Field Pond

"Field Pond"
4" x 4"
Oil on canvas panel

This sweet little pond had nestled itself in amongst traditional field fare as I scanned the countryside looking for interesting compositions a few weeks ago. It deserved to be painted in a tiny format, too. 

I used two pretty small brushes to work on this painting.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Lilies

"Lilies"
8" x 10"
Oil on wrapped canvas

I came across these lilies at the Botanic Gardens when I was looking for a place to set up my pochade to paint the landscape in the English Walled Garden. 

These cone-shaped flowers are buggers to paint! Give me a whorled rose any day!  Sheesh.  I like the bud and the lily leaves, though.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Iowa Hills

"Iowa Hills"
6" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas 

The Iowa countryside outside my car window undulated like green scarves fringed with gold on a windy day.  

Today was a scheduled plein air day, but the weather was more like October than the end of July, so I used one of my Iowa photos and pretended I was outdoors.  I also used a different Cobalt Blue and some Indian Yellow to make my green. I really like how dark the green got. I may be able to get my values closer to what I'm seeing with these two new colors.  I also found this cute canvas size at Blick yesterday. I will be buying more.   

Carol 

Dailypaintworks.com

Dailypainters.com

Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Rays of Hope

"Rays of Hope"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

I painted a storm cloud a couple of nights ago, so tonight's offering is the antithesis. It was done using a mixture of Prussian and Ultramarine and white. That's it. I may be growing a little series based on one-color paintings. 

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Garden Waterfall

"Garden Waterfall"
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel

I was in a setting today at the Gardens of Woodstock with a waterfall, green plants and more green plants. I started out with a plan to paint them as they were, then I got tired of all the green and added color. There was no sky, the hydrangeas were green, the plant matter was green and so were the reflections in the water.  Everything was healthy ... but GREEN.  I changed it with a flick of my brush.  

Carol 

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Storm Cloud

"Storm Cloud"
5" x 7"
Oil on canvas panel

The rosy color of evening drained from the sky as a storm passed through. It came out of nowhere, and toppled a small vessel that was in its path. Then as quickly as it brewed, it was over. 

I'm drained tonight. This is painted in ivory black with enough foundation white to smear the black into a storm.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Hanging Geranium

"Hanging Geranium"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

In late spring, a basket of geraniums was hanging at eye level in my neighborhood. I saw her from afar and I knew she'd be outrageous subject matter when photographed close up. To my delight, there was even more going on than merely colorful, full-blown blossoms.  Her hanging buds enchanted me. I love summer flowers! 

I've been wanting to paint this since I shot it in April.  After painting so much green in the last few weeks, for a change of pace I treated myself to the complement of 
green.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Daniel Wright Lilies

"Daniel Wright Lilies"
10" x 8"
Oil on hardboard 

Daniel Wright offered a terrific variety of greens again today. But this week the waterlilies were visible from where I stood. I walked part way around the pond and found several other places where these aquatic ballerinas were pirouetting en masse.  

 The weather was, once again, perfect for our Sunday morning outing.  I'm getting a lot of practice painting clusters of trees.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Waning Crescent

"Waning Crescent"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel

The waning crescent, or old moon hangs in the sky when more than half the moon is in shadow.  
She's old because her lit part is decreasing and she will soon cease to be ... visible.  I love all things related to the moon. 

This fulfills the weekly challenge for DPW. The theme was to feature the moon, predominantly. You can imagine how much restraint I exercised in not submitting my own ... moon to this challenge.  I may be growing up, after all.  Perhaps I'm in my waning crescent phase.

Love,
Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Devil's Thumb Pond

"Devil's Thumb Pond"
11" x 14"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Devil's Thumb Ranch in Winter Park, Colorado is on the Continental Divide and has a small pond on site.  It's one of my most favorite places to paint.  This particular piece is a commission for someone who was married at the ranch. "Best wishes for a long and happy union!"

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

This Morning

"This Morning"
10" x 8"
Oil on hardboard

I was at the Botanic Gardens this morning while the temperature rose to 98°.  I was in the shade inside a small structure in the English Walled Garden, looking across the pond, toward an island of flowers and trees.  I've been cold for a year, so this was my kind of day.

I believe this is my first willow tree, painted especially for Therese, who asked for one.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Buddha Mask

"Buddha Mask"
8" x 10"
Oil on hardboard 

This Buddha mask was peeking from behind a wooden palm frond on the second floor of the barn at Ginger Blossom's.  I singled it out and photographed it; one of dozens of Buddhas in her collection of treasures from around the globe.

The challenge was to isolate the local color of this gleaming mask and to apply paint in a way that made it read as a shiny, smooth surface.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery  620 paintings
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Pond View

"Pond View"
6" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel 

I was at Daniel Wright pond this morning with my painting buddy. I tackled the same view as I did the last two times I was there. This is the last time I'll paint his green scene. I know It'll be fabulous in the fall, but for now, it's just to much green.  

Next week when we go I'll try a different view of the pond, or maybe a different park altogether.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Rose Tile

"Rose Tile"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard

I discovered this rose tile embedded in a piece of furniture in the barn with oriental rugs on the first floor, furniture on the third, and an astounding array of unique decorator items on the main floor.  I wandered and photographed beautiful things for an hour after I finished my plein air landscape painting, while at Ginger Blossom's.  

It was difficult to get the softly glazed edges on the hard surface of the tile. I may put in more highlights, but they weren't really there. It was a satin glaze, but that could have been due to the lighting or its age. I'll let it grow on me then decide.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Ginger Blossom's

"Ginger Blossom's"
8" x 10"
Oil on hardboard

There was so much more to see at Ginger Blossom's in Richmond, Illinois today, than this cluster of trees surrounding a small out building. So much more. But I was hell bent on applying my newly-learned tree-painting skills, so I faced the opposite direction and painted the mundane, and left the riots of colour for my peers.  

I enjoyed this exercise immensely. The temperature was comfortable, the humidity was low, and even the bugs minded their manners.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Walnut Tree

"Walnut Tree"
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel

Down the way from the scene I featured yesterday was this little walnut tree.  The light was different, as this was painted in the afternoon, but the same day as yesterday's.

I'll be painting outdoors all day today! I'll post one of them tomorrow.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Linda's Corner

"Linda's Corner"
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel

Haze veiled the distant trees like a chalkboard erased too many times. Verdant with soy and grain too tender to label, the fields stained the rolling hills in front of Linda's place.

They arrived ... my wayward paintings, that were left in Iowa. This is the first painting I did on location in South English with Andrew Orr.  I stood on a hill looking down on this vista behind Andrew, himself.  I'll be painting this scene or ones like it to reinforce his way of painting trees in a landscape.  Did I mention the bugs?

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Waterlily Study

"Waterlily Study"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard

This is another DPW Challenge photo that I used to post on that site.  I struggle to paint from other people's photos, as they don't have the same outcome in mind that I choose when I shoot my photos.  Yet, I did it.

Now here's a tidbit for you.  I left about 50 primed panels in Iowa last week when was there. Yup, a whole tote full of them, PLUS the paintings I did while I was gone. In the confusion of leaving the WONDERFUL Andrew Orr workshop, my tote apparently became invisible and eluded my final gaze.  They are being shipped to me, so in the meantime, I'm using the few remaining panels I have in my studio to make my posting deadlines.  Sheesh!

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Papaver Nudicaule

"Papaver Nudicaule"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard

My lavender poppy had opened during the first light a few mornings prior, and this was her final hour — the end of what had been a beautiful run.  She was bulbous when she first appeared, but svelte petals unfolded, revealing her gorgeous center.  Tonight would be her final appearance. She'd drop her seeds and become a fertile memory to those who had known her in her prime.

This was actually painted from a photo of a white papaver that I found early in the spring at the Botanic Gardens. I wanted to paint it while poppies were in bloom, but something else auditioned and won.   So here she is in July, none the worse for wear.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Evening Sunflower

"Evening Sunflower"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard  

Around her coffee-colored face, she wore a headdress as bright as the sun itself. Sunset having taken its final bow, the event was about to begin. No one suspected that, despite a lifetime of performing, Sunny had butterflies ... in her stomach. 

This is a painting based on the photo on this week's Dailypaintworks.com Challenge.  It's been ages since I entered one of Carol Marine's Challenges, but this one seemed like the perfect subject to paint on the Fourth of July.

Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net