Koi Fish and Lilies

Koi Fish and Lilies

8x6in oil on canvas panel  $135.

Purchase  SOLD

I was invited to a cool mountain area

called Cloudcroft, NM.,

only a 90 min drive from where I live.

There is a Lodge with a large

pond filled with Koi fish and lily-pads.

Extra beautiful to my desert trained eyes.

Artist Note.

I took photos of the pond

and had to take areas out 

of several to get a decent design.

It is the lily which stars 

in the point of interest spot, 

yes -

deliberately placed high  middle 

- with the eye 

hopefully moving down the 

sky reflection

to the the fish.

Checking the design following

"every quarter is different"

from 8/23/15 the post

 

Top Left

Top Right

Lower Left

Lower Right

I enjoyed painting the misty one

and this one very much 

and have already started another.

Miss Daisy won 

so many, many thanks to all you  kind 

bloggers who voted for her.

Artists of Influence - J.M.W. Turner

Rain, Steam and Speed 

- The Great Western Railway

J.M.W. Turner 

painted 1838

I was invited to write about the 

influences which helped me as an artist

 by the company 

Patience Brewster

I have been enjoying reading some of

the artists who have been sharing

their own stories so I was delighted

to participate.

Standing in front of this amazing

Turner painting (above) was 

definitely the start of realizing 

a

 painting 

could give me goose bumps!

My huge emotional response 

shook me up because before that I 

was enamored by technical skill...

not realizing the 

pure genius

of technical skill it took Turner

to do this.

This painting was done 

2 years before Monet was born.

Turner painted outdoors a lot

and colors above are true to the 

part of England I knew so well

because he actually painted

the atmosphere...

 the rain, 

steam trains,

and a very industrial area.

Turners watercolors are a 

delight, but not easily available

to view in the area I now 

live in here in the US

so when the museum in Houston

had a exhibition of his watercolors

 years ago, I flew out to see it

and was delighted to find the 

goose bumps were still there.

Other Influences.

Picasso had a strong impact 

with his many different periods

of style and media. Such

comfort knowing it was 

okay to change focus,

and Cezanne has long been an artist

I turn to when I need inspiration. 

And my love of 

Impressionism/Romanticism 

was continued by being 

drawn to some of Monet's more

atmospheric paintings. 

Yes - the waterlilies for sure. 

Seeing we are talking about 

influences in art

there are interesting stories

about Turner's influence on Monet

after Monet visited the 

National gallery in 1870 

The story goes... 

Monet stood in awe in front of

Turner's work and then after

some private visits ...and do you think 

he could have seen this 

during one of them?

(Sunrise is a clue)

Norham Castle -Sunrise

1845

JMW Turner

And when, after

returning to Paris, Monet started to 

try and capture the emotion

he experienced about the atmosphere

as well 

as the brighter colors of 

painting outside.

There is no doubt of the change  

when you see the before and after.

Here is a popular Monet piece

painted in 1867

Garden at Sainte-Adresse

C. Monet 1867

Forgive a little rant here...

Although this is a very popular

piece I dislike this painting for 

several reasons, the

"dibby dabby do" brushwork

in lower half and smooth work

on top with every dang mast

 on the way off horizon

painted in perfect detail!

BUT all is not lost - 

Monet visits Turner 

and look what happens

Impression - Sunrise

C Monet 1872

This is the painting which coined the 

word Impressionism.

How marvelous for Monet

to find an influence

which had such a profound effect.

Sorry this led into such a long post.

I am beholden to all artists 

who get inspired to try and

capture emotion, no matter their

style - but it was Turner who 

gave me my first goose bumps.

It was fun finding out who in turn

influenced the great Turner.

But that's another story.

Thank you, Marietta for the invitation

to participate. 

You must be very proud of 

your mother, Patience...

her work is beautiful.

Please check out the blog

of patience brewster

LilyPond - Misty Morning

Lily Pond - Misty Morning

6x6in oil on canvas panel  $110.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note

Last weekend I was in 

Cloudcroft, NM.

Think of the name...

Cloud... croft. Land in the clouds!

I was lucky enough to enjoy

a misty morning and it was 

truly atmospheric and beautiful. 

So different from fierce colors 

and beauty the dry air creates

here in Las Cruces.

The Lodge Resort has a 

 large lily pond and I was able

to take many photos.

The colors were cool and muted 

with very soft edges.

(The Lodge also has a ghost - can you 

imagine her coming out of the mist!!)

The DPW Challenge has

The FOG Challenge this week

so hoping that the mist will substitute

because fat chance of me seeing 

fog in this neck of the woods.

I checked - there IS a 

difference between mist and fog 

even though they are both 

created with water droplets.

Thank you for visiting.

.

Like Cats?

DAISY

8x8 oil on gallery wrap canvas  SOLD

If you like Miss Daisy then there is a vote 

going on which her owner is requesting 

votes because Daisy's sister 

won a couple of years ago

and she would like to keep the family 

tradition intact.

Daisy is a gentle and fun loving cat.

Obviously I really liked her.

You have to have a Facebook account 

to vote but here is the link

here

Some really cute pics of cats and dogs

but scroll down to Daisy and a "like"

counts as a vote.

Artist Note.

Thanks for all the comments 

on the previous post on design. 

I will be getting round to everyone

soon .

Solving Design Issues - Barn

Mesilla Valley Barn

6x8in oil on canvas panel $135.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note.

Painting on location is 

valuable as a way to 

record the colors and shapes,

but rarely do you get a really

good composition in your sight-line. 

Taking photos with the 

zoom can help, but even then I find I may 

like part of the pic, but not all 

of it. Here is a 

simple but excellent

way to help focus on getting 

an improved design.

First, divide your surface

(any shape) in half 

horizontally and vertically.

You now have four quarters.

The idea is not to have any of the 

quarters match,  meaning - 

too similar in value

 or color pattern

Below are the four quarters

from my landscape above. 

You can see when split 

this way they are all 

completely different. 

Or in Julie parlance...

No matchy matchy!

This is top left...

Top right

this is lower left

lower right.

The painting below by a fellow 

guild member is a good example 

of a plein air painting which

has captured the place really well

-it looked exactly like this -

but, look at the horizontal

bands of similar

shapes and colors. 

Also 

an uninteresting rectangle

exists right in the center.

Lets see if the design 

can be improved.

I took a piece of glass and 

placed it over the painting.

I did a quick line down 

and across the center.

Before

I didn't touch the sky or mountains

but started the changes 

just below them.

Notice how I broke up the 

three similar bush shapes, 

top left, by placing a lighter 

 ground color 

weaving in and out across 

the horizon

Next I  lowered the bottom 

of the green bushes 

near mid center, 

bringing them closer.

Then I placed a stronger value 

of  the front weeds to continue

the strong angle. 

Remember the whole 

purpose is to make 

each quarter a different

pattern of light and dark, or color

than each of the others.
BUT STILL LINKING AS A WHOLE.

after changes

piece of glass showing 

each quarter with the different

marks.

I was taught this at Art School 

in England as part of a course

on Alternation,

but I have not seen or read about

it being used anywhere else. 

I do not know why. 

It is simple and effective

Easy to try this method with an older 

painting you have not been quite 

satisfied with.
Do I use it all the time?
Nope!
But it sure comes in handy when
trying to figure out a way to improve
a painting.
Hope you try it.

Yupo Landscape

Yupo Landscape

9x11 

Unfinished

My husband and I made a

quick trip to Phoenix - 

nice cool Phoenix-

 (record breaking temps)

to attend a funeral this weekend

and this kept me totally

occupied in the car. 

It is weird, I cannot read 

in the car, but I can paint.

The trip takes over six hours

each way,

and as you probably know,

the beauty of Yupo 

is I can paint - wipe it off

and paint again

It went through several incarnations

and I still consider it unfinished.

I was never trying to make a

painting, but just exploring 

the different mark making 

Yupo allows

I was working from memory

 of an area I had plein

painted earlier in the week 

so I was free to concentrate

on the technique.

I did discover some pigments

will stain Yupo.

Even thick applications of

paint will lift off 

topping over with 

another layer, and 

pooling color within 

boundaries is basically the

 only way to get a smooth wash.

I saw this fabulous post by

Jill Golden on alcohol inks

using yupo. It showed 

all her student's work

and they were great.

Her blog is 

jillraefinallyart.com

 see link here Jill Rae

I was intrigued

by the wonderful appearance 

of alcohol ink on Yupo. 

Jill definitely has 

the heart of a teacher and 

she generously

sent me a couple of links

on her youtube demos

see below.

alcohol inks

Greenwood Chapel

Thank you, Jill.

They look fun,

I am going to give them a go...

but NOT in the car!

Mesilla Adobe

Mesilla Adobe, NM

6x8in oil on canvas panel $135.

Purchase HERE

Mesilla is an historical town next to 

Las Cruces, where I live in New Mexico

It has kept its wonderful Spanish/Indian roots.

Situated in a farming valley

it is an artist's delight.

Artist Note.

Another plein air painting. 

I didn't move my easel from the previous

post of the washing line...

 I just turned my head to the right.

The only thing I took artistic license 

with is the ditch. It runs straight, 

across, (parallel to the wall)

 but I felt a curve 

suited my design better.

 All to often, when I suggest a change 

to an artist's composition, 

they will whip out a

photo to show me they had copied it 

just right...

Then I find myself saying,

"it's a painting you are making, 

NOT a copy of photo."

So, my friends, 

how long did it take me to 

get that through my own head?

A loooong time.

Here is a link to information on Mesilla

Pronounced (meh-SEE-uh)

Mesilla, NM.

WASH DAY

Wash Day

6x8in oil on canvas panel $135. SOLD

Artist Note. 

I went plein air painting with a couple 

of artist friends and my reward for 

getting up early on a non-working day

was finding this place.
Rare to find someone hanging their
laundry outside any more.

Would you believe there was a 

chicken coop too!

The little cluck clucks were as 

cute as can be.

Dilemma...put them in

or leave them out.

Such a small space so I left them out, 

but will go back and paint them

for sure.

Wild Flowers - DPW Challenge

Poppies

6x8in oil on canvas panel $135. SOLD

Artist Note.

I have been trying to do the weekly 

Daily Paintworks Challenge,

and I am a bit late with this one.

This was from the photo 

Carol Marine chose.

I decided to do poppies because they 

grow wild in Colorado 

and when I lived there 

I painted them quite a few times

Anyone can enter the challenge.

A new one starts every Sunday

so if you need inspiration

deciding what to paint then I suggest 

you give it a go.

See the other participants

HERE

Linking The Darks - NM Farm

Mesilla Valley Farm, NM

6x8in oil on canvas panel  $135. SOLD

Purchase HERE

Artist Note.

Classes have resumed at

the Artist Guild of Southern New Mexico.
This was one of the demos
on Linkage.

Linking the darks in a painting

was a good way to start 

off the new semester. 

We all need a reminder after vacation 

of some of the basics. It makes it

easier to avoid what I
refer to as "spotty paintings" 

- caused by having light areas
in what should be the shadow pattern.

Starting with a Notan in
transparent oxide brown

with a touch of Ultramarine Blue,

makes it easy to follow the pattern
of light and dark.

Thanks for all the neat comments 
on my previous post about the snails.
Hope you will understand 
why I have not been
able to answer as
I have been rather busy.

The guild studio was all spruced up 

Carpet cleaned

Shelves dusted

Cupboards tidied
Tables scrubbed and easels checked.

Bins of colored papers to test 

shapes and colors -

mannequins, heads, hands, 

and Freddie the skeleton - all got cleaned up

vessels of all types

flowers galore

Fruit and veggies

The drink station.

Lots of different teas

Yes ...that is instant coffee...

No time to waste cleaning 

a coffee pot!

I love it when everything is tidy and clean.

Thanks for sticking around.

Now I am off to look at everyone's

posts.