My Barn Flower Box

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This display of Gleam nasturtiums and Midnight Sun pansies has greeted me daily as I go about my garden chores and it is the last of the August paintings...a small four inch square watercolor.

I set out to paint every day in August and I almost did that (missed 2 days). Some paintings took more than a day or two to complete. I ended up with about 14 new framed paintings, manyof them gardens or flowers.

I like working on projects. I enjoy waking up every day and thinking about what I am going to paint that day. Projects lend a certain focus to my work. I appreciate the continuity; not allowing interruptions to derail my painting. I also got some ideas for larger studio paintings to work on in the coming months.

During September I will be adding to the Fifty State Plein Air Painting Project, visiting New England. And I'll be preparing my new work and messy studio for visitors during the Artists' Open House Weekend October 10, 11 & 12. On October 12th I'll be demonstrating watercolor here at the the studio at 11 am and pastel at 2pm. Please join me. I will be happy to answer technique & materials questions as well as those on "art."

My Day at Gibbs

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These are two of the last August Painting marathon pieces; both done as the guest at Gibbs Garden Center, LeRaysville, PA last Saturday. The morning especially threatened rain which allowed me to have a really active sky in each painting. They are each about 2-hour paintings with minimal adjustments back in the studio. They will be for sale here at my studio during The Artists' Open House Weekend October 10,11,12.

Touché

The new dahlia Touché is looking great with one of the last tall poppies and some fragrant nicotiana. This is a large (16 x 16) plein air piece for me to attempt in one day. I only added a few touches in the studio. It is vibrant & wild & oh, so summery.

Barbara's Garden

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Last Monday my friend and I painted in her garden. Hot, humid, stinging bugs of all sizes, but beautiful. I feel I did not do justice to the lovely sunlit corner of her garden with two tall lilies, some bronze fennel, clethra and dazzling glancing morning sunlight. To say it was sultry is a definite understatement...one of us dripped sweat all over her painting. Therefore I am calling my little pastel a "sketch". I hope to re-visit this same lntriguing scene later...maybe even during the winter with my photographs and my plein air sketch to make a larger studio painting

Williams Pond

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August 9th I wrote:
This morning the haze & mist hung heavy over Williams Pond. It is a location that I have been painting and drawing for 30 years. It is, so far, quite unchanged. This is the initial lay-in; defining shapes, values and suggesting colors. It was too wet outside today for pastel painters so I worked on this inside. I like the way mist & haze transforms space and distance and makes my familiar surroundings look alien.

Today I have almost finished the painting of Wiliams Pond 10 x 15 inch image size.

My Hummingbird Garden

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This is a bright corner that I planted with all sorts of vivid plants; huge gleam nasturtiums, thai basil, portulacas, sparkler geranium, salvias, daylilies. Only problem for the hummers is the cat likes to sleep there, but the birds are way smarter than this particular large grey doofus of a cat and they are frequenting the tall red beebalm on the other side of the garden.

The drawing is my partial sketch using a pastel pencil on colourfix paper.

Wowie

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That's the name of the short (but loud) dahlia in the lower left - Wowie! It's a lovely bright section of my garden and this is what I got done in a couple of hours this afternoon...dodging rain drops...even a few drops are cause for umbrellas & plastic when working outside with pastels. I will add a few foreground flowers before it's done. And it is too weighted on the left right now. I'll fix it tomorrow.