A Little Late but Still White!

I'm goofing off for a few more days, It's snowing!  All I have with me at my house sitting job are some color pencils and a small pad. I'll come up with something a little later. Subject to interpretations will just have to wait till this stuff melts..

An Old Painting of Lisa

     I still own this painting, I really doubt the subject will ever buy it as her husband took an image from my website sometime a go and framed it for his office.  I have to say I'm glad I still have it. She has been hanging in my living room for the last couple months.  I took slides of it and it was accepted into a juried show juried by Claudia Nice. It was one of the 3 images used to be juried into the Watercolor Society of Oregon.  It's a keeper now..There have been times when a painting went out the door to be framed and then off to the show. I know we do this to sell our work but when they sell so quickly I feel just a little tinge of loss.  Do you ever feel this way?

 

Hearth and Home Weekend Show

Gallery 2121 will be open for receptions for an exhibit entitled Hearth & Home on Saturday, December 19, 11am - 6pm and Monday December 21, 5pm-8pm to celebrate a limited time art exhibit and sale of picturesque paintings and platinum palladium photography at:
2121 SE Belmont Street, Portland, OR 97215

Six artists and one photographer reflect a broad range of representational styles and approaches that capture the beauty and diversity of our surroundings. Paintings of traditional and urban landscape, marine art, contemporary figures, animal portraits and mixed media are all incorporated into an exhibit that aims to showcase this season of hearth and home.
PPASP artists include: Pam Flanders, Mark Larsen, Celeste Bergin, Carrie Holst, Katherine van Schoonhoven, and Carolyn Rondthaler along with photographer David Burbach.
Gallery Hours:
Sat December 19, 11AM - 6PM and Mon December 21, 5PM-8PM
Hours also by appointment: (503) 762-7948
Gallery 2121 is located in the East end of 2121 SE Belmont Street, Portland, OR 97215

A Little Abstract Slide Show

I have done a few abstract things in my sketchbook to warm up on occasion but I always have kept them to myself. Thought I would create a little slide show of a few of this weeks.  I have turned them all from the original direction they were painted.  Some are better than others.  Just another way to think about value arrangement; some people might have another way of doing it, this is just my process.

Neighborhood Plein Air

Last month I did a major cleaning out of my Painting space, so I could paint there, and came accross this one from last December.  It was during the Eric Weigardt Worshop; the sun came out so I thought it would be a great Plein Air opportunity but it was cold and I didn't finish. I kind of like the look of it now - it has an immediacy and for the most part didn't get overworked. 

The anual fall workshop for is going on again at OSA with Eric from Nov 30th to Dec. 3rd.  There's still some spots open if you want to go.

Portland Cityscape

First piece after the workshop last week.  I learned a lot but need to practice all the applications. I probably could still have gone darker grading down...next time!.I've also been looking at the works of  

Alvaro Castagnet.

Hope you all had a wonderful Turkey day;  - now, back to the easel. Any comments or questions are welcome and much appreciated.... 

Focus On Reflections.

I was able to attend a class specifically aimed at painting reflections in a rainy cityscape. I met our instructor,  Ron Stocke and his wife Ursula last Friday morning at OSA. After a brief introduction and description of the next few hours Students drew out a simple version of street scene that would give opportunities to paint lots of  wet looking reflections.  I'll show you the secret through following Ron's painting steps.  See if you can figure it out without me stating the obvious.

 

 Step one- A nice juicy mother wash reserving whites on cars and crosswalk strips

  

Step 2- Stating the shapes of distant buildings, keep them high key + avoid  detail.

  

Step 3 Addition of Figures and vehicles closes to you.... These look really dark uh?

  

 Step 4-Adding a large dark mass for balance and detail as needed.

 

The Final - A day in the Pacific NorthWest.

Winter Project Continues......

These are about one third of the sketches for the  Subject to Interpretations Winter Project #2   My final selection for this project follows.  I love seeing what the rest of the group produces.  Our discussion this morning was that most everyone thought it would be such an easy piece to produce but once we got into it, there were some issues to consider and resolve.  I'm not entirely sure this is the best solution but I did enjoy the challenge..

Free Sunday at the Portland Or. Art Museum

It's family Sunday and its Free today.  Here is a picture of all the paper lanterns that were outside the old Museum School entrance.  It rained over an inch yesterday so you can imagine..........

Our Winter Project

We have a new winter project set up for Portland Plein Air Painters (Studio in the winter). All participants are painting from the same image; their interpretation of a landscape from a photograph. We send them to Katherine who is managing the Subject to Interpretations Blog. Click on the link to see submissions by the rest of the group and the image from which we paint.

This painting was photographed when it was still wet so the colors looked off and they were darker than the real painting. Once it was totally dry, the painting didn't have the same spark - I know now it was the paper scrap I used (very soft and absorbent)...... so I photo shopped it !!  I liked making the work more of a limited palette. Below is the actual painting, I wasn't in love with the composition so I liked the crop above better. I hope I learn from this as I work through the winter. Thanks for looking.

Franciscan Villa - Columbia Gorge

Somewhere in the Columbia Gorge again, on the old highway,  near  the  falls, is a villa inhabited by an order of Franciscan sisters.  Kathy has arranged special permission for us to paint on this lovely spot on several occasions.  I painted behind the residence just below their own private waterfall. Sunlight trickled through a canopy of leaves, the trail seemed to  sparkle with light.  Such a peaceful reflective day.

I have entered this into the juried show at the Aurora Gallery next month. (Check Side Bar)  I also have more photos of the Villa to share.

 

Pirates Day - Along the Willamette

Quin and I wanted to paint  on the waters edge or possibly the dock at Cathedral Park but the place was crawling with Pirate wanna bees.   We settled on a view above the river - out of cannon range and parrot droppings.  A few of the neighbors found us a curiosity and then the evening's entertainment. Every time the horn blew, the bridge went up or down.  That is a very busy rail road bridge.  I'm also adding a better version below of the Falls from the last post. Click on the images for larger version.

Up the River - Multnomah Falls

Early last week I wanted to go up to Hood River to see the Plein Air Show at Columbia Gallery and Art Center.  Great work filled the space; lots of familiar names on those paintings.   I've done several paintings along the Willamette this month; I think I have a body of work to submit next year.  
On the way back, the light was so golden, I stopped at Multnomah falls and dashed off an hour sketch from the parking lot. Insert is a closer view of the bridge I was focused on complete with pedestrians. Click on image for enlargement.

Olivia and Hudson Feeding the Geese

Wouldn't be summer if you didn't paint at Laurelhurst Park.Wouldn't be Laurelhurst park unless you give the geese some cracked corn.............

Liz Walker At OSA

 

Liz Walker  shared her personal experiences with producing 'starts' for her award winning images.  Her work now is more acrylic but 10 years ago while she was still living in Boston she discovered her love of Watercolor. She and her family moved to Portland When her husband took a job at Intel; Liz found the Village gallery and watercolor classes taught by Harold Walkup,Chris Williams and Susan Cowan. In her pursuit of  contrast and design Liz learned from Susan timeless techniques of paper marbling and modified monoprint to enhance her painting process.

Although Liz couldn't bring the entire set up for paper marbling, she gave a good explanation of the process/materials and showed a variety of  patterned papers that might speak to her imagination or simply  impose a prevously drawn image to get things going.

  

  Also among her bag of tricks was monoprinting on texturized (patterned wallpaper).This was accomplished with fluid acrylics applied to the wall paper then.lay clean prepared paper on top of painted surface, apply pressure to transfer the colors to the printing paper........

 

next after the print is pulled water is sprayed to soften some of the pattern impressed into the image......

 

More water sprayed to remove more of the pattern.  The picture doesn't show the still remaining pattern......

 

one may stop at any point and set the print aside to dry.. Liz actually admits she uses the same brushes for acrylic that she uses for watercolor but they aren't sable. You can view more of Liz's Art at her website

A Worldwide Artists Paint Out

K.Wallis -painting with PPAP in 2003

This coming Weekend (August 11-13) will be the 7th Worldwide Artist Paint Out.There is only one Oregon location four miles out of Hood River at Trucker County Park . After your painting session, stop off at the Columbia Art Gallery in Hood River and see the juried Plein Air Show on view until September 28th.Hope you have time to get out there.

The Newsreader

The Newsreader~ Watercolor over gesso~ Full Sheet

Started this painting last week and I think I have gotten to a resting point. Let it set in for a couple days and see what pops out. I will post a few progress shots.

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Work In Progress

Gessoed Ground~

'Little House' on prepped board. 8 x 7 inches

I'm in the Summer Class Harold Walkup, NWS is running in Portland for 6 weeks. Our assignment yesterday was to coat a sheet of watercolor paper or an old Painting with gesso, create some scratchy texture with a comb or grout spreader, and paint watercolor. I did a small practice one in class based on a landscape(above) and later last night I drew out a figure and started working some shapes and values. It's pretty easy to make corrections with a wet sponge and tissue.
Stage one (below) I have gotten in the habit of placing skin tones first. I am working from a desaturated photo I took a couple years ago. I'm thinking a lot about values as this layer progresses.

I finished last night at this state, pretty rough but getting some values and detail established will help me make some decisions later. I am really liking this surface because I am forced to use more paint and I get a different look than I expect after the strokes dry.....don't forget the easy corrections! I will work on this a little more today and take it to my critique group tonight and see what they think. Thanks for taking a look and taking the the time to comment. ~ Carrie

Phase 2 of Newsreader - Full Sheet

Very Small Success

I can't seem to upload more than one of these small avatars at a time. I plan to make prints of these and put them in 5 x 5 mats or just a little smaller (CD Jewell case) and see how they sell at the Garden Show in a couple weeks @ OSA. I have it listed in the side bar for upcoming shows. Hope you can come.

Trouble Posting

I am doing this post as a test because I haven't been able to correct a HTML problem.
I have a lot of reference pictures of goats from the Franciscan Villa in Corbett. We have had a couple invitations to paint up there with a former Montessori teacher that belongs to WSO. We consider ourselves very lucky.

Rose Art Show at the Oregon Society of Artists

I asked Marge E. Johnson if I could display her Sweepstakes winning painting from the Rose Art Show 2009. I was blown away by these "unruly" roses and so was the Juror, Susan McKinnon. The reception was put on at the Oregon Society of Artists, as it is every year, the first weekend of the annual Portland Rose Festival

Schreiners Iris Gardens

Spectacular Iris

Patricia D. Schreiner lived 82 good years, many of them just North of Salem where the family business relocated in 1946. Married to Gus Schreiner, technically still newlyweds, They took up residence, raised 8 children, and continued the iris business. Pat was a subscribing member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon, for years she was a fine art watercolor painter along with raising kids and helping out during the blooming season. After Gus passed away in 1982, Pat enjoyed traveling to Europe with friends. Her interests were many - the arts - reading, socializing, gardening and her family. Art work is on display and for sale in the gift shop from local and regional artists.

Oil Painter From the Eugene Area

25 artists painted on location on the grounds open to the public for most of May. Two painting groups,one from Portland and one from Eugene organized this gathering. A few days are still left to watch them work for your enjoyment. You can talk to the artists while they work in oil, Watercolor, Pastel and charcoal. Art work is available for sale. Get directions at Schreiners Iris Gardens.com

Umbrellas Over Easels Dot the Garden

Here is a shot of my painting in Progress; almost finished but I need to lift a few highlights here and there. Thanks for looking and hope to see you out there this weekend.
Carrie

A Sense of Place, PPASP Juried Group Show Reception,June 7th

Announcing a Juried Group Exhibit of paintings by members of PPASP

“Plein Air” refers to painting outdoors on location. “Alla Prima”, similarly, describes a painting technique in which a canvas is completed in one sitting. Plein air and Alla Prima artists are considered direct painters and seldom work from photographs. In the Plein Air/Alla Prima tradition, brushstrokes and drawings will have a distinctive loose and flowing style.

The exhibit A Sense of Place consists of paintings completed exclusively with either Plein Air or Alla Prima methods, employing “first hand observation”.
Juror: Karen Van Hoy
Exhibit Dates June 7-August 29, 2009
Artist Reception: Sunday, June 7, 2009 Noon-2pm

(You are invited!)
Doll Gardner Gallery‎, 8470 SW Oleson Rd, Portland, OR‎
(503) 246-3351‎

(Image on card) Seeking Andrew by Katherine Vanshoonhoven

..A Few More Garden Shots

I had a lot of images that I may use for the garden workshop. Thought I would share a few more. Really liked this sundial.
Stone pathway with just a little bit of architecture.
Pink dogwood in full bloom.