january geranium study - 8x10"

Just a quick study today.............despite the warm weather we have had here recently, there is little color in the landscape. These geraniums I transplanted from the window boxes last fall are a bright spot. I am still feeling kind of crappy from the flu so I have been trying to get out to paint rather than working on anything complex indoors (the necessary focus is still eluding me anyway). 

getting there

 I am finally feeling a little better..............I had been working on this when the flu "hit" me. Went out plein air for two hours today to the Broad River - did a wiper for sure but it was wonderful to be out again after being sick for more than a week. The weather was beautiful and a pod of dolphins decided they would cheer me up while I was working. Every day is a little better but, boy, would I recommend a flu shot for anyone who hasn't gotten one yet!

earth ball (10x10") & the flu

Wow...........on Thursday, I was standing at the easel painting and I was suddenly freezing - seriously freezing. By evening I had to get under the covers and turn the heat way up and by Friday I knew I was really sick and didn't even try to function. Made it to Urgent Care on Sunday and tested positive for influenza - got some Tamiflu and am slowly beginning to recover. I am posting this picture because it is one of the paintings that I put into the Beaufort Art Association Gallery exhibit this month and I have barely cleaned a paintbrush since Thursday.......I recommend Tamiflu however, I actually woke up for a few hours yesterday afternoon! Pretty Awesome.

New Orleans morning - 12x16" (unfinished)

First post of 2013 - hard to believe. I've been working on this for the last couple of days.............I was drawn to all  of the puddles on the street and how they reflected the sky so well. I ran out of the titanium white that I normally use (M. Graham) and have been using some other brand which is drying really fast so I feel like I am fighting to keep the paint wet enough. Luckily my online order arrives tomorrow and I found a tube of Graham that was mostly gone in my plein air bag! In addition to that, a painting with so much shadow in it can be very difficult to photograph so I apologize about the picture.

babysitting - 12x24" (nearing completion)

I am making progress with this one but I am feeling the lack of light as I usually do this time of year. I don't think I could take a place like Alaska and having to use only artificial lighting for months at a time. I probably have another day on this one (I had to completely re-draw the figure on the right).......though I have mixed up a bit of paint in advance (much easier in natural light) and will keep going until I can't. I can't believe we are nearly at 2013............so, Happy New Year!

happy holidays delayed

Hopefully you all had a wonderful holiday - I did. I went to my sister's for a day and a half in Charleston. My kids and I pretty much combined holiday togetherness at Thanksgiving. Prior to that I began this but felt a certain rebelliousness towards picking up the brushes and went for some long walks at the beach to just explore without paints. I love the light of winter but sometimes I want a broader view of everything rather than focusing on one view as one tends to do when painting.........since winter light changes so quickly and it's so comfortable (at least here) it seems a good time to do that. There is something about the solstice that makes me quite reflective.....so I just go with it more than I used to.

marsh color study - 11x14"

 

I am probably going to do more on this but it's so wet right now that I can't........I really felt like fooling around with color today so the marsh in my backyard served my purposes well.