Cloud Kisses

"Cloud Kisses"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel

A bank of puffy clouds kissed the springtime sky like the soft, sweet lips of lovers.  Gentle breezes blew them across the hills and valleys of the countryside, tickling their way from one end of the county to the other.

Carol

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Morning Dew

"Morning Dew"

Verdant fields, glazed with dew-covered Queen Anne's Lace, emitted a pungent fragrance of carrots as the morning sun rolled across the hills.  

I'm wrapping up a string of house portraits from a flurry of sales during the spring market. While I paint commission pieces I'll offer another sky painting for your viewing pleasure. 

Carol

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Daniel Wright Pond

"Daniel Wright Pond"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard

I painted today in the Daniel Wright Woods with friends. The week had been cold and grey, but this morning for our first excursion into painting en plein air, the universe saw fit to grant us a day worthy of our efforts.  Sun shone on the trees, the algae rimming the pond and our skin when we got to take off our jackets.

I hadn't painted outdoors in a year and a half. I felt clumsy and untrained. What was I thinking?  But that's the point. I need to get comfortable painting outdoors for the workshops I'll be taking in Iowa and Indiana this season.  I'll find my way back to my roots... painting the many shades of green indicative of summer in Illinois.

Carol

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Walleye Heaven

"Walleye Heaven"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 

When my friend saw this painting, he exclaimed, "Walleye Heaven."  A fisherman, for certain, that man! 

This sky painting doesn't fit the criteria for my panel of them that I'll be assembling for my show in July.  The horizon is to high, but Ken liked it, it must be just right.

Carol

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Raspberry Pansy

"Raspberry Pansy"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Pansies are thriving in the coolness of our spring in Illinois this year. I've seen and photographed many new specimens for my painting pleasure, including this raspberry colored one, that looked good enough to ... eat. 

Carol 

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Crescent Rollers II

"Crescent Rollers II"
6" x 30"
Watercolor on paper 

Here is another painting of mine that I found at a collector's home a couple of weeks ago.  I remember painting it on a long scrap of Arches watercolor paper.  

Carol

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Orchid Sisters

"Orchid Sisters"
22" x 30"
Watercolor on paper

The orchid sisters struck their pose in front of a tangle of stripes, never thinking for a moment that she'd snap their photo. 

Here's one of my vintage watercolors for your enjoyment while I continue to paint commission house portraits.

Carol

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Smoldering

"Smoldering"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

The sun nestled into a mango-coloured scoop of clouds as another day melted away.  

Here's another sky for my panel of skies.  I have plenty to choose from now, but I enjoy painting them.  

Carol

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Some Kind of Posy

"Some Kind of Posy"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

I walked my usual path around the Botanic Gardens and shot this flower mid-way through my three-hour session. I did not, however, manage to get the tag that identified this flower into the photo.  I do that with new-to-me flowers, so I can learn more about them. Not this time, though.  It was more pure white, as I recall.  I embellished the colour painted here with a wee bit of creative license.  The green center was true to the pretty posy — a cross between a poppy and a peony and a sweet pea.

If you know what kind of flower this is, please be so kind as to let me know.  Pretty-posy-please :-)

Carol

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Dots, a Lot of Dots!

"Dots, a Lot of Dots!"
24" x 30"
Acrylic on watercolor board.

Here's another piece from a collector. I made a device that resembled a Q-Tip out of fabric and dabbed one dot at a time to create this geometric image. The dots are layered one on top of another to create each colour. It would have taken many boxes of Q-tips and a lot of fuzz removal to do it with the commercial device, but this took only one, carefully made tool and no residual lint. 

Thank you for your patience while I paint house portraits.

Carol

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Cloudy and Cool

"Cloudy and Cool"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

The field of soybeans had been plowed under by the time the first nip of autumn stung my skin.  The weeds in the field next to the black dirt were sporting golds and bronzes to carry them through to spring.  The scrub trees were holding onto their leaves for as long as they could. It would be a long, cold winter. 

Thankfully, winter no longer resides in my zip code. The magnolias are nearly finished blooming, rosebushes have leaves the size of teaspoon bowls and the lilacs are about to atomize their fragrance at the pulse points of my neighborhood.

Carol

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Crescent Rollers

"Crescent Rollers"
22" x 30"
Watercolor on paper 

I traveled to the home of one of my collectors over the weekend and saw several pieces of my art that I hadn't documented. I thought you might enjoy seeing them while I continue to paint house portraits. 

There was a time when either marbles, checks or crescents were in every painting. This one had some of each.

Carol

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Four Hands

"Four Hands"
23" x14"
Oil on hardboard

My friends have been encouraging me to paint the figure. "How different can it be from a closeup of a flower?" they've asked.  When one of them provided me with this photo that he took, I recognized the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl.  This was an exercise in observing the relationship between colors, values and edges.  I'm amazed at how similar it was to painting, for instance, a rose.  I hope to do more. 

Except for a few pregnancy portraits I've not painted a figure or anything like this before. I'll improve ... if I continue.

Carol

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