Fireweed from Summer

 

So little outdoor time with my watercolors this past summer.... I more often took my oil paints, though more times than not, what I painted got scraped off.   The fireweed were amazing this summer and this is one of several paintings I did of them.  An oil painting, done on the same day is on my other blog, here. 
 
A writer friend, Fran Kelso has written an post about me on her blog.
 Click here for a link to the article.

Beautiful June

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These are a couple of little postcards done in the last couple of weeks during some gorgeous sunny weather.  Today is overcast and cool outside, a good day to catch up on the internet.

Sea Wolf Adventure

 I had a most wonderful trip last week into Glacier Bay  on a beautiful ship called the Sea Wolf.... kayaking, hiking, great crew and fellow passengers, and gourmet meals.  Everyone should be so lucky.  You can check out their website by clicking here.http://www.seawolfadventures.net/

 

Of course, I took my watercolors and did several watercolor postcards and sketches.

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A page from my journal

EARLY SPRING

This was from my sun-room window on Wednesday.  Today the willows were a bit more green.

  We are certainly having an earlier spring this year.  This is a photo  I took on April 27, 2013 from the same window.... a more typical spring.

Painting at the Beach

It has been an earlier than usual spring with lots of lovely days. This past week I've gone to the beach a few days and have worked on a couple of oil paintings and these little watercolors, all looking the same way, west towards the Salmon River.  Garden work has started, but today is raining and so a good day to put some things for all to see.

Plein Rein Retreat

When I returned to Alaska last month, I stayed a weekend in Juneau to join the Plein Rein painters at a retreat out the road in the Jubilee cabin at the Shrine of St. Therese.  I did several paintings and drawings, enjoyed being around other artists and ate lots and lots of good food. 

                                         

We drank a lot of good wine too.

Sketchbook Paintings in Florida

Better late than never.  Here are some of the little paintings in my sketch book that I did in Florida.

 The waves were a challenge..... just too fast.  But I got the color right and enjoy the time sitting on the beach in the warm sun.

This is a view from the living-room of my son's fixer upper bungalow. 

This is no longer a mystery.  I found a painting of it I'd done a few years ago in Florida and had forgotten.  It is is a kalanchoe.

A View from the Ferry

I'm home from my travels with several new little watercolors in a little sketch book that a friend gave me just before I left home.  Above is the first painting that I did in it.  I did it from the ferry just before we left Gustavus for Juneau on the first leg of our trip to Florida.


Above is a scan of the book.  My friend purchased it at Uwajimaya, a large Japanese store in Seattle.  I like the paper a lot.  It is more forgiving than most of the watercolor papers I use.  it measures about 6x7.5 inches.

In Florida, no Scanner

I'm here in Florida for a while.  I must admit to not keeping to my intentions to paint 29 little paintings in February, but I did do about 20.  I got too busy getting ready  to leave home and we spent a couple of days in Juneau which were also busy.  Then there was jet lag.  In the last few days, I have done a few sketches and little paintings and yesterday took some photos of them.  I was going to post here, but discovered I didn't bring the cord to put them on my laptop. And there is no scanner.   Darn it!

What I did just do, which I'd been meaning to do for a long time, is post on my other blog about some books that I have had paintings and drawings included it.  You might like to take a look, here.

This is a little painting that I did in my sketch book on Spruce Island, near Kodiak, in 2014, and is on the back cover of Fran Kelso's book Alaska Attitudes.

Unless I come into contact with a scanner, I'll be back here after I get home in a couple of weeks.

Friday and Saturday

Saturday morning, about 5.5x8"

 I've gotten a bit behind in posting here, along with a few other things. Above is what I painted yesterday and below what I painted on Friday, both from the same spot, sitting in my car near the dock.  They are both in a sketch book that I just started using that I bought in England containing what I think is called cartridge paper.  These were done much more quickly than others this month.... drawing first with pen and ink gave definition that would have taken more time with just watercolor, and things really dried fast and I didn't have to wait to add more color..... using watercolor paper in this wet and cold environment, I almost always have 2 things going at once.  The bottom one was done in about a half hour.  The second one longer, as I worked more on the trees with ink.  
     

Friday Afternoon about 5.5x8 inches

February 9th and 10

about 6x6 inches

Yesterday, I went to my friend Kathy's house up the Salmon River and did this gouache painting on an underpainting of cool red.  I enjoyed the process very much.  The sun was coming and going again which caused some problems.

about 5.5x6 inches

Today was another dreary day of rain and I didn't leave the house.  I did this looking out the west window of my living room.  No problem with the sun coming and going, but towards the end of painting, it started getting dark and so did the painting.  I overworked it to death, but it never got finished.

February 7th and 8th

about 5x5 inches

I painted at my neighbor, Aimee's house yesterday afternoon and this morning.  The first one I finished yesterday when there was some fresh snow on the ground, looking across the river towards the beach with Pleasant Island beyond. 

about 4x6 inches

This one I finished this morning.  Lots of green on the ground.... moss mostly, maybe some kinickinick.  The knob on Pleasant Island  isn't right..... too flat on top.  I'll change it tomorrow.

February 6

about 5x6 inches

This afternoon was beautiful!  I drove to the end of the dock and spent a couple of hours painting and sketching.  The clouds were  changing constantly, the sun in and out.  Nothing ended up as it was started.  This is one of the 3 little paintings I did. I was looking south from the dock across Icy Strait to Chichikof Island.    

February 4 and 5

about 4x6 inches

Yesterday, another rainy day and another view from my studio window.

about 4x6 inches

Today, the weather couldn't make up its mind.  Some sunshine, some rain and a little bit of snow.  I painted this from a friends rain splattered window.  With the weather changing constantly, I was frustrated with my results. 

1,2,3

I didn't state it on my last post, but I vowed to do 29 little watercolors this month  and post here.   I did two today and half of one yesterday.  So now I will put my intentions out there.  We will be traveling to Florida on the 19th and I hope by then I will have some momentum going.  I hope to get back to my oil painting too, though there's a lot of inertia happening on that side of the studio.

about 6x4 inches

This is the half painting I did yesterday.... well maybe less than half.   I added the snow....

about 6x4 inches

 ... over this that I painted  from my window in October 

It has looked much the same for most of the winter.  Yesterday afternoon, we had the first snow  in over a month.  The willow and cottonwoods are budding out.  I think this January was the warmest on record.  And there was lots of rain.

Today, I called my friend Kim and asked if I could go over and paint this morning.  She has a much better view.  I did these 2 from her window towards the mouth of the Salmon River.

about 5x5 inches

about 4x6 inches

Four Little Sketches

I did these little sketches to fill the last couple of pages in a sketchbook I'm retiring.   In it there are some nice little watercolors that I should have posted over the last few months.  Maybe having my scanner 2 floors above my studio has something to do with my lack of posting, and maybe I should do something about that.

The two on top are from my studio window, the two on the bottom from my car at the beach.