Blue Balls

"Blue Balls"
11" x 14"
Watercolor on paper

I visited a home over the weekend where many of my paintings were displayed.  Even thought I didn't paint while away, I have paintings to show to you anyway.  

This is a watercolor from a time when crescents and spheres were a predominant theme in my paintings.

Carol

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Monkey See

"Monkey See"
5" x 5"
Graphite on paper

Once I got accustomed to holding the art pencils I couldn't put them down. I began drawing everything I saw. I saw a photo of this little guy and couldn't help myself.

Carol

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Meg's Leg

"Meg's Leg"
8" x 8"
Graphite on paper

Meg was a model in the life drawing session I'm taking in an art center near where I live.  Even though the pose was comfortable for Meg, the only thing I really nailed was her left leg.  

When the opportunity presented itself, I saw the merit in attending the open studio, without an instructor. I've never done this before. I'm entirely new to drawing the figure from life. I wasn't classically trained. At this late stage of my life I'm trying the things I missed when I pursued chemistry rather than art.

Carol

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Rose Wild Rose

"Rose Wild Rose"
7" x 7"
Pastel on paper

I found a bush of wild roses during the season and shot some photos of the blooms. I did't know these simple flowers would be perfect for me to try my first pastel of a rose... not too many petals. I have one warm pink pastel, a red and an orange so there was a lot of mixing of color to get what I was seeing in my photo. Good practice, I suppose.  

I met with the Princeton Brush representatives today. They're going to send some additional brushes to me so I don't have to use just one. They would like me to be fluent in Catalyst before they film me in a few weeks.  It was a productive and fun meeting.

Carol

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Love Stamp, Lamp and Lace

"Love Stamp, Lamp and Lace"
16" x 12"
Watercolor on paper

I found this painting in my archives while I was cleaning my studio these past couple of days.  It's a watercolor from when that was the only medium I knew. Today I know a few more ways to express myself. 

I'm cleaning instead of painting because a crew from the Princeton Artist Brush Company of Princeton, New Jersey is coming to my studio on Thursday to meet me, see my studio space and prepare to make a video of me painting with their Catalyst paintbrush.  I raved about their #4 Polytip Bristle brush a couple of weeks ago and the adventure began right about then.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Carol

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English Walled Garden

"English Walled Garden"
7" x 10"
Pastel on paper

I painted at the Chicago Botanic Gardens this morning. The light was brilliant, the air was autumnal, and it was a beautiful day to be there.  Plein air doesn't get better than this.  

I'm learning as I go with this wonderful medium.  And I'm so thankful I didn't ignore the opportunity to explore it.  I have to thank my friend Ken Lutgen for inspiring me during a plein air session earlier this summer.  He doesn't even know it's entirely his fault.

Carol

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Neighborly

"Neighborly"
5" x 7"
Pastel on paper

I had a tree, you had some rope and I tumbled for you the afternoon we constructed our swing. We soared and sang and laughed on that swing until you moved away.  

I'm testing my abilities with pastel on paper.  Tonight's challenge was to make fine lines using thick sticks.  I seem to have done it.  I particularly enjoyed making the wire on the fence.  

Carol

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Sundown

"Sundown"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 

There aren't too many evenings when the sky hands us a platter of primary colours, but this evening was one of them. I enjoyed the brief moments of this show of colour before dark.

I had these colors on my palette and wanted to use them before they crusted-over. It's a pretty dramatic red, yellow, blue sky painting.  One I'll add to my collection.

Carol

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Evening Pines

"Evening Pines"
8" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

As the sun sank, the sky turned one of those food colors. You know — salmon, melon, mango, peach. It was a handsome backdrop for the lacy pines in my neighborhood. 

This little painting was done on a pretty textured panel. It looks good in person, but not fab in the photo.

Carol

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Divvied Up

"Divvied Up"
5" x 7"
Oil on hardboard 

The crops, no longer merely green, divvied up the distance like a child's gameboard. Night was coming. Time for a rollicking game of Kamisado.

I'm delighted with the changing colors of this season. It makes for more interesting landscapes.

Carol

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Wave Good-bye

"Wave Good-bye"
6" x 8"
Pastel on paper

I found a photo of a wave that appealed to me for its colour and shape. I'm not comfortable with waves that are this large, but I like them when they're dry and stopped mid-curl, like this one.  

Pastel seems to be a part of my life now. I guess I'd better take a lesson or two to see if I'm doing it right.

Carol

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Blithe Spirit

"Blithe Spirit"
16" x 20"
Oil on wrapped canvas 

A trip to my local farmers' market showcased the season's brightest and best of the season. Yet the cabbages were not the colors I wanted, so I imagined one in something other than ... green.  

Actually, I didn't have to imagine this one, I photoshopped a green one and made her outrageously colorful and whimsical.  I painted her petals without the veins then added them when I was sure I wouldn't back out of my decision.  I'm kind of liking it.  Now I wish I had some bacon, I'd fry it up and make a nice warm dinner for tonight.  

Carol

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Pines in the Fog

"Pines in the Fog"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

Morning was about to burn off the fog that had hugged a stand of pines throughout the night. It wasn't much, but the breath of moisture that the low-slung cloud afforded sustained those living things another day.

I derived quite a bit of pleasure as I made up this little painting. I've been to a place like this, all crunchy and parched, and recalled it through the tip bristles of my brush.

Carol

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Sunday With Daniel

"Sunday With Daniel"
9" x 12"
Pastel on paper

I went with my painting pals to the Daniel Wright Woods again, but this time, instead of taking my oil paints, I brought a box of pastels and a pad of colored paper. I began painting on the textured side of a sheet and hated it. I untaped it, folded it and stuffed it into my Ed Hardy backpack.  I flipped the paper to the smoother side and redrew what I had already planned. The guys had a good head start on me, but I managed to finish all but a few waterlilies by quitting time.  

I'm enjoying pastels about as much as any medium I've tried.  Even though I've posted others, this is my second pastel painting.

Carol

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Flower Field

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

The shade tree, plunked squarely in the center of the field, cradled a plethora of wildflowers in its shady places. 

Carol 

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Fragmented

"Fragmented"
14" x 18"
Oil on wrapped canva

I began today's painting in a similar style as yesterday's effort, but in oil.   The background was painted and I began making chiseled strokes that I sort of liked. So I abandoned the thought of trying to make an oil painting of what I had done in acrylic and just let this evolve. 

Carol

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The Tempest

"The Tempest"
16" x 20"
Acrylic on wrapped canvas

I felt compelled to paint something tempestuous tonight, so I put a large canvas on my easel and squeezed out a limited palette of acrylic paints. I directed my frustrated bewilderment into this very fluid and tumultuous piece, and within two hours I felt a lot better.  

I like how this turned out, so I'm going to try it in oil, possibly tomorrow.

Carol

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Daniel Wright, Overcast

"Daniel Wright, Overcast"
12" x 9"
Pastel on paper

Autumn made an appearance at the woods today. For the most part, the trees and shrubs have settled into their final, seasonal selection of green, but one shrub had already tried on her fall attire. She wore it proudly, despite the warning that she'd also probably be the first to lose her fancy garb. 

I sat at pond-side with my pastels on a small table next to me to capture the essence of the woods on this overcast day. One of my friends will be going back to Arizona, so this was his last hurrah for the season.

Carol

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Me

"Me"
12" x 9"
Pencil on paper

It was the sixties — now I'm IN my sixties!  I wanted a bentwood rocker and the only way to get the money for it was to join a band and dance ...  at the Playmore Ballroom in Fort Dodge, Iowa. One night of dancing paid for the chair.  I was a go-go girl and loved every minute of it. 

This is a piece to satisfy the Dailypaintworks "Paint Yourself Young" Challenge.  Fortunately, I have photos of me at this age that were taken by a photographer in the art department at the TV station where I worked.

Carol

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Oceanside Beach at Sunset

"Oceanside Beach at Sunset"
6" x 9"
Pastel on paper

There were lots of people still on the beach as the sun dipped into the Pacific. The wet sand reflected pink as the foamy surf receded.  How different from the rocky, cold beaches of Lake Michigan I'm accustomed to.  

Pastel number four. I'm learning a lot with each attempt at making art with these chubby, sticks of product.

Carol

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Oceanside Sunset

"Oceanside Sunset"
5" x 7"
Pastel on paper

Friends are on the west coast and sending me photos of their adventure. This is last night's sunset. Tomorrow's post will be a beach scene. I painted them both today.  

This is my third pastel painting. I can't tell you how fun it is to use a dry medium and no brushes to make art.

Carol

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Morrison Sky

"Morrison Sky"
5" x 7"
Oil on panel

A friend sent me several photos he took of the sky while he was in the Peruvian Amazon. Thank you, John. I hope your film captures all you hope it will.

I'm happy to paint sky after finishing a difficult piece like the one I posted yesterday.

Carol

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Farmers' Market

"Farmers' Market"
24" x 24"
Oil on museum wrapped canvas

I gathered this produce at our local farmers' market a couple of weekends ago to arrange for a painting, and to eat. I had originally placed my plastic moose in the upper right hand corner, thinking I'd make the "autumn" version of "Toulouse, Your Moose Is Loose,"  but as the painting progressed, my darling moose looked out of place. Not quite as handsome as he looked in the first painting. So I gathered some sunflowers, stuck them in my daffodil pitcher and finished it with sunshine in that corner, like a child's drawing, instead.  

I will be submitting this painting to be juried with another, in this year's Recent Works competition. I'll let you know as results come in, whether or not my paintings are juried into the show, or not.

Carol

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Hillside Trees

"Hillside Trees"
4" x 4"
Oil on canvas panel

Imagine, if you will, what this hill would be like in, say, February.  As I paint it, it goes through a phase of February-ishness.  The trees are barren sticks, an armature for the final form. Then I dapple on the leaves and voila, a change of season, and another cutie pie in my little landscape series. 

Carol

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Land Quilt

"Land Quilt"
4" x 4"
Oil on canvas panel

Crops zigged and zagged over the hills of the countryside like a crazy quilt draped over curvy aunt Marlena. Scrub trees and fences delineated the boundaries like a decorative stitching to the seam lines. 

I loved painting this little remembrance of the Iowa farmland.

Carol

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Violaceous Velvet

"Violaceous Velvet"
12" x 12" 
Oil on wrapped canvas

Her petals unfurled from the tight, yellow bud at her core, to the violaceous milkiness of her velvety corolla. 

It's been months since I've painted a rose, but not for lack of interest. I got bogged down in landscapes and house portraits, but today my heart needed to be involved with my favorite subject matter, no matter what.

Carol

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Heavenly Hollyhock

"Heavenly Hollyhock"
11" x 14"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Holly's ruffled petticoat fluttered in the sunlit garden like Marilyn's white "subway" dress in "The Seven Year Itch." 

I painted this heavenly hollyhock tonight in one sitting, ala prima, and with ONE brush. I normally use about eight to ten brushes during a painting. This one would have required more.  I purchased a brush on Friday that has realized my every painting fantasy. It's a number 4 Princeton Catalyst, a totally synthetic, polytip bristle brush. It was billed to remain responsive with water-based paint. I paint with water miscible oils, so I thought I'd try one; their smallest brush. This painting fairly painted itself as I willed the brush to do things I normally only dream possible. Wow. I want more of these!

Carol

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Golden Hour

"Golden Hour"
8" x 10"
Oil on hardboard

The sky was glorious. The light burnished every surface with a metallic sheen. It was magical, that transitory time before dark. 

I saw a painting of sky similar to this and added elements of my own to adorn the foreground.

Carol

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Pond Scum

"Pond Scum"
9" x 12"
Pastel on paper 

On Thursday I painted at the edge of this pond where the light was incredible and the subject matter was luscious.  Before I painted, I photographed one hundred images so that I would be able to paint beautiful things when the weather gets snowy and bleak.  Then what did I go and do today, on this perfectly nice August day in Illinois?  I dipped into my stash and painted from one of the photos.  But wait ... there's more!  

I painted with pastels. This is news! I've never even touched a pastel before, let alone make a piece of art with those thick, chalky sticks. I taught myself to use them, and you are witness to this, my maiden voyage, my numero uno, my inaugural offering.

Carol

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