from the bluff - 12x10"

Just a quick study done on Monday from the bluff over the intra-coastal waterway at Beaufort. It's the first week in what seems like months that the weather has cooperated for our plein air group on Monday morning. 

Post reception

I'll try to get some better photos of my show when I have a chance to get back to the gallery again. The reception went really well, the food was good (as usual, I over provided) and lots of people came. Family was visiting and just left on Monday....I promptly came down with a bit of a cold and did little but laundry and napping yesterday. Feel better today and plan on getting out to the studio today. The weather has changed in the past week and it is cool and rainy instead of steamy - I have a sweatshirt on for the first time in months.

taming the dragon - step 2 - 20" square

I have been working on this for the past few days.......finally got it to pull together. The more I work with grays, the more astounded I am by their power and subtlety. Ir's finally cool enough to paint outside so I plan on doing some in the near future. We are having our fall Art Walk in Beaufort on Saturday, October 26th and, since I am in  charge of it, I have been bugging every artist and gallery in town! So, if you are around, please drop in from 5-7:30 pm.

by the bridge - 14x11"

Wow, I figured out a quicker way to upload using iPhoto! It was a beautiful day to paint outside and, since I will have a bit less time to do so until I am fully moved in to my new house, I had to take advantage of it. I supposedly close on Monday and then have to have some plumbing work done before I begin moving in in earnest. I really don't feel right, though, if I don't get out to paint at least twice a week.......working only in the studio without that outdoor time makes me feel edgy and unfulfilled. 

Thought I would post the "nearly done" photo of the marine scene I have been working on inside.....we  had a very unsettled weather week so today was the first day I could have really worked outside anyways.

marsh stuff

 

It was so damn nice that I decided to go outside to paint today rather than finish the painting I have been working on (bottom) inside. I decided to work on a larger canvas (top - 16x12") than I have been using outside and was really happy that I did since it felt so much more "correct" than the smaller canvases I have been using. Sorry about the little shadows at the top of the photo............I took the photo outside on site. The "Taste of Beaufort" festival this past weekend was pretty much a wash-out since it was raining so hard that the paint wasn't even sticking to the canvas and I used nearly a roll of paper towels sopping up the water on my palette (while under an umbrella!).......some days are simply not meant for plein air.

Taste of Beaufort tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the "Taste of Beaufort" festival at Waterfront Park..........I would love to tell you more but I'm unsure of what it is exactly. I'm pretty sure that it's a showcase of the many restaurants that exist in Beaufort......unfortunately it is supposed to rain all day. The reason I am sharing this with you is that a group of us plein air painters will be painting at the waterfront for much of the day.............so, if you are close, come visit. I am prepping myself for a rainy day! At any rate, I have finished the girl at the beach painting and have begun another painting of the view I see when I look across a large marsh (near my house) at a small white house on the other side. I have been pondering how to compose this picture for months since it looks totally different depending on the time of day and the level of the water.......sometimes the view is quite boring. Both paintings shown are 18x24," a size I am really comfortable with.

sunday update

 

Just a couple of updates..........the top painting is 16x20" and nearly completed and the bottom one is 24x18" and at the mid stage. I have been really busy recently and working on larger paintings or studies and they don't always lend themselves to posting so I have been somewhat absent!

this and that

 

A little bit of everything today! "Winter Marsh (top)" won the Founder's Award at the Beaufort Art Association's spring show. I have been busy painting outside recently (and wiping them off) and doing my taxes and painting inside as well. I have made a little progress on the girl in the wave after wiping her face down numerous times - I am still happy with the concept. It remains cold and stormy here but the azaleas are blooming everywhere so I had to brave the weather today and try and paint them. Thought I would finish this today but a band of severe thunderstorms hit and I had to get in the house.....with a metal easel the lightening was a tad close.

Best in Show & marsh study on paper - 10x8"

 

 

I know I said I wouldn't post the "kids" again but I was totally excited that I won the "Best of Show" award in the juried portion of the Beaufort Art Association's Spring show so I had to post it again. I was also attending a plein air workshop with Bill Davidson (in Beaufort) much of last week so I painted outside much of the week and was way too happy and busy to log on to the computer. The study (done on a brown card stock sold by Guerilla Painter) is the only thing I will probably show from the workshop. It's funny but I think I learned more in this workshop than I have in any other I've taken (not like I take lots of workshops or anything) and I was really happy since I concentrated exclusively on learning rather than finished paintings. Davidson is a very down to earth, funny and clear instructor and has a way of demonstrating that distills his process beautifully......I stongly recommend his workshop.  I, myself, will be demonstrating at the Spring Show tomorrow from 1:30 - 5 pm so anyone who is local can swing by the Old Bay Market Loft and say hi.

coastal erosion - 12x9"

 

I can't believe it is already the 6th..... I am finally feeling relatively pain-free after my seven hour ordeal in the dental chair last Thursday and thought I should get something posted soon. This house fascinated me from the moment I saw it. It is situated on the outer edge of Hunting Island - the area has been steadily eroding for years and there are signs everywhere warning people to be careful. The amazing thing about this place is that there are still plastic chairs and a grill on that little porch up there. Someone that volunteers with me at the Nature Center told me that people were still living there until a few years ago!

on the intracoastal - 14x11"

I found a good spot along the canal right downtown near the bridge to the Sea Islands and painted this today. I had intended on finishing a different painting that I started on Monday but promptly ruined it......sometimes it just doesn't work out to do a study over the course of two days.

beginning of "historic house" - 12" square

This is just the beginning of this painting......I am roughing it out. Beaufort has many amazing historic homes but many of them are located in very "close" enviornments which do not allow one to get back far enough to get any perspective or distance from them without stepping in the intra-coastal canal or  onto a neighbor's porch. In this case I have found the distortion of the camera lens to be helpful. I usually become annoyed by the distortion and rarely rely on photos of the landscape I have just painted, prefering to return to the site if I need to do so.

two things

I am nearly done with the figure painting but have to let it set up for awhile...........what seems like dry paint is actually quite wet and doesn't handle at all like oil paint on canvas. The other painting is the first day of a plein air and is a view from Lady's Island toward Beaufort across the intracoastal waterway. A really great thing about living here is that you can pretty much count on a having a similar weather day in the near future so you can work much larger and take two days on site. I won't be posting for the next week or two since I have to go back to NY to do the final cleanup of my Dad's house (which has sold - thank goodness!)............ I am unsure of exactly how long the process will take. Both paintings are 14x11" and on birch panels.

House on Carteret - 14x11"

I spent two mornings on site with this one and still have a couple of things to do. I am thrilled because I figured out what was wrong with the computer (at least I figured out how to ask the right questions when I called the geek squad). There was something wrong with the keyboard so I replaced that and the mouse and now everything is working just fine! Beaufort has a number of these huge homes along the intra-coastal waterway and in the old section of town.........the homes are quite amazing.

pigeon point plein air - 10x8"

I tested out the new double basket I had installed on the back of my bike and went to the boat landing near my house..........the baskets worked quite well but I still have to carry my supplies in a backpack. On the way home, the painting suffered no damage at all and, as I get better at navigating, I plan on going over the bridge (nearly hit a parking meter last week). For some reason, there was a lot of smoke in the air this morning and the light seemed much warmer than normal for early morning.

to the landing - 16x12"

Lots of people fish around here and there are innumerable boat landings.............this guy was coming back early one morning to the landing on Lady's Island. Lady's Island is across the Intracoastal Waterway from Beaufort.

study - Carteret St. 10x8"

Carteret St. is one of the main streets in Beaufort.....it is particularly appealing early in the morning when the sun is coming up behind the homes and there is no traffic.

by Hwy. 21 - 10x8"

Just a quickie........highway 21 is the primary route out of Beaufort towards the inland roads. This defunct store always catches my attention. And just so you know, I have been trying to edit my profile to reflect the recent changes in my life/location but keep getting an annoying error message which causes me to turn the computer off - I will figure it out at some point.

window boxes 16x12"

I have made some progress on this one..........went painting outside all day on Sunday & did two but they were kind of crappy so I am not going to post them.

fishing area - update

Just an update on the "tropical scene" and then the start of a new painting...........the landscape is so wet I had to put it aside (even though I like working wet this was too much) plus I have to do some additional studies on scene. The "start" is of some window boxes in sunlight in the historic portion of the city of Beaufort. It absolutely amazes me that these flowers grow in winter! In addition to the warmth, I am quite happy with the amount of sunshine here; if it's not raining it is usually partly or mostly sunny. And then there's the shrimp.