Stairways to the Moon

"Stairways to the Moon"
16" x 12"
Oil on hardboard

I painted away from home today and didn't manage to import my reference photo properly into my iPad, so I had to paint something that evolved from nothing. A friend gave me a RayMar panel so I toned it in umber, then drew a few lines and squeezed out two blues, two yellows and two reds. I softened the edges with my mop brush and this is what came of the donated canvas panel after 90 minutes.  

During the critique, someone mentioned that it looked like stairways to heaven … from any direction. I thought heaven was a stretch, but the moon was a possibility.

Carol

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Black Man

"Black Man"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

A friend sent me a photo of a black man he photographed, and I wanted to… to… paint him. The painting is a lot nicer than the photo of it.  I want to paint more people. I need models!  

I painted this in a couple of hours, mostly dealing with the hand. The color of the flesh came easily. the jeans were a lot of fun. And the color is dead on when you see it in person. I'd love to give my man a name, but he arrived without one. What name would you give him?

Carol

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My Friend

"My Friend"
8" x 8"
Oil on hardboard

My daughter sent a photo to me today with "My Friend" in the subject line. I thought it was going to be a photo of someone she works with. Not even close. It was something growing in her yard. Something purple and very much in keeping with her taste in flowers. I'm honoring her with a painting of her "friend." A portrait, of sorts. For you, my dear Natalie. 

Love,
Mom

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Japanese Painted Fern

"Japanese Painted Fern"
12" x 16"
Pastel on canvas panel

I photographed these ferns last year and forgot about them. But when I got my pastels out again, I realized this would be the perfect subject matter.  

Carol

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"Geraniums"

"Geraniums"
6" x 6"
Pastel on canvas 

This is a quick study of the pot of geraniums I painted yesterday.  I had a small canvas with me and decided to make good use of it to figure out my colors.

Carol

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Anita's Hat

"Anita's Hat"
12" x 16"
Pastel on canvas panel

I painted with friends today. We each brought something to add to the still life. The bird was mine. I hadn't painted with pastels in a couple of months, so this was a freeing and exciting day for me. I didn't even think about whether or not it would be difficult. I just jumped in with both feet — like I live my life. 

I'm going to a pastel workshop in a week to learn to make my own pastels. I'll be with my new friends in the Chicago Pastel Painters group. We met for the first time and they put me on a committee already.  "…both feet," as I said above.

Carol

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Niagara Falls

"Niagara Falls"
10" x 8"
Oil on hardboard

A friend took a trip to Niagara Falls over the weekend and sent photos to me.  It was fun to paint the cascading water in the colors that appeared on his photos. I remember seeing the falls as a teen, back when the falls had nearly dried up. The water source seemed to be mightily replenished this year.  

I enjoyed painting something completely different from anything I've ever done.  What fun!

Carol

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Moonlit

"Moonlit"
24" x 24"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Two years ago, to the day, I photographed this peony on my way to work. She was in the yard where all the white roses would eventually bloom along the white picket fence. She appears to be moonlit, therefore, the title. And if you know me at all, I adore the moon. 

This year the peonies are still in the "marble" stage. Mine won't be blooming for a while yet. I'm glad I had a photo to satisfy my longings for today's effort.

Carol

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Blue Bonnet

"Blue Bonnet"
7" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

I did this quick study of a Blue Bonnet while I was waiting for a large toned canvas to dry. The structure of this kind of flower is not what I normally paint, but since I got to see it in person, I thought I'd document it for posterity.   

The canvas I toned is for a peony painting. I'm starting  a 24"x24" inch pink one.  It should be fun to paint — a month before we'll even see one in bloom.  I'm thankful I've taken lots of good photos.

Carol

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Texas Blue Bonnets

"Texas Blue Bonnets"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

This afternoon, despite the cold weather, and being in want of a diversion, I made my first trip of the year to the Botanic Gardens. I took 246 photos and some of them were of … yup, Texas Blue Bonnets.  I never expected to see them with my own eyes, nor to smell them or touch them, but there they were on this, the 17th of May.  Who knew they could grow in Illinois?  Or would even … want to. They smelled faintly like my childhood memory of cattle silage. Oh, the memories those blue flowers dredged up when I inhaled.  I'll look for them every year now that I know they'll come to my zip code.   

I usually take about three hundred photos during a two hour excursion, so today was a light day. But there wasn't that much TO photograph for a girl who likes to paint whorled flowers. Although, the ranunculus were fabulous. They just have way too many petals.  There are, however, about 100,000 springtime flowers in bloom right now — worth the membership.

Carol

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Autumn Dahlia

 "Autumn Dahlia"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

This rusty kind of yellow dahlia was prevalent on an autumn visit to the Botanic Gardens. The shadows were deep, some cool, some warm and the highlights glanced off the tips and edges beautifully. 

Carol

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Sunshine and Shadow

"Sunshine and Shadow"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Something cast a shadow across the petals of the yellow rose the morning I went to the Botanic Gardens to shoot subject matter. I didn't realize it until I got home and imported the images from my camera. I would have found the culprit and moved it, had I noticed while I was there. As it stands, the shadow gives this pretty little bloom somewhat of a tattoo. 

Carol 

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All Accounted For

"All Accounted For"
5" x 7"
Oil on hardboard

When I checked, I could see every one of the colors of the rainbow in that night's sky. Roy G. Biv was present and accounted for over the hills with a river between them. 

This was a fun series to do, these past seven paintings. I did them in one day in order to be able to post while I did a little traveling.  I'm back now, and working on something entirely different.  You'll see…

Carol

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Complements

"Complements"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

It was fun to watch the sky demonstrate direct complementary colors before my eyes the other night. What better place to do such a demo than the pretty big sky over the plains. 

Carol

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Primary Strata

"Primary Strata"
5" x 5" 
Oil on hardboardIt was

I sometimes wonder if anyone has the ability to read the story that's depicted in a colorful sky like this? What wisdom is being imparted? What warnings? What are we missing by not knowing the language of the sky?

So many questions, so few answers. 

Carol

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Sunrise Ridge

"Sunrise Ridge"
4" x 4" 
Oil on hardboard

The color in the morning sky flowed over the mountains, bathing them in luscious light as a family of pine trees watched. 

Carol

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Lifting Fog

"Lifting Fog"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

The fog burned off pretty quickly once the sun was up, but I got to see it against the distant trees, where it appeared to snuggle until the last possible minute. 

Carol

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Marsh Reflections

"Marsh Reflections"
4" x 4" 
Oil on hardboard

As morning peeked over the tree line she sloshed some of her magnificent color onto the marsh, for just a few short minutes.  

Here's a tiny little painting for while I work on a large piece. 

Carol

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Day's End

"Day's End"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard 

It was a beautiful, fiery end to the day. The dust would settle and it would be time to rest. 

Enjoy this series of small paintings while I work on a large rose. 

Carol

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Come Home

"Come Home"
5" x 7"
Oil on hardboard

There are places without houses that feel like home. Where comfort comes easily, thoughts never roil or distort. This place is one of them, and tonight I found comfort in painting this place that beckons … come home. 

Here's my favorite Colorado pond again. It brings me such comfort and joy.

Love,
Carol

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Spring at the Divide

"Spring at the Divide"
7" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

The Continental Divide near Winter Park, Colorado  is one of my favorite places to paint. Here it is in a spring green version of my normal late-summer take on it. 

Carol

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Lantern Bearing Pierrots

"Lantern Bearing Pierrots"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

I tackled a project that was over my head, yet I finished it. The original Maxfield Parrish painting from 1910, done in a very limited palette, has always intrigued me, so I thought I'd try to make a modern day version of it. Well, it was tough. I'm being brave in revealing my effort, but realize it is merely that… an effort.  

Carol

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Good Night Kiss

"Good Night Kiss"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

Saturday scooped all of the color she collected from that day's sky and poured it into the lake — her lipsticked-kiss to bid him good night.

I hope to have the Lantern painting finished by tomorrow. 

Carol

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Wispy Dawn

"Wispy Dawn"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

The sun was ready to peek through the low-lying clouds as I drove past the glimmer of a lake in the distance. If I had had a pole with me, I might have found my way to the shore and drowned a couple of worms.  

My "Lantern Bearers" painting, in the style of Maxfield Parrish is taking longer still than I expected. The faces and hands are the problems. I may give each pierrot a balloon head and mittened hands and call it a day.

Carol

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Adrift in Passion

"Adrift in Passion"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

The color wouldn't last but a few heartbeats longer, so we stopped what we were doing and watched.  We absorbed the warmth and light of the moment then continued on, tending to the mundane aspects of our lives with renewed energy. 

I fabricated this sky tonight, to have something to post while I finish a larger piece that is taking longer than planned. It was painted purely from passion and remembering a sky that looked like this.

Carol

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Stacked

"Stacked"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

I hobbled barefooted across the smooth limestone rocks on the Lake Michigan beach, up on the northern shore of Door County, Wisconsin. For the most part, the rounded stones washed ashore and scattered randomly along a specific stretch of beach. But I found a cluster of them that had been stacked — by hands. Chubby, cherubic hands.  

The stones are so sensual. You can hear them before you see them as they rattle up to and away from the shore. They are a pale dove gray and feel like something you'd purchase in a spa shoppe to fondle away your woes.  They're so unique that they'r protected by law. You can't remove them from the beaches. None.  Just photos…

Carol

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