Strawberries and Roses

I picked roses from my Niece's yard and put them in a little retro bottle. I wanted to practice drawing roses so I thought small ones would be easier.  My niece also processed 3 flats of strawberries but saved some fresh ones for strawberry shortcake over homemade biscuits. Yum! Feels like summer is here!

More Pears

Had to paint those darn pears again.  They keep getting more character as they get overly ripe.  I found also that photoshop  is fun for quick changes.

Changes were just a couple clicks in image adjustments!

Partridge and Couple Pears

I borrowed some paints today because someone left fruit on the counter, ripe enough to eat but had to paint it first.  It isn't a partridge you probably know but tis the season.  Yesterday I said good by to one of my paintings but I know the new owners will give it a place of honor.

 

It's been a busy last two weeks, getting ready for the show last weekend, nearly finished cleaning out a storage room and now cat sitting for a friend. I felt really compelled to paint today and glad I had the inspiration. Thanks for stopping by and I'll get back into a regular blogging  schedule hopefully.

Edit: The owner of my painting met me at Fehrenbacher Hof  to pick up his art.

Corn Still Life

Painting out door still life in natural light is very satisfying.

 Mid point - Developing greens, warm and cool

Corn on the ranch was late but colorful.  I took a few ears up to the chickens every day so by the end of two weeks they would start clucking and running to me when I was within sight. 

Ranch Sketchin'

Hanging around Powell Butte in Central Oregon for the next several days sketching, putting up some tomatoes, giving ears of corn to the chickens, and cleaning out the laundry room just to mention a few chores.

 

Have a couple extra gas grills

Nice to see a barn full of dry hay

Some little jars of nice tomato sauce we put up 

 Got a lot of sunflower seeds to harvest

Cut the Chatter

Just a demo painting  for a beginner class out in Hillsboro a few years ago.

Thanks for looking. I'm working on a big project...sooner or later I can show you!
Now go paint.

Cherry Tomatoes!

These were left for me in the fridge while I house sat earlier in July.  'So good! Glad I painted them before I ate them.  You'll have to go get your own.......  :)

 The strawberries took forever to get ripe.

A Day to Waterolor Sketch

     Today was the weekly sketch meeting after the breakfast. It's hard to keep a regular sketching schedule in the summer because of the outdoor distractions and Carolyn is off babysitting her grandkids.  Today Celeste and I did finally get tgether to paint. Yay! Had a great session.  If you would like to see the rest of our accomplishments check these out.

Onions Tagged with Red.

  This painting has been signed framed and hung for the first time at O'Connors for the 'Eight+ group that shows there every other quarter.  It was painted a while back but I wasn't ready or didn't think it was finished till I saw it under glass.  I remembered from the Salminen workshop; he suggested it isn't enough to see a work only matted but to also look at it under plexi too to know if it really is finished...... well you also need to sign it!
  I'm taking down my old website in a couple days. It is linked to my first ISP and I'm going to discontinue that relationship in a couple days - I don't plan on having a router to keep things simple so if you have it book marked you can delete it and plan on seeing more content and pages added here.  It was nice of Earthlink to offer free web space and hosting for their old customers.

Just Desserts

A couple times a month I get together with a couple painting/sketching buddies and we just paint whatever - It just depends on if we are at an outdoor cafe or meet over at Carolyn's after the breakfast meeting.  She had a box of Christmas candy, untouched!  ~Mouth watering!!  First, you paint it, then you eat it!  Thanks for stopping by and if you would like to see what my friends did, look here!       

(Just Desserts; Watercolor and Ink; 4 x 6)

It'sTurned Cold

Even the eight foot Lincoln statue in the South Park blocks has dawned a winter scarf. It's just a matter of time till some big winds come in and strip the fall colors down to bare trunks. A change of season is good or how would we ever appreciate  the return of spring green and summer sky blue?  And with that, I've had a cold  and fever since Monday and feel like crap.  I'm getting a little house bound so will plan on meeting the Portland Urban Sketchers today for a couple hours in Hollywood district.  Just to prove I have done something this week, here's a sketch book page from the weekend. While you're out today buy a box of tissues and cough drops.

Honey Crisp

Brushing up on some fruit this month.  Painted in natural light on the window sill.

Painting Pear

From my sketchbook; bought a pear just to paint it. It had a funny unexpected shape and lots of color and texture.  Set on a kitchen towel with side lighting. Good exercise in seeing.

Blue Footed Bowl

Gouache, Ink, and Watercolor  on paper. 7-10-10

Hood River - On Location

Sketched in Hood River yesterday near a wine tasting room, down past the Hood Rive train depot. Pretty quiet morning and nothing much going on asside from the passing of a few freight trains.

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Pickles Please

I guess it's fifty-fifty if you want pickles on your tuna san.  There will be an Opening Reception tomorrow - Sunday, the 12th at the Oregon Society of Artists for the fall Juried Show.  Ed Labeadie was the juror. He's an abstract water media artist from the Hillsboro area. Please drop by and have a glass of wine and see who got a ribbon. I thought there were some very good pieces from the juried members.Maybe I'll see you there.

Egg Carton and Broken Shells

I thought I would tell you the shells are broken - I ate them for breakfast  and put them back to paint them. I didn't get around to finishing them till late last night.  I thought about adding pen but resisted; maybe start with pen on another.

Frame These Up

Time to frame!  These were completed during last month's paint outs and now to be included in August shows in the Utrecht store located in The Pearl and Walters Cultural center in Hillsboro.

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Journaling

Pretty close to sketching in a sketch book but if you add a verse or a couple lines as a caption they call it 'Journaling.' 

Plum Crostata

Cafe Autogrill;  

Capitol Highway. between Hillsdale and Multnomah Village.

Wi-Fi

I pretty consistently reserve Tuesday mornings for some art related activity with art friends. This morning I took a different bus over to the village for the  breakfast with fellow plein air painters. You can't miss the awning on the front of this little Euro style cafe and suggested to Celeste we do a couple sketches there while she waits for a phone call. I knew what I had to sketch when I saw the little plum pastry - My niece makes a similar version of these from her own backyard plum tree! It was a nice little escape. The managers say they are interested in showing art upstairs in a few months.

Tomorrow

   

Watercolor Batik on rice paper 15" x 15"

List for Tomorrow

1. Drop off Art Work OSA
2. Bastille Day Plen Air At Jamison Fountain and Square
3. Utrecht sponsored Plein Air event in North Park Blocks (Everett St)
4. Water Scott's tomatoes
5. Feed Olivia's kitten
6. I'll fill this when I remember what it was.

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