Rodeo revisited

Sometimes I surprise myself. I usually paint "alla prima" , all at once,in one sitting,( however you may like to phrase it,)  and once I have a canvas on the easel and an image, I paint till I am done...and then I am done. I rarely go back and fiddle .If it is a disaster, I don't try and fix the problems but torture myself with them and move on.So, to revisit a painting and work on the problem areas is novel for me, but I did it this morning with not one but THREE(yes, I just shouted that) previously painted canvasses.I am pleased I did . Not because there was any great improvement but because there WAS some improvement.

Then I moved on to some exercises in fast painting. I gave myself 30 minutes and put the music on.

 She was sitting outside a big, heavy church door,skewered by light on a cold autumn morning, listening to her Ipod and having a cigarette......I omitted the cigarette as the smoke was distracting with the dark door.

Then I looked at the other painting of a rodeo I painted way back in 2007.I still like it for it's energy.

sold

Sigh. Happy day.
I will have to do more small painting as I see how they help me distill an image and block out the excess details( I obsess over detail and it really is not my forte!!)

Now to clean up the atrocious mess I have created.

Rodeo

I loved the energy of the original photograph.I hope it translates in this painting.

 It is still wet and I will need to fiddle with it ....but, I will leave it awhile.So for now, it remains on the easel, drying. Sigh. I am not a patient person.

Sea Change

My dear cousin Janet sent me an image from far away Canada. She and her gorgeous husband are very involved with boats and the sea etc and sailed from Cape Town to South America, then up through the carribean to Florida and now live near Vancouver.These people are not afraid of challenge nor change! She sent me some wonderfull photographs an this is my interpretation of one of them. Janet, I like to think of this as Summer Love(the name of that intrepid boat that sailed them round the world) relaxing in a cove, somewhere up the coast from you.
Still on the easel and still wet. It has rained relentlessly (spring, wouldn't ya know!) and nothing is  drying.

Gardening hiatus

I had my parents visit me for the last month and have had such a good time, I scarcly saw the computer nor easel. We went on a road trip to the Hawkes bay, the orchard of the north island, in spring. Blossom everywhere and vistas  so bright green they hurt the eyes. Vinyards and orchards and a gently flowing river overshadowed by a steep cliffed mountain range...heady stuff, dear ones..It was ridiculously pretty.There are no words.

Then we came back to the family home and revelled in each others company and the daily pace of family life.I made lots of puddings.

I took the opportunity to rethink my approach to painting and research (by going through all my old Southwest Art and Australian Artistsmagazines) styles I admired or techniques to practise..I also took the opportunity to give my courtyard a bit of attention. I love that space.Peacefull and calming.

So, here is a work up of a cowboy, sitting on a fence, near sunset.I gave  myself 30 minutes to paint this .

I like it. I will do this excercise again and on a larger canvas but with a time limit. I will keep you updated.

Holidays are now over and work begins again.

I am excited!

Local colour

The school my children attended has a Favours auction recently. I was asked to paint something as part of the favours and I thought that a local scene would be appropriate.Man, did I underestimate how much trouble the sky would give me.I reworked it a few time and fiddled so much it was till wet on the day of the auction, so I put in another (above), possibly more appropriate painting.

So, my dear husband will get this painting for his office. I am still unhappy with the sky, but I like the overall feel. We have amazing weather here in the Waikato...real four seasons in one day stuff. The rain will pour down with ferocity, the sky will have voluminous clouds and yet somewhere, there will also be a patch of blue sky. Crazy wonderful.

I feel good today.

Getting back into the swing of it.

I sold some more cows! I am so pleased and so happy that they went to someone who really knows a cow when he see one...a Friesen-Holstein breeder, I believe! I hope he is happy.They made me happy to paint them.

Now,maybe a sheep lover(in a good way, folks) would like this one!

Primping and polishing

I have painters block.You know the Midas touch, when everything you touch turns to gold? Well, I have the Muddy touch right now! Everything I paint is muddy and wrong,wrong,wrong!!!
So,my usual solution is to stop,clean and think( I do my best thinking when I am in cleaning mode...go figure!) I am reorganising my paints, throwing away old tubes and grotty paint jars, washing and cleaning all my brushes and palette knives,re-arranging canvasses according to size and filing my resource file of photographs and images.I have even gone as far as cutting up old sheets to use as rags and stashing all the rags in a suitable receptacle,draining the turps jar and refilling it(although that made me want an early vodka...I resisted!). And all the time, thinking........block in the colours,use a big brush, stand back,squint,relax and enjoy,mistakes are how we learn,fat over lean(no..leaner than that,Jennie. Think Supermodel of oilpaint lean!).

When I am finished cleaning and thinking, I shall paint.I find it tragically funny that cleaning is my way of exorcising demons.Why could it not be shopping?!

Thanks to Robin Cheers for reminding me of the lessons above and, as always,  for her inspirational paintings.