Mosquito Park

On a recent shopping trip to Burlington I stopped at Mosquito Park. This is a little park with a big view of the Mississippi River. Cloudy days make for challenging grays and the view pushes the distant grays. This is definitely a place I plan to revisit. 

This was painted on a dark mossy green ground, basically wiped off from a previous painting

6" x 12" oil on panel

This was wiped off. I got a phone call and had to quit here. I painted into a Pthalo blue and Burnt Sienna mix with Liquin added. I think I could have left that unfinished look, after all it is basically a study. Another place to go back to.

6" x 12" oil on panel

Study Underwater Rocks

A quick painting study. The water was still which gave me a better view of the rocks. 

8" x 6" oil on panel

Lotus Along the River

Green in sunlight and shadow is something I need to work on. A great opportunity to practice on it with the Lotus in full bloom, actually I am a week too late according to a passing jogger. There was plenty left at this spot. Artist Tim O'Neal excelled at this with large colored pencil drawings of Canas leaves. Tim does not have an internet presence, so you will just have to take my word for it.

11" x 14" oil on canvas. 

Three Tree Trunks

A couple of years ago we went to Wilson Lake to paint lotus blooms. They must have thinned them out because my latest trip to Wilson Lake yielded a few sporadic blooms. I did find this scene with the late afternoon sun peaking through the foliage.

I started this with M. Graham's Walnut Alkyd Medium mixed with burnt sienna and ultramarine.

8" x 8" oil on canvas  

Waterlilies Study

The waterlilies are in full bloom along the river. This was painted plein air starting with a burnt sienna and ultramarine blue ground mixed with alkyd medium. It was a little complicated for me to do plein air so I took photos to work on it later. The Mississippi river is the light blue stripe in the background.  

11" x 14" oil on canvas

Three Tree Trunks

A couple of years ago we went to Wilson Lake to paint lotus blooms. They must have thinned them out because my latest trip to Wilson Lake yielded a few sporadic blooms. I did find this scene with the late afternoon sun peaking through the foliage.

I started this with M. Graham's Walnut Alkyd Medium mixed with burnt sienna and ultramarine.

8" x 8" oil on canvas  

Study in Greens with water

Late afternoon at the lake. The water changes so fast it is hard to keep up with it. When the wind picks up the water has ripples with dark green and white. When it is still, there are slight ripples that just make the reflections a little wavy. 

14" x 11" oil on canvas

Self Portrait at 39

Self Portrait at 39

I am cleaning house in my studio. I was flipping through some sketchbooks and found this. It had been so long ago I forgot about it. I had to ask my husband, "Who does this look like?" to be sure it looked like me. I haven't seen that face in a long time.

Old Brooder Shed

This is another sketch from my 1991 sketch book. This building may be one of my first plein air drawing,  The building is gone now but it used to be a chicken shed and later cleaned out for a playhouse. 

Location Unknown

I am not sure anymore where this scene is from. It did date my sketchbook by the signature. I really should date my sketchbooks.

The Pickup

I often sketched in ink to get over the eraser habit. You will notice the horse in the foreground has three front legs. Don't have time to fix it, just move on. The reference for this was a photo I took of the local rodeo. Back then they had an afternoon performance and I could take some decent photos.

I found an earlier sketchbook but declined to post the sketches. I started out copying comic books. One of my favorites was Vampirella. I don't remember the artist but my guess it was probably Frazetta. I wish I still had that comic book.

Another Field of Hay

This started as a demo for an painting and wine party, but they preferred to paint fall trees. Since I already had the basics drawn in I finished it. The clouds I took from another photo. I have painted this scene before with fall foliage.

11" x 14" oil on canvas

Chasing the Light

This should be the final. Sometimes I don't know when to quit. Since this is due tomorrow then it is time to quit. I changed the sky with a little warm tones around the trees. I also mixed in darks with the lights near the top, hoping to give the appearance of the masses of stars. Darkened around the firefly she is chasing. Added a couple of fireflies in the grass and some more in the distance. Darkened the girls skin in the shadows. Although I suspect fireflies don't glow that bright I claim creative license. 

The local art center is having a themed exhibit titled, "It's a Bug's Life". I failed at photographing a dragonfly and a couple of other insects on a recent hike. With no other option, I pulled this together with a couple of photos of my granddaughter chasing a bird. Made up the night scene and the "fireflies". No one said they had to be anatomically correct.

When talking about painting people one of the artists complained that you can't sell your paintings from the life drawing class, so why bother. A lot of what I paint ends up just practice. When I try something out of my area of expertise, my failure rate is higher than usual. This one is oil and it did take some wiping off and fixing to get a natural feel. Even now I plan on waiting til it drys some to tweak it. 

11" x 14" oil on canvas on panel