Merrygoround

12x15 Oil pastel. A class assignment----to paint a moving Carousel or a Merrygoround. So there is a difference?
I am told that Carousel is American and goes around anti clockwise because people riding it use their right hands to grab the ring. Merrygoround is English and goes around clockwise, doesn't have a ring, and people in real life, get onto the horses from the horses left side. Hence the clockwise movement. I also read that a Carousel is actually a sport between Knights, centuries ago. And then there can be different animals and these days cars etc. and I am sure there is a lot more I have left out. and I am not sure this looks as if it is moving!

Hanna

Flat areas of pastel on dark background.

Baa Baa Black and The Boss

In December I am in a show called EIEIHOHOHO (really) So I thought it was time to have some fun.
These are Arapawa New Zealand sheep. The black faced sheep are Perendales, also NZ sheep. South Suffolk lamb UK, and then Highland cattle. 

Baatwo and Maaa

both 5x7 Gouache

McMoo

5x7 Gouache

End of the Day

9x12 Gouache

SILVER BIRCH

This is my solution to connect the top and bottom stripes of the monotype I posted a short while ago.

BLOEDEL RESERVE

12X16 Oil. Bloedel is now open for painters----hooray. This is a wonderful park on Bainbridge Island with a contemplative atmosphere and umpteen places to paint.
This painting and the one that follows, was painted using a Richard McKinley palette. red yellow blue, mixed to make secondary colors, mixed with white, when necessary, to make a dark, medium cool, medium warm, light cool and light warm. Both paintings were rather too dull and needed work in the studio. Particularly this painting. I see now that I need to soften the edge of the willow.

BATTLE POINT PARK, BI

20X16 oil.  Limited palette.

A BEND IN THE RIVER. OR

16X20 oil plein air. This is from Viento State park, where I camped in August. It was so windy that I could not set up my easel, but when Sylvia and I went back in October the wind was replaced by intermittent rain. It's a great site for painting, wind surfing and camping, if you like trains.

Gorge Whitehouse in September

16x20 oil plein air. When we went back to Hood River to pick up paintings from the show we went back to the Gorge Whitehouse where they made us very welcome. We couldn't resist four varieties of delicious  pears! It was a Sunday, and many people were picking flowers, buying pears and sampling wine.

MONOTYPE SERIES. NEXT 9 IMAGES.

9x12 Sky 1
Here I am using Dan Smith inks and experimenting with transparency. More like a watercolor, I wanted the paper to glow through. It's not working yet, but is an interesting process. If you double click on the image it is enlarged and looks better!

Mountain2

9x12 I think I printed a ghost on a ghost, of Mountain 1 but I can't remember. The fun of monotype to me, is that one thing leads to another and at the moment, since I am so new to the process, unless I keep notes, I am not sure how things happened. I guess I should take notes, but maybe later it will become more instinctual.

Mountain1

9x12 Mark making with roller and wipeout. This took 2 printings and I am annoyed with myself that the horizon needs correction.

Stripes3

I have landscape plans for this one because I need to connect one section with the other.

Stripes2

More roller and mark making.

Stripes 1

11x14 print using Charbonnel ink instead of Daniel Smith etching ink. At the moment, I find the inks behave differently from each other so I am learning by playing. I have to admit that I really was thinking Landscape but now I like them as stripes.

Marks2

9x12 monotpye. After finishing the painted trees I just played with rolling the ink randomly and then wiping out with a credit card.

Marks1

9x12 monotype. Playing with wipeout marks made with different tools.

Northwest Trees

9X12 NW trees. I rolled the colors on a plate and printed it. On the same plate, with a very small amount of ink left on the surface, I painted the trees with a brush and diluted ink. Ran that through the press. It needed more ink, so I worked on the trees and ran it through again. Now there was too much ink, and it spread out and was rather globby in parts. So now I had to live with that and try to work with the shapes to make them stronger.

POPPIE PODS

16X20 Oil pastel on previously oil painted abstract background. Actually I cleaned off my palette and added some pigment in places. I often do this so that I can go back and choose a piece to work on. Also I hate to waste paint!

ANCIENT LIFE

It was raining by the time we arrived at Port Gamble WA so after wandering around looking for a suitable site to paint I decided to stand under this huge evergreen tree and see what I could do with the interesting bark patterns. I opted for oil pastels, because if the rain became heavier I could pack up quickly. I could paint it again, many times and each time the patterns would be different, but they were all there indicating serious damage to the tree over many years. I plan to also paint the bark of the cedar tree at my house in the not too distant future.
16x20. oil pastel with gamsol solvent used in 'streams'. I did go back in after the gamsol had dried. Fun technique.

AN 'ORDINARY' BICYCLE

I am back on a winter schedule I am glad to say. That means that amongst other things, our portrait group has started again. I think we are in our 10th year. Anyway, this is Steve with his beloved bike he painstakingly restored. I think he said it was from 1893 and it was called an Ordinary because there were also fancier ones at that time.
This is oil, 16x20

PEACEFUL MORNING

I forgot to add this. Day 2 Pebble Beach in Stevenson, WA

PERFECT DAY

Day 1. Orientation and meet the other painters at the Hood River Gorge Whitehouse. 40 painters were accepted into the paintout, some from Alaska, Hawaii, Oklahoma, and ??? The following is copied off the advertising card because it explains things so well.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST PLEIN AIR 2011 in the COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE.
In its seventh year, Pacific Northwest Plein Air competition is a series of art events featuring the art and literary works of accomplished painters and writers created at various locations around the Columbia River Gorge----the nation's first designated National Scenic Area. Works of art will be available for viewing and for sale during a month-long gallery show at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River. Jim Lamb is the juror.

AFTERNOON AT THE GORGE WHITEHOUSE

After lunch I lay in the grass under a pear tree and had a much needed nap.

READY FOR SWIMMING

Day 2 was spent at Pebble Beach, Stevenson, WA. Lovely quiet shady windless path between the river and the railway line. This was painted in the afternoon and when I had nearly finished a family with umpteen children came down to swim. I think this painting would be better with some people in it, but they would have to be very small to stay in scale.

TOO WINDY FOR FLYING

Day 3. I moved to a lovely campground up in the trees and decided to take a day off from the group, drive around, when I was ready to get going instead of leaving at 7.30, as I had the other 2 days. In case anyone is looking for a campground I can heartily recommend Timberlake, at Home Valley WA.
I painted this in the park at Bingen, using a tree as a wind break. I think my rendition of the trees in the wind are not nearly leaning enough. I had an annoying bystander who proceeded to lecture me on how the trees were one sided because of the wind and that usually it was a favorite spot for hangliders, but today was too windy. At least he didn't tell me that his aunt was a really good painter.

MOUNT HOOD, OREGON

This was on Day 4. We went to the Gorge Winery, WA where it was beautiful, but very hot. I did paint in the shade. This painting needs work, but I quite like it anyway.

CROW VALLEY 1. ORCAS ISLAND WA

At the end of July, I joined some friends on Orcas Island, plein air painting with a group from PAWA. (Plein Air Painters of Washington) 16x20 oil. I was painting for 3 days and the weather was PERFECT.
Fun was had by all, I would say.

CROW VALLEY 2

Sylvia and I so enjoyed painting Crow Valley that we took our painting buddies to almost the same spot the next day.

WAITING 1

This is one of those things you do when waiting for the other three artists to either finish or work out the logistics for transporting 4 people and wet paintings to the PAWA receiving site.

WAITING 2

This is water soluble black crayon, but I think it would make a real mess if I added water.

DEER HARBOR BOATWORKS

16X20 oil. One of our party had a car problem and luckily she was able to get help from the kind owner of the boatworks. So while we were waiting we found this view. I particularly liked the tipsy ramp.

VIEW FROM SCANDIA

12x16 oil painting from Pamela's lovely property in Scandia.

PINK SERIES 4

This started as the ghost print of one I have not finished yet. I have made some new stamps using doublestick tape with shapes I cut out of felt, and then stuck onto wood . Much easier than cutting chair felts! 12x16. It needs more light and dark shapes but I am having FUN and am posting my experiments . Maybe I should quit doing that and only put up the finished pieces.

PINK SERIES 3

Another 8x10.

PINK SERIES 2

Basically I mixed about 5 piles of ink--- red, blue, yellow ochre, lemon yellow and white. But then I started mixing one with another and ended up with a range of pinks, with very subtle greyed colors.

PINK SERIES 1

Monotype. 8x10. Using new stamps.

STAMPS

This was a small ghost from a pile of prints that are amorphous. A great place to play with stamps and color.

TRACKS 2

I started this from the ghost of the first printing of Tracks 1.

TRACKS 1

Change of pace and back to monotypes. This was started by making patterns on the plate by manipulating rollers. I also rolled the main colors all on the same plate before putting it through the press. It needed something, but what??? I decided to make some stamps to print directly onto the print. Aha--------how to make stamps easily. I expect there is an even easier way but at the moment I am excited by my present method. I took those felt pads one buys for chair legs, cut shapes, and stuck them onto lids  of medicine bottles. Also string onto jar lids and felt strips onto small wood pieces.

NORTHWEST POSSIBLITY

I started this as a demo for an introduction to Oil Pastel, given to the Pacific Art League in July. I did start this from a photo but then I lost the photo so it is mainly made up. I made textures by taking top layers out with the edge of a spoon and by using my favorite tool, a wine cork.

SPLASH

Pastel I painted from a photo I printed in black and white.

Clouds over Puget Sound are usually spectacular. This is a pastel. I should try a daily painting of clouds.

REALLY?

One of Bill McEnroe's assignments again. This time it was Critters. So I went on line to find photographs of unusual insects, which was very interesting indeed. The bug on the left, which is black and white, is a Goliath Beetle. About a month after I painted this I happened upon an exhibit of shells and a few insects and low and behold there was a Goliath beetle with a 3-4 inch body. Phew.

INTO THE BLUE

Oil pastel. Another painting trying to capture the wild, turbulent Pacific in Baha.

Baha Beach

I have been reminded that I haven't added anything to my blog lately. Actually I do have quite a lot  that I have not photographed. Where does the time go? This is a pastel. When I stayed in Baha we were on the Pacific coast, which is very rough and fascinating to watch.

FRIGATE BIRDS OVER CABO

 I was recently lucky enough to spend nearly 2 weeks in a resort near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and this is one of the pages in my sketch book. Oil pastel.

SOUND1

I bought 10 panels, set up my easel in the 'sun' room, with the intention of getting up soon after dawn to paint the view. Since I am not a morning person, that idea changed pretty rapidly. The panels are 9x12 oils. A lot of grey mornings came after this one as you can see.