Framing

What a difference a frame makes. I bought some float frames and just set my recent paintings in them to see how they look. Four Corners Farm (in Vermont) above, Connecticut River Valley below (looking from Vermont to mountains in New Hampshire).

These two oil paintings don't actually need to be framed as they are on stretched canvas and can just be wired to hang as is.  I am doing an exhibit on September 20th in Manchester (Art in the Park) through the Manchester Artists Association at Veterans Park.  I will be sharing a space with another artist who has all the materials (canopy, walls etc.).  This will be my first outdoor show and I am hoping to sell at least one original painting as well as some cards.  Presentation is important and I have to decide on which paintings to exhibit.

I'm calling this one Canyon Colors.  It is also an oil painting (water mixable) like the others above, but is on a panel, not a stretched canvas.  That means I would not be able to use the float frame, but I may have some other frames that are suitable.  I like the way it came out.  This was from a photo I took of a beautiful canyon at Yellowstone Park.

I did a small (5" X 7") study of an interesting house in Manchester.  It was good practice, but I'm not sure if I'll do a bigger painting of this or not. I enjoyed making a winter scene as I love winter and I'm glad summer is almost over. I'm looking forward to fall. We already had some fall colors on the trees here.

This is a work in progress, the last one I hope to work on with the oil paints for a while. I am ready to go back to the acrylic paints.  It will be a jetty (rocks that go out into the ocean) in winter.  The original photo was taken in winter on Cape Cod. It looks very abstract at the moment, but when the painting is finished it will be more realistic.

Back to painting

I worked more on the painting I had started when I was in Vermont (Four Corners Farm).  I really admire painters who can complete a painting outdoors in just a few hours.  I was happy puttering in my studio attempting to make the original painting look better.  I'm not sure it's done yet.

This is the view of the Connecticut River Valley from the Vermont side (the mountains are in New Hampshire). I think this needs a bit more work, but certainly looks better than my original that I posted a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile I have been compiling another poetry manuscript that I will be posting as an e-book ("Until the Angels Call"). My husband has done the initial proofreading and editing.  I have a couple of friends who are going to read it before I post it to Amazon.  I didn't realize I had so many poems to choose so it took me quite a while. I actually started this project in the spring, then put it away while we were traveling and took it out again in the last week or two.  I didn't feel like painting since I am having some health problems (the joys of aging!).

However, I am feeling better today and started an underpainting.  This is from the canyons in Yellowstone with all their beautiful colors.  All paintings on today's post are water mixable oils (Winsor & Newton Artisan) on 8" X 10" canvas.

Sun-dappled creek

Sun-dappled creek, 8" X 10", water mixable oils (Winsor & Newton Artisan) on panel.  This was an experiment on a different surface for me.  I had taken a photo of this scene when we were out bicycling around Tower Hill Pond in Auburn/Candia, New Hampshire. (I'm never sure what side of the town border this pond is on). The pond is part of the watershed for our city's (Manchester, NH) water supply and feeds down to Lake Massabesic.  We have walked it many times and this summer we tried it by bicycle.

I found the surface a bit different from working on canvas and it was interesting.  I had to let the layers of oils dry for many days in between.  The first layer of the "creek" part looked really strange and not at all like water when I painted it.  The painting is a bit more impressionistic than my usual, but I was just trying to create an impression of the sunlight coming through the leaves and onto the water.  I really admire the painters who say they are painting the "light", but I haven't figured out how to do that myself.

My art group, Friends of Art Manchester, completed a 30' x 3' mural at 720 Union Street in Manchester (on the side of a laundromat).  This was my first time working on this scale and on brick.  It was the first time for several of the other artists.  I'm not sure I would want to work on this surface again, but my other artist friends are painting murals again and enjoying it.  I painted the hawks from photos I took in the winter while out walking in my neighborhood. No leaves on that tree then.

Friends of Art Manchester, mural at 720 Union Street, Manchester, NH

Linda Feinberg and Red Tailed Hawks