Sedona Series' Cathedral Rock: 10 ' 15

Cathedral Rock Reflections 11'w x 14" h Oil Painting

This painting presented some interesting challenges.  The classic view of this landmark is usually viewed with the red spires reflected in Oak Creek's still waters.  To get this perspective photographers stand in the middle of the creek when the water level is low and there weather is cold enough that no one is in the  water. 

Unfortunately, on the day we were there, temperatures had reached 105 F, and  every inch  of water was occupied by somebody trying to cool off.    even upstream, in the areas where there was large areas of exposed rock and little water to splash in, there were families spread out everywhere ,picnicking and enjoying the view. I was finally able to snap a few  small puddles  in the rocks with good reflections, .  I had to crop the people out of the scene then  concentrate on painting a more interesting foreground.

Sedona Series ' Airport Mesa Overview 9 '15

'Airport Mesa Overlook' 12" w x 9" h Oil Painting

We  visited the Airport Meas four times during our recent trip to Sedona, and I came away  with a gazillion reference photos  from  taken  almost every vantage point on the Airport Mesa Overlook Trail.  It was hard to decide from that  set, which scene I wanted to paint, but I finally settled on this one because it included the wonderful this  twisted juniper in the foreground, with West Sedona and Thunder Mountain in the background. 

PAP-SE Wet Paint Show Opening 11"13

And the PAP-SE paints Charleston Marathon continues:

All week long we've been watching the nationally, and internationally known artist members of PAP-SE painting in on the streets  and surrounding marshes of  Charleston.

 

   This evening we got to see three  of the paintings produced by each of the artists at  the

Wet Paint Show Opening - Nov. 8 

While I had enjoyed watching the  artist's work in progress,  it was even better to get to talk with them without fear of interrupting their  concentration,

 and to see their beautiful artwork finished and framed.

 Their work will continue to be on display  until Nov 16th 

  at three adjacent  Charleston galleries:

Coco Vivo - 25 Broad Street,

 Galerie on Broad - 29 Broad Street

and Edward Dare - 31 Broad Street

Keep it Simple 10 '13

Pawleys Island Marsh 7" x 5"

I love this this little  gem I purchased from Karen Margulis.  I have it hanging in a simple white frame ,on the white wall over the pastel workstation in my studio to remind me to keep it simple.

Little Red Barn 9 '13

Little Red Barn photo

It seems that when it comes to plein air painting I am a bit lazy.  Or maybe, it is that I just don't like having to hunt for something to paint. Why waste the golden hour scouting unfamiliar locals, when one can just drive down the road and find something interesting  to paint?  The majority of my plein air paintings has been painted  on or near Highway 17. And I have a huge stash of reference photos to remind me of promising subject matter that  I have spotted in my travels along  this major coastal thoroughfare. 

Little Red Barn painting

 Case in point: The Little Red Barn is located on Highway 17 in Pawleys Island (across from Hobcaw Barony) . It is less than five miles from my house.  Waking up early in the morning to a stormy sky, I knew there was a high probability the barn would soon be awash in really dramatic light. I managed to capture the lighting on the barn and foreground  foliage before a  passing shower sent me packing. 

Like many of my plein air paintings, it is not a perfect rendition of the actual scene. In my rush to capture the dramatic light on the main subject, I  hurried through the sky and the background. The trees on the right were not fully completed before I had to leave. They look more like oaks than pines.  I haven't decided yet whether I want to leave those tree tops as is, or reshape their tops in the studio.  Most likely, this  little 9" x 12" will become the study for a larger studio painting.

WIP Day 4 Foreground of Rice- fields on the Ashley 7'13

Today I finished the grasses and water in the foreground and foreground tree, widened the waterways in the middle-ground of the Rice fields so that they function more as  lines of direction in the painting.  At this point  all of the colors and values are as I want them.  You can clearly see the contribution of the red underground in the sky and the marsh.  It is what makes the sky appear purplish in the upper left corner,and the underside of the cumulus-nimbus clouds  warm ; it is also what adds the warm glow under the distant grasses in the middle ground of the rice-field. the clouds  All of this was achieved  by applying a thin glaze of color over the red ground rather than a thick layer which would cover it.

 I am still deciding whether I want to pull out the small  tree in the right lower corner more or leave it less defined.  .  That is where staring at it while it is sitting on the easel  in my living room comes in.  My husband calls this process "grocking". (Apparently that is a term used in some sci-fi book for which means "to deeply study an object  so as to fully know its nature")..  Sounds like a pretty  good description of what I will do next to me.

See all three earlier posts  in in this process beginning with the first on July 16th

WIP- Day 3 Middleground of "Ricefields on the Ashley" 7"13

Sorry about how dark this photo came out.  The foreground tree is really is very dark in value, butit also has a lot  more variation in the foliage colors than you can see in this picture.  Today I focused on correcting the values and shapes within the clouds and the  middle ground of the ricefields.  Tomorrow I will work on the foreground near the bottom of the picture,  making the sky-holes in the foreground tree a bit more realistic, and adding any finishing touches I think are needed.  
See the two  earlier posts  in in this process beginning with the first on July 16th

Mt Sassafras, Pickens Co., SC 10 '12

 Mt Sassafras in Pickens County, SC at 3500+ feet is the highest mountain in South Carolina. Don't laugh, I've bagged peaks with the Desert Peak Division of the Sierra Club that weren't as high as this.

Of course it really wasn't much of a hike on the Foothills Trail ...It was more of a short uphill walk from the parking lot where the road crossed the trail about 200 feet below the peak. 

Mt Sassafras Overlook

Just off the parking lot there was a viewing platform that provided some spectacular vistas.  I loved the way the fall foliage contrast with the gray background

This view is across North-western South Carolina and beyond into Georgia

This is looking east across Pickens County toward the East Coast of South Carolina. The outer bands of Hurricane Sandy were blocking the view or we might have been able to see the coast.  

Caesar's Head SC State Park 10 '12

 This mountain top park has awesome views. 

Raven Cliff Falls Caesar Head SP, SC

I hiked 5+ miles along the flank of the upper peaks of this SC State Park to an overlook for Raven Cliff Falls. It is possible to hike  an additional 1.5 hours straight down through dismal gorge to the bottom of the falls, but the trail signs warned it would then  take an additional  3 hours  to  hike straight back up.  Alternatively I could have hiked an additional mile  to a suspension bridge that crosses the top of the falls, but then Icouldn't actually see the face of the falls.. I decided the overlook was the best choice for getting a good look at and some reference photos of the 400 foot plunging waterfall.

Cantey Bay near the Santee State Park 10 '12

The Cantey Bay near the Santee State Park is off of the I 95 / SC 301 in South Carolina.  I've driven by this place dozens of times and barely given it a thought.. or if I did, it was to wonder why it had been set aside as a reserve.  I found out when I drove by it this time... when the daisies are in boom it is drop dead gorgeous.  I'm not kidding,  cars were slamming on their brakes to take a look.   I pulled off the highway and onto a secondary causeway that cuts across the preserve.  Got lots of reference photos.  You can bet one of them will wind  up being used as a reference for a painting for my  State Park Series.  Be forewarned if you attempt to do any photography or plein air painting there, there a the site has a lot of fire ant mounds along the road, so watch where your step.

"Don't Fence Me In" SOLD

"Don't Fence Me In"

My  11" x 14"  pastel painting  " Don't Fence Me In" has a new home..I hope it continues to evoke a sense of how precious out coastal dunes  are in every one who sees it.

First Paintings of New Series on Beach Scene

After a week of rousting through my references photos and making notes on all possible subject matter for a  series I am starting on Beach Scenes, I finally gave in and  picked up a paint brush.

Team red white and blue taking a break

My first attempt was  to paint a set of Red White an Blue beach-riders I had seen resting  against a  beach fence last week.  The subject excited me, but the execution was painful.  Even after drawing the bicycles a dozen times in my sketch book,  the painted rendering looked off- kilter to me.... I wiped down the canvas and repainting the scene twice before I  felt it was okay.  Even, so, I may still elect to edit portions before I put a coat of varnish on it.

"Hot Flash"

 As usual , the second painting went a lot more quickly, and with far less grief than the first.  I love the way the colors gave the sense of how warm it was on the beach that day...

Mark Kelvin Horton speaks at Charleston Artist Guild Meeting

Mark Horton

Landscape artist Mark Kelvin gave a presentation on ways of finding inspiration at the Charleston Artist Guild’s General Meeting last night ( 4/10/12).  He emphasized:

The importance of sketching regularly

Mark and some small pencil sketches

 

Regularly analyzing all your recent works together as a set to gain insight into what is working for you and what is not

 And he gave tips on plein air painting while traveling.

Mark is the co-owner of the Horton Hayes Gallery in downtown Charleston  . You can learn more about Mark and his work at

http://www.hortonhayes.com/Artist-Detail.cfm?ArtistsID=284

On my Walls

Inspired by the reference photos I've taken at local beaches,  I've been working on a series pastel paintings of of the low- country dunes .  I decided to let them hang on my living-room gallery wall  for a few days before I let the Island Art Gallery sell them all .

I may even have a little gallery showing for the neighbors before I send them off.

( Heh!  Works for me.  Any excuse for a party!)

Watch Monet Paint

Kelly Sanford shared this film clip  she discovered of Monet painting waterlilies. The film is an intriguing glimpse into art history....but I had to wonder if it wasn't staged. ... Painting in a white suite (even for a old master) seems a bit odd.  Check it out at:
http://www.artistdaily.com/media/p/128543.aspx

Just sold: "Full Bloom"

"Full Bloom" 9" x 12" oil

Charleston Artists Guild just called to tell me they have sold my painting, "Full Bloom".

Beach Dune Series begun

"Beach Palmettos"

Just completed the first of a new series of pastel paintings on beach dunes with sea oats.

Seagrove NC and surrounding areal 11 '11

As a special birthday treat Bruce took me to see the Seagrove Pottery Festival in North Carolina. But the pottery wasn't the only treat in store for me that day.   The scenery on the  trip itself was right out of an artists dream.

Now I know that with a name like Seagrove, you must be thinking ,

"this place is on the coast, right?"

Wrong! the Community of Seagrove, NC  is almost dead center of the state.

The town itself is small --- really only  a coffee shop convenience store and a post office on a single intersection surrounded by miles and miles of beautiful rolling farmland.  Every where you look there is some interesting and colorful building ( many of them are in use as pottery studios)

And then there are roads that lead off  seemingly aimlessly

which in reality are local shortcuts to other community gathering spots ..

like this general store which seems to be the entire town of "WHY NOT" .

It would definitely be worth a return trip just to be able to explore the area more thoroughly.

Brookgreen 4'10

 It was a beautiful Spring evening.... but what to do? A walk on the beach?? a bike ride???     

I  wound up driving to nearby Brookgreen Gardens then walking their entire formal botanical/sculpture gardens and several of the extensive trails through the old rice fields as well.    The Gardens at Brookgreen focus upon Southeastern  NA native plants…..iris and other bulbs,  azalea 3 meters tall,  wisteria, jasmine and honeysuckle vines,  dogwood, crab-apple, redbud, magnolia, tees were all in bloom.  The warm evening air was like perfume.  

  Combined with the lovely colors of the setting sun it was almost magical. 

After that we stopped at a family run oyster house.  Local oysters are available for harvesting in every month that has an ‘R’ in it, so this is the last month we will be able to get any local oysters until next September.  During the summer they ship in Gulf coast oysters from Texas, but I don’t think they taste as good.   We’d intended to just get an appetizer and go home for a supper of shrimp and grits, but after that long walk, we were famished.  We rationalized, “It IS the LAST TIME we’ll have a chance to get local oysters for a long while”; so we wound up eating an entire oyster roast dinner.  Salad, corn, boiled potatoes, and hush puppies (hp s are like  deep-fried sweet cornmeal donut holes)  were the sides that came with the meal.   It was a wonderful meal.  (I inserted  this comment on 5/3/10… “obviously this was written before the gulf  oil platform melt down.  We are being told that the  Gulf of Mexico oysters/shrimp may be oil tainted and unavailable for years, which will probably push the cost of our local SE Atlantic oysters and shrimp out of reach when they come back into season”.)  I hope not. Eating whole pots of roasted local oysters are one of the true joys of living on the East Coast

I got home at about 8pm.  I collapsed into a state of contentment on the couch and watched a PBS documentary on the life of Buddha.  It seemed a perfect way to end a perfect evening.

Yawkey Wildlife Center March 2 '10

Several Artists had told me about what incredible photo ops the Yawkey Wildlife Center  on Cat Island offered  for artists who wanted to get some reference photos of  primitive barrier islands around the Winyah Bay. I decided to follow through with a call to their visitor information center, and soon found myself on a guided tour .

Invited tour guests are asked to meet at a dock on the banks of the Intercoastal .  The wait provides an interesting place to all of the large ships traversing the waters in an out of the Georgetown Harbor.

  I hadn't realized there was that much large shipping on the Inter-coastal.Waterway.

Eventually a small boat arrived at the dock to taxi us across to the Island.

Once on Cat Island, we were introduced to our Tour Guide and 

loaded into vans.

The tour began immediately as our guide began to explain the various ecosystems and subsystems we were passing through..  Much of it was forested land, but there were also a lot of early colonial archeological sites along the way.

Like this grave-site  of the Hume family (above)
or the rice chimney below

I had hoped to get some really good photographs on this trip. The guide did not have a problem letting us out of the van, but warned us that even this early i the year, the insects were voracious.
He was right.  I took the photo below then decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

The remainder of my pictures were taken from the within the insect proof van.

 We drove down the dikes that separated the former rice fields while the guide explained  what life was like for slave and master alike on a rice plantation.

  He also explained how  dam projects on the Santee River had reduced the out flow of fresh water allowing more sea water to come in with the tides and salinating the soil so it was no longer arable for crops. Today the fields are seeded to help act as a sanctuary for migrating birds.
and the canals act as protected havens for some of the largest alligators in South Carolina.

Everywhere  we saw evidence of a healthy ecosystem where the nature had begun to reclaim the land and wildlife was flourishing

As a final stop we drove to the point on the island where we could look across Winyah Bay at the  Lighthouse on North Island.

I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to get better pictures, but I gain an immense appreciation for the place. I did take a lot of photos, and I am sure some of them will serve me well for jogging my memory of the place. should I wish to paint it.