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!

Spring Time at Raven Run

Spring has finally come to Kentucky and it has been beautiful. The winter was colder than usual and stayed until mid March but when spring came it arrived all at once with most of the flowering trees blooming at the same time - redbuds, weeping cherry trees, and saucer and star magnolias.

"FLOWER BOWL" 8"X12"   pastel    $185 matted

In April the woodland flowers were abundant because we had a very wet summer and fall in 2009 which hydrated the forest floor. I've been packing my pastels and paper into my daypack and dragging my easel into the forest at Raven Run Nature Park in southeast Fayette County where the wildflowers are incredible. Blooming with purple, blues and lavenders are blue-eyed Mary's, native delphinium, phlox and in the damper areas are yellow wood poppies.

I continue to be amazed at the difference between my reference photographs and the drawing that I produce on location. I'm always disappointed with the photo when I print it at home but at least I have to make any small additions to the plein air drawing.

Here is the photograph from the same site as the pastel "Flower Bowl" 

 I'll be showing new work at Cherokee Triangle Art Fair on Cherokee Parkway, booth 206 in Louisville KY April 24 & 25. Come see the new pieces from my on location adventures.

Winter Thawing

Winter is thawing, I promise. The temperature was 33 degrees when I went out to do this drawing of "Dogwood Creek Winter Thaw." See the little turfs of green sticking through the snow! 

As I set up to work the sky was still overcast and the scene was flat but I've drawn this spot before and knew it would have good color if the sun would shine for just a short time. So I worked in the initial drawing with my purple conte pastel pencil and also started adding the shapes and basic colors.

Then the sun shone for just the right amount of time to help me determine the blues, purples and cream colors as the late afternoon sun illuminated the scene.

I'll have this piece framed as a 16" x 20" at Kentucky Crafted the Market at the Louisville Fair and Expo Center March 6 & 7. Come see me in booth #310.

Redbud Festival Spring Art Fair

Winter is a good time to work in the studio while keeping an eye on the falling snow flakes. If the sun comes out this afternoon I'll be headed outside for some plein air pastelling, but in the mean time I work in my studio.

"Rocker and Quilt" was created for the Redbud Festival at Union College in Barboursville, KY April 9 & 10 which I'll be the "Feature Artist."

In anticipation of all the beautiful quilts that will be exhibited at the show I added a design from one of the quilt artist to my grandmother's quilt pattern and draped it over a handmade rocker that I bought at Cincinnati's Summerfair.

I'm also trying a new blog design in an effort to keep the copy coordinated with the images. Technology is not my thing anymore. I left my middle management position in the promotion department at the herald-leader in 2001 and I still miss the day to day contact with the really good graphic designers in our department.

Bundled up

I'm bundled up for an afternoon of drawing outdoors. Cold is cold and even though this day was warmer than last week, my toes were aching from the cold after only 45 minutes. I think it's because I sit so quietly with only my right hand moving.

But working outdoors especially in the wintertime is invigorating. I am tired of being indoors and I've always loved snow. Plus the camera does a lousy job of capturing the nuances of color that you find in the winter landscape which makes working only from reference photos disappointing. That's why I'm looking forward to a sunny but cold day tomorrow for one more day of plein air pastelling before the snow melts away.

Look for my newest pieces at Kentucky Crafted the Market in Louisville, KY at the Kentucky State Fair and Expo center March 6 & 7.

Winter Challenges

Wintertime use to mean lots of quiet work time in my studio without the distraction of the lure of the outdoors, but now that I'm crazy over plein air pastelling the winter has presented a new challenge. 


We've had a nice amount of snow in Kentucky, 4-5 inches and new snow every few days to refresh the landscapes, but it's been cold! I consider daytime temperature of 20 degrees to be pretty cold especially to drag all my drawing equipment outdoors to work on new pieces.


But with the help of my husbands toe and hand warmers and lots of layers of clothing off I went to the park close to my house. I used my biking glove on my drawing hand because the fingers are cutout of the glove and I put a nice warm winter glove on the other hand but oddly the drawing hand remained warmer because I was moving it and the other hand was not so lucky since it was holding my drawing board still.
The top image is "Dogwood Creek Morning Light" and the bottom image is "Creek in Afternoon Light." Each sketch took about 30 minutes and I took reference photos to help me complete the pieces indoors.

Trying New Things

Artists are suppose to have adventurous personalities and embrace change, but to tell you to truth, I think it's rare to find anyone who truly embraces change. So in October, when I had the opportunity to take an oil painting plein air workshop in Louisville, I hesitated. This might be HARD! I'll be out of my comfort zone which is my nice little studio with all my pastel colors neatly (yal, right!)messily arranged. Besides, it's going to be 32 degrees the morning that we're suppose to be outside dragging along our easels, oils, turpentine, canvases, paper towels,foot warmers, gloves, snacks, water. My comfortable studio was looking better and better.

But I confronted my fears/laziness and trucked off to Louisville to hear Phil Starke's Thursday evening presentation at Mellwood Art Center. Now I have to admit, I didn't make it back to the Friday session which was a blustery cold and gray day. Saturday was much nicer and although still cold I had a great time. Thanks, Katie, for talking me into this.

This is a bit of a long story to end up with the fact that none of my oils from the workshop survived my self-critique. They were for learning and I learned I was getting hooked on the freshness and quickness of outdoor, on the spot painting.

On the Monday after the workshop I met my friend Pat Lawrence for lunch and set up in her front yard in Chevy Chase, Lexington to paint the lovely light as it lit the yards and houses.

On Tuesday I was off to Bi-Water Farms in Georgetown to photograph their farm animal petting zoo and paint the north section of Elkhorn Creek which ran along the side of the farm.

What if I came back the next day with my pastels and kayak. Yep, I did it! I'm really hooked on plein air painting and of course I love my kayak. The creek is very calm in Georgetown because of the dam so I knew I would not have to contend with any rapids.

I balanced my boxes of pastels in my lap and propped the sanded paper attached to a board between my knees and the back of the kayak sitting area. I used Diane Townsend pastels which are large and thick. They are excellent to get a quick impression of the scene without trying to create all kinds of details and thus miss the gesture of the scene.

I've gone to Red River Gorge this fall for more oil painting but have been stumped by the darkness of my pieces when I view them at home in indoor light. This outdoor painting is new to me and adjusting my colors will come with practice I hope.

The next week, the ginkgo trees that line Catalpa Street in the Chevy Chase area of Lexington were in full height of color and the leaves were beginning to fall. Ginkgo's keep their color for weeks but when the time is right to lose their leaves, boy, they lose them quickly and if you're going to capture the essence of the happening you'd better be there at the right time.