Little Gould Island, 6x8 Inches, Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

I did this on a linen pad, and you can see there are still staples on the right.  I just had the urge to paint the little island that greets me every morning, and despite my husband's feelings that "nobody wants to see a painting of that island", I felt the need to paint it.  And an hour after I painted it, the sky became steely dark and the water was light gray and it started to rain, giving it a  whole new look.  I just may do some studies of this, for me.  

The practice of doing a whole, if small, painting every day is what the whole Daily Painters movement is all about - it's good exercise for your artist's mind.

Funny thing, I may have told you, the land mass in the back of the little island is Aquidneck Island, where Newport is, (further down).  On the other side of Aquidneck is another little island, also named Gould.  Those Goulds must have been something, to get TWO islands named after them!  Or, was it a case of the left side of Aquidneck not knowing what the right side was doing?

:)

Little Gould Island Plein Air, 6x12, oil

SOLD

Today was a gorgeous November day. The morning was all misty and atmospheric, and since I'm home-bound today, I thought I'd take Paco for his first real plein air session and trek over to the beach and paint the misty island in the river. Let us just say right here that Paco is a BELOVED pet but I was ready to put him on a bus after one hour. I walked carrying my heavy backpack, french easel, 2 leashes (one long, one short), a box to take the painting home in, Paco's best 'baby', water bowl and water for him, and HIM on the leash. First he 'helped' me unload the backpack (as the wind took the paper towels, the little canvases, the palette, then when we got settled down he picked up his waterbowl and shook it (yeah, I hear you all sniggering) all over my BACK (I was sitting at a picnic table, and he could scamper up on it). While I was replenishing his water he sneakily took my best brush and sat quietly under the table till I heard the big CRUNCH, (yeah... now I'm using language that cannot be put in a blog), then, when I thought he had settled down with his Baby, I hear plastic and see that he's unearthed some plastic ties and was gobbling them. Ok, maybe he's hungry, so cookies. Err... not so hungry, but found some nice, petrified dog poop buried in the sand to snack on.....

I finally hauled him & the painting home, nothing like painting under pressure! And let's just say he has a LONG way to go to become a plein air dog. Maybe I should bring his crate (which, BTW he only goes into at night to sleep)???

And Ice Cream Castles In The Air, Oil, 6x8

SOLD

Today started foggy, rainy and gray. And... then the big dark clouds drifted away and left these puffy, creamy clouds in a beautiful blue sky. So I took Paco out to the front yard and plunked down to paint this little painting from life. One lone sailboat (guess everyone else is at work) danced back and forth in front of Gould Island. After many interruptions (Paco found a dead mouse, he got himself practically 'hung' on his leash, he ran around my easel and toppled it) I finally came up with this. Paying a lot of attention to deliberate brush strokes, color transitions in the water, the sky and the two islands (the big piece of land in the background is Aquidneck Island), and in the clouds. Happy enough, considering how many times I had to jump up...

Quiet Day

After giving my talk on "Blogging Your Art" (my first talk, BTW ... shake... sweat..) I took yesterday to just 'chill'. I stayed in my yard with my watercolor sketchbook and Paco and just painted what I could see. The floral paintings all came out too blurry in the photos - just too small, I guess - these are about 3x5 inches. Anyway, the group was very enthusiastic, and asked good questions, so it was fun!
Tea in the morning, tea in the afternoon....
My sweet little island (well, not MY island, but I can see it from the house, so I look at it hundreds of times a day!), so different looking in every light...

Damp Day, Acrylic 5x7

A few days ago when the air was heavy with moisture and the sky was hazy, the Edna Mae, a fishing boat that 'lives' across the street and down a little ways, was heading out.  It was approaching Gould Island, and I snapped a photo (no, it wasn't a plein air painting!).  I have a few art errands today, so probably won't get to the studio, but I painted this little painting of the boat and the island.  On the Island blog, I'll post the photo as well.