Gratitude

This painting was accepted into the Annual Group Exhibit of the Community School of Music and Art, December 7 through January 25.

I painted this with the help of a facebook photo posted by my friend Kung of her trip west. I was immediately struck by this scene of her standing up there looking into this immense space. In the caption she wrote about her feeling of awe and gratitude: 

"This is the moment that I couldn't explain. I stood still and looked around and all of a sudden my heart was so full. Tears ran down my cheeks. I realized how my heart is full with emotions when I am surrounded by all this natural beauty. This moment made me appreciate how grateful I am to have the opportunity to see this very beautiful place."

I recognize the feeling of the heart overflowing with happiness and gratitude, and I hope you will too!

Adirondacks and Paint Off

We had a couple of short trips to the Adirondacks, and I was able to do some plein air painting. It always feels so good to be out there painting. However challenging, there is nothing better than painting from real life! 

This next one was a few weeks later, as you can see by the colors of the trees. It has been many years since we were in the Adirondacks in peak leaf season, and it was so beautiful! It was cloudy the whole time, but every once in a while the sun peaked out for a second and it looked like the trees were on fire. 

Then there was this painting challenge: the Ithaca Festival held a Paint Off as a fundraiser last evening. Every artist created a painting in 90 minutes (the paintings will be auctioned off at a later date). I had never done anything like this, and I heard from several other artists that they had not either. I thought it would be a good challenge. I decided to do a large version of one of the 50 small sky paintings I did last year. As soon as the signal was given it was game on! Initially I felt nervous about doing this, thinking what if it sucks? But soon after starting I got into the zone, not even noticing much going on around me. People were walking by and stopping to look at artists painting. I usually get very self-conscious, but I was able to ignore that. I am just not good at talking when I am painting. 

This was the result when the 90 minutes was up!

Dogs past and present

Last year I made black walnut ink, and I still have a bunch left. My sister in law had asked for drawings of her dogs past and present. So here they are: Tara, Ziva (their current dog), Tess, and Laki.

It is fun to play around with ink, and good to shake up your usual medium, stepping out of the routine. Drawing this reminded me how much I like ink, and I should do more of this!

Back from The Netherlands

It's been quiet here, I know! I was away, back to my home country of the Netherlands for a bit. I did a few "touristy" things, but mostly spent the time with my family, catching up and just doing fun stuff together. I brought my sketch book, and managed to get a couple of sketches done.

These little roadside chapels are everywhere in the south of the Netherlands. This one is next to the house where I grew up.

The view from across the river. The castle on the right, De Keverberg, is pretty unique. It was destroyed at the end of WW2, and recently restored. They did not just rebuild it as it was, but blend the old with the new. I had my misgivings seeing the building plan. I did not think it could be any good, but now I love how it looks. I think it is beautiful. 

On a side note; my elementary school was to the right of the castle ruins, so that view was part of our lives. We would occasionally sneak up there to play. Plus I got married in the church on the left, so this view always brings back memories.

The walkway next to the river, a very popular place.

"Taking Flight"

I took this painting to the Evelyn Peeler Peacock Gallery in Corning today. It will be part of the fall member show. I painted this while working on the 50 small bird paintings. At some point I was craving to paint something bigger than a 6"x6", so I did this 24"x36" one. It was a good challenge! Deciding on the composition, the shape of the swans, the different shades of white, and getting it just right did not come easy. I had a couple of reference pictures by photographer Andre Jacobs that I combined into this composition. I do like how the painting came out. I don't think you can see it well in the picture, but it looks like the light is coming through the wings.

Two paintings

We spent some time in the Adirondacks this week. Even though it was a family visit, I got some painting time in. Plein air is hard! I feel like I am hardly ever happy with the final product, but when I have a look at it the next day I usually am at peace with it. And on occasion tweak it a bit. What better way to learn than being out there!

 This spot is so beautiful! I am not sure that I did the mountains in the distance justice (the big one is Whiteface). A couple was getting their wedding pictures taken, so I decided to put them in the painting too. I left the parked cars out. It was a nice couple of hours spent in a beautiful spot!

 The next morning I got up at 6 AM to get my painting kick. The light changes so quickly! One moment there is mist, and the next moment the mist clears and you can see the mountains in the distance.

I love the unexpected sights you might see while painting and being in 1 spot for a few hours. This time it was the river otters! A lot of splashing and 2 heads popped up. I was told it may have been musk rats or beaver, but I'm sticking with river otters!
One or both of these paintings may lead to a bigger studio piece (these are both 9x12" oil on board).

Back to plein air!

Getting ready for the Summer Mosaic took a lot of time the past months. It does feel good to focus on one thing. It was good to have a goal and a deadline. That helps keep me on track. Plus doing a series of paintings like that helps to really push your limit. Now that that is done, the question is "now what." I've been wanting to get back to plein air painting, so I have done a little bit of that. Plus painting birds led to a commission to paint some turkeys. I finished that one. And I just remembered that I promised to do some dog sketches for my sister in law... working on that.  

So for now my next goal is to do as much plein air as I can while the weather is good (I guess I am a fair weather plein air painter only!). I want to make a lot of outdoor sketches so turning them into paintings can keep me busy painting through the winter. I think that is a good goal for the next few months!

Plein air on a nice summer evening. 

It felt good to get back to this! There is nothing better that being outdoors, being in the actual moment, and try to capture what drew you to the scene in the first place.