Enlarging my studies

 Gathering of Elks, 16 X 20. Oil on board. I had a hard time with this painting. I had made an 8 X 10 earlier, but enlarging it and painting it was difficult. 

Warm winter's day. This one was also difficult. 11" X 14" enlarged from my plein air paintings last week.  I changed some of the buildings and added them (from my photos). I wanted to include the hawk that was in the tree too.

I found it easier to work on canvas than board in top painting. I guess I need to practice more. I noticed a big difference in color palette. The Elks photo was taken in Alberta in early summer. The cattle were observed in early winter in Idaho. 

Warm sunny winter day

 I joined a group of plein air painters today at Eagle Island State Park (Idaho). It was warm enough to take off my coat. Much better than the last time I went out with them and had cold hands and feet. The cold weather is coming soon so this is probably my last time outdoor painting for a while.  

I like my two little studies enough that I am going to make a bigger painting and include the hawk from the first photo.  I was too busy figuring out colors, shapes and how to put in background and foreground to spend time adding the hawk, plus my canvas was very small.  I'm looking forward to working on the larger canvas this weekend.

Happy Chanukah.  Just a few days left of the holiday. We have been enjoying it.

I also got to talk to some of the horses and dogs who were heading out on the trails. Fun!

Holiday Sales

Sample of Holiday Card

Chanukah Card

 The host of my website (Fine Art America) has announced these sales.

November 15th
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25% Off All Greeting Cards


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November 26th and November 29th
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Additional Information
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All of the promotions begin at 12:00 AM Eastern U.S. time on the listed start date and end at 11:59 PM Eastern U.S. time on the end date.  If only one date is listed, then the promotion starts and ends on the same day.

We'll be throwing in a few other surprise promotions, as well, so make sure to open all of our e-mails and check in with us on social media throughout November and December.

Here is the link to your profile page on Fine Art America which you can use in your social media posts, newsletters, and online ads:

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Good luck... happy selling... and thank you for being a member of Fine Art America!

-- Your Team at Fine Art America

Fall Colors in Idaho

 

Fall colors are a bit dull in Idaho now. I went to Horseshoe Bend with a few other artists from Plein Air Painters of Idaho and attempted plein air painting again. I still find it very hard and I'm not happy with the results.  The good part was finding out this pond (Mill Pond) gets stocked in the spring and hubby and I can go fishing there.  It is only about a 45 minute drive through the mountains from our home. Elevation around 4000 feet.

This is a beautiful western maple in our yard. It is almost finished shedding its leaves, but the sunlight on the few remaining reminded me of the cadmium yellow tube of oil paint I have in my collection. I don't use that color very often.

This is really a beautiful tree, but I don't enjoy raking up all the leaves. ;)

This is a photo from last year. Most of the leaves I see this year are not that bright. We have had a very hot and dry year here in Idaho (climate change I guess).

At work in my studio

 

I responded to a "free" message on Facebook by artist Mark Davis and picked up a second easel. I have not yet painted on it, but I prepared a surface today. This is a 16 X 20" Speedball Art Board (not a canvas). I think I will enjoy experimenting with it. Photo above shows my messy studio. I am not a naturally neat person, but I do have some organization here. The front of this room is my office, the back is my studio.

This is a work in progress, for the theme "gathering" that I saw on Facebook. I remember this photo of the elk in Jasper.  They were all out there breakfasting and ignoring the tourists.  I am going to make this on the larger canvas above. I think I can be more careful with the drawing on a larger surface. I had difficulty with the elks in front of each other and even missed one small one on the right side.  It was good to do the smaller study first.  8 X 10, oil on canvas board.

And just for fun, a Great Tailed Grackle on an umbrella in Costa Rica.  The umbrella was striped, but I didn't like the way it came out in my painting so I just decided that red with go well with black and covered over the stripes (although you can still see them a bit through the paint.  8 X 10, oil on canvas board.

I did miss traveling during the pandemic, but enjoyed browsing through all my photos for inspiration.  I hope to go back to traveling next spring or summer. I'll be getting a booster shot at the end of this month and encourage others to get their shots too.  I would like everyone to be safe.

More experiments

 

I bought a downloaded video lesson on palette knife painting. I found it difficult and very messy, but I enjoyed the lesson. The lesson was $14.95 and it was definitely worthwhile. This is the 2nd one I have tried from Kevin Hill painting.  He is a good instructor.  I have done some lessons with a palette knife in the past, but those were in acrylic paint. This was oil paint. Very thick paint and it takes a long time to dry. (11 X 14" oil on canvas)

Hikers at Arches National Park, Another experiment, this time on gesso'd board.  I think I prefer to paint on regular artist's canvas. Even though I sanded between coats of gesso, the surface was still strange to me.  This one is also oil paint from one of my photos at Arches National Park in Utah several years ago. (12 X 16" oil on board)

And finally a small (5 X 7) study of sunset from my daughter's photo in Salt Lake City of the sunset over the golf course near her apartment. I think I like this enough to finish it and maybe make a larger version.

Rosh Hashanah

 

The Jewish new year of 5782 begins at sundown on September 6th (first of Tishri on the Jewish calendar). I thought it was time to start designing our annual greeting. That way if I change my mind, I have time to think of a different design and verse.

Cards and other printed items available on my website.

Playing with Gesso Part 2

 

I went to the art store and bought the proper materials for this exercise. I am much happier with the result. Now I have to figure out how to use this technique on my own composition.  The link to the Bob Ross episode is in the previous blog post.

I tinkered with it a little more and I like this version better:

Playing with Gesso

 

I decided to have some fun with painting instead of trying to be serious. I found this instructional video online, Bob Ross, Season 28, Episode 4. I didn't have all the right materials, but I had most of them. I bought some black gesso so I could start the experiment.  If you are familiar with Bob Ross, you know that this is not his usual teaching technique. Anyway, I started with black gesso, paper towels and a foam brush. It looks interesting so far.  I used a leftover piece of canvas from another project rather than wastinng a good canvas.  Fun so far.

Here is part 2. I had to repaint the bottom of the canvas because I did not like my path the first time I tried it.  The gesso has to dry before putting color on it.

I didn't have the right materials or colors for this part so I was a bit disappointed, but I still enjoyed this process.  I did go out and buy what I need so I can try it again.

Snake River

 

Snake River, Murphy, Idaho

It has been too hot to paint outside (100 F for 10 days in a row, approx 38 C) so I painted this inside my air conditioned studio from last year's plein air painting trip to Murphy, Idaho and the Snake River. Acrylic on canvas, 10" X 20". I used last year's painting and my photos as a guide.

I have not been motived to paint much lately. The heat has really affected me. We still have a few more days of this. I don't know how desert people manage. Southern Idaho's environment is considered "high" desert since it is in t he foothills of the rockies. Our elevation is around 2700 feet. Water supply comes from the high mountains and snow melt, but there wasn't as much snow this year and we are in drought conditions. Not sure how long that will last.

Flow State

 I entered an exhibit through the Treasure Valley Artists Alliance and my paintings were selected.

The exhibit is at the Nampa Civic Center in Nampa, Idaho until October 5th. Virtual exhibit is online now too. Flow State

I had fun last week playing with another black canvas. My peonies are really beautiful this year.

Oil on black canvas, 8" X 10"

My peonies

Lake Louise

 

Lake Louise, Oil, 20" X 24". I think this is finished now, but I will wait a few weeks to post it to my website until I am sure and happy with it.  I had a large (for me) canvas that I picked up 2 years ago at a sidewalk sale and kept thinking about what I would paint on it. Finally I took the plunge.  I loved the colors of the lakes in Alberta, Canada, colors from the glacial silt.  We took a trip there several years ago and I enjoy looking at my old photos.

Meanwhile, I submitted three other paintings for a "monochrome" show at the Meridian library and two were selected. They will go up at the end of the month.  One that I posted last time (Monochrome etude #1) although I personally liked #2 better and my older acrylic 8" X 10" painting of Rabbi Y'Shia.

Studies

 

The Treasure Valley Artist Alliance has an exhibit later this month for monochrome paintings so I did two small studies.  This one is a winter creek at a retreat center in Connecticut. I tried using manganese blue for it and wasn't happy with the result. oil painting 8 X 10" on stretched canvas.

I tried Prussian blue for my next study and liked the result better. From a photo of a bird on bushes (probably bamboo) in Ein Hod Israel. oil painting 8 X 10" on stretched canvas.

These are drying now and I don't know if I will submit them or not.  My painting of the Pelicans from Laguna Beach is on exhibit now in Meridian, Idaho.  There is a gallery on the 3rd floor of City Hall there.  Here is a link to the online exhibit.

I also painted (again) the Athabasca River in Alberta from my old photos.

These are all oil paintings today.  This one is 11" X 14" on canvas board.  I was looking down at the river from a high point.  I need to practice more. I didn't quite get that in my painting.

I've enjoyed doing these studies in the past. I even sold one many years ago. Here is a link to that monochome of Edna Creek (Idaho).

Winter again

Before the Rain, 16" X 20" oil on stretched canvas

This is my first painting with really thick oil paint (not water mixable oils).  I had a canvas painting I did not like and decided to recycle. I found that I still had a container of Alexander Magic White and Alexander oil paints from an online class I took several years ago. Bill Alexander was the precursor of Bob Ross painting style, wet into wet.  I did not continue with that painting style, but it kind of worked for this image. I had permission from Sean Bunce Photography of Boise to paint his image of Before the Rain (which I saw on Facebook). I used the photo as an inspirational one and did not make a copy, just played with the really thick paint, abstracting the image a bit.  I don't know how long it will take to dry, but I assume it will be quite a while. I liked the colors, but I couldn't match up as well since I only had a limited set of Alexander oil paint tubes.

Robie Creek, 10" X 20",  water mixable oil on stretched canvas

I worked on this painting for several weeks and I'm not quite happy with it.  I need to take more lessons on painting shadows.  This painting seems too flat to me. Not sure if I can fix it or not. Anyway, this is from my own photo of early spring at Robie Creek (which is off Route 21 on the way to Idaho City in Idaho). We have gone swimming there in the spring time with our dog, but not at this location.  The water was running very fast in the spring so we just took photos.

Yesterday was a holiday in the U.S. (Martin Luther King Day) and I was having a bit of cabin fever. I do get tired of just being in the city even as nice as it is.  We took a drive up to Idaho City and I took some photos. We had a good lunch at Trudy's Kitchen and brought home desserts for later.

I took some photos on the way back from the moving car. I was surprised that they came out and showed the nice scenery in this part of Idaho. Winter is mild in Boise where we live and I don't miss the extreme winters of New Hampshire, but I needed to see a little snow and more trees. Morning in Boise started out foggy, but cleared by noon time. Nice blue skies on the trip.