the gardener - 14x18"

I began this painting as a demo at the Beaufort Art Association's Spring Show and am nearly done with it - unsure about the yellow flower in the front. I have decided that 18x14" is my new favorite size canvas. Spring is kinda-sorta here in SC though next week looks rainy and cold again! I am still trying to finish larger pieces and squeezing plein air time in as well so I haven't had much to post recently. In addition to that, I am experiencing an extreme aversion to the internet which I must get over............I don't know if others feel that as well but I have to literally force myself to log on! I won an award at the show and will post a photo of it when I get the painting back.

end of February!

Wow, did this month go fast! I am liking posting multiple things at once - seems to fit me better than those daily things.................so, I'll stick with this format. House on the hill is nearly done (have to finish the windows & straighten things up a bit). Sorry about the clamp at the edge but this is on a 12x16" panel and was hard to photograph without keeping it straight up.

I began this 14x11" painting months ago and (for some odd reason) never finished it.....I had similar colors on the palette and decided there was no reason not to finish it.

I have been working on this for the last two days and am making good progress.....It's 30x24" and I am totally enjoying working this size.

finishing stuff

Thought I would intersperse text with the pictures this time! At any rate, the weather has moderated a bit (though still unseasonably cold) and I have moved back to the studio after spending several days working in the living room while the "storm" raged. I decided that I would finish some of the paintings I had put off for a period of time. Obviously the boat in underpainting is a new one.............it's 30x24" and I can't wait to get started on it. This boat lives about a mile and a quarter from me at the Gay Fish Co.

The "clouds over the marsh" hasn't been hanging around for too long and I soon figured out that I had put it aside because of something I didn't like - it seemed too cold -I warmed it up and resolved some of the transitions and am much happier with it now. This painting is 20x16" and the photo isn't too great but it is the best I can do till the weather improves a bit (way too windy today to take it outside).

This 18x24" painting has been hanging on the drying wall for nearly a year while I figured out what I was doing wrong..............I think months of doing crappy plein air studies at the marsh has helped me even though I can't really say it in words..........sort of an understanding of the structure of the land masses that the grasses grow on and the way the colors transition from their roots to their tops...........also how the groups of individual grasses form little groups of their own and merge and cross into one another.............see what I mean? It's not quite finished yet but I know where I am going now and that's half the battle!

cloudy day phase 2 - 16" square

I managed to get outside to paint the other day and, despite the poor quality of what I did, felt really energized by it and happy to get back to the studio again. So, I've continued working on the several things I've been posting for the last few weeks. I am trying to retain the gesture of the figure while painting the stripes (quite difficult) and portraying the sense of solidity and saturation of color that are present in this type of light. I decided to add a grouping on the left side to assist with the composition..............it's been so cold in the studio that the paint is drying quite slowly which is good.

cloudy day/striped towel 16" square

I started this a few days ago and have been battling the cold in my studio to work on it..........today there is a sort of liquid ice coming down everywhere and I am actually pretty surprised we have power at all. The Spanish moss looks weird with a coating of ice and I can't help but feel that even more trees will be damaged by this storm than were damaged by the deep cold we had earlier this month.

two updates

I have been alternating working on these two paintings for the past week or so - in between moving stuff back and forth between the studio and the house depending on the temperature. It is impossible to work in the studio when it is around freezing and insulating it will be a priority when I do the renovations this spring. Neither photo is very good because the lighting isn't great in the living room....this is complicated by the fact that I am sort of tripping over the 50 or so tropical plants I managed to drag into the house (a couple of lizards are thriving as well). I am eagerly fantasizing about heat and humidity!

summer skies - 20x16"

It's been really cold here and am semi-dreaming of when it gets hot again. At any rate, I took a break from what I have been working on to paint something more summery - I get sick of posting updates anyway. I am trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with the foreground.