See the Light!

"See the Light!"
5" x 12" 
Oil on Hardboard
Mama Cass Elliot sang "...the darkest hour is just before dawn." What she implied is it gets a lot brighter after all that darkness. Come on now, let's get out of the winter funk.  Soon it'll be white instead of sepia, and our eyes will be filled with light again.  These grey days are just -- so -- hard.  

I'm talking to myself.  I needed a pep talk, and who better to deliver it than the person who knows exactly what it's about.  The person who can get to the heart of the matter.  Moi.  

Carol 

Sepia Winter

"Sepia Winter"
6" x 8"
Oil on Hardboard
I'm coming to grips with grey sticks poking into the sepia sky.  Not really. My hands ache at the thought of serious cold. My body shivers and my eyes aren't adapting to so much darkness. Soon enough, on my birthday, in fact, we'll reach the pinnacle of darkness and begin the descent down the light side of the slope. 

I was compelled to get this one out of my system. It happened almost like a dare. Do it. Just paint the trees and the lake and the dismal sky in sepia and burnt sienna.  Do you ever listen to your inner voice?

Carol

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Work in progress

Work in progress
30" x 38"
oil on hardboard
The Maroon Bells commission piece is progressing nicely.  It's useful to photograph it and look at it in miniature, like this, from time to time, too.  I see things when it's down small that would otherwise be missed.  I also drop the colour, too, so it's shades of grey—useful in checking the values—lights and darks. 

 Carol

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Softly Foggy

"Softly Foggy"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard
The thing about fog that sometimes delights me is the way it renders everyone who looks into it "in need of glasses." I don't suppose that's an accurate description, but it sure seats us all in the same boat. Nobody is better at it than anyone else.  

 It will be foggy by the time this posts. Dumb luck, not by design.  I painted this in the bright light of this wintry day, that looked not a thing like what you see here.

Carol

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Tulip Time

"Tulip Time"
5" x 5"
Oil on wrapped canvas
I'm thinking of spring tonight, what with a luscious full moon overhead. Foolish of me to do it, I know, as I've not even seen the first flake of winter. Yet my eyes are ready for color again. I'm already weary of grey sticks poking into grey sky. 

Painting my fantasy has helped.  It's a sweet little fantasy, filled with color and life from a spring day at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

Carol

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Ballerina Blossoms

"Ballerina Blooms"
5" x 7"
Oil on wrapped canvas


They were simple in their beauty, fragile like ballerinas on point, curtsying to the audience as applause fluttered their delicate petals.  

This small piece is my offering tonight while my big painting looks ... horrid!  I can't post the progress when it looks this bad.  It's entirely normal for this stage of the game, but it might make my clients faint dead away.  Nope, I'll photograph it when it looks a wee bit more composed.

Carol

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At the Divide

"At the Divide"
6" x 14"
Oil on hardboard
I'm sitting in front of one of my most favorite places to paint and to be — the Continental Divide in Winter Park, Colorado.  It's a source of comfort—like macaroni and cheese is to some people.  If I need shoring up, all I have to do is scroll through my photos of this little pond and I can reflect on great memories and loving thoughts.  I hope you have such an image, or a place of your own.  

I gessoed 41 new hardboard panels today. Busy work. Tomorrow—REAL work—back to The Maroon Bells!

Carol 


Dawn Over the Lake

"Dawn Over the Lake"
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel
Morning crept in as usual; colourful, radiant and mystical, with no apparent sign of turmoil. Yet some had been brewing off shore, so very far away. How strange to hear of it, when it was so beautiful here. 

Lake Michigan is such a lovely place to see dawn. I'm glad I live near enough to her shores to enjoy the show on occasion.

Carol

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Sandy's Red Warning

"Sandy's Red Warning"
5" x 12"
Oil on hardboard
My daughter sent me a photo of the sky over western New Hampshire the morning Sandy hit. Someone she knows took the photo and sent it to her.  This testifies to the first line of the poem I quoted the other day...  "Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning."  It's graphic enough for me!   

 While I work on my commission piece here's something different to look at. I'll post more of The Maroon Bells tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it today.  I'm thankful for all of you who come to this place to see my art.

Carol

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IN PROGRESS

IN PROGRESS
30" x 38"
Oil on hardboard
The mountains were not prominent enough for my clients, so I brought them a little closer. Would that I could move mountains in my day to day life!  

 I've applied a base coat of color to the whole panel with my little snippets of sponge.  Tomorrow I'll employ my Rosemary & Company brushes to chisel out some of the details that will begin to bring The Maroon Bells to life—stroke by stroke.

Carol

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Watery Dawn


"Watery Dawn"
5" x 12"
Oil on hardboard  
Dawn lifts her silky veil to reveal the blush of a new day. Doze a few moments too long and you'll miss her show altogether. Best begin sipping your coffee in the darkest hour... and wait. It'll be worth your while.   

When I had the panel cut for my commission piece, I asked that the rest of the board be cut into some different shapes and sizes. I've gessoed dozens of new panels to explore some familiar subjects in new formats.  

Carol


Sailor's Delight

"Sailor's Delight"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
My first mother-in-law spoke in rhyme all the time. She learned her lessons as a child and repeated them throughout her life. Hers was a time of memorization, not of Googling. I learned weather warnings, vowel placement and what to ride to Banbury Cross from her. 

My offering this evening is a sky while I work on my commission piece. You'll see more of it tomorrow.

Carol

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Artichoke

"Artichoke"
16" x 20"
Oil on hardboard panel 
A friend sent a photo of an artichoke the other day.  It was head-on—looked like this; green as Kermit, but the shape of a burgeoning rose.  I cropped it, drew it and squeezed out my greens and reds and grabbed a sponge.  Since she looked like a rose, I'd paint her like a rose. 

I lay down the first wash of most of my large paintings with a sponge. Most of you who have been with me for the year and a half I've been blogging know that. Consecutive layers of color also go on with the sponge, a little snippet of it, and only the small or fine lines are brushed on.  I enjoyed this one... a lot!  I'll bet she was a good eat, too.

Carol

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Work in progress



"The Maroon Bells"
Oil on hardboard
30" x 38"



























I've been commissioned to paint The Maroon Bells in Colorado.  I painted a palette knife version of them a few weeks ago and a couple saw it on one of the daily painting web sites, and wrote to me.  We've been communicating and I began the project today.  It's a large piece, on a panel, and will be framed when it is finished.

The panel was gridded in pencil and drawn with burnt sienna.

I painted the sky with French Ultramarine blue, then added cobalt and horizon blue, similar to their photo reference.

The block-in of the middle ground vegetation is started.  Big shapes...

Carol

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Serene

"Serene"
12" x 12" 
Oil on wrapped canvas
Across the lake, way on the other side is where I think morning originates.  How small of me to limit my thoughts to only as far away as my thoughts wander and linger.  But I think it's human nature to keep enormous concepts like orbits and the cosmos in human scale. Well, it's my nature, anyway.

I painted this sky and yesterday's on canvas to see if I could. All the skyscapes I've made have been on panels. I think my technique worked well enough to take sky to the next level.  I'm going to try to expand my soft skies to include soft solid forms, too. I'll ease into it, but know it's coming.

Carol

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