LUCKY WHITE HORSE

LUCKY WHITE HORSE

Progress on Lucky.............

Did you play that car game when you were a kid? We were to make some certain gesture when we saw a white horse while driving down the road. It involved licking the thumb and stamping it in the palm of the other hand. That meant we would have good luck. Mostly it was a way to keep parents occupied. I realized I have painted at least 5 white horses this year. I'll consider it good luck.

next step...................
9x12 oil on board

finished - LUCKY WHITE HORSE

I still need to find a way of getting better photos to show the warm evening sun glowing around the horse. You'll have to take my word or see it in person to get that glow for yourself!

TRIBUTE TO THE LAND

TRIBUTE TO THE LAND

Untitled12X9 oil on linen panel

16x12

oil on linen panel

SUMMER (Bradford Creek)

WOODSY BANKS

12X16, oil on linen panel

These 3 are part of the salute to the Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama 20th Anniversary. If you follow this blog, you can tell I enjoy the smells and vistas of the landscape. I'm glad families have set aside land to stay undeveloped. I'm also glad I live near other families with all the amenities that makes life easy. Painting farms and land and water is a priviledge.

PEN TO PAINT

Paintings Inspired by Literature

PEN TO PAINT IS A BENEFIT AUCTION

for our library in Decatur Alabama

on Thursday November 6th. The preview and silent auction will begin

at 6pm, and the live auction will begin at 7.

Come and enjoy hors d'oeuvres and music of the Coda Brass Quintet.

Wayne Holliday will auctioneer

Pen to Paint is sponsored by

Friends of the Library

353-2993, 504 Cherry Street and hwy 31 (6th Avenue)

this painting is 9x12, oil on panel - $200 minimum bid for the library auction. I snapped this reader outside a restaurant in Georgia. It was just irresistible, and I've wanted to paint it for 2 years. The photo of the painting is bad. I really must do better on the photo taking. I think it's because I'm too lazy to take the painting outside and get better lighting. What would we do without books and authors?? My book group is an essential part of my life. I would be crushed if we didn't have the book group for discussion and the challenge of reading wider views and great stories. Literature is such a pleasure of life, but discussing good literature is even better. As a painter we must design well and have good structure for a successful result. After that, the way a painter handles the paint is what attracts the viewer. So I admire the way a good author plots and describes the story. That means we can enjoy the spare writing of Graham Greene or the more elaborate Pat Conroy. Gotta have both to make the world go 'round.

HORSES AGAIN

HORSES AGAIN

Horses and cows are always my favorite subjects to paint. After painting WHITE SUMMER a few months ago I restrained my urge to paint cows and developed the water landscapes. Many paintings come from scenes I pass just a couple of miles from home - although I live on the edge of an urban area. Both horses are golden, and the fun was searching for subtle variations in their coloring. Many people like the verve and energy and liveliness of horses, like Sharon Crute's paintings of horses in racing and hunting scenes. The ordinary everyday is what my eye searches for. Makes me want to saddle up and go......

PROGRESS - PINTO IN PINK PASTURE

24x36, oil on canvas
oK, it will need a better title than this. One aspect I aim for in a painting is time of day. If it can resemble that glimpse of a slice of time as we go about our daily business, then I have some success.
background and sky finished, horse started in a ghostly state. I call this liquid drawing, and I don't always add figures and animals at this late stage of a painting. It's much harder for me to add background around a figure, though, so I was taking a big chance that the horse would turn out ok without having to scrape it off to start over. It almost happened.

Close up of the "ghostly" stage. I'm searching for silhouette and the big light and dark shapes, the angles of the bones, etc.

Close up of finished horse. This painting was hard to photograph. The grasses really were pinkish, almost violet. I was tempted to add texture and dimension to the paint, but I restrained that urge and let it look softened by the waning sun. There is a small horse in the upper right at the edge of the trees and grass that doesn't show in this photo. Its purpose was to add balance to the composition.

Title suggestions?

THIS POST HAS BEEN REPUBLISHED, TO MAKE CORRECTIONS

Thanks for stopping by.........

FALL IN ALABAMA

That snappy fall weather came early in our part of Alabama. The AlabamaPleinAir Artists met in Courtland and had every opportunity to paint houses, Tennessee River, dogs, cotton, the town square, barns - anything quaint was just waiting to be discovered.

A painting start 9x12, oil- morning in the yard of our hosts. How do you catch glory? Each day had a sunny promise. An outdoor painter learns a way of paring down the scene to arrive at the essence of what we see ( or so we hope).

Around 2 or 3 one afternoon found me facing the golden soybeans, a grain storage facility, and the railroad track in the distance.

This is mid stage Soybeans 12x16, oil on linen panel. I'm standing in the shade for two reasons. I must wear sunglasses, which changes the values ( how dark my eyes read the scene). It also is an easy way to keep the sun off the canvas while painting. That would also change the outcome of values. I saw subtleties of color - violet, sandy browns and silvery greens harmonizing with the almost white dirt road. The finished version shows a little of a turquoise metal building in the trees.

Another morning with one of the group of painters. They scouted this irresistable scene. The time is about 7 in the morning, so we had dressed and had a minimal breakfast before getting here. Cotton was planted in the discance. In about an hour I had painted to this stage:12x16, Cotton Valley, oil on linen panel, $525 framed in soft silver.

The mountain ridge behind the distant trees glowed with a beautiful blue. That's what caught my eye. Warming the sky with light red set it off, and it doesn't show well in this photo. Minor tweaking improved it when I viewed it off the easel.