much color exaggeration in this painting. 

Still being overwhelmed by the improbable colors I started doing a pointillist technique so I wouldn't have swathes of color to change.  Putting widely spaced dots over the canvas helped me judge the colors.  I was amazed at the sensitivity of the eye, and how long it would take to do an entire painting this way. 

Autumn Whitewater
5 x 7 Oil on Canvas Panel

When I first moved to the mountains I didn't understand that, unlike oceans and the great lakes, the breaking waves in whitewater are opposite to the water flow.

The photo is below,  proof that magic mushrooms were not used in the production of this painting.

I wish I could do an easy painting.

Day Sixteen - Painting Rocks

In the past my rocks have looked like lumpy potatoes.  Since I decided to work on parts of the landscape that give me trouble as part of this challenge, rocks are part of the exercise.  I have avoided doing this painting as long as possible. Today was the day. 

I wished I had a photo of fewer rocks.

There are also water ripples and dappled shadows on the rocks from the sunlight passing through the ripples.   The ripples are passable, but when it came to the dappled shadows I definitely need fewer rocks.  Maybe one.

This painting took a long time today. But I am glad that I did it, the rocks are less potatoey ( take that Dan Quayle)  and the colors better than in previous paintings.

See you tomorrow.

Day Fifteen - Galax

I never heard of this plant until I moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The galax turns maroon in winter, lending color to the mostly brown and green landscape.   I've been told it's valued as a florists' greenery, there's a business nearby that buys the leaves.  Since I'm surrounded by national forest, a permit is probably needed for harvest.

This painting is based on a fragment of a larger photo, which was cropped and enlarged.  The living leaf is smaller than a hand.

This painting was done by leaving the veins of the leaf white and painting in between.  Something like a watercolor.  I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to paint the pink into the wet greens.  Next time I will try painting the whole leaf and then scraping away the pattern of the veins to be able to add the pink.

Galax
6 x 6 Oil on Gessoed Paper

I am fond of this leaf shape which is comprised of half circles.  A big one on the bottom and two smaller ones on top.  It's really very geometric.

Today is the half way point, and I'm finding how much of a  commitment the daily painting really is.

See you all tomorrow. 

Day Thirteen -

Apparently I can no longer count because I've got two day elevens.  

Today is definitely the thirteenth.  I decided to try another rendition of the painting I did yesterday because I wasn't that pleased with the clouds.  I wanted to make them much whiter than the rays.

Now that is over, I think I like yesterday's painting better.  For sure the rays and the darker sky. 

Sky Fragment II
5 x 7 Oil on Canvas Panel

Tomorrow is another medical appointment in Asheville, which is 100 miles round trip.  I will be getting some groceries too, since the shopping is better there, and who can waste the gas money.
See you on Wednesday, although the local arts council is running a workshop on the new county tax form that is due the end of the month, so I need to go to that too.