Daily Painter Week Seven

This week, the iris are in bloom here in Vermont.  So here is my take--or better yet, four takes--on this lovely frilly flower....

"Iris"

 4" x 6" - watercolor with collage

Lily of the Valley came and went and the lupine is blooming now.  Siberian iris are still budded and will probably bloom next week along with the lemon lilies.
The next two were done while working with Sandy in Randolph...

"Bend in the White River"

4" x 6" - marker and colored pencil on watercolored paper

"Lumpy Clouds"

4" x 6" - watercolor

And finally, below is a paraphrase of the great Tibetan meditation instructor, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's words.  They were shared on Susan Piver's wonderful online Open Heart Project and have been helping me keep my expectations a bit lower.... 

"Patience"

5 1/2" x 7 1/2" - marker and carbon pencil on watercolored paper

So, the daily artist adventure goes on....

Noah's Art in Stonington, Connecticut

Today my husband and I drove to Connecticut to hang my work at Noah's Restaurant on Water Street in Stonington.  Thank you so much Rick for your gift off an entire day!  Noah's is a lovely place with wonderful food in a quaint and beautiful little town right on the water.
Here are some shots of the show as it looked when we were finished.

"September Hay Rolls"

"Shadow Ribbons I", "Densmore Hill" and "Shadow Ribbons II"

"Sap Buckets on Calendar Hill, "July Field, Randolph" and "Posted on Advent Hill"

In all, there are twenty-two drawings and paintings.  If you're in the neighborhood, stop buy for an excellent meal and a look at the art work!

Daily Painter Week Six

We've been traveling--to Virginia and to Connecticut--and it's a challenge to keep up with daily painting and drawing.  Here's one I did before we left....

"Old Tree on River Road"

6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

And, below are four little daffodil paintings just finished....

"Little Daffodils"

4" x 6" - watercolor and marker

The flowers are finally starting to bloom here and so I did some little studies....

"Bleeding Heart Study

6" x 8" - watercolor

"Flowering Quince Study"

6" x 8" - watercolor

Daily Painter Week Five

I'm a bit late with my blog for this week--we just got home from traveling to Virginia, visiting with friends, and I didn't have access to my computer until now.

Below is a drawing I did at Mink Brook Nature Preserve.

"Birdhouse in the Woods"

6" x 9" - soft pencil

Route 14 north of Bethel is a great place to find old farms and weathered outbuildings like the one below.  I definitely will be going back there!

"Old Farm, Route 14"

6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

Here are a few close up photos of barns, silos and outbuildings that I took that same day.

I thought I might use these photos for paintings or drawing but when I looked at them I decided they needed to stand alone as photos.  

Daily Painter Week Four

I've been doing a drawing or painting every day now for a month.  I am amazed at this since I wasn't getting into the studio very much earlier this year.
I started the week with two drawings of studio objects.  The first is my canvas stretching stapler.

"Red Stapler"

6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper with colored pencil and watercolor

I liked the black, white and red colors together and so I decided to draw the hammer I use for hanging pictures and banging on staples that don't go all the way into the stretcher frames.

"Red Hammer"

6" x 10" - soft pencil with watercolor

This next series of small abstracts is done in the same manner as last week's "Tulips".  These also look good connecting to one another in a horizontal format.  

"Moving Fractures"

4" x 6" - watercolor with collage

Below is a marker drawing I did last Thursday at Mink Brook Nature Preserve in Hanover, New Hampshire with the Odanaksis Artists who have been painting plein aire together for the past eleven years.

"Ancient Tree"

6" x 9" - Sharpie Marker

I was fortunate to be able to work plein aire two days this past week and now have two drawings plus lots of photos to work from.  More next week....

Daily Painter Week Three

I spent a lot of time in the studio this week and created seven new pieces....

"Sap Bucket #2"

6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

"Barn on the Hill"

6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

The flowers below will be mounted horizontally into one frame....

"Tulips"

 4" x 6" - watercolor with collage

The watercolor below is the second painting inspired by a snowy day on Calendar Hill....

"Shadow Ribbons II"

9" x 12" - watercolor

This Daily Painter adventure goes on.  I wonder what next week will bring?

Daily Painter Week Two

Well, I just finished week two of daily drawing and painting.  I am finding the daily exercise to be exciting and invigorating.  

A quick sketch with added watercolor at the Quechee covered bridge.

Since there isn't a lot of time to devote to each one I skip studies and the work becomes more spontaneous.  On the sap bucket drawings, I just found an interesting place to begin, worked out to the edge of the little paper--maybe 5" x 7"--and if the composition didn't work I just lopped off the uninteresting part--a kind of "flying by the seat of your pants" approach. 

"Sap Buckets" done in marker

"Sap Buckets #2"

5 1/2" x 7 1/2" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

"Sap Bucket #1"
6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

"Shadow Ribbons I"

9" x 12" - watercolor

I am very happy with the last three pieces and consider them frame worthy.  And I haven't spent so much time in my studio in ages....