PLEIN AIR PAINTING

An artist friend of mine and I have been talking about going plein air painting (that's painting outside on the site) since last Fall. Well, Monday we did it. We arrived at the chosen spot about 9:am and painted until 1:30, went to lunch, then got to our 2nd site at about 2:45 and painted until a little after 6:pm. I had attempted plein air painting twice before but couldn't stand the heat or the bugs and hung it up after about an hour. This time it was fun! Probably had something to do with having a buddy to talk to while painting. Somehow you don't notice the bugs or the heat nearly as much as when you're out painting alone. My blond haired "California girl", friend faired pretty well, but I ended up rather crispy (b in a few places. Note to self" Take sun block and a hat next time!!! It was a great day and I came home so inspired with painting outdoors that the next day I talked my mom into driving up the road a little way from our house, where there's 2 huge, beautiful, oak trees with a field of gold flowers behind them, and the two of us painted. It was great! Painting outside straight from nature is supposed to help you make better color choices and help you learn to paint better and I think that's true. My first painting Monday morning turned out looking like a pastel - without my realizing what I'd done. I stepped back and took a look at my friend's artwork and it looked like it came straight out of the field that we were painting - her colors were so true. Of course I had to sit back down and start adjusting my colors to the reality of what we were looking at, but the difference of what I had thought I'd painted and what I really did was pretty amazing. That was a lesson in painting from life right there. Posted today is the 2nd painting from Monday (that's right, I'm not showing the first one) with a little over 3 hours into it. It still needs to be finished up- more details such as the leaves on the trees in front of the church, etc., but this is what it looks like at this point.

A PORTRAIT IN HISTORY

About a month ago a gentleman commissioned a portrait from me. He had black and white photos of his parents and wanted them painted in color, using his own skin tones and the variations in the black and white photos as the basis and wanted his father wearing his military hat- which he was not wearing in the photo. The gentleman also wanted to show that his family came from Mexico, but had moved to the U.S. and that a direct decendant of his had fought at the Alamo and wanted the date on the flag waving over the Alamo. It was tricky getting all of that onto the painting without having too much. All the portraits that I've painted up until now have been in acrylic paints. This was my first oil portrait and I have to say that the wait time between the layers of oil paint just about drove me crazy. Ok, so, here are the black and white photos and also the finished painting - that was delivered last week. What do you think?

SPRING AND DEATH

Spring has sprung here in beautiful Texas once again! It's warm breeze is blowing outside, the sap is flowing, and flowers are bursting up everywhere, but this week has been a sad one. A young friend of my grandson passed away from a freak accident and his death has affected our entire community as though sandpaper has been scratched across our hearts. My grandson, and many other kids, can't believe that their friend is really gone. They are shocked that such a tragic accident could even happen to someone they know and we adults are reminded once again how fragile life is. Please pray for the family of this young boy.