May Flowers

"White Peonies"    12"x16"    matted and framed $285

May provides so many opportunities for on location work. Each evening I check the weather report to see if the sun will be shining and if I need to get more pastel paper ready and snack food located. 


I'm finding plein air work invigorating but also nerve wracking. Often I feel like I need to be in two places at once - outdoors capturing that single moment in time and indoors attending to art business or studio work. But if the sun is shining I usually chose outdoors since capturing so many beautiful places is a fleeting endeavor.


One of my newest pieces is of white peonies at the Henry Clay Estate - Ashland, here in Lexington, KY. By working on location I can feel the fragile beauty of these flowers and see the details, but capturing details is not my purpose with this work. I want to create the feeling of energy and the fragility of these flowers. I chose quick strokes, a limited color palette and the simple gray background of the paper.


I'll be showing this piece and many other new drawings at the Broad Ripple Art Fair in Indianapolis, IN May 15 & 16.

Along with the pull of on location artwork I am also participating in a public art project called Horse Mania. 76 artists have been chosen to decorate full size fiberglass horses which will be shown around the Lexington, KY area starting in July, through the World Equestrian Games and then auction off in November.


My accepted idea is "SAW(yier)HORSE which is a tribute to Paul Sawyier, a locally famous watercolor artist from the 1900s. I reproduced 7 of his paintings on the horse and as a special treat to the small children, I hid various amphibians, snakes and animals on the underneath parts of the horse. Little children are always looking under things and I think they'll find it fun to see a snake on the belly of the horse as well a wide-eyed mouse etc. The image on the blog is the beginning of my project which has taken 3 weeks to complete.


In my next blog I'll show you the completed piece. Stay tuned!