DLP have workshops in the Works

 

Hey Friends, Listed this little painting the other day on EBAY.   I painted this while sitting at the playground under an umbrella last week.  Of course you know the colors are made up.  The Blue Ridge Mountains are in the background on the left.

 

 

And wanted to give you a sneak peek at a new workshop scheduled for June 2015 at the Evergreen Lavender Farm.  Go HERE to check on their other workshops coming up soon.

It's a short drive (between Lynchburg & Appomattox) and well worth it.

It's a beautiful farm and you will love Bonnie, the owner.

 

Happy Trails

the Ice Cream Social at Greenridge last summer

Hey Friends,  Last summer Mary Anne and I set up our display panels and easels inside the huge atrium at the Green Ridge Center off Rt. 220 in Botetourt and had ice cream sundaes at the Ice Cream Social they held for the community.  We painted Plein Aire inside.  One huge glass wall makes you feel like you are outside.  This piece is now up for auction in Ebay.  Click Here to see.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

" Rock " a palette knife study

"

Hey Friends,  A tree, a tree stump and a rock.  Should make a simple statement so I can use the palette knife for a change,  This was done last spring, when the greenery was just starting to poke out.
I missed the phlox and mertensia colors at first but I like the contrast between the rock and trees now.
This can be found in an Ebay auction here.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

More of the Plein-Aire Frustration

 Hey Friends,  The majority of this day has been beautiful here in SW Va.  So after a few little chores, I threw my stuff on the golf cart and headed down Gum Springs.

 This is another neighbors quaint little homestead.  Above I have finished the first of the shed.

 Between this photo and the second one, I made a mess.  One leg on the easel gave way when I was moving it to paint that gorgeous tree.  The palette flipped very conveniently on top of the canvas panel that I had the tree drawn on.   Of course it was a mess but much better than grass and dirt in the paint.   I just got the biggest brush I had and using the turps blended all the different colors across the drawing.

So you can see I recovered but I'll tell ya, this plein-aire job is almost more than I can take.   If  I didn't want to be outside so much, I'd say "Forget It".  And I don't seem to be getting any better at it.  That's the part that's really frustrating.  I have been told more than once I'm to impatient, that's the reason I haven't given up yet.   What I really need is a class/workshop from someone that's good at this.   My color choices suck, especially in the fall.  Enough whining.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

Glorious Day for an Artist

 Hello Friends and Neighbors,   This morning was beautiful here in the mountains of SW Virginia.  Maybe it isn't obvious in these photos but the sun was shining nicely, there was a breeze, and the temp. was perfect.   I jumped on the golf cart and headed down the road to my neighbor's pond.

 These wonderful folks don't mind me painting or my GranBabes chasing their chickens or dog.  They love to come here.  They live in the city and love running loose in the country.  In the top photo you can see that the ducks are hiding in the corner of the pond.   They are very skiddish of strangers.

In the 2nd painting, which was about an hour later, I guess they were getting used to my presence, because as you can see, they were right out in the middle of the pond.   You've never seen such splashing and fluffing and chasing.  They seem to really love each other.
In this second painting, after backing up to get photos, I could see that I didn't like the large yellowish spot on the left and below the ducks.  I changed that but forgot to re shoot.  Once they dry I'll scan both and show you that it looks better now.
I truly enjoyed this day and hope there are more to come.  I need this practice badly to improve.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

Plein-Aire Painting at Gum Springs

Hey Friends, The weather was fantastic here in SW Va. today. So I went outside to paint. Plein-Aire its called. Haven't done that for the longest time. And it is TUFF. It's really hard for someone so easily distracted as myself to concentrate outside. The first one above is 10x8.

The second above is 9x12. The spring isn't really those colors but I've not learned how to make brown water look like water yet. I need to do some tiny studies of just the water.

The third is 10x8 also and not nearly as red as this photo. Getting decent photos for the web is way to hard with a camera. I'm used to my scanner but these are oils so I can't scan them yet.

All 3 are at the bottom of our driveway and it is one tiny little spring. Most of the year it is dry but we've had some rain lately so I had to make the most of it. Hard work but FUN !! Surely I will improve with practice. I intended for these to be paintings not studies. So maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse.

Any feed back is welcome, just leave me a comment. And I'm sending this to my friends that I paint with. They don't know how to leave comments so I'll find out the slow way.

Happy Trails.