Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Raspberry Stems, Late Light


 














Glowing tufts of dry flowers, red-glazed stems, savagely bright afternoon sky, and the exuberance of it all against the encroaching dark.

Raspberry Stems, Late Light, 12 x 10", oil on artboard 

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Don't Settle

Every time I pick up painting again after a break, I need to relearn a few things. Yesterday I remembered to wait.

Despite perusing pond, woods, and field for nearly an hour, I hadn’t felt moved to paint by much of  anything. I get to a point sometimes where I'm just wandering for wandering's sake, telling myself there’s some worth in just being outside, pondering composition. “Maybe I'll learn something,” I think, “even if it’s only about what doesn’t work.”

Then I got stopped by a section of field where a few pine trees cast an indigo shadow across the gold grasses. Some dry goldenrods lit by the late sunlight stood in bright silhouette against the streak of dark. No surprise - it turned out to be nearly the same scene I'd painted on a similarly sunny November day last year. The moment grabbed me with the same emotional pull, and I had to laugh. There’s no denying it. The emotional power a composition has for you is there or it’s not, and you know it when you feel it. 

It’s a relief, in a way, because it's good to know you can’t fool yourself. When you’re desperately trying to compose a subject out of meager nothingness, you should let go and keep searching.

I ended up behind a row of trees painting raspberry stems red-glazed by the lowering sun. (I had to break another rule I’m relearning: “Don’t paint facing the western sky late in the day.” Too hard on the eyes.) The brilliant tufts of dry flowers, the glowing stems, the savagely bright afternoon sky - and the exuberance of it all against the encroaching dark - was a sight worth stopping for.


Sunday, February 14, 2021

Snowy Trees



Still hooked on briers :)

Snowy Trees, 10 x 11", oil on artboard panel.

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Thursday, May 7, 2020

Squash Flowers

























Nice moody day up in our nearby community gardens. 

Squash Flowers, 14 x 14", oil on artboard panel.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Gold and Blue

























Beautiful old building on a hill as the sun was going down.

Gold and Blue, 11 x 11", oil on artboard.

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Friday, April 17, 2020

Redbud Hillside























Dance of trees and blossoms against the hillside. Love that cloudy day light!

Redbud Hillside, 10 x 12", oil on artboard.

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Thursday, August 22, 2019

Sky Green





















10 x 20 inches, oil on artboard. Looking for compositions in a late August field, I found these green leaves reaching into the sky, defying fall.

$450 total 

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