Mistakes Happen

Fate of the World 12x6 pastel available through this link $75.00

I came across this photo reference on the Pixabay website early this morning and was amazed at how this picture represents exactly how I've been feeling about the world in which we are living in right now.  Morals, I feel, are becoming a thing of the past, and recent changes being made to what was once the "norm" are sending this world into certain disaster.

 I've titled this piece "Fate of the World" and can add it to my completed paintings of 7 poppies in 7 days.  I have to admit, I applied the pastel way too heavily to the flower and the colors started to become muddy.  I was trying to hurry and because of this, the flower was ruined.  So what do you do when you make a mistake like this with pastels?  The answer is a simple one.... just brush it off and begin again.  I took the brush piece off of an old paintbrush and brushed off all the pastel on the flower and began again.  The brush has to have some hardness to it - a soft brush will not get into the crevices- and with a light, circular motion, you can brush off your mistake like it never happened.

I'd also like to share another paragraph to the poem I've been posting.  The entire poem will be revealed in just a few more days.


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.

But then you see the poppies, a disheveled stand of them.
And the sun shining down like God, loving all of us equally,
mountain and valley, plant, animal, human, and therefore
shouldn’t we love all things equally back?
And then you see the clouds.

The poppies are wild, they are only beautiful and tall
so long as you do not cut them,
they are like the feral cat who purrs and rubs against your leg
but will scratch you if you touch back.
Love is letting the world be half-tamed.
That’s how the rain comes, softly and attentively, then

Setting Smaller Goals

Rare Beauty 12x12 pastel available by clicking this link $145.00

I'm setting a smaller goal this week by choosing 1 subject and doing a painting a day for 7 days.  I've participated in painting 30 paintings in 30 days, and sometimes that goal can seem daunting... so I'm setting smaller goals for myself by doing 7 paintings in 7 days and by choosing to paint the same subject means my colors are already set out for me, and I'm somewhat familiar with my subject so the painting process goes a little bit quicker.

This weeks subject is poppies, and by painting the same subject over and over again, helps me to choose which colors to use more naturally.  I started this poppy with and underpainting of brick red and very bright orange, and this layered back and forth with a rose color, bright red and the orange.  The experts say never to use a hard pastel over a soft pastel, but I break this rule constantly, and find that it works fine as long as use a light touch with each layer.  Using a light touch is something I am constantly working on with myself because I am naturally a heavy hander, it seems, with everything I do, but I am a work in progress - just like my poppy shown above.  Here are some progress photos.

For the final highlights, I wanted to try something different and used a salmon color and then a bright yellow-green.  You can see this if you zoom into the painting. I really am pleased with this color combination.

Also this week I am revealing a poem that I came across for those of you out there that enjoy poetry like myself.  I will reveal a paragraph a day along with the day's poppy painting for that day, and by the end of the week you will have read the poem in full and I am hoping to hear from some of you as to what you think about the meaning behind the poem.  Here's today's addition:


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.

But then you see the poppies, a disheveled stand of them.
And the sun shining down like God, loving all of us equally,
mountain and valley, plant, animal, human, and therefore
shouldn’t we love all things equally back?
And then you see the clouds.

A Poppy a Day Keeps the Blues Away

6x12 Pastel available $75.00

Lately I've been working hard at reorganizing the house and yard before the cold weather hits and haven't spent as much time on my artwork as I'd like, but when the day came this week that I stepped in front of the easel, I had a bout of artists block. What should I paint? I had so many choices and recent experiences from my vacations that I could share, but nothing gave me that spark I was looking for.  I skimmed through Instagram for some inspiration and came across a posting of a poppy.  I have always loved poppies and they're one of my favorite flowers to see in paintings, so I decided poppies would be my subject.  It wasn't until I completed the first poppy painting, which I'll share below, that I craved to do another, and so my quest to paint a poppy painting every day for the next week was born.  They say you can only master your subject by painting it over and over again - so here it goes. 


I also recently began reading poetry again - this also helps to inspire you for future paintings, and I came across this beautiful poem that mentions poppies.  I thought it would be fun to share the poem with you, but only a paragraph at a time.  With every poppy painting I post, I will reveal the next part of the poem until the end of the week. 


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.


Below are some progress photos of today's poppy painting, along with yesterday's painting. 

12x12 Pastel available $145.00

Both paintings have been added to my Etsy store. 

Painting on a New Surface

For the Love of Monarchs 6x18 available $125.00

I recently took part in the Academy Art Museum's Art Sale, and while there, a man approached me and asked if I'd be interested in painting a stone for his garden.  It was an interesting idea, and something I had never tried before.  He said he wanted something with monarch butterflies and flowers.  Little did he know he came to the right table - I filled him in on my love of monarchs and all the statistics of their decline and also my feeble attempts to help bring the populations numbers back.

He dropped the stone off to me a couple of days later and filled me in on the purpose of this stone.  He told me the story of how he and his wife had recently lost a set of twins, and about a memorial garden that's in place for those that have lost children.  The theme in the memorial garden is monarchs and he wanted the stone to also serve as a remembrance for the lost twins.

Along with him that day was his daughter - she was so cute! I asked her what her favorite flowers were, and also what colors she would like to see in the painting.  I took notes on her color choices and began thinking of a composition.  I wanted to do a couple of  examples, and let the family choose which one they liked the best.  The painting shown at the top of this page was the first attempt. I used my pastels and UArt pastel paper cut to the size of the stone to put down my ideas.

The finished garden stone

Because the colors in the first painting were very bright and warm, I decided to try the second painting a bit cooler.  I loved how the orange popped against the deep blue and had a calming effect.  I chose to put in 5 butterflies - 1 each for mom, dad, daughter and the twins.  Dad has his wings spread (in protection mode), mom is at the bottom, daughter is to the left and the twins are close together to the right.  The family chose the first painting and I pulled out my acrylics and went to work.  I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to recreate the look of the pastels, but in the end, I think it came out very close. Both pastel paintings are for sale in my Etsy store.  If interested, just click on the title of the painting and you will be taken to the store's site.

Wings Among Weeds pastel 6x18 available $125.00

Both examples side by side

80% Pleinair / 20% Whimsy

Blue Bird and Blooms Pastel 5x7 available $25.00

The unthinkable happened when I arrived at our painting location for PAPCB (Plein Air Painters of the Chesapeake Bay)  on Tuesday morning.  I forgot my phone at home!  Why does that make a difference?  Well I couldn't take any pictures of the location - and pictures are a MUST just in case you don't finish in the allotted time frame, which is always the case with me.  I painted this one 80% pleinair and 20% whimsy.  After I was home, I added the background grasses and the blue bird, just because without it, the painting looked a little boring. I think this will make an adorable notecard. What do you think?

The location was in Trappe Maryland -beautiful property with beautiful views of the water.  This property had an English garden kind of feel to it and also had what I think the said was Scandinavian Mountain Sheep which, to me, look a lot like goats with lions tails! I've never seen anything like that - I'm used to our sheep and goats tailless.


Next Friday night is the opening reception for our groups art show at the Nature Conservatory in Easton, Md. It will run the whole month of July.  If you live close by, you should try to come out and see the art work and meet the wonderful artists.  There will be music, wine, and snacks.  The painting below is one of paintings I chose to put in the show.  This one I shared on Facebook last week that I painted from my front yard.  I added the butterflies later that night.  All paintings in the show are for sale by each individual artist.  I'm really excited about this show and I hope to see some of you there!

Sold

Blue Birds in My Bird House Garden

Keeping Watch 9x12 Pastel available $95.00

I've set yet another goal for this summer...... to do a painting of all the songbirds found in and around the Chesapeake Bay ~ I have to admit that years ago, I didn't have much interest in birds, I guess you could say I took them for granted.  I didn't take the time to really look at them.  After moving to the Eastern Shore 20 years ago was when I really started to take notice of the beautiful markings and sounds of the birds that would show up in the yard.  I now how a "bird book" that I check off the species when I see them visiting the feeders.  If you take the time to really look at the birds that visit your own yard, I'm sure you will fall in love with them as I have.

This summer I had this idea to create a bird house garden in one of the corners of my yard.  I collected lots of bird houses and hand painted designs on just about all of them, and also put in a little picket fence which I chose to stain in a dark brown to blend in with the surrounding trees.  Already this season I've had 2 sets of blue bird eggs in 2 of the houses!  So I thought I'd share some photos of my bird house garden.

Full view - still needs mulch... maybe I'll get around to that before the summer ends

Here's Casper hanging out with me while I plant

Found this great bird house windchime at Tractor Supply

My white azalea in bloom

The second set of blue birds.  The first set chose a house to high for me to photograph

Right now, I'm working on a commission to paint a butterfly scene on a garden stone - I'm super excited to see how this turns out, and I will share the finished product when completed.  I'm also getting ready for an art show that will be held at the Nature Conservatory in Easton, Md. on June 6th - the opening reception is from 5-8 and is open to the public. I would love to have you stop by and visit.  All the information for this show can be found on my Facebook page.

What's Been Happening This Past Month

Two Roses in a Plastic Cup 8x8 palette knife painting in oil available $65.00

This past month has been a busy one in my little art world.  This past Saturday was a very successful day at this years Studio Sale at the Art Academy in Easton, Md. My wonderful pastel instructor Katie Cassidy puts in a lot of hard work to give the instructors at the Academy and the students a day to sell their works of art.  I had a goal to sell at least 1 more than I sold last year, which was 3.  This year I sold 11 and also had a commission request!  I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm already writing down plans and ideas for next years sale.  Here's some pics from the sale.

This was my table display

My son, Zach is my Sales Manager ~ He's a born salesman! He was working on his own artwork during the sale.

The street filled with shoppers

Last week I participated in a Plein Air Paint A Long class with Diane Dubois Mullaly and Sheryl Southwick, both instructors at the Academy.  What an enlightening experience.  The group visited 3 locations and painted outdoors with a critique at the end of class.  Lessons learned?  Check and double check supplies - one day I forgot to pack my paper towels and had oil paint medium everywhere! I also learned that I need a lot more outdoor painting experience - I will admit that I am not fast when it comes to producing a painting and really felt the anxiety having only 3 hours to complete something.  My work, I will say, looked like a 5 year old was painting, but I have listened to the wise words of the instructors and have worked on the pieces some more here at home and will post them when they are completed ( at least completed in my mind) It is my goal this summer to practice, practice, practice plein air painting and work on my speed.  Here's some pictures of the amazing places we were privileged to visit.

Day 1:

The Main House

1 of many beautiful horses

Our class during our lunch break in the "Man Cave"

Our host along with one of his pet "hunting" falcons 

 Day 2:

The Main House "Harleigh House" I spent 2 hours walking around taking pictures.

View from the back yard

A tree full of sculptures along one of the many woodland trails

Beautiful climbing rose covered buildings

 Day 3:

My "view" choice at Adkins Arboretum 

I have taken hundreds of photos this past month, and I can't wait to share them with you painted.  Work hard and never give up on achieving your dreams.