Plein air!

 Spring Widflowers, oil  9"x12"

Plein airing at Cooper Mountain Nature Park on a part sunny and part cloudy day, searching for wildflowers. There were plenty of small delicate flowers in magenta, purple, blue, yellow, white, but in sprinkles, not vast colorful fields.  So I concentrated on the tiny daisies sprinkled among the green grass and used my artistic license to multiply them!  It was a good hike, and a lovely day.

Plein Air

 Plein air painting is about the adventure of going out and discovering the perfect spot to paint, getting all your gear together, dealing with weather and whatever may happen.  On this clear day a few weeks ago, painting pal Vicki Zimmerman and I stopped at Coon Point on Sauvie Island.  It's across from the Sauvie Island dog kennels, so we were serenaded by continuous barking, but that did not subtract from the serenity of the place.  Since the temperature was expected to rise to the high 80's, we looked for a shady spot with a good view.  Half way down this steep grassy slope dragging my wheeled cart, I stopped while Vicki went onward close to the edge of the pond.  I'm thinking: ticks, mosquitoes, dragging the cart back uphill in the heat of the afternoon.  So we returned to the shady spot near the paved walkway.

 This is my painting after a few hours.  There is a background thin wash of raw sienna to give a warm glow to the white canvas board.  I decided to leave it as a sketch to capture the mood and colors and not rush to finish.  By the time I stopped, the shade had dwindled away, the light was glaring and it was hot!  I had only a cool lemony yellow with me and was not satisfied with the brightness of the yellow greens.

"Coon Point, Spring" oil, 12"x16"

Back in my studio, I added some warmer yellow and yellow-greens and worked on varying the tree trunks. At a recent Alla Prima discussion, the subject was variety, and someone quoted "same, same, no, no"!  I hope my trees are varied and graceful!  I left some edges unfinished to preserve the sketchy quality.

Siobahn, oil on canvas 12" x 16"

It was my first time painting outside of my studio in months, so it took awhile to even find my easel, there are so many important items to bring to a paint out!  The figure painting was held at Joanne Radmilovich Kollman's studio in the Troy Building, SE Portland.  The model was Siobahn:  young, lovely, slim in a slinky scoop neck velvet dress.  At first I painted her with an emphasis on her long neck and shoulders framed in the low cut dress. Back in my studio, I decided that the dress distracted from her face, so I covered her, bit by bit, in an imaginary flowing blue scarf.  Painting from life, painting beautiful people, painting with other artist friends - wonderful!

Crown Point, oil 16" 20"

A re-do of one of my favorite scenes, Crown Point from the Women's Forum along the Old Columbia River Highway.  Originally painted in acrylic several years ago, I painted over this time in oil, with softer edges and the more subtle colors that oil points produce, with more of a glow.

 Fall Day, oil 6" x 6"

 Fall to Winter, oil 8" x 8"

Winter Trees, oil 4" x 7"

Experimenting with palette knife painting, so much fun!  It's very sculptural, pushing and carving shapes into the paint, creating patterns and layers, very like the layers of bare branches seen in the winter landscape.

Jenny, oil on canvas, 14" x 11" SOLD

Some of the artists in Alla Prima Portland meet regularly at Medley Tea in Multnomah Village to sketch after the breakfast meeting at O'Connors.  Lots of colorful teapots, cups and crockery to sketch, as well as each other.  The walls are adorned with art work, one time we had a group show there of our teapot paintings. We sip, sketch in pencil or watercolor, and chat about art and anything else, with lots of noisy laughter.

A few weeks ago I got a quick photo of our waitress, Jenny, and painted it afterward.  The photo errs on the green side, there is a lot of rosy pink.

River Reflection, oil on board 8" x 16"

Back to a summer mood from a photo taken on the banks of the Columbia River when the water level was so low you could walk on the sand.  The reflection seemed to float, everything was still.