Happy 4th of July to all my American friends. Happy Wednesday to my international friends (honestly, I only know one, but it seemed worthy of mention)!

As I said a few days ago, it’s all lavender painting, all the time around here, to try to have something to enter in the the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival. For my day off I went to Montainside Lavender with the usual gang.

While it was beautiful there, I just couldn’t really embrace the day. Maybe it was the overcast sky or the humidity. Even a chicken couldn’t get me inspired.

For whatever the reason, I think my paintings came out rather lackluster.

There are a few easy fixes, so they might not be “over” yet, but I think Sundays paintings came out better.

In other news, I framed and packed my final selections for the Equine Art Show July 12-15 days up at Emerald Downs.

Modern Charger

I’ll drive up Sunday to pick up the paintings and see the show.

While in my studio I did some more organizing; a few days ago I purchased another rolling drawer from Ikea to store and organize my unfinished paintings. So, now I have a place for paper and for paintings in various stages. I’ve never been so organized! This led to going through some of my old paintings and generally rearranging everything. But I’m feeling less stressed about the piles now, so that’s something.

I have another date to paint lavender this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. I’m not sure I’ll make both, but it’s nice to have the time scoped out!

This weekend (and into next week) I’m in all-out painting mode to meet the demands of the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival and have three paintings to enter into the show July 12. The reception in July 13 (awards, etc.) with the paintings on display for the weekend. I hope I can entice a few of you to come out the Chehalem Cultural Center and check it out!

In the meantime, it’s all lavender painting, all the time. Luckily, a contingent of us watercolor artists has grouped together for encouragement, including my friend, Sandra Pearce. We huddle together among all the acrylic and oil painters and do our best to be intimidating without the benefit of turpentine.

Friday – Eagle Creek Lavender

I waffled around about going painting on Friday because it has been a long week and there were several other things I kind of wanted to do. Eventually, I packed up (poorly) and made my way out to Eagle Creek Lavender. Wow!

I got there, sat down, and realized I forgot my easel. After having such a good painting experience last weekend, I couldn’t bear the idea of painting without it, so I sketched.

I have every intention of painting these. The group has this place again next Saturday, so maybe I’ll be extra prepared.

Saturday – Barn Owl Nursery

Last year, my time at Barn Owl Nursery produced this award-winning painting.

So I was eager to go back.

I did two  paintings, with one showing more potential than the other. This one is perfectly fine…

But this one, called “against the siding” shows a lot more potential as a show entry. But it has a long way to go.

Sunday – Lavender Valley

Sunday’s spot was over two hours away, south of Hood River. Here’s why we went out to Lavender Valley…

It almost looks too good to be true!

There were quite a few lavender aficionados as well as about a dozen painters. There was NO shortage of inspiration.

Again, I did two paintings.

It was a good weekend. We have dates to paint again on July 4, 7, and 8, so I’m hoping to improve on these initial starts!

As I have been threatening, it’s now official the start of plein air season. Next weekend I am getting together with Sandra Pearce and others to do the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival paint out. This weekend was the first time I was able to go to Artist in Action’s Paint the Town event.

I acted as “host” for myself and eight other paintings at a private residence adjacent to the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge. And it was STUNNING. As if the views weren’t dreamy enough, the flower gardens were enough to drool over.

In addition, they had a charming dog and a set of barnyard animals (sorry, no picture of the dog.)

I am proud of myself; I followed my new regime of sketching for a good long time before I painted.

While the gardens very very appealing, I eventually decided to paint the amazing view.

I need to pause here for a short commercial break.

I recently decided to purchase a real watercolor easel after at least three years of struggling through trying to use a cheap easel made in the 1960’s for oil painting, dragging around a table, and/or using my lap. Jerry’s Artarama had a Labor Day sale on plein air equipment, so I purchases a new easel and a little “bag” that attaches underneath to hold my water bin or anything else I need.

It is so rare in this day and age to purchase anything and be completely satisfied with it. It is even rarer to be more than satisfied.So I just want to say…

THIS EASEL IS THE BEST THING SINCE WATERCOLORS IN A TUBE!!!

It fits a board. It tilts. It has a little tray to hold brushes. It has three levels of adjustment so you can make the legs “just so.” (I will admit that I was mentally challenged at first figuring how to it worked, but I’m sure we can all agree that’s just me.)

I am telling you… if you’re a plein air painter and haven’t purchased a real easel for it, RUN, don’t walk, to buy a real outdoor easel.

Back to our originally scheduled program.

I set up under the big oak tree (SHADE!) and sketched out what I saw in the distance.

This is not an impressive sketch, but I actually like that things are out proportion band overlapping oddly, because something about it made me realize that it was the patterns of overlap that I was interested in.
After making some notes about actual proportions, I sketched out the painting on the watercolor paper and painted away.

This still needs some studio adjustment, but I like where’s it at.

I fooled around a little while and thought about doing a garden piece, but I decided I could do that anytime, and shifted to beneath a different tree to work on a slightly different view.

I was very drawn to the solitary oaks and the way they sat against the long rows of the field. But I rushed the sketch…

… and it shows in the painting.

Again, this will go back to the studio and I think some adjustments can save it. The hay bales are too dark (who knew boxes were so tricky…) and I think some additional darks will help it.

All in all, it was a good start to official plein air season.

As I said in yesterday’s post, I’ve focused this weekend on getting my studio organized.

Of course, adding storage for my paper doesn’t fix the mess of unfinished paintings that are hanging around my studio (not including starts). Today I took pictures of all my unfinished paintings and came up with a gallery of 31 32 (I forgot to mention “the commission”) unfinished paintings.

31. Seriously? I could finish one every day for a month. I really think a burn is in my future. I’m not sure I can deal with this much pressure. No wonder I’ve been dreading going into my studio.

On the other hand, Liz Walker bragged last year that she finished over 300 paintings. She’s clearly an overachiever.

My envy for Liz aside, I did manage to make headway and finish (signature and all, one even framed!) the following paintings today.

At the River – $50 unframed

The Green Hedgehog – $50 unframed

Ladd Marsh Morning – $50 unframed

Red Flash – $200 framed

Four paintings for four days off. Not bad…

It’s that first divine weekend of summer. What did I do? Stayed at home, naturally. My mom and I always discuss our plans to stay off the highway this particular weekend.

I had a busy weekend, though. I did an “overnight foster” (really weekend) for a dog from Marion County Dog Control. Meet Toby.

Toby (also known now as “To-Man” and “Toaster Struedel” is the shyest dog I’ve ever worked with.  His world has clearly been a scary place and he has little or no confidence. What he does have, in spades, is love. I’m tell you, this isn’t a dog, it’s a love bunny (or possibly a house deer.)

I’ll admit that he has found a place in my heart, but he’s not my dog. Still, I’ve offered to foster him until he’s adopted. So, if you know someone with a little patience who needs a daily dose of feeling like a hero, I’ve got just the ticket!

Obviously, with an extra dog, there was a lot of dog walking and supervising. In between, I worked on a new website project (more to come) and actually got some painting done! Gasp of shock.

At the River

A few of you might remember a couple of versions of this painting from my 2016 workshop with Francesco Fontana. I’ve always wanted to give it another go, so I flipped open my notebook a few weeks ago and did another start.

There are still some details to work out, and the water doesn’t look quite right,but I’m making progress.

Marsh painting

I also worked more on the marsh painting from last weekend.

I’m definitely still thinking on this one.

Camas fields

Similarly, I worked on my camas fields painting.

As I was waiting for things to dry, I decided to try doing this sketch using the techniques I learned at the WSO Convention last month from Sally Bills Bailey.

While there are some areas I like, I don’t think she has anything to worry about.

In contrast to this weekend, the  next few weeks are very busy. My local painting group is starting their “Paint the Town” event and the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival is coming up. That moves me into July, and then Ruth Buchanan will be coming for her drawing workshop (there’s still room, please sign up!)

And then next thing you know… summer is over!

As I said in yesterday’s post, I had a GREAT time with all my birding out in La Grande at the Ladd’s Marsh Bird Festival. In addition to my birding, I joined a group of painters from Art Center East to paint en plein air out at the bird watching sites. In other words, I took my painting kit!

So, Friday night I had checked into the camping spot and was watching the river go by, when it occurred to me that this was a golden opportunity to do some sketching.

I hadn’t brought a lot of actual watercolor paper, so I used the “regular” paper in my journal to do some color sketches.

It was really nice not to feel rushed, which made me realize that when I get out I tend to be a little frantic, worried about capturing the light and getting done and… everything.

So, with the whole day ahead of me on Saturday, with nothing to do but paint and watch birds, I resolved to work on enjoying the process.

I had picked out a painting spot on Friday (spot #5) and when I sat down, I tried to remember not to hurry and started out with some sketches.

Then moved to some value sketches.

Then, I applied some paint onto real watercolor paper.

I like where this is going, but I think it isn’t as “designed” as it should be. While I still have to do something with the water (it’s not going to stay paper-white) I’m not finding a good “path” through the painting. There are a lot of interesting areas, but not a cohesive painting.

When I realized that I had hit the edge of the “plan”, I decided to stop on this painting. I toyed with the idea of doing another painting in the same spot, but I decided that the refuge probably had at least one more painting spot to offer. So, I packed up and did a little exploring of the west end of the refuge.

I’m glad I did, because the camas was in full bloom, and any artist who says they don’t want to take a stab at painting a purple field is lying.

I did this value sketch, but the road was in full sun and it was just too hot.

So I moved about 100 yards down the road and did this sketch and painting (which no reference photo to compare. Oops.)

While I think this one is sufficiently designed, I was having trouble getting the values correct on site and was starting to overwork some areas, so I decided to pack up before I ruined what I had. I’m glad I did, because this one is looking better to me at home.

This weekend marks the beginning of “plein air” season, and I think it was a good warm up. I also think that I’m going to invest in a real watercolor easel this year.

I have a major case of the “I don’t want to” blues tonight, so I’ll show you what I can do if left unsupervised.

This is an exercise on an 8″x8″ canvas i will turn into the Aritsts in Action fundraiser as the World Beat Festival.

Too far

Trying to go backward using gesso.

Trying again… with a little collage?

Too far again, I think.

Several times this week I had thought about sitting down to paint, but there has always been some other job that seemed more pressing. But, I told myself, I’ll do it this weekend. I didn’t have time to paint on Friday. I meant to paint Saturday. And Sunday got off to a slow start, but eventually art supplies did appear.

Sunday morning was too rainy to be inspired, so I decided to some bird watching. I drove out to both Basket Slough and Ankeny, and I was glad I did. I saw several birds I don’t see often, including white-fronted geese (no idea why, but I always miss these), yellow-headed blackbirds, and black-necked stilts.

This was enough to inspire me into my studio where I dithered around about what to paint. It isn’t that I don’t have things to paint, I just had a messy mix of not feeling very talented and not wanting to start something “too big.” Also, a lingering feeling I should continue to work on my homework.

Instead, I poured out a new triad I’m trying (ultramarine blue (same), aurelian or cobalt yellow (same), and rose madder (different).)

Rose madder was suggested as an alternative to the “assertive” reds I have been using. It certainly is NOT assertive. I had to use a lot more pigment in order to create a neutral dark for this (not quite finished) piece.

While I was waiting around for things to dry (I still am, that’s why it’s not finished), I worked on a Yupo ™ piece that has been scrubbed into a neutral background. I tore some tissue paper and added some shapes.

This is back to my “previous” triad.

Last but not least, I worked on finishing (what do you think?) a piece that has been lazing around studio for quite some time.

For those who don’t have a memory like an elephant, this piece has evolved from this…

Arminda’s Poppies

… to this…

… and now, to this…

I’m close to calling it done, but I’m trying to decide. I like the little collage pieces, but do they overwhelm the poppies? I’ll be thinking about it.