PLEIN AIR PAINTING AT EXPLORE PARK

 

Hey Friends,  I've been out painting with my buddies today.  A nice little park just off the Blue Ridge Parkway not far from Mill Mountain (where the STAR is).

 

I only got one done today.  I was trying to follow some of Katheleen Dunphy's tips for plein air.

For a while I couldn't see that it made any difference but by the end I think her advice may have made it a tad easier.

 

It will be dry soon and I can scan it to show you.

And please give me your opinion.

 

HAPPY TRAILS

Back at IT ! After Taking a Month Off

 Hey Friends,  I totally enjoyed my vacation !  Nags Head and Ormond, Fl.  Both were beautiful with perfect weather and great family times and great time spent with a friend.

Yesterday, Thursday,  I got back into one of my most favorite routines.  I went with the Double Line Painters to the Peaks of Otter for a morning of painting and a great lunch at the Lodge.  I could easily spend a month at this spot painting.  Everywhere I turned there was a painting waiting to go on a canvas.  Someday.

Go to our blog, the DLPBR.blog, and register for the workshop at the Evergreen Lavender Farm next Saturday the 29th.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Trails

ORIGINAL PAINTING FROM THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY NEAR EXPLORE PARK

 

Hey Friends,  Posting another from the Blue Ridge Parkway Series.  Looking up the hill at the beautiful sky - My favorite thing to paint.

This is done with acrylics on an archival linen mat board.   I really like the surface texture.  I believe I'd be happier if I glued the mat board to a panel first.  Then it wouldn't have to be framed under glass.

This is for auction on EBAY.  Click Here.  Engages tomorrow night.

 

And go check out the latest blogpost on www.doublelinepaintersoftheblueridge.blogspot.com

 

Happy Trails

Plein Aire Painting on the James River Overlook

 

Hey Friends,  Have you heard the expression " The One That Got Away "?  Well here is one that got away !!   Accidently got away, but I got a photo before it slipped back into the wild.

 

Here's the story.  You know how women have to take everything but the kitchen sink on every trip?  We had the car pretty well packed for the return trip but then had to figure out how to protect an oil painting from rattling around and smearing itself all over my car.  So one gal had a brilliant idea that required tape that she had to fish out of one bag and that bag had this painting laying on top.  (Acrylic so it was dry)  The brilliant gal laid the painting on top of the car.  Just like I've done 100 times with a drink, except this time, when I stopped, no liquid poured down the windshield.

 

I hope some art loving hiker found it and stuffed it in his back pack and signs it when he gets home.

 

We had a wonderful day.  And it doesn't bother me one bit that this is the ONE that got away.

My friend is far more important than the painting and I don't want her to feel bad, at all.

 

Happy Trails

Travel Lightly

"Parkway No.One - Near Floyd, Va."

Hey Friends,  A plein aire piece painted last summer on one of our trips to Floyd, Va.  It is pleasant to remember the sunshine and the breezes while painting this.  Can't wait to get out there again.
I'm putting her in my ebay auctions, starting at a penny !
Happy Trails
Travel Well

"B" is for Bee's

Hey Friends  I deleted the last post about this painting "B" because I was trying to resize my images on blogger.  I got my instructions from Karen Marquilas, she is a pastelist and I love her blog but her instructions just will not work for me.   So if any one out there in this gigantic cyber world knows how to do this, please forword your instructions.  Maybe they will work for me.

I posted a week or two ago about this new series of collage paintings, using pages from an old dictionary I found at Goodwill.   Of course for me 'cuz I love painting Bee's anyway, B had to be BEE !  I printed some of my images on Sumi paper because it is translucent so a tad of the printed page can show through.

The canvas is gallery wrapped and initially painted my fav color, turquoise, before gelling the B page down.  I let that dry then apply a coat of off-white randomly, mostly using my hand.  Then I start gelling down bits of sumi printed images and cutouts.  I love to use the old timey paper doll cutouts, such as you see the bee's connected on the right side.  I emphasized these with marker lines.

When all is dry I varnish and finish the back and add the hanger, then it goes into my ETSY shop.

Happy Trails
Travel Well

Art at Ikenberry Orchard

Hey Friends,  Just in case you haven't heard, the Double Line Painters will be at the http://www.ikenberryorchards.com/index.php Orchard retail store on Rt.220 in the Daleville area today.    We will set up on their big porch and display our work and paint some too, if the wind isn't too strong.  Click on the link above for directions.

Hope to see you there.  

Happy Trails
Travel Well

Beautiful Birds

Hey Friends,  I had the good fortune to see both of these beauties this morning !!!  Even found this tiny little feather.  Can't say for sure that it's a woodpeckers feather but it sure looks like it. 
On my way to work I had to stop for some suet to offer these beauties.  I want them to hang around so suet should do the trick.

I also painted about 5 more Wood peckers  and I've started listing them in my DPW gallery.  The starting bids are low and they make sweet little gifts.  And they come with their own little handcrafted easels., which you can see by scrolling down a bit.

Happy Trails
Travel Well

Blue Ridge Parkway

Hey Friends,  A couple Sundays ago, I took a short ride up the Parkway.  I started at the Vinton, Va. entrance.  After a short distance, I crossed a huge, tall bridge.  This first overlook was to the Roanoke River !   I was shocked !  I did not know this river got to be so large.  Or that there is a dam.  I was nauseous and feeling pretty squirrelly trying to get these photos.  Couldn't get near the edge.  NaNaCat have you ever seen something this beautiful ?

Can't remember which number this Overlook was. (2nd or 4th)  But the view from this Poages Mill Overlook was  fantastic.  This photo doesn't show the ariel perspective your eyes see.  That's why it's a good idea to paint from life.  It's hard to describe the emotions you feel when looking at so much beauty.  Why do humans want to destroy this?

I've never heard of "Lost Mountain".  Makes me aware of how much I don't know and haven't seen right here in my own little woods.   I fancy this name is something the colonists conjured up.  One little tidbit I read the other night in a book about North Carolina is,  "Catawba" was the name of a small band of Injuns along the border of NC and Va.   They have disappeared sadly.  And that bothers me immensely.

This overlook is at Cahas Mountain !  Never heard of that one either!  I would really like to be up here when the moon is rising and/or when there is snow down below.  Can you imagine?  By the way if you ever come here, you'll be disappointed that most of the overlooks you can't see squat.  The trees are so over grown, they block the view.  I wonder if this is a budget cut from Washington?

And lastly, a farm (below) near the Floyd exit.  I had to get off the Parkway at Floyd because I would soon be out of daylight and I had to drive all the way back home.  I was hoping to make it to MileMarker171 which is the wrong # I'm sure.  But I will be in a show/festival "Art on the Parkway" in October on the 13th and 14th.  A big farm with a big meadow.  I'll find that info and tell you more.

Anyway I hope to get backto this farm soon.  We will be painting at the "Explore Park" this Friday, which is between  Vinton and Roanoke and I believe there is a farm there also.  Hope to see some cows.

Happy Trails Travel Well