New Key West painting auction starts today!

On the auction block today Congratulations to Barbara T. for winning  this little bit of Key West Sunshine!

"Towering Bougainvillea" Oil on canvas panel, 6x8"

Nothing says warmth and sunshine to me as much as the cheerful pastel "conch" houses and tropical flora of Key West. I have traveled there  many times to "chase the sun" when it's cold and rainy back home. This painting would retail for $375 (unframed)  in a gallery.  Now is your chance to win a slice of sunshine for yourself, at a great price!

This original oil painting on canvas panel by Jennifer E. Young measures 6×8? (a perfect size to fit under the Christmas tree!) Unframed, it is signed by the artist, lower right. To begin bidding, enter your bid in the auction module in the sidebar of this blog.

Here’s how it works:

• All auctioned items are offered unframed.
• The opening bid for this painting is just $100 (a fraction of my retail price).
• Bids increment by $25
• Highest bidder at the auction’s end wins the painting.
• When the auction has ended, I will send the winning bidder a Paypal invoice.
• I ship via U.S. mail within 3 days or less of receiving cleared payment.
• Free shipping in the continental USA!
• Visit my auctions page for more details.

Small works auction launch!

This week I am trying something new- auctions of some of my smallest works and studies. I've been toying with the idea of auctions for a while, but quite frankly have not had the time to dive back into eBay since my experiment with it for charity auctions some years ago. But, after reading an article  on the FineArtViews newsletter written by Keith Bond about holding low-tech auctions, I was inspired to give auctions another try right here on my blog. Like the author, I have a number of small works (under 8x10) and studies that I don't consign to galleries, either due to economics or to the fact that some of  my paintings fall more into the category of "studies".  While I do like to save some of my studies to reference for larger studio paintings, a lot of them have a nice degree of finish and/or a quality to them and I think they deserve to find a home. These are  original paintings and perfectly sized for gifts, so it's a good way to get some of that holiday shopping done early.

Here's how it works:

*Each auction will be announced in a blog post with all the vital information. Since I also blog about other things, any "live" auctions will live on an "auctions" page located in its own tab at the top of my blog entitled (you guessed it) "Auctions".

*All auctioned items are offered unframed.

*Each opening bid will be set much less than my retail price, with no reserve. Each bid beyond the opening bid will increment by $25.

*These offerings are for a limited time. Each auction will end at the time specified in the listing- highest bidder gets the painting.

*When the auction has ended, I will send the winning bidder a Paypal invoice.

*Shipping via U.S. mail is free.

First up on the block is this little beaut celebrating the spirit of autumn:

"Falling Leaves on Wilmington Avenue", Oil  6x8"

Starting bid is just $100. This auction will end on Sunday, November 10th at 8 PM (EST). Just click over to the Auctions page to bid! This auction has ended.

Shadows of the Blue Ridge

Well it took a while but now I've wrapped up my 24x30" studio painting that I started in my last post. I finally got rid of that white canvas. Hooray for small miracles! Here is the painting fully laid in, with the sky. I decided to keep the sky fairly simple in this one because I want to play up the large tree:

Next, I go about refining everything and adding more paint overall:

And then, the trees:

"Shadows of the Blue Ridge" Oil on Linen, 24x30" Contact me for more info!

Mountain Shadows

Continuing with my exploration of the southern landscape, I started a new 24x30" painting today based on my recent trip to the mountains. Here is the initial tonal drawing to determine the composition and basic shapes. This is an early morning scene so the shadows are nice and long:

Next I start the block in, very broadly, laying in the darkest patterns first, followed by the lights. Aside from the usual burnt sienna I use for the tonal sketch, I have limited my palette to three primaries plus white (cadmium yellow light, alizarin permanent, and ultramarine blue).

The sky will be my lightest light, but I've put off laying that in until I have something of the mountain laid down.

Here's where I am after a few hours' work:

Next I will start laying in the sky and blocking in the haybales before going back in to refine overall. I think I've gotten some good information down so far. Now I just need to keep building on it and solidify my plan. More to come soon!

A gray morning in the mountains

It's been a while since I have painted a studio piece of the American south, but my recent trip to the mountains has inspired me to explore the subject back home in the studio. This little mountain painting was a bit of an experiment, as I tend to shy away from painting gray days. The light is flatter, color is more "local", and values tend to be a lot closer. While I have sometimes been "forced" to paint gray days when I'm field painting, without that beautiful sunlight casting shadows across the picture plane, composing a subject of a gray day  is a challenge I too often tend to avoid. So this is a painting of facing that resistance head on.

"Morning in Gray and Gold" Oil on Linen, 12x16" Click here for more info!

It doesn't hurt, of course, that in the mountains many of the grayest days are incredibly stunning and full of quiet majesty and spectacular atmospheric effects. The sun was scarce on the first half of my painting trip, so I had plenty of opportunity to observe these effects.

This painting is based on wiper I did on site. The wiper didn't survive (which is why its known as a wiper!) but the memory did, as well as a number of photos I took of the area. This location is a birding trail I happened upon while exploring Nellysford, VA. I think those yellow flowers are goldenrod (?) They were everywhere, along with many other stunning wildflowers. The main attraction for me though, was the mist and clouds that settled on the distant mountains, with just a bit of the mountaintop peeking through. It was really something to behold.

A trip to the Mountains

This past weekend my fabulous husband gave me a wonderful gift of a getaway to the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was just an overnighter, so I didn't have a ton of painting time; but I did have enough to do this little mountain study.

I also spent part of the trip scouting around for future painting sites.I was in the town of Nellysford, VA (near Wintergreen) which has long been a favorite of mine. In the past though, I have always been able to scout while my husband drove. Driving on my own through this gorgeous countryside, I realized how oblivious I have been in the past to what a white-knuckle a drive route 151 can be (sorry honey!)  It wasn't very easy to ogle without also risking driving oneself off a cliff. I did find a few spots to pull over though, and even though the leaves haven't yet made their autumn transformation there, it was still stunningly gorgeous and inspiring.

The above painting is really a study. I was mainly interested in getting a feel for the planes and shadows of the mountain. I struggled with the canvas panels I brought though. They were oil primed linen, which are supposed to be primo, right? But I found them to have a both a heavier weave  and yet to be much slicker than I am accustomed to, at the same time. It might just be a matter of getting used to them, but they gave me problems last weekend and I felt like the surface was a major distraction.

I also learned that my overreliance on my handy dandy rolling bag has caused my plein air painting gear to get a little hefty. I love using the Soltek easel (when it's functioning properly) when I'm around town, but if I am going to get back into traveling I really need a lighter setup for my backpack. I do have a very light setup already, but it has proven almost too light for me, and I find it to be so much less stable-feeling  than my Soltek or other pochade boxes I've used in the past. I also have become extremely reliant on the large paint-mixing surface of the Soltek (which I have expanded even further--more about that in a future post). So the tiny mixing area of my current travel box makes me feel like a giant in Munchkin-land.

Yet again, I may just need to get myself accustomed to the change. But I've been finding myself eyeing another paint box of late (here we go again!). I've had my eye on it for a number of years. It's by Alla Prima Pochade. The models I am considering are either the Bitterroot or the Bitterroot lite. I can always rationalize needing an auxiliary easel  for travel and for use in case my Soltek breaks down again. They seem really well made and are so intelligently designed (I've seen them before in action.) But will either one significantly reduce my setup size while still allowing an adequate paint mixing area? That is the question.

Plein air challenges

The artist's studio is a sanctuary of sorts, where one can create in peace and solace without interruption or (for better or for worse) outside influence. Its a controlled environment in every sense, from the lighting to the temperature to the people allowed (or not) into the workspace. In this sense, plein air painting is exactly the opposite. One can control neither the lighting, nor the weather. Nor can one control the comments and opinions from onlookers. Sometimes the lack of predictability adds to the excitement of the experience. At other times the lack of control can be downright annoying.

Such was my experience last week when I returned to Bryan Park to paint the 9x12" piece below.

"Morning by the Stream"  Click here for more info!

When I started, the sky was bright but clouded over nearly completely, giving the land a soft but still luminous quality. Halfway through my session, the light burst through with blazing clarity, only to subside and reappear intermittently throughout the rest of the painting session. Next the wind picked up, prompting me to grab onto my umbrella periodically so as not to fly away over the rooftops.

I've learned to deal with Ma Nature and expect her many changes of mood. (Women!) Harder, for me, is to manage the human element. I simply hate the awkwardness of being interrupted when I really need to work, especially now that I'm a mom and I have only so many daylight hours set aside for work. But I also hate being rude.

I was all set up, and right before I laid down my first brushstroke I hear a man holler from across the park, "Oh wow, an artist! Can I watch?" Unfortunately I had forgotten to put my headphones on (the ultimate "leave me alone" apparatus) so I had to acknowledge the comment. I oblige...and then the questions start. "How are you going to paint the ripples on the water? Why are you painting that canvas all brown? What's that contraption there?"

At first I attempted politeness, but soon I realized this was only encouraging him. I would never get this painting started if I didn't put an end to this barrage of questions once and for all, and he wasn't picking up on my polite little hints. So finally I resorted to bluntness. "I don't want to be rude," I said, "but I need to get started, and I just want to warn you that once I begin painting won't be able to talk and paint at the same time. It's that whole left brain/ right brain thing. Haha."

I was awarded with an awkward silence and a very strange looking stare. I imagined the headlines:

Artist Drowns in Shallow Creek (painting also ruined).

But finally he broke the silence with a curt, "I'll leave you alone," and turning on his heel, he disappeared as quickly as he'd come.

Any way (shrug) in spite of the struggles and weirdness, I feel like I had a good painting session. I may do a little something more to resolve the background...or not. Overall I'm pretty happy with the composition and I feel as if I got a sense of the place and conditions of the day, especially considering what a day it was!

First plein air of autumn!

Happy Friday everyone. Here's a little plein air piece I did this week when the kiddo was in preschool. This was done at one of my fav local spots, Bryan Park. The weather has been gorgeous lately so I was thrilled to finally get back to some good old field painting at last! There were several really good views that I noted, but I settled on this lakeside view with its nice reflections and early autumn foliage. This is totally alla prima, with just a bit of tweaking to the wet paint edges when I returned to the studio. I started it at about 9 a.m.:

"Early Color, Autumn" Oil on Linen, 12x9" For more information, click here!

I haven't mentioned plein air painting gear in a while, but it occurred to me on this outing how much I appreciate the simple shopper that I use to cart around my Soltek easel and all of the rest of my gear. Longtime readers may recall that I have a history with the Soltek that goes back about 7 or 8 years. Well, since the one "tune-up" I had, it is still going strong, though my dilemma about an adequately appointed backpack still exists. However, I picked up this little number several years ago on a whim at Burlington Coat Factory (of all places). It has a front and side outer pocket, and  fits my easel, panel carrier, and the rest of my painting gear (as well as a few personal items) perfectly. Most importantly it is on wheels, which, when used in the appropriate setting, is much easier on my back.

Now this bag won't help much trekking through the mountains or hopping over river rocks. But for city painting (which I do most often now due to time constraints and family obligations) it works great. It does have short straps on the top to carry up stairs, etc., but the bag is so long that with my 5' 4 1/2" frame they are used pretty minimally.  I have to admit that I have dragged this bag on its wheels through a field or two on a number of occasions, as well as a good many cobblestones. Remarkably it has held up great! The money I spent for this bag ($19.99) has served me well.  This I cannot say for the $70 beach cart I attempted to drag over the dunes last summer. After only traversing 10 feet on its virgin expedition, the cart's two front wheels promptly went "kerplunk" in the sand!

Another garden plein air

Here is this week's plein air effort, once again at the botanical gardens:

It's incomplete as I started late and had to close shop before the two-hour mark. It was a beautiful morning, but the light quickly shifted from sun to overcast clouds, making my previously well delineated, high contrast subject suddenly a muddled mass of leaves and confusion.

Or maybe it was just my mind that was muddled? Every so often the light would peek back out, but not quite often enough to provide the kind of clarity I needed. In any case, this is as far as I got before I had to call it quits and pay the babysitter.

I painted this general location some time ago, though the arrangement (and light) was different. I had planned on painting another setting, but a large group was visiting the gardens this morning and had taken over my spot, foiling my plans.

Being short on time I decided to take another stab at this scene. I'm not sure if I will finish this piece. I may just treat it as an artifact of the morning's experience to learn from as I look forward to the next outing.

Plein air with the birds!

I spent two and a half hours yesterday morning literally contemplating the birds and bees at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. And of course, painting (which is the reason for this post!) I have watched this garden grow over the years that I have lived nearby, and it has become one of my favorite places to wander and paint. In fact, it has recently been awarded one of the "top 10 gardens worth traveling for" , and I feel really fortunate to be just down the road. At the far end of the garden, through the "woodland walk", one can come upon this little scene; it is a sanctuary for birds, butterflies, bees, and maybe even a human or two:

"Garden Sanctuary" Oil on Canvas, 12x9" Click here for more info!

I have really missed plein air painting. It takes me beyond "production mode" and more deeply into the experience of painting nature. After yesterday's session I made a resolution; my goal for the next 60 days is to paint en plein air once a week. There may be a week here and there that my mommy duties will have to take precedence, but generally speaking I think this is a manageable goal. So if you notice me falling off task, you have my permission to nag, or slap me with a wet noodle--your choice! ;-)

Plein air on Brown's Island

I realize I have been pretty delinquent with my blog these last couple of weeks, and I still need to share the final of my latest Tuscany studio painting. I won't bore you with any personal details, but suffice it to say that some of the other "stuff of life" kept me out of the studio and away from the computer for a bit. But I'm happy to say things seem to be normalizing again, and with that has also come a break in the weather. After weeks of blazing heat and mosquito-loving humidity, the air has actually been cool in the mornings! The days still warm up by noon but the heat doesn't stick to you. I am sure it won't last but right now it feels like September. So to celebrate on Friday, I made a break for some plein air painting on the river.

Before I had my daughter, when I was doing a lot more plein air painting, one of my favorite local painting destinations was the James River Park system. It still calls to me, so even though I can often feel pressed for time to even complete my studio paintings, when the opportunity knocked for some time to paint en plein air on a gorgeous day, I had to take it.

I must say though I felt pretty rusty and out of practice. First, I unwisely did not prepare the night before, so I had none of my gear together. It took me about half an hour to get everything packed. Then I forgot to tell the sitter this or that, so that delayed even leaving the house. Then I had the good angel/ bad devil battle inside my head as I tried to wimp out of going down to the river at all:

Devil: It's too late. By the time you get down there and set up all of the good light will be gone.

Angel: It's not THAT late. It's still morning light, just do it!

Devil: You don't even know where you're going to paint. You'll be lugging this load of gear around for hours trying to find a spot to set up.

Angel: Where we are going there are a dozen or more painting possibilities. The hardest job will be deciding what to paint.

Devil: Shut up, Angel.

Angel: Right- plein air painting it is!

This is the same kind of argument that goes on inside my head when driving to the gym. And like exercising at the gym, plein air painting is an exercise that demands a lot of practice before you really see the results you envision, or feel in the zone. The first two (or twelve) times you practice you still feel flabby and out of shape, and maybe a little frustrated. But then one day you start to notice that you are toning up and actually improving, and you are encouraged to go further and maybe even up the ante.

Well I admit I feel somewhat flabby at the moment (both literally and figuratively, though I have to say that plein air painting is still a lot more fun than going to the gym!) Nevertheless, As you may have guessed, the good angel won the argument. Here's the painting:

"James River Overlook, Brown's Island" Oil on Canvas, 12x9"

As the title would suggest, I painted this piece at the James River park on Brown's island. It's more of a study than a "finished" piece, but it was so great to just get out there and make the attempt.

We have had a lot of rain this summer, so the river has been pretty brown and swollen. To get this view I set up on the footbridge that leads out to an overlook on the James River and acts as a historical Civil War marker telling the story of the fall of Richmond in 1865. I think it is a really inventive and powerful exhibit, entitled "Three Days In April 1865".

"Along this bridge, the events of the first week in April 1865—when Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, fell to the Union army—are recounted in the words of people who were present at the time. Some were witnesses and others participants as the Confederates evacuated the city, the Union army marched down Main Street, and enslaved Richmonders gained their freedom."

I set up on this footbridge, which was technically the exhibit. You can see my approximate vantage point at this link. I'm not totally certain that my site selection would have been approved by the museum curators had anybody been policing the site, but luckily I didn't leave a trace of having been there (other than this painting, of course)!

Painting my garden

The gardens around my studio and house are really picking up steam with summer blooms. I think it's best described as a cottage garden, and borders on chaotic at times. This is the same spot I shared with you in early spring...much improved now, I think!

My little "fountain" of succulents in the garden opposite the studio is now surrounded by a flowering butterfly bush, purple cone flowers and towering lilies (just about to bloom) And here's Ted, alternately my garden cat and studio cat. He likes to support me whenever I am being industrious:

With such an easy access garden, you'd think I'd paint it a lot more often than I do. I mean, you really can't get any more convenient when it comes to a plein air painting location! But there are a couple of challenges to overcome. First, the light moves pretty quickly in my little oasis,really only remaining constant for less than 2 hours. Inevitably even small paintings seem to require more than one session. Secondly, while I do have some painting time during the week while my little girl is with a sitter, any time she sees me painting outside she wants to "watch" (which quickly evolves into wanting me to push her on the swing, blow bubbles, etc.)

Nevertheless, I did get an opportunity over the July 4th weekend to complete this painting in the yard while Dad distracted DD:

"The Cottage Garden" Oil on panel, 12x9" Contact me for more info!

The dunes, once more

We have stolen away to the beach. Well, that's not entirely accurate, as with a toddler we aren't really "stealing away" anywhere any more. More aptly put: We have loaded the entire contents of our house into the van and 6 hours later unloaded it into the beach house just in time for a total melt down. Our toddler was none too happy either. ;) But somewhere around the 24 hour mark I think we all settled into a groove, and I actually got up yesterday morning and painted.

"Dunes, Early Morning" Oil on Panel, 10" x 8"

This was originally to be a sky painting, but I got drawn into the light on the dunes once more. This was painted from our balcony ( our footpath to the beach is on the left. ) It's a great spot, but east-facing, and in the morning, completely sunlit. I started this around 7:20 a.m. By 9 I was roasting and had to wrap it up. I am mobile blogging so the color is seeming a bit washed out, but you get the general idea here of the morning's attempt. (Updated image)

Commission complete

Next week marks the end of preschool until the fall for my little girl, so in addition to a number of other things happening on the art biz end,  I've been scrambling to make some summer arrangements so that I can continue to paint, at least on a part time basis. But I did manage to finish the commission last week and wanted to pop in briefly to share the final. With the bones pretty well laid out in my last post, it was a matter of addressing the foreground field of flowers and grasses, and softening an edge here and there in the distance. The sky is still looking more washed out in the photo than in the original, but it's pretty close. The painting is complete and the final approved by the client, so now I am just waiting for it to dry to the touch so that I can put a retouch varnish on it prior to sending it off to its new home!

"Morning Meadow II" (commissioned painting) Oil on Linen, 16x20"

Blue Ridge Mountains Commission- WIP, cont'd

This week I continued work on the mountain meadow commission painting I began blogging about in my last post. My approach for this piece seems to be that I am working more or less from back to front, as edges are softer farther away and come into greater focus in the foreground. The sky is painted together with the distant mountains, since there is such an interplay of clouds and mist back there. The distant trees are addressed rather uniformly at this point, as I tweak their values and placement in the composition.

Next I decide to address the darkest value in the painting, which is the focal tree, so that I can better assess the value relationships as a whole. I am not getting into the tree edges yet, as I need some of the meadow colors laid down first in order to create the soft edges of a misty morning.

Next I mass in very generally the flowers in the field. There will be a lot more color variation but I just want to get the generalized color and pattern down on the canvas first.

Soft greens of the grasses follow the blue, and merge to soften the edges further.

With the field of the meadow laid in, I can now start to give the focal tree a nicer shape, with soft lacy edges and a few subtle tree holes. I may need to tease out those holes a little further, perhaps darken them a bit, so that they aren't so "holey", but now I can see the  painting really start to take shape.

The sky has gotten washed out in the photo above, but I will try to get a better shot with different lighting conditions. It's been raining and cloudy a lot lately, so I am relying on indoor lighting (which isn't all that reliable!) What comes next will be more work on that field. Both grasses and flowers are cooler and softer as they recede, and show more detail, warmth,  color intensity and contrast as they come forward.

A spring commission

With the spring shows hung and the winter commission complete, I was thinking I would be able to turn next to some plein air painting, or perhaps to develop a couple of my James River plein air paintings into larger studio works. But that will have to wait, as I have gotten another commission! :-) But first, a couple of shots of the garden, which, when last photographed was in a state of sad dishevelment! The gardens around the studio really come into greater color in the summer. But with the rubbish cleared and weeds pulled, things are coming alive in the side garden with Creeping Jenny on the path, flanked by Mountian Bluets (Bachelor's Buttons) and creeping phlox. A flowering Dogwood makes a nice canopy, and the lilac in the fore is just starting to put off its heady scent.

Here's another shot below of the garden opposite the studio. In summer there are lilies, cone flowers, tall phlox and a butterfly bush. But my big thing lately is succulents. I love that they are water-wise and so marvelously sculptural. In the center is a succulent topiary I made last year. I will need to replenish a few of the tender plants that didn't survive our winter, but it hasn't been quite warm enough here to see much variety in the garden centers yet.

Now that my daughter is a toddler, I can usually patch together enough time to noodle in the garden while she plays nearby. Working in the studio is a different story. At just 2 1/2 years old, her attention span is still pretty limited. So while she loves being in the studio, (and I love having her there,) I do have to shoo her out when it comes time to work, amidst howls of protest (and a certain amount of Mommy guilt as well).

...Which leads me to the commission! If you have been a reader for some time, this image might be familiar to you. In fact, I have painted variations of this scene a few times, beginning with the small painting done en plein air in the Blue Ridge mountains, and following with two larger 30x40 versions.

The commission came about as the result of my April show currently taking place at Design Domaine Gallery in Bernardsville, New Jersey. The client loved the painting "Morning Meadow" (click here to read my blog about this painting in the making) but it was much too large for her space. So my task is to recreate this scene in a 16x20 format.

Since a 30x40" painting doesn't exactly scale down to 16x20", we thought it best to start with a sketch of the new painting so that the client could have a visual idea of how it would look compositionally.

While on the one hand, it may seem easier to recreate something I have basically already done a number of times, it can sometimes be a challenge to meet client expectations. Sometimes, though not always, a client may, for instance, expect the new painting to be exactly like the first, only smaller. So an effort always has to be made to explain in advance that as an original work of art, a painting can't be recreated stroke-for-stroke like the last.

The client does understand this, though she would like the color of the new piece to be as close as possible to the last. It was, after all, the combination of colors in Morning Meadow that she fell in love with.

Luckily, my prior blog post listed the exact color palette I used to create the larger piece! :) (I can't tell you how often I have referenced my own blog to get this kind of historical information.) So while I won't be able to remember exactly the combinations of color mixtures, I will be able to take some of the guesswork out of the process and use the same palette for this piece.

Above is the sketch, reinterpreted onto canvas. At this point in sketch stage, I want to make sure I get an accurate placement for the various elements in the composition, so I've marked off in pencil the horizontal and vertical mid-points in the pencil sketch as well as on the painting to guide me. More to come in an upcoming post, where I will get into some color!

Independence Day

It was hot and humid and overcast. Our baby had been sick part of the week prior and through the long weekend with a 102 degree fever and hand, foot and mouth virus. And to top it all off, we woke up on July 4th sticky and without power from a tremendous summer storm the night before. But believe it or not, I had a great morning, as I was allowed the privilege of escaping getting outside early to do this little plein air painting.

  "Pond Reflections" Oil on board, 12"x9" Click here for more info, or just contact me to purchase.

The location is Young's Pond in nearby Bryan Park. I've painted this location before a number of times, and this approximate scene once before, which you can see here. There were a number of nearby spots I could have chosen, but on an overcast day it's nice to paint a water effect, as then you have some luminosity built in, when the light is otherwise fairly flat.

I spent about 3 hours on site working on this piece, which was longer than I normally would do on location. But I think the combination of fairly steady light conditions, and my private glee at having the entire morning completely to myself kept me lingering longer than I would have otherwise.

Here's a shot of my setup right before I started.

Next time I would like to get out even earlier than I did, to try and capture that wonderful atmosphere (aka humidity) before it settles into just plain old hot heavy air. But with a baby, you gotta do what you gotta do, and I was happy to get out at all. My setup has remained pretty consistent over the years, with my Soltek easel still being my go to plein air easel due to the ease of use and quick setup time.

The sun made its appearance often enough that shading myself, my painting, and my palette was a concern. I brought my umbrella with me, but it is a pain to set up and doesn't really work that great with the Soltek (one of the easel's down-sides...I've yet to find a really compatible umbrella that can attach to it without falling over.) So If I can get away without, I usually do. This often means avoiding standing in the blazing sun, even if it means forgoing a preferred view. Otherwise my painting ultimately suffers (not to mention my skin.)

In this photo I've set up my painting panel so that the sun (when it peeks out) is behind it, making it shaded. I am relatively shaded by tree branches overhead. Since I am right-handed, my subject is to my left, so that I am not having to reach across my painting when I look/paint. Often times I can shade my palette simply by wedging another panel between it and my painting. In this case I am using a flat wet panel carrier called the Art Cocoon.

This is actually a pretty neat concept for a wet panel carrier, which I read about some time ago on another artist's blog (when I still had time to read them) owned by Ed Terpening . The advantage is that you can use the carrier for different sized paintings with the provided inserts, and it is nice and lightweight and not bulky. But the down side for me is that it is made out of cardboard, which eventually warps (especially in our hot Virginia climate) and when that happens it stops protecting the painting effectively.

For that reason, my go-to wet panel carrier is still the RayMar. It's a little more expensive, and bulkier, but still lightweight. And its coroplast construction means that while it won't last forever, it lasts a good long time and doesn't warp.

Postcards from the Outer Banks

This past week we stole away to the North Carolina Outer Banks for a glorious week on Hatteras Island. I had hoped to post while we were away, but I couldn't get my technology straight to do any mobile blogging. But here are two plein air pieces I completed in the early morning hours, just as the sun was coming up over the dunes. The hubby even took on full babysitting duties so that I could paint the view from our deck. What a guy!

"Hatteras Island Dunes I" Oil on Linen, 12"x8"

"Hatteras Island Dunes II" Oil on Linen, 8x10"

Top ten reasons to paint your back yard garden

1. You can paint it better than it actually looks (a few more roses here, a few less weeds there...)
2. Unlike a public garden, you likely won't get taken unawares by the sprinkler system.
3. You are intimately familiar with how the light travels through the garden at different times of the day.
4. You are intimately familiar with the location of the latrine (and more than likely it will be free and fairly clean.)
5. You can leave all of your gear set up during breaks (and probably won't need to get someone to watch your stuff as you break for the above mentioned latrine.)
6. You can do your part to reduce the carbon footprint (no need to drive anywhere.)
7. Forgetting to pack an important supply is easily remedied.
8. Plenty of opportunity to take weeding and pruning breaks (okay, this might not be such a good thing for your painting, but your garden will love it.)
9. You won't look like a crazy lady wandering through the park staring at trees, with luggage, a big floppy hat, and a compass. (You'll just look like a crazy neighbor wandering around her yard with luggage, a big floppy hat, and a compass.)
10. The reception to the wireless baby monitor extends just to the edge of your yard!

"Under the Limelight" Oil on board, 8x6" Contact me to purchase.

This little painting is kind of a cross between a still life and a plein air painting. The Japanese lantern sits at the corner of my garden under the limelight hydrangea (hence the title.) Since the hydrangea isn't yet in bloom, I've punched up the corner with some potted geraniums.

Island Illumination

The work-in-progress I wrote about earlier this week is now finished. This is from our last visit to Hatteras Island, in the vicinity of Avon:

"Island Illumination" Oil on Linen, 24x30" For purchasing info and details, click here!

Virginia is a beautiful state, but her winters tend to be predominantly gray and brown; at least that's how Richmond winters are.  Not that there isn't beauty in the subtle shades of gray, but after a while it can wear on my psyche.  I guess as I have gotten older, I have become a bit like certain plants- I can get by with less, but I need a certain amount of sunlight to really thrive.

I suppose this is why I am so often drawn to painting light-filled subjects. It just does my spirit good. And so I am taking a little mental vacation here to a beautiful sunset in one of my all-time favorite places- the Outer Banks of North Carolina (Hatteras Island in particular). In the absence of the realtime experience , I can still transport myself there through painting.