Garden Triptych

These three pastel paintings started in the garden on an easel set up in the driveway....en plein air. Then, months later, they moved to the studio to be finished. It was a wonderfully successful garden of annuals with a few exotic tropicals thrown in; castor bean plant,  dahlias, cannas. This little garden was alive with butterflies, bees and hummingbirds all summer. It's all over now; their frost-blackened bodies pushed into my compost bins.  Situated right in the middle of a rather tight driveway, I spent the summer defending my plants' right to exist in proximity to concrete trucks, numerous building crews, weed whacking kamikaze teenagers and the speed-demon UPS man. Survive it did and bloomed brilliantly right up to October 13th....and 27 degrees!

SOLD  10 x 10, 10 x 14, 10 x 10in. (25.4 x 25.4, 25.4 x 35, 25.4 x 25.4cm)

Now I am trying to decide how to frame these three paintings; separately? together? color frame? Some paintings paint themselves...not these 3 and they're not going to jump into stock frames, either.... decisions, decisions, decisions. Any ideas? Tell me what you think...and thanks for looking.

Barbara with a dahlia behind her ear.

On a recent trip to Pennsylvania two of my friends volunteered to sit for their portraits. This is the more successful of the two charcoal drawings. I'll try again to capture some of the charm & style of my other friend. My friends are good sports, besides being smart, confident darling women. This drawing took about 45 minutes.

Svelte Model with Big Hat

As I approached The River Gallery School of Art on the last day of the summer portraiture classes,  I saw a stylish woman wearing a cute black dress and a huge hat, carrying a big shiny black hat box. She strolled quickly down the sidewalk in front of me. I was hoping she was our model that day. This is one of the two charcoal drawings I made of her. Some people are just so very interesting to draw.

Yellowstone NP photograph by rodrica tilley

On another front, I just returned from Montana where I completed three more Fifty State Paintings. It was a fabulous week amongst the mountain tops, wolves, mountain bluebirds, elk, bison and wildflowers of Yellowstone Park. Aside from a little smoke in the air it was a perfect week for plein air painting. Check it out here and join the mailing list for that blog while you are there. Only 15 more states, so you won't be swamped with emails.

Dozing model

Yes, the afternoon was hot and we were all sleepy. How do models ever stay awake, anyway? I was  almost nodding off and I was standing at my easel, moving around....a little. This is another vine charcoal on some mystery drawing paper that I found in my studio, made during my weekly portrait class at River Gallery School of Art.

Little Bitty Pretty One

I returned to my stuffy little studio after a few days of travel painting wondering what I would paint next. As I opened my door this is what I saw. One of my homely little prickly cacti had turned into a butterfly and it was begging for all my attention...Right Now! 

I might be working on a new series: Windowsill Bloomers. Stay tuned.

Portraiture Class

The River Gallery School of Art offered 5 afternoons in July of portrait class with Jason Alden instructing. The class is full at eight students and our feverish labors are taxing the "air conditioner". We are all struggling with our own goals and abilities. The school does not promote one style of work over another. It encourages students to explore various styles and mediums and find their own individual method of expression. That said, we all worked in charcoal on newsprint yesterday. We were being encouraged to see the overall structure, proportion and direction of the face, skull, neck. This is my 35 minute drawing of the model's head. Having a few hours perspective on it makes me see some things I could have done better, but I still like it. I think I am falling in love with portrait work again after many years away. Do I have any sitters?

Retreat Waters

These quiet waters are on the property of Brattleboro Retreat, a 620 acre mental health and addictions treatment hospital. It is the shallows just where the West River joins the Connecticut River. The public uses these vast and picturesque waters year-round; canoeing, kayaking, ice fishing, cross country skiing. And it has been the subject of many a painting and photograph, which did not stop me from joining a small group of plein air painters on a recent Wednesday morning. We were invited to set up our easels on the lawn of a private residence high above the water. In good spirits at such a fine day we each made a very different painting of the same place.

I am an intense plein air painter. I spent two hours working on this from 9:30 until 11:30. By that time it was a very different scene than it had been when I began. That is my signal to pack up. After hundreds of paintings done out of doors, I am not leisurely about getting my subject painted as quickly as possible. I have trained myself to work fast and search for the essence of the scene. I work the whole picture at once. No dawdling; just enough detail to convey what I think is essential about the light and place. After two hours you might just as well go home or start another painting. This day I was happy to save my remaining energy for an afternoon of gardening.

This painting is for sale. Contact me if you are interested.