Reaching Shadows

"Reaching Shadows"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel

The sun had risen above the horizon as I walked into the woods that morning. It cast spidery shadows down the hillside where tobogganers would soon be making their own paths.  

I painted the sky and snow over a black canvas panel, then used my rubber-tipped "Colour Shaper" to sculpt the tree trunks and branches in the wet paint. This is my last post for this year. 2014 was a year of exploration, realization and clarity. Thank you for each part you contributed to.

Carol

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Winding Path

"Winding Path"
12" x 12"
Pastel on canvas panel

The late afternoon sunlight shone through the spidery branches and cast a nifty diagonal shadow on the path that zigged and zagged through the Japanese Garden in Rockford.

I photographed it from several angles and will probably paint it again and again.

Carol

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Trout Stream

"Trout Stream"
8" x 8"
Pastel on canvas panel

I watched a movie last night after I finished painting and posting my missive for the night.  It had some beautiful scenery in it, so I pointed my camera at the TV screen and captured half a dozen images of things I want to paint. This is one of them. 

I've seen trout streams like this in Colorado, but this one happens to have been in Oregon.  I'd love to go to Oregon some day, even if it's just to drive through and take photos. Anyone want to take me on a subject matter trip?

Carol

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Streaming Amethyst

"Streaming Amethyst"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 

The sky reflected an amethyst quality onto the stream in front of me. I was tempted to wade into it with a fine mesh net to gather  the precious booty. 

I love how water takes on the colors of what surrounds it and is in it. Here, I considered the sky, weeds, trees and rocks as I painted.

Carol

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Castlewood Canyon

"Castlewood Canyon"
12" x 9"
Pastel on black canvas

I wandered around Castlewood Canyon in Colorado to enjoy a completely different kind of landscape from where I live. The rocks were plentiful and large, the trees were not placed in the ground by landscapers. This was nothing like Illinois.  

I managed to make the rocks look solid, so I'm going to try another couple of paintings of the same area.

Carol

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Heartwoods

"Heartwoods"
6" x 6"
Ink on paper

The heart theme continues with my Zentangle series, this time with a landscape theme. Rolling hills and a couple of trees fill the center of the needle-covered heart. 

I have a few more heart ideas to explore before I move on to other themes for my Saturday drawings.

Carol

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Slender Reflections

"Slender Reflections"
7" x 2"
Pastel on paper

My view across the stream was interesting in only one slender strip. Boulders jutted into the water, slicing what beauty that was there in half. But they also added interest in the middle ground, so I included them in my little study. 

I paint many of my pastel paintings on sanded French watercolor paper scraps that I saved from when I painted only in watercolor. They sand beautifully, then I tone the paper with a magenta and a sapphire that I again sand into the paper, then brush off.

Carol

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Winding Through

"Winding Through" 
6.5" x 9.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The stream turned a corner and wound between some trees before it widened enough to create a sandy shore on one bank. It was full of footprints the morning I saw it, none of which imprinted a branded tread or logo. 

Carol

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Ruddy Wheat

"Ruddy Wheat"
4" x 5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The field of wheat had taken on the complexion of a roasted chicken, or a marshmallow on a stick before it bursts into flame. I knew it would not be waving in this field the next week when I drove past.

It was fun to depict the different areas of colour in the field on this small painting. Nearly as fun as making the thin line of fence with my stick of pastel. I love this crazy medium.

Carol

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Happened Upon It

"Happened Upon It"
6.5" x 9.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

As I exited the canopy of a dense pine forest I happened upon the verdant bank of this pond. I photographed the scene for future reference and maundered back in amongst the sticky tree trunks and the needle-covered floor. 

Carol

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Rock Pile

"Rock Pile"
4.5" x 5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The sky, trees, rocks and weeds intrigue me when I visit my friends in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  The shapes and colors are so different from what we see here on the suburban prairie. 

As I have mentioned before, I am repainting some of the subject matter I've painted in oil and acrylic in pastel. I find it very satisfying.

Carol

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Long Fields

"Long Fields"
1.5" x 6.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The Iowa landscape still resonates with me long after I visited there in July. This tiny painting reminds me how the fields looked, demarcated with trees and shrubs, like stitching between strips of fabric on a quilt. 

Carol

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Further Along the Way

"Further Along the Way"
5" x 7"
Pastel on sanded paper

As I continued on my imaginary journey, I came to a place along the Snake River where mountains stacked against one another in a variety of shapes and colors.  

Here's another offering in pastel as I work on my huge sweetheart cabbage painting. She will be ready in a few days.

Carol

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Sunbeams

"Sunbeams"
7.5" x 10.5"
Pastel on paper

My path through the hazy pine forest was lit by a swath of sunlight. The sunbeams streaked between trunks and boughs to entice me to a particular spot, right over ... there.  

Pastels were my medium of choice today as I looked at subject matter from a recent trip. 

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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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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Chicory Ridge

"Chicory Ridge"
4" x 4"
Oil on canvas panel

Parading right through the middle of the field where I walked my dog the other day was a brazen blue streak of chicory, or corn flowers. August is their time to bloom, but I wasn't expecting to see them there. I'm used to their presence alongside the road, instead. 

Another little cutie on my four inch canvas.

Carol

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Fel Pro Pond

"Fel Pro Pond"
10" x 8"
Oil on hardboard

I painted en plein air today in the county west of here. It was the perfect summer morning and the best place to stand was also lit beautifully. The wildlife around the pond acclimated to my presence, after a bit.  The turtles climbed back on the logs, frogs on the grassy bank and two sand hill cranes even made an appearance. They are TALL birds ... a foot shorter than I am!  

I saw signs of more leaves changing color today. Soon this season of green paintings will be in the past. I just hope I can bundle up enough to stand in the cold to enjoy what's coming.

Carol

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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

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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

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