Tuesday 29 May 2012

fish camp and pyramid


I had to stop doing the final touches on the "fish camp" picture because the darker colors were bleeding through.........so, I began roughing out the figure painting of the three kids at the beach. After days of the local weather reports plugging tropical storm Beryl, we are at last getting an abundant amount of rain. I should have gone painting outside yesterday but stayed in due to the forecast and wished I hadn't paid attention. Today, I marinated steak for the grill because I doubted that the storm would materialize and now I must cook in a downpour. So be it.

Sunday 27 May 2012

the fish camp - step 1 - 14x11"


I just started this picture but haven't posted for a bit so I thought I should get something up soon since I get to go back to the dentist on Wednesday again......joy. We are going to get a tropical storm for the next couple of days so there won't be any painting outside. I went to Hunting Island this morning to check it out and it was so windy I couldn't even sketch. It was amazing and I always feel so good being out there.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

factory creek early morning - 10x8" study


I couldn't get a decent photo of this because it is absolutely pouring........went out really early this morning to paint. I know this looks a bit sloppy but it really works when you see it in person. Enough excuses for now! I begin a round of dental torture tomorrow and am hoping it doesn't get in the way of life too much - I dread it.

Sunday 20 May 2012

tropical storm off the coast - 10x8" plein air


I heard that a tropical storm was forming off the South Carolina coast so I had to go see..........it was not very stormy but I found this vista at a place called the Marsh Boardwalk which is a trail that is part of Hunting Island State Park. This is painted on a birch panel which I used to hate using but have now decided I like using............probably because I changed my methods for working outside.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

this and that.......



Since I have been having so much trouble with the computer, I have given up struggling with it on a daily basis (I know I will probably have to get a new one soon). It is just too annoying - so, I thought I would just post a few things that I have been working on. The painting at the bottom is done for the most part. I always put it up for a while and often make minor adjustments after a week or two. The orange chair is getting there and the beach scene is a plein air done at Hunting Island this morning. The plein air work is coming along but I feel like I lost so much confidence in the past year of not doing it on a nearly daily basis - unavoidable with the move but I am glad that I am back in to a routine again. My fire ant bites now look like a localized case of smallpox but they don't hurt at all so it's just the "disgustingness factor." The little creeps are sneaky too, when we have lots of storms (we have had more thunderstorms in the past couple of weeks than New England has in years) they spread out from their mounds and are harder to avoid.

Thursday 10 May 2012

trial by fire (ants)



Well, I have now experienced the pain of fire ants! I am pretty careful and have studied a little bit about them since I moved "down south." Unfortunately, yesterday's heavy rain seems to have caused the little buggers to leave their mounds and swarm under the edge of a railroad tie that edges the side of the driveway.....of course I didn't see them and stepped right into a batch of about a zillion of them. I moved into the house to take a shower and continue working and listened to a bit of talk radio so I could listen to the right-wingers scream about gay marraige - it relieved the symptoms of the ant bites somewhat. Who actually listens to Rush Limbaugh seriously? After a few callers describing themselves as "dittoheads" and Rush blabbering on about "traditional marraige" (I mean he is an expert having tried it four times), I couldn't take any more and turned it off.

At any rate, I have pretty much completed the shrimp boats and have begun the one of the fishing couple and their dog......and hoping the damn ants stop swarming and go back to their neat little mounds where I can see them and treat them with a substance which is supposed to be deadly and safe at the same time (according to the guy at Lowe's) - go figure!

Tuesday 8 May 2012

eddings point landing - 16x12"


Not quite done with this one but I have been doing a bunch of plein air stuff so this has taken me a couple of days - I am hoping to finish it tonight before the light fades. I did a study on site and then took a couple of photos before I left. The tide went out wicked fast and this was begun at about 8am so the light changed really fast as well.

Friday 4 May 2012

to Fripp Island (plein air) - 12" square

Another study done outdoors in the fantastic weather we have been having here. Neutral colored mounds of beach grasses and reeds are extremely difficult to paint!

Thursday 3 May 2012

wimbee creek plein air study - 12" square


I have been doing a lot of plein air stuff recently but it hasn't been coming out too well - this has the effect of making me incredibly stubborn. Today, I drove down a dirt road to Wimbee Creek and painted this - a little weak compositionally but I was pleased with the sense of distance I accomplished. It was low tide - the bugs were awful and I used a ton of repellent which didn't seem to upset the insects at all. It was hot and I had a wonderful time! I also seem to have repaired my computer without taking it back to the Geek Squad - actually I think it might have healed itself. I didn't turn it on for three days and was then able to exit from some back-up program that had been triggered by last week's power outage....I was relieved that I don't have to buy a new computer.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

computer virus

We had a power outage here last Friday morning and I have been unable to do anything with photos since. It is very frustrating since I have already had it in to the Geek Squad and now have to bring it back.............just feeling a bit sensitive after my long "moving break." I'll be back to posting as soon as this is resolved or I have to get a new computer (grrr). Just dealing with the computer gives me a headache.