Summer Chapel

Summer Chapel

oil on panel 8"x10"

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I live very close to Duke Chapel and so I get to see it in all seasons. It is challenging to paint Gothic architecture!

Flicker's Find

5"x7"

Missing my oil paints-not sure I'll make it to 30 of these. Part of what's making it hard is I'm doing them all in card and postcard size! Planning to send them to my best real estate clients!

MY Apple!

There has been a brief pause due to a snow barrage. Been scurrying around to get supplies and also get ready in case the power goes out-a frequent event in my neighborhood.
This is watercolor on Bristol board. Lots of adding and wiping out. It's fun but it takes a while because you can't wipe out spots unless the paint is kind of dry.

My Apple 2 Day 4

Here's the next layer-progress is slow because I have to wait for it do dry!

My Apple WIP (Day 3)

Today I'm trying an old favorite technique learned from Burton Silverman's Breaking the Rules of Watercolor. You use Bristol Board and a tiny bit of white gouache, paint in layers and wipe out here and there as you go. This is the first layer. Hope I can still do this! 5"x 7".

Gordo-Day 2

Watercolor on Lanaquerelle 4"x6"

Years ago I lived in an apartment with a deck. We installed a nail sticking up on which to stick fruit and pinecones. A very fat mockingbird visited so often I named him Gordo. Gordo would come to eat and even sometimes to get out of the rain.
I am enjoying doing watercolors again and in this very busy January, a small watercolor is just about right!

Day 1: Blackbird

This is pretty embarrassing. Last time I attempted 30 paintings in 30 days I only got to day 2. Hopefully this time I can keep going.
I'm actually kind of excited; I'm doing these 30 paintings in watercolor-a medium I haven't used in over 20 years. I recently started missing it, and inspired by some others' watercolors I've seen, I wanted to pick it up again.

Day 2 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days

Another Day

Acrylic on 5"x7" on  Greeting card

 

Well, I've learned that using a palette knife and acrylics on these greeting cards is not the optimum approach. Still, had fun anyway! Will be trying some new approaches in the next days!

DAy One: 30 Paintings in 30 Days

This feels very daunting! Some of my paintings will be greeting cards-experimenting with different mediums and layers. This one is a larger one for the grand opening!

 

 

 

 

Ocean View with Feathers

18"x24" Acrylic on 1 1/2 gallery wrapped canvas.

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Blue Boat

 

6"x6" Oil on archival panel.

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In honor of Earth Day I named this painting Blue Boat in reference to our Unitarian Universalist Hymn Blue Boat Home.



Mango Madness

Mango Madness

11"x14" Oil on linen Click Here to Buy

Day three of the 30 day painting challenge. I'm thinking I might change the background to white. Any thoughts about this?

Day 2 Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge PEAR PAIR

 5"x5" oil on archival board

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I'm practicing to teach my first Palette Knife painting class at Olli, Duke's Center for Learning in Retirement. I took this photo a little bit crooked, so some of the corners aren't cropped. This is an exercise I will use to teach the class. Pears have a more interesting shape than, say, apples.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

 

Oil and Cold Wax with Collage  12"x12"

$200

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It's amazing to me how this title just popped up in my head as the painting progressed and it started to look like the fires in the West.

Fly Away

 

Fly Away

12"x12" Oil and Cold Wax on Gessoboard

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Interesting that these in retrospect I see that these titles, Breakthrough and Fly Away are congruent with my current desire to retire from real estate and paint!

Breakthrough

Breakthrough Oil and Cold Wax 12:x12"
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First day of Leslie Saeta's September 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. This one is also a "breakthrough" for me; I've learned a new way of painting that is compatible with my real estate business. I can put a layer on, go show a house, put another layer one, make some calls, and so forth. I'm SO excited!

Trying a new process

Kathy Cousart has inspired me to try cold wax so I'm taking an oil and wax workshop for 2 days in Raleigh this weekend with Jeff Erickson. Can't wait.
 I've been trying it on my own and I'm not really sure how to proceed but it seems to be fun. Only problem so far is I have a hard time being patient enough to let a layer dry before I go on. I'm painting  scene of a goose in a pond and I think this is the 6th or 7th layer and I can see quite a few more to come. I plan to cover most of the water and just have some of the color showing. It's fun though!
WORK IN PROGRESS

Madonna

Madonna

Oil on canvas panel 8"x10"

30 Paintings in 30 Days, #2

Here is another black and white old photograph (don't know the photographer) that I have painted, imagining the colors.

Mom's Family Beach Time

8" x 8" Oil on gessoed panel

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So we all know what Mom really gets to do at the beach! What wonderful weather we have had this year!
I started this one with a transparent underpainting as I learned to do in a recent workshop with Dreama Tolle Perry.

Then I went on to add some opaques and also darken the figures.

Family Beach Time

Oil on canvas panel 8"x10"

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Here we are cold again. My azaleas are blooming and the dogwoods all around are peeking through the woods like shy angels.
I'm dreaming of the beaches of my life. There has always been a beach either close by, such as when I lived there when my father was in training for the Navy, when I lived there as a young newlywed, and now just 2 1/2 hours away whenever I want to go. It still thrills me to walk along the shore and pick up treasures or to take my raft and float in on a wave.

                  At the Sea-Side

 When I was down beside the sea  

 A wooden spade they gave to me       

 To dig the sandy shore.  

 My holes were empty like a cup.  

 In every hole the sea came up,       

 Till it could come no more.
                            Robert Lewis Stevenson

Spring at the On Ramp

Oil on panel 9"x12"

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Every spring I love seeing all these beautiful yellow flowers at the on and off ramps of the roads around my home. This one is at 15/501 business in Durham North Carolina.