Kent Road

Trees can really frustrate. All those leaves and branches. When I first started painting I would often just simplify the shapes like I did here. One of these paintings was juried into a show here in Kansas. I discovered this one that I had put aside and found I really liked it. So it is for sale on dailypaintworks.

Billi's bird

This oil was painted on a Masonite panel. I have the store cut them then I coat them with 3 layers of gesso. 

The rooster is our daughter-in-laws hatched from her incubator. They have a small acreage full of painting subjects which you will see from time to time. 

Cow In Blue

This was an experiment of painting with oil on clay board. It has a watercolor look which I like. It's an 8x10. 

Fall Fields

Salt Cedar Along the Rio Grande

My husband works hard to irradicate salt cedar from the environment but I really like to paint it. Salt cedar was introduced as an ornamental plant but has become very invasive. It drinks up lots of water and makes the soil salty. But the colors are wonderful to paint no wonder people thought it was pretty in their yard. 

The Rio Hondo Valley

This was painted for friends who also like to spend time in the Taos, NM area. It is a pallet knife painting in oil on a 12x24 canvas. Really like this size canvas because it fits well over a fireplace or behind a sofa. I also like the utrech canvas I order on line along with there oil paint. 

Field Work

A simplified landscape painted in oil on a canvas panel. 

Squeeze Me

I love the still life painters on Daily Paint Works. I have made a shadow box out of a black plastic number I found at a big box store. It's not a fancy set up but it helps to capture shadows when I paint. This is my glass juicer that works really well and wonder why they make all those fancy things, simple and effective. Painting was challenging but fun. 

Clouds Over Isletta

This is one of my new pallet knife paintings. I studied with Brian Hinkle at the Center for the Arts in Wichita Kansas. Brian like to lay down his first layer of oil with a pallet knife then refine later with a brush. I tried the knife and really liked the texture it created. I was an avid remodeler for years and often patched holes with a wide blade knife. This technique reminded me of that and I liked it. I have always struggled to lay down enough paint so this has really helped me with that. It also helped me to paint larger, faster and as a result looser. 

Bluffs On Scott County Lake

Green Tea For Two

Snow On The Prairie

This is a pallet knife painting of the Kansas prairie with a light dusting  of snow

Daily Paint Works

I recently joined Daily Paint Works. I am excited to join this group of artists who love to paint as I do. I like that the paintings are small and painted  loosely. Since I have only been painting for the last 18 months I  feel I need to paint often. I hope this will also help me to post to my blog more often if for no other reason than to see my own progress and keep track of things I am learning as I paint.

painting at Quivera Wildlife area

The painters from the Flint Hills

workshop

Just returned from a wonderful workshop in the Kansas flint hills. Kim Casebeer is a great instructor and mentor. I learned about mixing those warm and cool colors that create such depth in her paintings. The Flying W ranch provided our housing and meals. Good food and nice comfy beds were appreciated after long days painting in cold and rainy weather. My Judson paint box and easel worked well for me. Just wished for some sun and less wind.

Cedars with shadows

Working on some paintings for the Hutchinson art fair in May

Painting with George Coll

Had a great time painting with George Coll and his students in Loveland Colorado.

Wichita Center for the Arts

made a trip to Wichita to pick up some Gamsol at Blue Bird Art Store. Gamsol is a great odorless product for thinning paint and cleaning brushes. Also made a trip to the Wichita Center for the Arts to check out their painting classes. What a wonderful surprise to find they had just hung an exhibit of Richard Schmidts paintings.

Sixty Minute Artist: How to Build Low-Cost Frames for your Paintings

Sixty Minute Artist: How to Build Low-Cost Frames for your Paintings

Self Portrait

Have been working on a self portrait in my Thursday studio class. didn't want to do it but have learned some valuable things, besides the fact that I should have wore more sunscreen in the past. I was struggling with mixing flesh tones till I added cad. Red light to my palette. That and some raw umber and white make a nice range of color. Even some yellow ocher and some orange can be helpful. Also with a portrait the smallest change can make a big difference.

Friday Morning Painters

Friday is another studio day. This group was just featured in the Hutchinson News Paper. They have been painting together for many years. In the summer they paint plein aire and in the colder months they move inside and work from live models. It's nice to share a passion with friends.

Class

Thursday was a studio day a the Hutchinson Art Center. Roy Swanson retired painting instructor at Hutchinson Juco has started a Thursday painting class. We bring paintings we want to work on and he will be there to critique and guide. It's good to learn from other artists. I am working on a self portrait, good discipline for me.

redo

Today I has to do some adjusting on my painting from yesterday. It's so hard to know when
 to stop.  I continually tell myself to just leave it alone then find myself with my brush reworking something.

Plein aire Tuesday

Headed out to paint at the prairie dunes country club . It sits in the sand hills and the day was warm enough to get the new guerilla box and tripod out for the first time. Took awhile to get the box on the tripod but after that it worked great. The greys of winter make for a dull look, I think I need to move more to purple.

tried painting on clay board today with oils. It is a very slick surface but did get some interesting effects by wiping off some of the paint. The verdict is still out on whether I like it yet. I need more time to experiment with it.

Just outside the Chimayo Sanctuary holding a bag or red chili

Horse at Redwing

First Blog

This is my first attempt to blog. Learning new things is not as easy as it use to be but I will try. I want to start posting some of my painting and that will involve a camera. Expect some fuzzy images till I figure this alll out.