Farm to Market

12x9 oil on canvas panel

Gallery info to come.

Another look at this lady harvesting lettuce at Boggy Creek Farm. She would pick them and take them up to the market stand to sell. Can't get much more fresh than that. I bought some, and it was delicious. Boggy Creek has market days Wed. and Sat. mornings in East Austin.

The title refers to many of our road names here in Central Texas. FM1431 or some such is a road that led from the outlying rural areas into town.

I'm adding "pages" to my blog so you can see what is available at each of my galleries and contact them if you are interested in any of my artwork. Its taking me a little time to update, but its on the right column.

Holding the Line

11x14 oil on panel

Gallery info to come.

I'm really enjoying painting these scenes. Its become a favorite subject. Perhaps after having painted a few, I feel a little more free to experiment. I've painted the green grass and the blue jeans as they really appear. Now I can play with the subject a bit and like I did with this painting, paint it very high key.
Someone wrote and asked if I used a special palette on the previous scene. I didn't really intend to actually. It wasn't a conscious choice when I started, it sort of happened as I worked. One of the things I do while I'm working is to mix into the colors I've already blended on my palette. So the whole mass sort of blends and moves across my palette morphing from one set to another, but all part of the same. This probably makes no sense whatsoever.
I had an older shot of my palette so I thought I'd share that at least. You can see how my mixing moves across and keeps blending and morphing.

Clean Sheets

12x12 oil on panel
Gallery info tbd

So Wednesday I set my timer and painted this scene in 30 minutes (plus 10). I wanted it to be loose and interpretive, so I stuck with a sort of split complementary (?) color scheme. Actually - that was a happy accident. LOL
Anyway, I did a few strokes after the timer went off, but not much. I really want to get to the point where I stop tightening up everything and paint more instinctively. I made a short slideshow of the work in progress. One of these days I would like to try to get a video too - first I'll have to figure out how much time my old camera can record and then how to get it uploaded to my computer.




Happy Easter! I'm going to go see the Impressionists exhibit from the National Gallery in Houston. Have a beautiful weekend everybody.

Downtime

6x6 oil on panel
SOLD

This was so much fun to do. I didn't think I could pull it off really - the start was rather ugly. But I'm really happy with the results. Click the image to see it larger and you can see the strokes, the lost edges and the suggestions which make it come together to the eye.
I really hit my stride yesterday leaving things loose and sloppy. That might sound odd, but it is sort of what I want. It felt really good to just let go and put the brush down before I tightened everything up. Will share that tomorrow! Facebook fans have had a peek at it.

In Her Tube

6x6 oil on panel
$125 + s/h
PURCHASE

Another view of the little tuber, playing in the waves at Siesta Key Beach. This year we're not going to vacation in FL because I bought one of those living social deals to COZUMEL! We haven't traveled abroad in many years - and our daughter has never been out of the country, so I've been busy getting our passports renewed and getting the child's first ever. She is so excited. I am not sure how much traditional Mexican scenery I will find, but I'm sure to enjoy the beaches and snorkeling. Now, if I can only figure out our summer vacation schedule! I have to work around my parents who will be joining us, my hubby's work, my trip to NYC :), summer camps and a trip to see our IN family and meet our new nephew! No problem.

Limited Strokes Notes

I just took a look at this in this small image format and noticed how monotone the painting is. Its a problem I always have when I paint outdoors. Its pretty much all midtones. When you are working under a strong light source (i.e. the Texas sun) you have to really push those values! I converted the image to grayscale in Photoshop to see how well and truly in the middle I was.



I also wanted to mention that the strokes noted on the side note each one I painted in order.

Moses Botkin Monthly Challenge

It was my turn to pick a challenge and I think I might have made some enemies this time around! jk - LOL
I certainly stirred up a lot of questions.
I wanted to practice the idea of limited strokes and decided we should paint something with just 15 strokes. The idea of this is to make you think ahead. You need to plan each stroke, mix enough color, load your brush and make that color last for the length of your stroke. Peggi Kroll Roberts has a video on this specific challenge and my friend V....Vaughan frequently practices this (both with much better results.)
I did a couple this week when I went to paint with some friends at a local farm/market. You will see my scene more fleshed out very soon.


Gardening
12x6 (roughly) oil on canvas
©2011 Robin Cheers



7-stroke to Place
9x13 oil on canvas

©2011 Vicki Ross

7 Stroke Apple

4x 4.5 oil on canvas

©2011 Diana Moses Botkin

Spring
6X4 oil on canvas
©2011 Ruth Andre




One Duck in 15 Strokes
10x10 oil on canvas
©2011 Suzanne Berry

Totally Tubular

6x6 oil on panel
$125 + s/h
PURCHASE

I'm taking a vacation... in my studio! I wanted to get back to painting regularly and thought I'd start on some uncomplicated and fun scenes to warm up! Beach pics are a good start.

While I Breathe, I Hope

24x24 oil on canvas

Available at Russell Collection Fine Art in Austin.

This is my contribution for the fundraiser for the new Seton Breast Cancer in Austin. The Russell Collection gallery invited their "Best of Texas" artists to each create a painting on the theme of hope. When I think of any trials that life throws our way, my hope seems to always fall on the next generation - the youth, energy and infinite possibility of our children. This is a likeness of my daughter, blowing bubbles. Lots of symbolism in here really. I'll let you all interpret it. The title is the Latin - Dum spiro spero - "While I breathe, I hope." And blessedly, I have this outlook on life even in the darkest of hours.

Tuesday night the gallery hosts an event to unveil the paintings together.