Silver Passage

Silver Passage
11 × 14 | Oil on Linen Mounted on Hardboard

Horses have always been one of my favorite subjects to paint. Their strength, elegance, and quiet spirit are difficult to capture because a painting preserves only a single moment in time. The challenge is not simply painting a horse—it is conveying the sense of movement, grace, and presence that makes these animals so captivating.

With Silver Passage, I set out to capture that fleeting moment when power and elegance exist together. Each painting brings me a little closer to expressing what I see in these remarkable animals.

Brown Backed Chickadee

11x14 Oil on linen hardboard

Wildlife subjects have always been at the top of my list to paint.  This little Chickadee's form is done in a realistic painting style, but the flowers and background incorporates a bit of impressionistic brush work.  It can be a struggle to get the right balance of the two different styles.  I think it worked well for this painting.

  

 

Nesting Pelicans

 11x14 on oil linen canvas board

Birds are favorite of mine to paint.  Pelicans are a bit of a challenge to paint since their elongated beaks and pouches don't follow the pattern of other birds.  Takes a bit more concentration to paint them after painting so many short beaked birds. 

Birds Of A Different Sort

 

Trying to paint in a looser style.  So much harder than realism.

Chickadee  6x9 oil on hardboard



Kookaburra oil 9x12 Hardboard

Last Two Weeks of August's Paintings

 Last of August's Paintings! 

I'm going to start grouping my paintings by the month.  With trying to get back to a painting a day routine and starting of festival season I find that I don't post as I should.. 

Most of the paintings were done in just a few hours

 

Painting Again.. July 15th A Pair of Pelicans

 8x10 Oil.  A Pair of Pelicans

Spent a lovely morning painting these two.  I was a bit frazzled by the odd beaks, nothing like the short beaked birds I was used to painting.  The beaks make everything so different in regard to the head shape and body contour of the birds.

Painting Again.. The Beach Horse

 

9x12 Oil.  Took most of the day to finish.
    I'm so glad to be painting a bit more like I was years ago.  Also my eye for drawing is starting to come back a bit.  The drawing part on the canvas was done with a paint brush with a thin wash of burnt umber. 

Painting Again.. May 28th Its All Apples, Grapes, And Bananas

8x10 Oil.   Its All Apples, Grapes, And Bananas 

  This was a challenge!  An afternoon of painting and I'm quite pleased how this one came together.

Painting Again.. May 30th The Poppy

9x14  Oil The Poppy 

A bit out of order..  But what fun this was!

Painting Again.. July 11th The Heron

 12x16 Oil The Heron
  (Another thing I forgot, to name my paintings.. Hahaha!)
Two days of second guessing myself..  The Heron was easy, but I need to reacquaint myself with painting reflections.  

Painting Again.. July 4th

 9x12 Oil  A still life from the online course..   I'm happily relearning some of the many things I have had painstakingly had just out of reach in my head.. Gosh the things we forget overtime.  This has not quite been like riding a bike.  I'm still wobbling around the corners a bit. 

Painting Again.. June 7th

  Feeling so much better about painting..
  Oil 12x16.. I had started this years ago and never got close to finishing.  I have put it on an 12x16 and repainted it to the finish.  I've enjoyed this painting so much because the bushes now feel better in my hands.  Also the paint mixing and value shifts were just coming along nicely.  

Painting Again.. June 7th

   8x10 oil still life.  Took about 3 hours.
  Finally I really enjoyed the painting of this still life!  Did not have to think to much about lost edges or values, I just painted!

Painting Again.. June 3rd

 Well the saga continues.  Mostly done using a pallet knife

  9x12 Oil still life.  Not my choice of subject, but decided to take an online course to get some mojo back.  Took about 5 hours to finish.  My drawing is soooo rusty.. But onward I go.

Painting Again.. May 17th

 11x14 Oil.. 2 days to complete.  I really hated the whole process.  I questioned myself the entire time about how hesitant my strokes were.  Just how awkward the painting came together.  Values just seemed to run together and I lost my lightest ones.  Remembering what I should have done after I already put the stroke and color to canvas.
  I should have picked an easier subject, smaller canvas perhaps too. But it is what it is.

Painting... Again! April 22nds Touch Up Started it All!

   Its been a long 12 years with not much painting, well if any painting at all.  Though I really never quit painting in my head, but never put it to canvas.  I started to focus on pottery during the toxic housing crisis because artful pottery that was functional sold well and one has to eat doesn't one?
  So.. a gallery in Sedona declined my work because I was splitting my art time between painting and potting.  I made the decision to go with the pottery and I was told by the gallery that I could not serve two masters, they were right.  It wasn't long before pottery took over my working life and painting fell to the wayside.   I didn't realize how much I have missed it until I again put brush to canvas!

This is the painting that started it all..  Years ago.. Far far away.. I painted this quick 8x10 still life as it was in front of me.  Meaning the right hand corner photo had all the things that should not have been put in artistically.  Soooo.. When I was going through some paintings in storage.. I thought, ugh I need to fix this.  Yep.. started me back on the painting road.

Painting again!

Six months after carpel tunnel surgery I have now been able to hold onto a paint brush!  Here is a start to a painting I have been working on.  Had to quit on it for a few months as the painting was causing my hands to swell a bit. 

Seagull

Seagull  5X7 Oil on Linen

Here is a quicky..  I love to paint the little 8x10's and 5x7's in an impressionistic style and the "Seagull" was no exception.  About 2 1/2 hours start to finish.  Gotta love Liquin!

Dancing in The Light

Dancing in The Light

  Its been such a long time since I put brush to canvas.   Though in reality I still was painting in my minds eye.  So was never far away from it.  Those who know me best know how much I have missed pushing paint and the pain I went through to put this to canvas.
  I started the under painting 2 years ago and was unable to finish it.  Now..  here it is..

   A 24"x30" painting of a study I did 4 years ago. 
(better picture soon)

Quality Time in the Wild.. For lack of a better title at this time.

Quality Time in the Wild
30x24 Oil on Linen Hardboard

I'm calling this one finished.  The painting has been on and off the easel for about 5 months.  Had a lot of difficulty with the size, as its a very large piece for me, since figureing out how to paint a large shape and make it painterly can be a challenge.   You can make it so busy that it competes with the focal point and throws the whole painting off.  There are probably two other paintings under this one.  Now off to find a frame.
Speaking of frames..  I'm going to go to gallery wrapped canvases for my bigger paintings.  The expense for the frames is brutal!