Workshop Demo

"Morning Appreciation"

8x10 Oil On Board

(morning workshop demo of St Croix)

The past 3 days I've been teaching my "3 Day Plein Air" workshop down on the St Croix River near my home. What an amazing few days! I had the privilege of working with some very eager, motivated and inspired painters, what a treat! We dodged the rain and ended up with gorgeous weather. If it weren't for being near the cold springs and cooled by the sandstone it would have been too hot to be out that long, but with the river's cooling elements near by it was perfect. :)

Above is my demo I did on day 2. The colors in the original are not nearly as garish so please over look that. I'm having real issues with photography lately. . . . am working on that one! But at least you get the idea.

"Backlit Peonie"

8x6

Oil On Board

This small study I did standing in my garden. I was interested in capturing this amazingly strong Back light and the softness it radiated. It was vibrating color, life and grace!

Two White Peonies

"Two White Peonies"

Oil On Linen

I cut these TWO peonies from my front garden. I had been waiting for these to bloom and had a vision of painting a huge bunch of them. . however as it turns out, we do not have any say on when 'they' decided to bloom! :) So with that said, I give you "Two White Peonies"gracefully placed in this cool old tea pot. :) Now nauturally they have all bloomed, it has rained, and they are gone until next year, sometime in June. I hope you enjoy this beautiful moment of blooming as much as I do!

Painting Peonies!

Painting Peonies. . . with a cat. . .

This is my studio at home where I've been working since the kids have been off for summer vacation. . . vacation for THEM. ;) We did get out and paint the river last night which was gorgeous but I plan to do as many still life pieces as possible this summer as the seasonal flowers change. I've always wanted to take the time to do this and I think this will be the summer! It all started with the lilacs. . . . . so here we go!

. . now to get a descent photo of this painting close up

Robin's Egg Blue

"Robin's Egg Blue"

Oil On Linen

I have this little wooden blue bird in my kitchen that I just love, so I decided to paint it! My kids found this abandoned nest in a pine tree in our yard and the eggs were off an old Easter decoration. It's a little more 'whimsical' than I normally paint but I just love the colors in this. You can't see the texture very well in the image but there are many layers of scraped on and off paint on the table top surface. It was fun creating depth in this area.