Glow At Bristol Harbor, 12x12 Inch Acrylic Plein Air Painting

ONE more from the Paint Bristol weekend!  This was so fun to paint and I had a blast with the many layers of blues and greens in the very 'active' water!  The end of the day brings a pinkish glow over Popasquash....  how lucky am I to get to paint in beautiful locations, both near and far?  Again I will honor the $325 price from the weekend for a week.  Email me if interested at kcareymac@hotmail.com

I start my class next week at the Providence Art Club.  We're calling the class 'Small Format Painting' for 2 reasons... so many artists think they can't paint 'small'... and after we work together, they find that they can work as small as 4x4 inches - and STILL come out with a compelling paintings.  Painting small lets you finish - soup-to-nuts, solving all the problems a painting requires, and the more you do it the easier it gets.  Also we dropped the 'Daily Painting' from the title of the class because so many people had no idea that Daily means... well, daily, or even almost daily.  :)

I look forward to teaching again, and having my own class at my studio on Saturdays.  That will start in a couple of weeks, always a hoot.  Always great people.  ALWAYS a lesson learned.

A Salty Dog, Original Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

SOLD

This lucky dog was heading out (and the fact that I have to explain that they were heading by some HUGE boats says I should maybe have done something differently in the painting) for a fun day on the water with it's people. A friend of mine had a wonderful yellow lab (now gone) named 'Salty', and she was just the BEST - so this is dedicated to her. Paco... do not be jealous.. you have a wonderful life!

Every day I'm getting ready for the Open Studio - today I actually painted a biggish painting of hollyhocks for the Bargain Table! I'm getting CRAZY!

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...

Up To No Good, 11x17 Oil

A little blurry - I will try to replace it on the blog with a sharper photo. Today began with the SUN (we think... we haven't seen it in so long we're not sure...) and soon the western horizon started with a line of clouds, which are now forming the thunderheads that will douse us with rain this afternoon. I was thinking Colin Page again, trying to get the most out of his workshop. I used decisive brushstrokes and looked for nuances and color changes in every shape. Also his sparkle in the water, with a light touch, of many shades of white (yellow-white, rose-white, green-white, blue-white). As the winds pick up the sailboats are having a rough time of it, but this morning was beautiful.

And Paco slept against my ankle so I couldn't move away (or back) without him knowing it. Even though he was too hot and I had to keep wetting him.

Bass River, 6x12 Oil

SOLD

This was painted on my recent trip to the Cape. It was that magical moment just as the sun sets and the glow is caught in the sails of the boats. I know a lot of people won't paint this colorful moment because 'nobody will believe it', but this moment at dawn and dusk are the times of day that make me feel most alive and connected to everything else in the world, corny, I know. So actually I dont' CARE if anyone ever buys this type of painting from me, I do it for myself. I did a workup of this on a sleepless night last weekend, in an 8x16 format in acrylic - you can see it on my studio blog : http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com.