Spring is in the Air

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The weather is absolutely out of this world today. It must be 80 degrees out there and we are pinching ourselves, well and maybe fanning a little bit too. We just aren't used to this, but are reveling in all the sunshine, light and color that is prevalent in every direction. I actually sat inside my house to paint this scene because it was too hot outside! The view from my upstairs deck has recently improved due to the topping of some bushy trees so I was cool as a cucumber but still painting from real life. The headlands are blanketed with flowers of every color but from my house I could see yellow blooms and roses. Wow.

Red Ridge Farms

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Wow, it's been a whole week since I posted last. What on oith? Well, I'll tell ya it's been Mr. Toad's Wild Ride coming back from the Oregon road trip and getting 27 paintings ready for my Mendocino show opening at the Highlight Gallery on August 10th. I did several on the trip that I've had to make adjustments to and my husband has been busy as a beaver making all those frames as well. This is actually a piece I did on location at Red Ridge Farms near the hamlet of Dundee in Oregon's lovely wine country. We were directed to an ideal painting spot where we had olive trees, vineyards and lavender to choose from, so since I couldn't be in France this summer it was a no-brainer. This is not a miniature painting but I thought it might be fun to post something different and with 'more presence'. Can't you almost smell the stuff?

Washington Park

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Truly enjoying Portland and the dreamy weather and fitting in some painting time amidst the many visits with family and friends. The vast and glorious rose garden is someplace I've never seen, so now at long last I can say that I have!

South Harbor Drive

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I had quite the hankering to head to the harbor late this afternoon since the sun is blasting and the wind is at a minimum. However, once I turned onto South Harbor Drive, this scene just struck me. I hopped out of the car and shot a few pictures and decided not to stand on that busy corner but jet back to the studio to paint it instead. It's been a pleasant summer evening here in my 2nd story loft like studio and with this vision fresh in my mind, it was a delight to interpret. I love boats, but I think that those rambling roses taking over that roof are what yanked me to a halt.

Petals Magnifique

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The new year is off to a frenetic start and my head is full of all sorts of ways to tame the tempest. Someone told me the other day that I should post once a week and do larger pieces. I've thought of painting 3 times a week instead of 6 and on the off days try to compile the book or books of last year's paintings, something I've been wanting to do for months and never have time for. Just sharing these things with you in case you have some clever ideas on how I might proceed in this endeavor! 

Otherwise, I took a photo that I've had for 20 years and finally had a bit of fun with it today. The flowers were actually sitting on some gray steps and that color just didn't appeal to me, so I used my favorite pea green yellow in order to make those pinks and reds just sing. Now that the dismal hue is done away with, I can actually almost hear the vibration....................ahhhhhhhh.

Bountiful Buckets

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Kind of diggin' the close ups of colorful things that grow in the ground and then grace our everyday lives. Thank you Linda for the use of this fabulous foto of flowers from a foreign land. Thanks too to all of you out there in blog and Daily Paintworks land that post such thoughtful and encouraging comments. They truly do keep me on task and much more joyfully so. I had to make this painting a bit larger than the others because it's a bit difficult to sink your teeth into a 5x7 of such glorious color. It's hard not to feel joy when confronted by such splendor, so have fun taking this in as you daydream about Spring that happens to be a long way off.

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