Tuesday, December 31, 2024

WELCOMING 2025, Looking back at 2024, part 2

After we returned from our big anniversary trip to New Zealand and Tasmania, I return to the studio but of course there are more paintings I want to do from the photos I took there, just not enough time!
In August I took a week trip to Point Lobos, CA, a beautiful marine preserve near Carmel. It was a challenge to lug my pastel because of the very limited parking, but I completed one plein air pastel.

China Cove, Point Lobos

9 x 12 Plein Air pastel

In late September I traveled with a local art friend to Lucca Italy for a 10 day oil painting workshop. We ate very well, but the weather was very wet, which isn't suitable for outdoor painting. I do have a good number of photos from travels after the workshop in Spello a small village near Assisi, and Perugia. I'll be doing some studio pieces soon.

Agriturismo stay in Calci, near Pisa

Plein air watercolor

We had a marvelous garden and I painted a few watercolor vegetable portraits. Both sketches are direct watercolor from life, no pencil, no photo references, so fresh home grown still lifes.

Jim has also be successful in growing a perennial azalea, named Northern Lights. Although the bloom is fleeting, the fragrance and color are captivating.

Northern Lights Azalea

Plein air pastel

8 x10

I packed up my painting and sketching equipment after the snow melted and into the fall to do more plein air. Some are small and mighty others are large.

Carson Peak from Silverlake

watercolor

Rock Creek Ridge

pastel on suede

Leaves of Gold, Birchm Lane Bishop

pastel

I ended the year soaking in the warm sunshine at Danzante Bay on the Sea of Cortez, Baja Sur, Mexico. The weather was great and when not playing pickleball,golfing or learning how to make cocktails, I was able to paint plein air. Such a dramatic land and seacape.

Low Low Tide, Danzante Bay, Baja

plein air pastel

Sunset at Danzante, Baja

pastel

Thursday, July 18, 2024

Midsummer Art Update, July 2024

This year 2024, began with many glorious travels that inspired new art pieces, so I've decided to share them in an update to my blog.

We spent 3 weeks on the Big Island of Hawaii, so I was able to do several plein air pastels and watercolors.

One rainy afternoon, I set down and painted a few watercolor postcards to send to grand children and friends.

We returned to the quiet reef area in Puako several times. Early in the trip the weather was calm and safe for swimming, but High surf conditions made for county beach part closures. I carefully switched to doing plein air pastels safely from the beach.

watercolor plein air, Mahukona Beach Park

watercolor plein air, Anaeho'omalu Beach

Journal entry on a very high surf day. This is the 15 acre historic beach home of Francis H Ii Brown, on Keawaili Bay. High humidity caused by the sea spray from the surf made this a challenge.

NFS 6x9

Green turtle (honu) breeding area, Puako in late afternoon

I spread my moms ashes here in this

serene and beautiful for her final resting place.

Gouache plein area near the Mauna Lani Beach Club

plein air study of the surf, with a whale spout in the distance

6 x8

SOLD

plein air pastel at 49 Black Sand Beach

6x8

my personal favorite, plein air pastel looking toward north along the Kohala Coast

9 x12

plein air pastel at Waialea Beach (Beach 69)

5x7

plein air pastel, Waialea Beach (Beach 69)

9 x12

Evening at the Mauna lani with Haleakala, Maui in the distance

9 x12

New Zealand and Tasmania

A magical 5 week trip to the South Island of New Zealand and Tasmania was so full of adventures that I wasn't able to do any large plein air painting. BUT I was inspired to work for memory and my own reference photos in the studio when we came home.

watercolor of the Owen River in the morning

Owen River Fishing access

We spent several nights a Trout fishing Lodge on this river. Catch and release, sight fishing with a wonderful guide Stephano; we caught BIG rainbows and browns. Thrilling!

3 plein air watercolors in the Glenorchy area on Lake Wakatipu, NZ

Milford Sound, pastel

Title: In the Nick of Time

9 x12

Glenorchy, Lake Wakatipu

pastel 9 x12

Cradle Mountain, Tasmania

NFS

I hope to do a few more NZ travel memory pastels in the studio in the months ahead.

Local Eastern Sierra Landscapes

Hilton Creek and Nevahbe from Crowley Lake

9 x12 Pastel

NFS

Crowley Lake Columns

12 x 18 pastel

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Happy new art and happy new year 2024

I began last year with requests from two friends for portraits of their well loved and recently deceased dogs. I was not comfortable but I jumped in, This is Archie the husky doodle in pastels, happy in his favorite meadow.

Sugar, a French bulldog, was my next commission in oil.

I call these bird portraits. Each of there birds visited us over the long winter at out birdfeeder. They are available as note cards. My technique was gouache painted over collage and pantone color swatches. Please contact me if you like to purchase cards directly.

In July, my husband and I took a pack trip to Hilton Lake for 5 days. The mule carried all our gear and I was able to both fly fish for rainbow trout, and do plein air pastels.

We were camped near this lively stream between Hilton Lake 2 and Davis Lake.

Below is Mt Humphreys, plein air pastel.

Our winter was very long and wet. The result was a fabulous inspirational Super Bloom

SOLD

One of my favorite places to visit near home is the ancient Bristlecone Pines.

In October I went to the Central California coast for a plein air pastel workshop with Lorenzo Chavez. It was a wonderful weekend and I felt like a gained a lot of energy and new techniques.

I decided to try a new medium Gouache, opaque watercolor. My dear friend Susie Johnson is an amazing photographer. She shared some photos of the Peruvian peasants from her trip. I painted these sketches and shared them with her as a set of vicarious vacation postcards.

Autumn is my favorite time to be outside on short hikes and painting plein air. The colors are so vibrant and crisp that I can't resist painting often and with abandon.