Picasso’s Moulin Rouge

          9 x 12          Oil

           I came across a photo of Picasso’s painting of a crowd enjoying the Moulin Rouge.   It must have been one of his earlier paintings.   I loved the rythym of the composition and decided to reproduce a small corner of the work just for fun.

Model in a kimono

     9 x 12          Oil

     A study in oil of a graceful pose.

Playing with Watercolors

Watercolor on Arches paper       11 x 14

At the top of the image is a push pin attaching the paper to the wall in my studio – its not part of the painting, although its an idea I’ve seen other artists use, adding a touch of mundane realism to their illusions of reality.

Lake Whitehurst in the Fall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 x 12               Oil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the other two miniatures I recently finished painting of Lake Whitehurst in Norfolk.   I’ve enjoyed doing these so much I’ve decided keep painting in this size for a while.

Lake Whitehurst Miniatures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m still working on miniatures – inspired by the miniature exhibit at Charles H. Taylor and the upcoming one for Tidewater Art Alliance I suppose.

I recieved a very kind offer last month to take some photographs of Lake Whitehurst.   It was still a little early for the fall tree colors and I plan on taking more photos even though the Nor’easter last week blew away most of the beautiful fall leaves in my nieghborhood and most likely at Lake Whitehurst too.   In the meantime I’ve been working on these little miniatures.   There are two more in this series.   Then I will be moving on to some medium size paintings of the Lake, the 9″ x 12″ or 11″ x 14″ range.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning

 

 

 

These are the last work I did at Art in the Carolinas on Sunday morning before I returned to Norfolk.   It was fun and lively doing these warm up exercises with Bob Burridge in acrylic.   I can see the benefit of doing these to loosen up at the start of every day.   Good habits, painterly attitudes and creative inspiration were plentiful at the conference this year and I greatly appreciated both the break from the excitement of Norfolk’s flooding and all the painting fun.

Catching Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m catching up today.   I tried to remember to take everything I needed when I went to Carolina this past weekend.   I remembered everything except the power cord to my computer.   I’m back in Norfolk and the computer is finally all together and charged up.

I spent last Saturday morning playing with watercolors with Linda Kemp and made these two small paintings.   It was good to get back into watercolors.   I had way too much fun doing these.   I love this approach to what Linda calls ‘dreamscapes’, the kind of landscapes you remember from your dreams.   I can’t wait to do more of these.

 

Art in the Carolinas

Tonal Oil Paintng

I left Norfolk Thursday afternoon in the midst of the worst storm we’ve had since hurricane Isabella.   I had to navigate my way around flooded streets and was certain that I wouldn’t be able to get out of the city at all.   I left my husband and dogs at the house with no electricity and a basement filling with water……………..

This is my first experience of “Art in the Carolinas” in Raleigh, North Carolina.   The trade show has been as exciting as I’d heard - I’ve found some amazing bargains on everything from studio equipment to linen canvas rolls.

Yesterday I spent all day exploring the tonal painting technique with Dominic Vignola.    I work at drawing skills daily and have great appreciation for the beauty of line yet I am not interested in creating photo realistic paintings.   I am more interested in capturing the essence of a person or place at a particular moment in time and I find this method very useful in gathering the information I want quickly and accurately. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I was in Hampton painting en plein air with some fellow Hampton Art League members.    It was great fun and I always appreciate the camaraderie among the artists.    The Norfolk Paint Out is next weekend, October 22 – 24 (find more info at www.studiosatmonticello.com).   The following weekend there will be another paint out in Hampton, this time in honor of the city’s 400th anniversary.   I’ll post more information about the event once I get all of the details.

The first painting here was at the end of a side street in downtown Hampton that backs up to the Hampton River – I won’t be able to remember exactly what street unless I go back to Hampton and find it – it may have been at the end of East Sunset.  

I loved the way the morning light was hitting the white building and how all of the shadows from the tree seemed to danced across it.   As I was painting a young family came up to find out and if I was from the city and taking a survey or something.   They wanted to know because they were trying to rent the building for their work.   I told them who I was and what I was doing and they were satisfied.   Maybe an hour later the young woman came back.   She wasn’t interested in my piece but she wanted to ask my opinion about the looks of the building.   I guess there had been shutters that she had taken down and she still wasn’t sure doing so had made the building look better.   I couldn’t help her as I had never seen the building before.   I do think its a great little building with a lot of character though.