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.
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.
Back in the day, we took laundry hanging on a line as the norm. Thanks for a quick childhood flash back Julie.
ReplyDeleteWhen it was raining in England the clothes would hang from racks high up in the scullery part of the kitchen. I think the dryer was more popular than the washing machine when they first came out.
DeleteThanks for the visit, friend.
Julie This is gorgeous. So much life, colour, light and movement. Amazingly all achieved en plein air. What a great artist you are. Sorry I don't pop over here often enough to tell you. I am taking a slower pace in life these days.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice words, Laura. Plein air always looks a bit less perfect more spontaneous than a planned painting. I always like the fact that you paint plein air and your new one of the church in Little Venice in London is amazing.
DeleteGood for you taking a slower pace. Enjoy it, friend.
Wow, beautiful piece! Clothes lines are always a good thing!
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry, thanks for the visit and complement.
DeleteI was admiring your beautiful watercolors. You can tell you are really
comfortable with the paint.
Gorgeous, Julie !
ReplyDeleteIn my neighborough, some people still hang their laundry ;-)
Hi Martine - I never see it in my neighborhood, but where I went to paint was in the farming area and maybe it is different there.
DeleteI enjoyed seeing the wonderful series of drawings you did on your 3 hour bus trip. The mother and child series warmed my heart.
I love the colors and lost eggs- wonderful as always!
ReplyDeleteyes - the colors are very summery, but clothes are brighter here in the summer. I think most hot climates use brighter hues.
DeleteThat is a great painting you did for the DPW Challenge. Love it. The water is extra fab.
Fortunately I was at the beach briefly when I did the workshops in OR and WA. I have some photos I can paint.
Love the colors and brushstrokes in this. I also love to try & capture the image of hanging laundry - reminds me of my youth, my mom, and of a simpler time.
ReplyDeleteNice of you to comment, Nan. Thank you. A simpler time indeed.
DeleteYour nocturnal painting have a lot of emotional quality. I tried them a couple of times and found them difficult so my hats off to you.
Love the colors and the essence of a summer day feeling! How fun it would be to see you painting in my backyard. This is how we dry our laundry here in Italy. I admit, I miss a dryer when I hang socks but it gives your clothes a wonderful fresh smell. I have a few reference shots of women hanging clothes from their windows, you have inspired me to paint them! :-)
ReplyDeleteI remember the clothes hanging from balconies and windows in italy but it was quite a few years ago now so interesting to hear you still do it. I guess it all depends on a sunny or rainy climate to how frequently it is done.
DeleteI really enjoyed your watercolor painting influenced by your trip to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. The video gave me a good feel of the museum. and that was a great tip you gave about getting the tickets online first.
Love it Julie,....the light is wonderful, I can feel the breeze on my face. Very fresh feeling.
ReplyDeleteI Carol - I felt the same about your tropical painting. I could feel the heat. Beautiful and restful.
DeleteTechnology! I visited yesterday but who knows what happened to my comment!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to tell you that I thought you made the laundry look beautiful-crisp and clean and very fresh!
Never saw it if you did visit, but thanks for the second try, Libby.
DeleteYour post on your new work is exceptional. I was fascinated.
Thanks Julie! I am trying to get in the habit of checking back in with you. I should be posting some more design findings today. It's been fun to discover things as I go along:)
Deletethis is so lovely. beautifully executed. haven't hung wash out for years, but my mom did every week and I did for the 1st 10-12 years of marriage.
ReplyDeleteHi Sharon, i did too until I we got a dryer. In fact there was a race in the neighborhood in Ireland to see who got their washing out earliest. Considered lazy if late. Can you imagine women doing that to other women. Wouldn't happen today.
DeleteI congratulate you for the very sold drawing program you have developed.
Valuable for so many students.
lovely! I really enjoy your plein aire pieces.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you, Lavon. Glad you like them.
DeleteHope you are painting.
Beautifully painted Julie. I love all the colors on the clothes line! And the light is wonderful! Takes me back when I lived in Brooklyn and hung my sheets out! Never did find them!! The blew away. Lol
ReplyDeleteI liked the colors on the line too. I moved two pieces around to flow better.
DeleteI nailed the sun on them right off at the start and by the time i had finished they were in shadow. Plein air is tricky that way.
I enjoyed the sheet story. big grin but it would have been a blow at the time.
I don't know why a line of fluttering laundry hanging in a yard is such a joyous scene! Just reminds me of ordinary tasks done by hard-working people. Love the fresh feel of outside-dried clothing and the fresh sun-smell of sheets and towels. Your painting brings all that to life for me.
ReplyDeleteFluttering laundry - you write poetry, Carol.
DeleteI think everything you wrote is quite amazing and I thank you for a beautiful comment.
Ah Julie this is simply gorgeous. I love the colors in this painting. I call them happy colors. I still hang my clothes outdoors. In fact in the nice weather it is a rare day to not have something on the line. I am sure this one will sell quickly. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteI agree, dear friend - happy colors.
DeleteIt doesn't surprise me to hear you still hang out your washing if the weather is nice, it does smell good but I have a friend who hangs her towels out and I feel I have exfoliated by the time I finish drying off after a shower. So scratchy! I bet yours are not like that.
Once again you have a wonderful post on your blog.
Lovely and light-filled!!! I love scenes like this...especially because they are so rare.
ReplyDeleteyes, Joan, I agree - it is light filled because the sky had not one cloud in it.
DeleteI was thrilled when I found this little farm. Still more of it to paint.
I am always amazed by your diversity. The last visit to your blog I saw a complicated building - today a portrait. Good for you.
most people around here still hang laundry, a lot of the older built houses often don't have room for a dryer, or see it as a waste of money using a dryer, thankfully we have one tho since its been an almost non stop rainy summer :/
ReplyDeletereally nice bright colours and great textures to the painting :)
I am originally from Manchester - reportedly the rainiest spot in England so the weather was a deterrent to outdoor drying so ofter we hung them on drying racks which we raised and lowered from the ceiling using a pulley system . Another deterrent was the soot ( Industrial area) so if hanging outside we turned clothes inside out to keep them clean!
DeleteMy sister, who lives in England, has a far more up to date kitchen now with a washer and a dryer. I bet she hangs things out now and again.
I was impressed with your new business card with a very beautiful drawing.
Where I am from in Canada actually use to have a law where you couldn't hang your clothes out, not a lot of people knew about it and a few years ago it was changed.when people did start learning about it. No one could figure out why there was such a law in the first place lol, the pulley system sounds like a good idea :)
Deleteand thank you about the card :)
I just love the colors. Your painting makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteI can tell from your blog you also enjoy color. I am looking forward to seeing the development of your new alcohol ink painting.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie. I went to comment at work and then the phone rang or some such thing. This painting is filled with a carefree joy. Wonderful colors, light and breezy. Love it.
ReplyDeleteHi Helen - yes - carefree joy aptly fits the mood of this plein air painter - until it all goes wrong!
DeleteI know you also have experienced the joy part of PA but how about the other kind?
Did you paint the wild flowers plein air? They looked fresh with perfect harmony.
Very beutiful painting with so amazing and happy colours !!!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the colors. Thank you for saying that. Your colors are always so beautiful it makes the complement a gift. Thank you.
DeleteJulie, you have just inspired me, seriously. And it isn't the first time but maybe I can do a series of this idea...Love this piece; reminds me of when my mom used to hang out laundry when I was little...
ReplyDeleteI would love to see you do some washline paintings Sherry - go for it!
DeleteI love the way you've captured the sunshine, the colours and the sound of the washing flapping in the breeze. Unless it is raining for too many days in a row I always hang my washing outside as most people do here. I also find it a joyful sight and you have inspired me to paint my own washing line! We have kept a very old-fashioned Australian Hills Hoist which is rarely seen in gardens these days.
ReplyDeleteI would enjoy seeing an Aussie washing line, Wendy. What fun that would be.
DeleteThe only thing I hang outside is the rug - to beat it.!!
This is awesome Julie, so full of light and colors! Feels just like my backyard :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks - takes one to know one!
DeleteLove love the atmosphere in this. What a lucky artist to get to paint such scenes!
ReplyDeleteYou live in a wonderful place full of atmosphere. I think of you and your beautiful home a lot! And miss you.
DeleteLove this, Julie. The colors are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteAudrey - how nice of you to comment. Thank you. Glad you like the colors. We share a love of color don't we?
DeleteDear Julie, I choose this post to greet you, because this painting is full of light and joy to my eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe joy that I really need in these difficult times.
I never expected to be able to write again, to publish on Blogger or on fb, but I thought the sweet habits that have made my life more pleasant, in recent years, can continue to make a bit more peaceful even the hardest days.
Sending a loving hug
Rita
Thank you dear Rita.. I have worried about you and your husbands health and fears have been eased a bit with this contact. Yes, the comfort of habit can help get us through hard times. Know that many, many of us truly care about you.
DeletePrayers and a fierce hug off love coming your way.