painting in process

20"x16"

Oil on Cradled Board

I've been working all day on this painting to put in a show. Actually, I thought I was finished until I showed it to my husband! He has a great eye and, darnit! he's usually right about when something needs to be changed! So, tomorrow I soften a couple of edges: on the shadows and the strap of the yellow bag and the guy's flippy hair.

"What Can I Get For You? #2

8"x6"

Oil on Board

$100 plus $10 domestic s/h

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I took yesterday's painting to a critique group and they had alot of good observations and suggestions--remove the light on the left, have a clearer idea of where the light source is, show more depth, put some light on the red sweatshirt. . .so I tried some of these and I do think the painting works better. It is so helpful to get some fresh eyes to look at these!

"What Can I Get For You?"

8"x6"

Oil on Board

I intended to post this yesterday, but it was another one of those paintings that I had to start/wipe off, start/wipe off, start/wipe off! I think the good thing about that "process" is that I finally get to a point where I go "well, what the hell, let's just see what happens" and then I'm freer to try other approaches. This scene is from a brewpub in Newport, OR. I was attracted by the waitress's pose and the constant movement I remember from my days of waitressing. I wouldn't be surprised if the term "multi-tasking" was coined by a waitress!

"Happy Hour" (sold)

6"x8"

Oil on Board

Ahhh. . .memories! I started a larger version of this the other day and it was really helpful to do this smaller version before I got any further.

"Critique" sold

8"x6"

Oil on Board

A week ago I posted a drawing of this subject, "Ya Think?". I guess doing it in paint means a more "serious" title! This scene is taken from a visit to a great new space here in Bend, the TBD Loft which is affiliated with a talented design agency, TBD. It was a show of the work of young creatives who are just beginning to exhibit. Wonderful to see them supported in their work.

"Lost in Thought" (sold)

6"x6"

Oil on Board

It's good to be back to painting again! Not that it was easy! I lost count of how many times I wiped this off and decided I wasn't going to paint it! Each time I wiped it away, though, I'd see the underpainting and it would draw me back in. The hardest part of this was trying to get color that would work for the skin tones. I am happy with what's happened around her face that way. I have painted this subject two other times--the first one I tossed, the second I still have (posted on Feb. 13th). It was interesting to compare it with this. This one is so much looser!

"Breakfast Line"

10"x8"

Oil on Board
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This is an older painting I am posting today as I haven't had time to do much this week with the teaching. This painting is from a visit to a restaurant in Portland, OR, the M&J Cafe. I painted this about a year ago. It's nice to see something I haven't looked closely at for awhile--and to enjoy it!!

"Like Mother, Like Daughter #1" (sold)

Oil on Board

8"x8"

$100 plus $10 s/h

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I've been teaching as an "artist in residence" at a local elementary school all week and no matter how good my intentions, it's just been really hard to get any painting done--I am getting too old for this! Anyway, I decided to pull out another piece that I painted last summer. I have always really liked the feeling of the sun and heat in this. I did another painting this winter of the same scene. It was interesting seeing how I treated it differently in color and brushstrokes. At any rate, I'll be glad when it's warm enough again that I'm seeing scenes like this on our local streets!

"Pray-er #2"

6"x6"

Oil on Board

Another face from the retreat a week and a half ago. I'm enjoying doing these--they are like a meditation in themselves as I paint. This is not a portrait as much as it is an impression done from memory. She had such a serene countenance. I guess it doesn't really show that well in this painting, though! In doing this, I got more into just playing with color and the brushstrokes.

"Just Watching"

8"X6"

Oil on Board

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I am teaching all this week and don't know if I'm going to get much painting done, so I thought I'd just post something I did awhile back--last August, I believe. It always is interesting to me to go back to something and see how I feel about it later. It passes. But it's interesting, too, for me, to see things I've become aware of since I painted this piece!

"Smith Rock"

36"x36"

Oil on Cradled Board

Sold

I've been working on this commission on and off for a few months now and am ready to deliver it! Smith Rock is a part of a visually dramatic area north of Bend about 30 miles. It is a well-known rock climbing spot for those who do that, and a great place to feel some wildness for the rest of us! Many people have been working very hard to protect the area from having destination resorts built adjacent to it and have so far succeeded. It is a unique and incredibly special place where just being there really affects the spirit.

"Next!"

13"x10"

Graphite on Paper, Unframed

$75 plus $10 domestic s/h

I couldn't be in my studio today so decided to take my drawing materials with me to work with. I have painted this woman before ("Left Foot Forward", 1/11/08 post)--still really like the motif and look forward to painting her again. The drawing below, "Ya Think?" ended up being a good study for me. I will be doing a painting of this, too. I'm teaching alot of drawing classes these days and I'm looking forward to sharing these examples.

"Ya Think?"

24"x18"

Graphite on Paper, Unframed

$300 plus $20 domestic s/h

"Opening the Gift" (sold)

8"x6"

Oil on Board

This was just a joy to do. Not much more to say than that!

"Opening Night, TBDLoft"

20"x16"

Oil on 3/4" Cradled Board

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This painting ended up being a surprise to me. Not long after I got it roughed in, I saw that I had a choice as to whether or not to keep the simplicity of the shapes or to work it up into a piece with alot more modeling of form and information in it. I had to stop and sleep on it--to decide to let it be simplified was like choosing a new road to go down and I had to think about whether I really wanted to do that. I have spent alot of time enjoying trying to get alot of that modeling in, trying to get things "right" in the past year's paintings. I've had in my mind certain criteria of what it would mean for me to be a good painter and this didn't necessarily fit! To let this painting be different was a challenge not just to my abilities, but to my ego. I remember reading somewhere--must've been someone else's blog--that in doing the daily painting, a person travels through many styles. Part of me wants to keep growing and changing and another part of me would love to just find a place to land. . .However, this was really invigorating and I think I'm going to try to follow whatever is trying to take form here.

"The Pink Backpack #2" (sold)

8"x6"

Oil on Board

$100 plus $10 domestic s/h

It was a good experience ot visit this again and try to work more with the composition and to figure out what to do with the color shapes to make up the background. This one feels like it has a better sense of depth and the colors feel a bit cleaner. I decided to leave out the flyer-covered telephone pole on the right this time--I really like it as an element, but it just seemed to distract from the main figure.

"The Pink Backpack"

8"x6"

Oil on Canvas on Board

$100 plus $10 domestic s/h

Feels good to be back painting! I have a feeling this is one of those subjects I'm going to have to paint until I see the painting I'm wanting!

"Pray-er"

6"x6"

Oil on Board

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Just back today from spending most of last week at a retreat at Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey here in Oregon. I expected to paint during alot of my free time, but soon realized that wasn't what I was being drawn to do. It was a silent retreat, so many things that I would ordinarily not give alot of attention to gained alot of significance. After the retreat I spent a day in Portland and visited Lawrence Gallery where I encountered the work by Mark Bailey. He had a series of faces--among other paintings--hanging there that I just became entranced with. So today it occurred to me to let some of those faces that I watched in silence this past week to come to me and to paint them now. This is a memory of one of the monks. Mark's brushwork really caught my interest and I am trying to allow the looseness I felt in his--always that same thing about not trying to put in all the information! I think that working from memory impressions might be a good practice for this.

"Transfixed"

10"x8"

Oil on Board

$250 US +$10 domestic s/h

Friday night was "Art Walk" and this painting is from a place called the TBDLoft. It's a great new space here filled with young creative people and their work! I had a ball doing this painting! It is so hard to not want to go in and finish everything, hard to leave the details undone, but I like it!

I am going on retreat tomorrow and won't be posting for a week. Ya'all have a good one!

"On the Shady Side" (sold)

6"x6"

Oil on Board

I don't know if I have ever painted the same subject 5 times in a row! (I did the past three posts and also a watercolor besides this one). I'm not sure that this is "the painting I wanted to paint" yet, but I do feel like some things came together in this attempt. There is a pleasant balance of values and of the colors for me--at least in the original--the blues in this photo are a little too blue. Also, the composition isn't overwhelmed by the dark shape on the far right as it is in yesterday's post. I often paint fairly thinly and really enjoyed putting on some "juicy" paint!

Downtown Maupin #3 (sold)

8"x8"

Oil on Board

This subject is turning into quite a study! It's been interesting, though. Today I tried to really work on seeing the value shapes and the overall design of the subject. I also used neo-megilp as a medium to see what that was like. I don't know what the painting is I hope to do with this subject, but I'd like to follow this path a bit and see what happens. I feel like I'm in school!