Comfort, 6x6 Inch Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

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The glow of the set sun, the serenity of the flowing water into the marsh, gives many of us a settling in kind of feeling.  A place to let your fears and anger go, and let the peace and comfort of faith seep in.  I wish this for all of you, friends.  This painting was done in the 'zone', where you don't even direct your brush, it simply flows.  I love it, and I don't say that about many of my own paintings!

Stand At Pardon Gray, 5x7 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

 $100 & $10 S&H

Click HERE To Purchase

I have loved this stand of trees a couple of miles from my home for the 10 years I've lived here.  It's at the Pardon Gray Preserve.  Beautiful and different in every light... and I want to paint them all.  I started out with the image on my iPhone, then sketched in ink, and colored in with markers... to see what I liked in terms of size of the trees, placement, and atmosphere.

First small sketches,

 

Then I did a 5x7 in acrylic - to see if I liked that... and I DID, 

But then I did the top one in oil... and it came closest to my vision in my head.  After painting this same scene all day, I was treated to this sunset view, below.... breathtaking....

Update (Work In Progress)

Truly, I feel blessed these days.  I have an extremely supportive and loving family, pets I adore, many treasured friends who both guide me when I need it and encourage me when I need that.

A couple of years ago I tried for an artist membership at an art association, preparing 8 large (30x30 and 30x40) paintings of the sunsets I see from my porch.  The series was both personal and a reach for me, not being one who ever did much in the way of series.  To make a long story short, I was rejected for that membership, and the judges were pretty clear that they did not think much of my sunsets, both as subject matter or execution.  Later I talked to someone I thought was knowledgeable about selling art and she told me "Sunsets are a no-no.  Actual sunsets cannot be surpassed, although photography comes in a close second.  Painted sunsets are ... just 'too'...."

So I pretty much gave up painting them.  Although they still inspired feelings of peace and expansiveness and joy in my heart, I closed that door for my art.  Well, lately, and maybe it was seeing my work in Pam Copeman's wonderful home in the Boston Globe, and maybe it was just gaining a bit of confidence, warranted or not, but I decided to stick my fingers in my ears and hummm... and paint my sunsets that I love.  I had even AVOIDED looking at them, as if just seeing the rosy sky and golden tipped clouds would make my art 'smarmy'.  No more.  You can now find me on my front porch soaking in the glow.

So here's a 12x12 that I'm working on.  I'm about halfway through, but you can see where I'm going.  In this, the storm clouds are coming up from the South East, headed right for us.  When this is ready it will most likely show up at the Art Stable Gallery - look for it there!

Happy Guy, 6x6 Oil Painting of a Seagull by Kelley MacDonald

$100 & $10 S&H

The skies are blue, the wind is calm, he's just cracked a nice big clam and has a full belly.  Things are good for this seagull!  He survived Hurricane Sandy, and has no idea a new storm is coming our way.  Lives in the moment, he does.  Maybe it's a better way... worry wears us out, and rarely prevents the stuff we fear from arriving, anyway.

I'm going to take a page from his book, and try, just for today... to put the worry away.  

Here's last night's show:

And a reminder:

Heading Home, 6x6 Inch Oil Painting Of A Sailboat by Kelley MacDonald

$100 & $10 S&H

I hope you enjoy this favorite moment of mine.. I just love to watch the sailboats heading back home after a beautiful day on the water.  This was a demo today from the class "Making A Painting From A Photograph".

I've been having a little issue with my blog host scrambling my HTML for my PayPal buttons.  I believe I have fixed all the broken ones, but if you ever have a problem, just email me and we'll work it out...

I will be a 'Gallerina' at the Art Stable Gallery this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. - demoing if it's not too busy!  Come see me!  865 Main Road, Westport, MA

Waiting For Tonic, 6x6 Inch Original Oil Painting By Kelley MacDonald

6x6 Inches, Oil

First, let me just say that if you haven't tried Hendrick's Gin.... y'oughta!

This weekend marked the (belated) push for the Little Picture Shows.  I can hardly believe how many I've committed to.  This weekend I did 4 'cocktail' type paintings.  My first thought is to do 3 cocktail and 3 donut paintings for the Providence Art Club Little Picture Show, like last year.

Since taking Carol Marine's Advanced Workshop a couple of weeks ago I'm all excited to do glass and reflective surfaces... so look forward to more!

Also - as a balm to our hectic world, with all our anxieties and conflicts (think politics - and then DON'T think politics...)  I offer to you a recent sunset from my front porch.  Maybe someday I'll get brave enough to tackle them again!

Beautiful In Blue, 8x8, Original Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$150 & $10 S&H

When I go to the Brimfield Fair, I look at all the gorgeous evening gowns set up near the different dealers' tents.  This one was spectacular - and I have a friend with gorgeous blue eyes, pale skin and dark hair - I imagine her sweeping into a ballroom and dancing the night away in something like this! And in other news - I'll be having regular classes this Fall as WELL as 1 day workshops (3rd Thursdays)... the class info:

A moment of Zen: a recent sunset 

Pink Light, 6x6 inches, Original Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$100 & $10 S&H

I adore the dusks when the sky is deep pink and the water is lavender with pink 'rivers' in it.  And then, when a sailboat comes by and catches a tiny bit of that pink light in its' sail....  perfection!

To my dear friends and relations who think I may have skipped the country:  I am buried in my studio, painting big, little, medium sized pieces, I'm just thoroughly enjoying myself and not even bringing the phone with me.  Sorry, sometimes I have to do that.

I will give you a sneak peek of a work-in-progress.  It's 36x36 inches, and is part of a series....

And if you think this is easy I WELCOME you to come and give it a whirl!

Picture yourself laying on the grass, looking up.....

biggest painting I've ever done.  I will hang them on the front porch the week before the Open Studio Tour, in August.  Try not to run off the road looking at them... :D

Oh, Hull...., 5x7 Inches, Oil Painting of Hull, Ma

$125 & $10 S&H

I loved living in Hull, MA.  The sky is like a light show come sunset.  It is a magical peninsula, where you can see the ever changing light on the oceanside AND the bay side.  And there are many evenings when the pink of the sunset sky reflects on the wet sand of the sea side.  Pink, orange, pink - oh, it just SENDS me!  And the little glittering lights going through the town - to me it looks like a diamond necklace, laying on the ground...  You should go there... see this....

p.s. THREE squirrels were removed from my studio this weekend  Uncountable props broken.  Explains the lack of paintings from the past week, no?

Perfect View, 6x6 Inches, Oil Painting of the Sunset in Hull, MA

From one of the highest points of the seaside town of Hull, MA, you can see.... everything - to the right you see the ocean and the reflected light on the clouds when the sun sets.  If you look straight, you see the winding peninsula that is the town, resting between the ocean and the bay behind.  And slightly to the left, you see this.  The land mass is called World's End, a reservation where you can walk all around the drumlins on paths, and see Hull, Hingham and, in the distance, Boston.  At sunset, when you look here, sometimes everything is hot pink, salmon and lavender.  I was lucky enough recently to share this view with a few friends...

In other news, the Warren Walkabout is this coming Sunday!  12-5!  Should be SO much fun!  Below is a sneak peek of one wall of my studio (well, the bottom half of the wall anyway!).

And below are examples of students' work from our first class last week.  First we did value studies, then added color - some pumpkins were white, some orange.

*oh, yes, about yesterday's post - I believe it was McDonalds that had the lawsuit over the hot coffee  - not my beloved DD's!*

Gloaming Glory, 8x8 Inches, Oil

Another one, for my upcoming show.  Sorry I cropped the painting at a little tilt!  I just love, love, love this view down the Sakonnet River, if you stand on my front porch and turn your head to the left, at the end of the day.  My blood pressure goes down...down...down... just looking at it!

End Of Day Reflections, Oil, 5x5 Inches

This is one of my favorite types of sunset - and that's Aquidneck Island with Island Park over to the right.  I love the hot orangy pink that burns up the sky.  This little 5x5 baby will be first shown at Nest, a wonderful shop in Dedham Center.  My show will be hung on the 1st of September, and the Opening is September 10, Saturday, from 4-7.  This size painting will be $150 - no need to frame as it's on cradled hardboard for a contemporary look.  If you prefer a traditional frame, you it is easy for your framer to pop in, as it's only a 3/4 inch cradle.

I've been asked to do a 'sunset' 1-day workshop in the Hingham area.  If you'd like more info, email me!  

I'm off to Provincetown to paint for a few days and will post from there!

Just Amazing, 4x4 Inch Original Oil Paintings by Kelley MacDonald

This is a sunset that I saw from my front porch, over the Sakonnet River.  Sunsets give me such peace, such hope, such a sense of centering.  If I couldn't see the sunset like this every night, I'd plaster a wall with paintings of them - like my friend Mary's daughter did who lives in NYC.  It just stops you in your tracks and lets you really breathe.  

Moonrise Over The Sakonnet, 6x8, oil

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This is a view down the Sakonnet River where I live, in Rhode Island.  The land on the left is a peninsula called Nanaquaket.  I love the moonrise, and especially when I have the glow of a sunset going on as well.  Thanks for voting in my 'Subject Poll' on my blog, so I get an idea of what appeals to people.

$100 & $10 S&H via Paypal

Email me with questions at kcareymac@hotmail.com

Hazy Evening, 8x10, Oil

My plans were to go to the beach last night to paint, but it was so gray/silver with so much haze I thought I'd just wait till sunset to see if that brought any color.  It did, and this was a plein air piece done from my front porch.  Sorry it didn't make it into the post Thursday morning, my laptop 'mouse' froze up and I was WITHOUT INTERNET for the evening and morning.  Talk about withdrawals!

$100 & 10 S&H via Paypal  

Sparkle in the Summer, 6x6 Oil

I think I mentioned that I was doing this Challenge... well this month's 'object' was sandals!  I thought this subject was going to be the death of me, but actually, I survived.  These are 'going out' sandals for me, and we're just going to say that's a French Pedicure.  I was focusing on color for this, and trying a 'triad' - with the gold from the sandals being the significant color, and the other 2 parts of the triad were the blue-y green (grayed down a bit) and the violet.  Interesting, to me, as I've never really tried this before.

And I don't know if I've ever shared my palette with you, but here we are - I have a rolling kitchen cart that I put waxed paper on about once a month, held in place with duct tape (or duck tape, whichever you prefer).  It takes 2 sheets, one for the top and one for the bottom, and I just tuck the edges in and tape more.  It's easy to clean up.  My colors are (and this is a little enhanced, I usually only have about 7 or 8 colors on it) from left to right: Burnt Umber, Pthalo Blue, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Cad Red Light, Cad Orange, Cad Yellow light, Cad lemon and 3 squiggles of Titanium White.  And those are one of my pairs of Atlas Gloves - super to work with - 'so flexible you can pick up a dime'... really, and with mesh in the back, they are breathable, and don't make your hands sweat.

And this... well, a gift to all of you, tonight's sunset sky.

New Parrsboro Sunset, 11x14, Acrylic

Well, I say it all the time but this looks better in person. I didn't do a small daily painting yesterday, but did try to work on this smalled version of a big oil (see my Studio Blog). You wouldn't believe, given the simplicity of the subject, how difficult it is. It so easily slips into being trite. Now... even if no one believes me, I have painted that magical night when the sky erupted into the most unbelievable colors - even I as a huge sunset fan - had never seen. This is acrylic, and I did many, many layers, and used lots of medium, and IRL it has a luminous quality (or maybe I'm just drinking my own kool-aid!).

Sunset Clould 5x7 Acrylic

Last night I sat on my porch and watched the sun slide down behind these gorgeous clouds, rimming them in gold and rose.  I really like the panel I used - I think it was some form of Gesso Board, but being me I didn't keep the wrapper so I have no idea what they are.  Fortunately they came in a pack of 3, so this morning I got another one in and have one left for the weekend.  I like the way I stayed loose in this - it's a struggle - and how the values are so close in range.

Rose Bouquet, Acrylic 5x7

We have an abundance of roses.  I'm thinking it's got to be easier to paint them one at a time! :)  But the gorgeous colors make it too hard to decide on any one.  In this bouquet I stuck little purple flowers that look like balls, or thistle into it.  Yesterday it was lavender sprigs.  

Anyway the zillions of petals are always what grind me to a halt when painting flowers.  Here I just stopped my eyes and let myself do one at a time.  One way to do it.  I also could have looked at the 'whole' of the bouquet and given the impression of the mix.  Another day, another bouquet...

Last Night, 11x14 acrylic

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Amazing, gorgeous, clear warm evening last night, and while the sunset itself was jaw-dropping, the view up the river was soft and aqua/rose. So I grabbed my acrylics, and thinking of wonderful Marcia Burtt, laid in wet shapes with a big brush, then found it impossible to work with, but I kept at it applying more paint in washes, then in thick brushfulls for the land masses. My husband does not like the way I 'squared off' the land mass to the right, but I was abstracting it, not doing a portrait of Aquidneck Island. Well, I love the washiness of this, and though it's not a typical 'daily painting', I'm super busy this week trying to organize for my upcoming show and dealing with car issues ("Oh, Officer, is it reeeaaallly June already? I thought I still had a few days to get that inspection sticker! And you say I have a headlight out so I have to get that fixed first? NO problem!).

I can't believe how washed out the color is when it's posted! I'll try again in better light.