AMAZING GRACE

8x10 oil on canvas sold

Thank you for your recent comments and e-mails it truly means a lot to me. I try to visit as many of your blogs as I can, but I seem to always run short on time.

I had to go out of town unexpectedly this week and am just getting back to viewing all of your paintings and catching up on a pile of e-mails and other business. I spent 8 hours in the car today with 4 of those hours viewing the most beautiful rural landscapes. Most of my day was spent painting in my head while I watched the changing landscapes right before me. Next Saturday is our first Spring plein air day and I feel ready to begin painting landscapes again.

This is Grace, hunting dog extraordinaire. She is such an awesome family dog, that Grace was given the nickname Amazing Grace. Grace's portrait was a birthday present for her owner and his favorite color in the whole wide world is orange. I don't think of orange as a typical favorite color and I have to admit I could not wrap my head around orange as a background color for Grace's portrait. I was pleasantly surprised at how happy orange is and I, and my client, both liked the final results. Thank you again for visiting, take care!

PLEIN AIR IN NE TEXAS

A couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend in Scroggins, TX at a friend's lakehouse at Cypress Springs Lake, more than likely this is probably our last plein air painting for the summer, at least here in Texas...it's hot! I painted 3 small landscapes, the last one was my first time to try painting with a palette knife. I think I'd like to try it again, it was fun. 

My husband does not paint, but managed to find plenty to do fishing, shooting pictures, fetching ice and beverages, and so on... We missed Jay for a very long time and just assumed he was out taking pictures or something. My friend, Paula found him happily snoozing away in the hammock. 

I normally paint with my pochade box and a tripod, but I had just received my "new" french easel a couple of days before and thought I'd try it out. I really wanted an older french easel and found this one on Ebay. The seller could not find any markings or anything on it, but had been told it was purchased in the early 60's. After I scrubbed it and put linseed oil over it, this beautiful patina appeared and then I found the name of the artist carved into the box. I have learned that she was an actress and is now a full time artist in NY (beautiful paintings). My husband would like for me to contact her to let her know where her french easel has ended up and to learn more about her and her outstanding paintings. 

I hope you are all having a great summer, thank you for looking and commenting! Take care.