Pumpkin perch

Ode to fall. I stumbled upon this scene in Waitsfield dropping off paintings across the street at a gallery. If I remember correctly it was the Cross Country Ski Club's front porch. Anyway....I love painting pumpkins. There is just something magical about them. I don't know if it is from childhood or what, but I believe in the great pumpkin so don't tell me otherwise.
In deconstructing this painting the white of the paper is key. So it was carving these whites out of the paper slowely with light washes of blues and purples to creat the banaster. I love trying to create reflection. I think it works in the glass of the windows...again an example of really dark darks next to light.

Thelma and Louise

This painting has an abstract quality to it (that wasn't my intention), but some people see a bunny in it.....in case you fall into this catagory it is two cows. They lived down the road from my old house. I knocked on the door of the farmer and asked if I could go in the pasture and photograph his cows. I didn't think about what I would do if they started coming towards me which they did. You know those cute white and black cows from the highway that are an inch tall.....when you stand next to them they are ten feet tall. I just kept snapping pictures and hoped they wouldnt tackle me. This is the painting that experience turned in to. I don't see many holstein cows here and miss the black and white contrast to the green landscape. I guess the red and white pinto against the desert landscape is a nice trade off.

Waiting for Gourdo

This painting was for the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury many years ago. They asked local artist to take different aspects of the theater and create a painting for it and then it would be auctioned off to raise money for that catagory to help fund the reconstruction. When they asked me to do it no one had picked lighting. So I grabbed it and created this. The premise is two gourds on stage acting with a spotlight on them. I actually created a mini set for the painting. It was alot of fun to be a part of. It was great to see what the other artist's came up with as well.

City sidewalks

This is a painting I did a couple of springs ago. I was in Boston for a show at CoSo Gallery and the Dogwoods were in bloom all over the city. The thought behind this painting is cool and warm, sharp and realistic next to loose and impressionistic, foreground and background separate but connecting.

Peaches for Mary

I started this painting on my first day of vacation in Maine when I found out that my sister and her husband had committed suicide. Everytime I look at it I think of the turmoil of what I was feeling at the time. So many unanswered questions. I don't claim to understand the reason why they did what they did, but my sister Mary is in this painting everywhere because she is all I could think about. I hope she is happy wherever she is.

As far as the painting goes again reflection....love to paint it. Peaches are just meant to be painted in watercolor. Such rich colors blended so watery together. I laid out a tableclothe in my backyard and set up this still life on a sunny day. I took over a hundred pictures. Some with peaches. Some with cherries. The light was great and I will probably do a few more paintings based on that day of shooting.

I am headed to Cape Cod today for a week. I will try to keep my posts up but might not be able to .

Cherry picker

I picked these cherries at a neighbors house in Vermont. I ended up making sour cherry jam....yum dilly ! I was really into learning how to paint lace at the time and I have always been into reflection so these buckets were perfect ! I set up the still life by a big window so that the light would hit it. The sky is reflected in the bucket. In painting each cherry there are reflections in each one. I look at this painting and remember that I have to slow down and paint without a time frame.....this is what happens when you take your time .....I need to let this become my new montra. I find myself painting faster and faster because I have a dead line and it doesn't do me or the painting any good.
As far as the painting goes using the white of the paper to your advantage....maping them out and having them next to some really dark darks will give you amazing results.

Boats of Maine

This is in Oqunquit Maine. I passed these two dorys everyday on my vacation there a few years ago. I watched each day how the light and tide would change the composition. I photographed this scene over a week period and settled on this one image to paint. I wanted to create the feel of movement, and also a feeling of place. I get the feel of movement with horizontal brush strokes in the water and reflecting what is going on above it with color change.

Lady Abigail

I used to have sheep many years ago. I loved having sheep. They were easy keepers, kept the pasture down, and were fun to take care of. This painting was the first sheep I ever got. I got her for Christmas one year. We were not farmers and didn't know you need more than one sheep. They are hearding animals so we soon got another and named her Bea, and then the spring came and we got six little lambs. So these non farmers slowely became farmers.....before I knew it I was worming them, giving injections, clipping their hoofs. I stopped short of shearing them which if you have ever seen it done is really hard work.

Anyway...this painting is of Abby. I loved her wool...very thick and I did my best to capture that feeling. I only used three colors in the wool. I think this piece works (common theme here) because of the white of the paper and the deep rich vulue of the indigo behind her. It makes her pop up. The wood in the painting was a learning lesson as well. Rose madder, paynes grey, burnt umber, yellow ochre....colors you would necessarily think you would use for painting old wood but when applied one on top of the other they work.

A bee's point of view

I did this painting many years ago. I did a whole series of still life pieces with colanders and fruit from above. I would set the still life in a deep window so the natural light would stream in. I like this composition and color combination. What is great about doing something like this is that you take a handful of items and spend an hour setting them up in natural light and photographing them. Stick them in a file and you have tons of material to work from . I still have the photos from this day....this was actually before digital now it is soooo much easier.

Swimming upstream

This painting was on a four by six foot size sheet of watercolor paper. I stretched it on a full sheet of plywood and painted it on the floor. It took a couple of months to do working one block at a time. The premise behind the painting was to take an image I wanted to paint and apply an amish quilt pattern to it. It was a study in color and value. I used Quinachridone Burnt Orange and Quinachridone gold. Wherever the pattern came into play I would change color creating the illusion of patter within the painting. I did several painting using this technique. I will post more along the way.

Circus dog

I look at this painting I did a few years ago and it is amazing how things going on around you sneak into your work. This bull dog was being walked by his owner right below my studio window. I grabbed my camera and ran down the stairs and photographed him. At the time I was watching this series on HBO called Carnival about a traveling circus in the Thirties. I loved this series and started looking at old circus posters. I had a set of old wooden croquet balls in my studio right by my easel that I would look at everyday. When looking at the photographs of the bull dog his legs looked like a wicket you would see in croquet and then I added a piece of an old circus poster behind him using the color permanent brown which I was heavely into at the time. So there you have it....deconstruction of a painting. The funny part of this is that I saw the owner months later with his dog and ran down and told him I did a painting of his dog and he didn't believe me, looked at me like I was crazy, and kept walking.....oh well I guess he will never know his dog was painted.

Swimteam

I have always been fascinated with reflection and distortion in watercolor. I think painting water is the best way to explore this, or glass. This painting is of my two dogs Addison and Wyeth on the same day as the Swimming home painting was shot. I changed the colors of the water but the concept is the same. Again, saving the white of the paper and laying dark washes of greens and green blues, and then with a big wet brush washing over all of it. The whites become slices of light that lay on the surface. I was happy with the way this piece turned out and I learned alot from painting it.

Swimming home

Another painting of Addison. Again I think what works best in this painting is reserving the white of the paper. I did use a little of Maskoid but only on the little bits in the water. I got the water effect by laying in the dark blue washes next to the white of the paper and then with a wet brush brushing over all of it. I loved creating the effect of destortion with his leg underwater...fun.

This painting evolved from a day with my dogs at the lake. I photographed them together and separately. They had a ball and over a span of two years I got several paintings out of the experience....win win !

Dog Tired Watercolors

I have been sort of /kind of been blogging for the past year or so on my website and facebook, but today is the day I start a daily blog. I will talk about the painting of the day. How I created it, color palette, and personal feelings of the piece. I look forward to comments throughout and am interested in how this process unfolds.

I thought I would start with (in my opinion) one of my first successful dog paintings. This is of my dog Addison. I always loved the Andrew Wyeth painting of the dog on the bed. This is my nod to that piece. I think what works best in this painting is the use of the white paper and using dramatic darks next to the white which make it pop.

http://www.dogtiredstudio.net/