2-26-18

I tried to improve on the sunset from last night with a photo I took, but it was not a success.  This is a small section of the 6x9 painting.

Sunday 2-25-18

4x6 inches

From the boat harbor about 4:30 as the sun was setting north of Lemesier Island... the days are getting longer.

2-24-18

Today, an alder tree in our yard painted from the living room as it snowed.  I used masking fluid with a small brush and splattered gouache for the snow.

February 23, 2018

4x6  inches

Back to the beach about four this afternoon and painted from the car.  Cold north wind.  Beautiful day.

In the Woods

6x4 inches

I spent much of today working on a couple of oil paintings, and hardly got out of the house.  It probably looked much like this in the woods between our house and the main road, painted from a photo I took earlier this month.

View from Aimee's Kitchen

4x6 incches

 I painted this while having coffee with my neighbor Aimee this morning.

Its on some kind of printing paper that sucks.... literally.  It has little sizing, I guess, and the pigment sits on the surface as the water is absorbed and there isn't much way to get any gradation.  We had some sunshine today, but probably snow tonight.

From the Dock Island Again

4 x 6 inches

 I painted from my car again from the dock island looking towards the mouth of the Salmon River. The tide came in and covered part of the sandbar (the strip in the water) as I painted.  Not much color today.  I was about to start another painting and then it started snowing.  I added the snow after I got home with gouache.

From the Upstairs Window

watercolor 5.5x4 inches

I painted this from my upstairs window looking down at the path and oil shed.   I think its the first time I've ever painted from up here.

 

One More Time

I went through my 100's of little paintings yesterday, mostly from around 2006 and so much enjoyed looking at them.  I t was surprised by the changes in the landscape in the last decade and it was interesting to see all the ways I've tried to paint the same places over the years.  I'm so glad I have them... they bring back many wonderful memories.

Well,  I decided to try to do one everyday again and post here.  I'm having a feeling of deja vu, as I've been here before, resolving to paint something everyday and not following through.  Its been especially hard the last few years since I've started doing mostly oils.  Whatever, I'm starting again one more time.

I drove down to the beach and painted this from the car looking east from the dock island.  It's small, about 3x3 inches done in a little handmade book.   Its almost 4 PM now and I haven't done anything yet today.... better get with it if I'm going to.

Ernest Gruening Cabin Residency

I spent the first two weeks of August as the Artist in Residence at the Ernest Gruening Cabin north of Juneau.  My goal was to start doing larger oil paintings and I did begin 2 larger pieces one of which you can see on my other blog.  I was a very inspiring and productive two weeks.  I also painted or started several some smaller oils  and these little watercolors in an  5x7 accordion book.

 

A view from the cabin

 

inside the cabin looking out

Mount Ernest Gruening as seen from the shore of the Salt Chuck,

The outhouse as seen from the bathroom window,

 

one of several spectacular sunsets seen from the cabin,

 

Rocks above the beach,

 

and another view from the cabin

En Provence

It seems do very few little watercolors anymore except when I travel.   These are some I did n a little travel journal I made on a trip to Provence last month.  I attended an oil painting workshop taught by   Carol Marine with my friend and neighbor, Aimee, and another week in Aix with Aimee and other friend, Carolyn. You can read more about the trip on my other blog. 

They are all double pages in an accordian book and about 7x6 inches. 

View from my room at Chateauneuf de Gadagne where the workshop was held.

View from the terrace of Chateauneuf de Gadagne

From the balcony of apartment in Aix in Provence that we stayed in for a week after the workshop.

I painted an oil pointing from this later.  It is at the asylum where Van Gogh painted before his death.

 

This was also at the Van Gogh asylum

Mont Sainte Victoire from Painter's Park near Aix, where Cezanne painted many paintings from.

It took me until now  (10 scans done) to see that there is a smudge on my scanner.  Darn it.   

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

l

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.