Painting in the mountains for a few

I'm heading out tomorrow to do some plein air paintings in the mountains of North Carolina. I hope I will be able to catch the autumn leaves at their peak! I'm bringing my computer so, barring any technical difficulties I plan to continue blogging while I'm gone.

New Plantings

I took small breaks during a big commission to work on the above painting of the Villa Monestero gardens (Varenna, Italy.) The villa is located in the Lake Como area of Italy where my husband Dave and I visited this past summer. The gardener was setting out new pots of flowers as we toured the garden. What to him might have seemed a haphazard arrangement made a nice composition to me! This piece measures 30" high by 24" tall. Not the best photo of this piece. I will try to reshoot it a little later on. I may work on it a little more but it's back to the commission for now!

More paintings of Italy can be seen on my website here.

landscape painting artist Italy paintings Lake Como

Coquelicots du Lubéron

Oil on Canvas, 16x20"

This is a painting I just finished in preparation for one of my upcoming shows. Can you tell that red is one of my favorite colors? There is an abundance of it in the springtime in Provence and also in Tuscany. This is a scene off of a country road outside of Lourmarin. Lourmarin is a small village located in the Lubéron region of Provence. My husband Dave and I explored all around this area a couple of years ago, and had a spectaular time visiting the area at the height of spring.

To see more of my paintings of Provence, click here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist French landscape paintings

A Private Entrance

Here is another little painting I've just completed in square format. This scene is of the grounds around the Hotel Baudy in Giverny. The now historic Hotel Baudy catered to many American Impressionist painters, who made their pilgrimages to the village of Giverny to follow in the footsteps of Claude Monet. The grounds around the hotel are splendid. Huge rose bushes line every walkway at every turn. Click on the image for more information:

A Private Entrance Oil on canvas, 12"x12"

To see more of my paintings of Giverny, click here.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist French landscape paintings

Personal faves

There are times when I paint something and I am just like, "Wow! I love this!" I imagine of course that everyone else will just love it too, as I do. And yet, just as often, it is not the personal favorite that gets the great response. It may be some other painting that I've done.

When my husband comes to the studio, I grab him and say, "Honey, look at THIS!" 

"That's nice," he says, and then walks over to another painting I've done. "But THIS is great!"  (It is?)  .....So I can never tell what is going to connect. I just paint what connects with me, and hope that it connects with others.

This little painting is one that I just loved. I loved making it and I loved it when it was done because it had such fond memories attached to it. I am not one to paint a lot of cute puppies, but this little guy was one that I actually met when we were staying in the Provincial village of Lourmarin. He lived above a fabulous bakery, and he stared in his most menacing demeanor down at us from his upper window perch.

When Dave saw the painting, he said, "That's an unusual perspective. No one is going to know what to make of that sign." But, (in my most menacing demeanor,) I said, "Well, I'm leaving it as is!" So, while the sign, "Arts Pluriels," may not mean much to anyone but me, I know it is a shop sign hanging above the bakery (and now you do too!) And I will always look at this painting and think of the fabulous bread that we bought for our picnic, inspite of the fierce guard dog that threatened our mission.

I call this painting "Chien de Garde" (watch dog or guard dog). It is 12x9", oil on canvas. Click on the image for more info.