Summer's Ending

I didn't do much painting this summer, but I had fun in my class last week, playing with sponges, brushes and acrylic paints. I'm calling this one "Peak-a-boo". 9 X 12 on stretched canvas. I really enjoyed playing with the colors, but it was very messy working with a small sponge. If I try this again, I'll use something bigger.  That is a moray eel peaking out (worked from my son's diving photo).

On a more serious note, I finished this in class, from my photo in Alaska. Orcas (killer whales) and sea stacks in Kenai Fjords.  This was not a fun painting, but a challenging one.  Oil paint, 14 X 18 on stretched canvas.  I bought several larger size canvases at a sidewalk sale this summer. The local art store has a sale in July every year.  I enjoy looking through the bargains and always come home with something.  I'm not sure what I'm going to paint on the larger canvases.

I'm looking forward to fall and some cooler weather. Boise is very hot in the summer, but I appreciate the winters here, very little snow. It's much easier for me than all the winters I lived in New Hampshire.

Next week I have an exhibit going up in Boise at a co-op gallery. I will be "artist of the month" of September.  I'll post a photo and more information after I put up the paintings on Sept. 3rd.

Good morning

I haven't been doing much painting this summer, but I started taking a few classes again. This is an oil painting I finished in my class, Sea Stacks and Orcas (Kenai Fjords, Alaska). You can look at my Alaska photos in the last two posts and see that I combined two different photos into one painting. It is 14" X 18" on canvas.  I will post to my website later this week.

Meanwhile, it is very hot in Idaho. I took a short walk this morning with a friend to a reserve nearby. Even the ducks were resting.  The top photo shows the foothills around Boise in the background.

This is not an abstract painting, but an underpainting. My son is a diver and took some beautiful underwater photos. He gave me permission to use one and I will be working on it in class this week.
It will eventually look something like the photo below. I will probably do this one in acrylic paints. The moray is peaking out so I might call it "peak a boo" like the game we play with babies.

I am looking forward to fall. While Idaho is very hot in the summer, I do appreciate it in the winter. I don't have to struggle with the ice and snow the way I did for 40 years in New Hampshire.