"queen anne's garden"

"queen anne's garden" 9"x12" pastel on Uart 500  $80

I am a great admirer of Karen Margulis' and Loriann Signori's wild flower paintings. They both really inspire me to paint the wildflowers too! On my recent trip to CT there is a roadside field that is covered with Queen Anne's lace. We drove by it several times and all I could think was that I had to paint it!. One day I stopped and took several photos.

reference photo for this painting

I decided to do a quick 6"x8" study while I was there, so that I could use it for reference to do a larger painting  in my studio. It's hard to resist painting each of the flowers, but I just broke the scene down into the basic shapes and highlighted some of the flowers. More work to do on painting wildflowers, but I am excited.

6"x8" quick study

Since I have been back home , I have been spending a lot of time in my studio and decided today to try my hand at the field photos. I think I will do some more!

Plum Island marshes

12"x12" pastel on Uart  $100

I am finally back home in my studio. I had gone up north for some vacation time to visit my mom and sisters in CT. My sister surprised me with a trip to Newburyport MA and a 2 night stay in a B&B ! For one of our day trips we headed out to Plum Island. I brought along my plein air bag thinking I would have time to paint. Unfortunately, the green head flies had just hatched in the marshes. For those of you who know - they are EVERYWHERE and they BITE! So I ran out of the car and snapped as many photos as I could and somehow managed not to get any bites. 

my reference photos

 When we got back to the B&B, I pulled out my plein air bag and sat outside at the gazebo. I wanted to get some studies done while the images were still fresh in my head.

 2 small studies 5"x5" and 5"x7"

Back home in my studio I used the reference photos and my studies to a larger painting. I had just bought myself a new set of Schmincke watercolors to keep in my plein air bag,so I used them to do an underpainting.

watercolor underpainting on Uart 500

I wanted the underpainting to show through, so I lightly layers on the pastels. I used Terry Ludwig, Girault and Schmincke pastels on Uart 500 paper.

After 2 weeks away, I was very happy to get back to work in my studio.

"a new day"

"a new day" 9"x12" pastel on Uart 500  $80

We have really hot summers in the south and I usually head out early for my morning walks with my Siberian Husky, Kobi. 

Kobi

I am so thankful for each new day and enjoy these morning walks watching the sunrise. The sky was soft and hazy and I caught a photo of the sun just as it was coming up through the trees.

my reference photo

I decided to do a watercolor underpainting to capture the soft colors of the sky.

watercolor underpainting

I really admire Liz Haywood-Sullivan's sky paintings and mostly used her "sky and water" set of Terry Ludwig Pastels for this painting.

bio/artist statement revision

"early morning storm" 12"x16" pastel on Uart 500  $125

As I grow as an artist, it's important to understand my artistic intentions. I'm more comfortable expressing myself visually, but I understand the need to have an artistic statement in writing. So here is something that I have been working on. Comments are welcome.

Why am I an artist - I have always had an interest in the arts. As a child always drawing, coloring and painting. As I matured, painting became something that totally absorbed me. I feel I express myself better visually, rather than with words.

What inspires me - Nature inspires me. I have a great love for images of nature, in particular, birds, flowers, landscapes and the sky. The Impressionist painters, with the way they interpreted what they saw, and Vermeer, with his use of light - inspired an interest in painting.

How I paint - I went to college as a fine arts major. I wanted to experience many of the fine arts and chose to focus on painting. I started painting oils in college, later on working in watercolors, and currently working in pastels. What is wonderful about these three mediums is that you can use an oil stain and watercolors as an underpainting for the pastel. My paintings are combinations of oil stain/pastel, watercolor/pastel, and all pastel or watercolor.

What you should understand about me - My paintings are of images that I connect with. I, visually, tell you about these connections with color and light. I refer to my paintings as "pieces of me"

I grew up in Connecticut and attended Chamberlayne Jr. College and Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA, graduating with a B.F.A. , majoring in painting. My work career was in floral design and retail management. After getting married and raising two children, I now live in Marietta GA. I sell my work privately  and through local art shows.

"my quiet place"

"my quiet place" 12"x16" pastel on Uart 500  $125

It has been really hot here in the South! Most of us just stay inside or try to find a cool place to sit. My brother-in-law has designed and planted a beautiful garden around his home. When we go over to visit, I always take a walk through the garden and take photos. I took a couple of photos of this stone walkway. It was in the shade, cool and peaceful.

I went back another day and stood there and took in the space….. it felt good to me. So I did a quick 5"x7" study to see how I felt about painting the pathway. 

5"x7" pastel study on Italian Clay Pastel Premier paper

 I went home to my studio and pulled out a piece of Uart 500 paper, did a sketch and then an oil stain underpainting. 

sketch on Uart

oil stain underpainting

I needed to let it dry over night, so I decided to go ahead and pick my pastels and test them on scrap paper. I used all Terry Ludwig pastels, I love the square edges.  I did add a few more as I worked on the painting. 

I worked on the painting for several hours today and then went out to do an errand, came back and put the finishing touches on it. I'm happy with "my quiet place"

"Art For The Park"

"pumphouse" 11.5"x15.5 " pastel on Sennelier La Carte  $125

I've been asked again to participate in a local art show (Art for the Park), this fall, which benefits McFarlane Park, a local park nearby. It runs entirely on donations, so a portion of our sales from the show go to the park.  Last year I did not have any paintings from the park, so I thought I should get working on doing some now. It's been SO HOT here in GA, so I went over there early one morning to check it out and take some photos. I would love to have set up en plein air there, but with this heat, I was happy to work from photos in my studio. When it cools I will go back. 

rudbeckia

asters

oak leaf hydrangea

the pump house, original to the property

I chose these 4 photos to work from. I liked the angle of the light and the color in the flowers.  The pump house was my first painting. It took a couple of days to get the light and color right, but I was happy with the end result. I used Sennelier LaCarte paper for this one and decided to use it for all the paintings in this series. I love the soft edges I get with this paper.

"rudbeckia" 9.5"x12.5" pastel on Sennelier LaCarte  $80

"asters" 8"x10" pastel on Sennelier LaCarte  $60

Next I did the two florals, working just one sitting on each of these about 2-3 hours. I love the color in these two paintings and of course , flowers , one of my favorite images to paint. 

"oak leaf hydrangea" 11.5"x15.5" pastel on Sennelier LaCarte $125

I struggled with this 4th painting. I almost tossed it! I wanted to capture the angle of the light hitting the blooms and keep the painting soft. I didn't give up, I had an image in my head and worked on it for 2 days numerous sittings. I finally got to a point where I said….ok this is done. Sometimes you just don't know when the painting is done, you work on it too much and over work it. I didn't let myself get there!

If you are in Marietta GA Oct 1-2nd, 2015, the show will be Atlanta Country Club. I hope you will come see all the wonderful local art being shown and sold there.

"beauty in the sky"

"beauty in the sky" 9"x12" pastel on Uart 500 $80

The sky never stops amazing me! I see beauty in it every day - rain or shine, daytime or nighttime. Last week we had a beautiful sunset. 

I took a couple of photos, but put the photos aside because I was focused on another painting project. Looking at FaceBook today , Mary Bentz Gilkerson posted a link she wrote about the" 7 Keys To Using Color"

 Sorry it's not a link but you can google her. I need to get better at my blogging!.Anyway, she is an oil painter and I really admire her work and use of color. So I thought , why not try to take her 7 keys and apply it to pastels. I wanted to have fun, loosen up and I had those beautiful sky photos sitting there.

I decided to do an oil stain underpainting, two 5"x7" 15 minute studies and one larger 9"x12" that I would spend more time on. 

 3 oil stain under paintings

 I did the oil stains this morning, so they would be dry later for me to work on. I had about 30-40 minutes before I headed out for dinner, so I decided to do the two 5"x7" studies, spending just 15 mins on each , simplifying my pallet and getting in the color.

5"x7" studies  $35 each 

When I came back from dinner I worked on the larger piece , spending maybe 30 minutes or so on it. I wanted  to just have fun painting the sky, not worrying about getting it perfect and having fun with the color. I think I like my 2nd 15 minute study the best. To me , I captured the essence of what I saw. This is where I am trying to go with my pastel work. I just love my boxes of pastel colors!