It Happened In Hull, 6x6 Oil

This is a painting of a Hull sunset, for a nice woman who is commissioning a series. So this one is not for sale. Hull is one of those places where every night the sky is a brilliant illumination of a design that can only be Divinely created. Where I live now is a similar light - all reflected off the water, in color combinations that are jaw-dropping. In real life the water is a bit darker and richer, but as far as photos go, it's pretty good.

Coastal Roasters

After a very intense week/end what with all the Holiday Shows and their preparations, the Open Studio I participated in in Bristol, and my visit to the Boston Fine Art Show, I was hungry for painting! Just having a little fun with my favorite coffee shop, Coastal Roasters. Outside in the seating area is a little Budda and after I painted it Tim suggested it would be appropriate for Buddha to be nursing a Coastal Roasters Travel Mug (not that he's actually travelling, but it gets cold on the water there!). So... fun, and still framing, dropping off, etc., AND trying to put myself in a mindframe to shop/cook/clean for Thanksgiving.

Pomegranates, 6x8 Oil

The top one is from today, the bottom one from yesterday. I'd been itching to get back to Daily Paintings, and pomegranates are such a challenge because of the many different colors of red the skin has. THEN when you open them... there are more! I apologise for the bad cropping job, I'll try to clean them up later. I just loved spreading this creamy paint around, and liked the simple subject. This is one fruit that always reminds me of the holidays. Let's hope I don't delay savoring this treat till it's gone by - done that many times... :}

I promise, no more workshop photos after this!

As promised.... the Belly Dancer! Here I'd first like to send a BIG 'THANKS' to the TSA personnel in Phoenix for untaping all my wet canvas boards (all held aprart so you could actually see in the spaces between the wet paintings), smearing the wet paint all over the paintings packed face-to-face) and effectively ruining every single canvas. I feel so much SAFER now! Seriously, there was an explanatory letter on top of them, with only my empty easel also in the suitcase. Apparently there's a threat of EXPLOSIVE paintings - now there's something I never thought to worry about! Anyway... learned my lesson, and forever more will 1) use only Galkyd paints when I travel, and 2) ship via UPS!

Enough ranting. These belly dancer paintings were only FIVE minutes long, each, so don't be too harsh! They were fun to do, because with just 5 minutes you can't get fussy! Our model really got into it, and she was so strong and fluid it was a pleasure to paint.

Then this last one was from an earlier day, with the most beautiful shawl and dress...


Things to remember from the workshop:

#1 - Be A Designer (don't let reality get in the way of a good painting)!

#2 - Title First (when you give your painting a title first, you are more likely to stick to the focal point!)

#3 - Separate the dark and light pattern with clean, interesting shapes! (and not only things in 'shadow', but things that are actually dark go into the dark area).

#4 - 1/3 - 2/3 rule , keep 1/3 of the painting light, 2/3 dark, or vice versa, to keep a rythm and interest in a painting.

Thanks to all who checked in on the blog, and DOUBLE thanks to everybody who commented - it made me feel like you were right there with me!

It's A WRAP! End of session

Today was the last day **sniff, sniff** of our workshop. Athena posed as a ballerina in the afternoon. It was very challenging (I love that word, don't you?) but fun. Tomorrow look for the belly dancer (YEAH - you'll check in now, won't you?), that was a blast to paint. I am so sorry for the double post (AND the idential post placed in the Daily Marketplace Blog - DUH - special needs in technology I am...) yesterday. MSW said it wasn't only me. Off to dinner with my new buddy Yvonne and PKR, to thank her for a wonderful week. Thank all of you, too - I miss my 'dailies' and will be back this week!

SORRY!

I've tried 3 times to upload another group of photos from Kinko's in Scottsdale, to the tune of $12, and nothing will upload from this computer, although it looks like it's actually happening. Will try the library tomorrow... Sorry everybody, it's going quite well, and Peggi is an awesome teacher I wish you could all be here!
:) Kelley

*Ooops, Double Post Deleted....

Mid Week With Peggi (correct spelling) Kroll Roberts

These paintings are Peggi's, just to give you some reference. She's an awesome instructor. I apologise for monopolizing my Daily Painting Blog with this , I really should have put it in my Studio Blog. I'll try to move it when I get back. This work is from Wednesday. Thank you, everyone, who posted comments at the bottom - it's great to read them and feel like we're in touch!
In the morning, Athena posed in a dark green (bad photo) evening gown indoors
We had to paint this in HIGH KEY - that's what I wrote on my painting, although I seem to be the only one who can read that... Our beautiful model then posed in front of the School in a kimono & parasol (it was 95 degrees...)
My version:
And I happen to be here for the 'Best and Brightest' show - featuring none other than our friend Tatiana Sink, see below! YAY Tatiana!
Tonight is the Art Walk, where over 100 galleries will be open late, and it's gorgeous weather at night to stroll around - should be amazing! Thanks for checking in... let me know what you think! :) Kelley

LIVE! From Scottsdale, AZ! PKR workshop!

Hello, Everyone! I'm in Scottsdale at Peggi Kroll Roberts' figure workshop with the Scottsdale Artist School this week! We are painting FIENDS! I feel like we are empty vessels, and PKR is STUFFING us with information on how to paint figures. (Feeling very, very full right now...) She's working us very hard, but it does actually feel like something's 'clicking'!

This is the last one of the day, done outdoors.

Our first outdoor piece, this afternoon...

Sorry, no Photoshop here! No cropping!

Our lovely model, Athena (what a cool name,huh?)

Well, I'll try to check in tomorrow night. I'm missing everyone but am working very hard. It's HOT here, and clear and wonderful. Thanks for checking in! Put any questions/etc. in the 'comments' section on the blog, OK? Thanks, all!

In Memory of Salty Dog, Acrylic, 6x8

This past weekend a friend of mine lost her best canine friend, Salty. My friend Nancy nursed her beloved Yellow Lab with tenderness and compassion throughout the dogs' old age. In return, Salty was enthusiastic and full of love to the last. A faithful friend, and part of all our 'artist girlfriend' parties, you will be missed, Salty Dog...

Happy Halloween, Harry, 6x8 Oil

Happy Halloween, Harry!

Harry, the teenage cat in our house, is a gorgeous mix of pumpkin and buff colors. He loves to be anywhere we are, doing anything we do, but he especially loves it when Tim takes out the toolbox. He's all over that. Anyway, with no kids left at home and no children in the neighborhood (no, really, NO kids!) Halloween isn't much fun. But we had many years of pirates and princessess, werewolfs and ghouls, and lots and lots of fun!

Feeling Gourdy, 6x6 Oil

I loved painting these little gourds - it had been a day of frustrating painting, trying to paint a fishing boat in Bristol Harbor, then a Ferry, then finishing the umbrellas, below, then this painting sort of 'fell off my brush'. I like the way the one on the left came out best.. a little loose!

Umbrella Memories, 6x8 Oil

Almost moved into the studio, and now am back to doing 'Dailies'. These are two more umbrellas, taped to the studio wall. Just fun getting back into it!

Just Crabby, 6x6 oil

This is a commission I've been working on - I actually have two crabs that I promised to people. I never really gave much thought to them, but since I've started doing a bit of research on them, I'm a big fan of their shapes, their rounded backs and claws.. So... this guy - NFS, but I probably will do a few more crabs this Fall! And, yes, he's 'cooked', but he's definitely a 'live wire'!

It's A Dog's Life (Sometimes)

OK, here's another weird thing about me. I love dogs - to the extent that every September I find out the dates for the Bay Colony Dog Show in Boston (Always early December) and cross the day off my calendar so I won't accidently schedule anything else, and I go with my chair and my sketchbook all by myself to the show. It's overwhelming, but I try to pick a few breeds and hang out there for a while. I concentrate on

Pugs, my personal favorite, but I also love the Scotties, Cairns, Corgi's, Bernese Mountain Dogs, all the Belgians (the Malanois, the Sheepdog and the Turvuren), the Australian Terriers, the Boston Terriers, the Flat Coated Retreivers, and... well, that's not exactly CONCENTRATING, is it? Anyway, in addition to the little pug posted much earlier on my blog, here's my tiny dog collection....

This was a little girl bulldog trying to be good while waiting for her turn in the ring...
This was a darling Scottie (I gave her a less cluttered background)...

And there's just something about yellow labs, isn't there? I had a black lab cross (never actually owned a purebred!) who was my best friend and painting companion, gone 11 years and I still miss her....

And don't you love how we can 'accessorize' them? All of these are oil paintings, the Scottie and the Bulldog are 4x4, the two Labs are 5x7.

Time To Come Clean....

I have been a little 'quiet' here lately... apologise for not posting, but.... I broke my camera! Well, not intentionally, but as Sister Eugenia Margaret used to say "There's no such thing as un-intentional!". I left my camera outside in the garden and then it rained.... here's where that voice in the back of my head yells "I TOLD you to get the waterproof version!".

There's kind of good news here, too. Last Saturday we bit the bullet and bought a super-duper SLR... which I can't figure out. The 'training' disks are like they were in Greek. For 3 days I've been debating whether to bring it back for a 'better' point-and-shoot version (also much cheaper) or to stick it out. So either I learn the new camera asap or bring it back and get the P-A-S PLUS another little pocket camera (and have $$ to spare) - either way I'll be posting by Monday. I'm PAINTING, just not posting. Actually I've been busy with those commissions, which, instead of being a chore, are actually turning out to be quite fun... and that's the way it should be.


Many of you know, through a personal email I sent out, that I was featured in a Blog Article www.annechovie.blogspot.com by Anne Harwell. She's a fun artist/designer that I check in on from time to time because she always has interesting thoughts and work.


ALSO.... and this is huge - I got myself a new studio!!!!! Yes, 'putting it out to the universe' does work! I'll be in Middletown, RI on Aquidneck Island in a suite with 4 other artists. There's some shared space and some individual studios. Being messy, I get an individual studio. I'll post some photos as we move in. Thanks for enduring this very long post.

:) Kelley

Hull Sunsets, 6x6 Oil

I once lived in a beautiful town called Hull, MA. It's a peninsula that stretches up from the South Shore of Boston into Boston Harbor. If you've ever flown out of Logan Airport going south, you could probably see it's unique shape from the window as you pass over it. Because it's such a narrow finger of land, ocean on one side, bay on the other, and it's low, you get incredible light throughout the day. But the most magical time is sunset, when literally if you look west you see something like I've painted above, and if you look east you see the reflected light in the sky over the Atlantic, all pink, purple and teal. I've never been anyplace like it.

Now, I've been fortunate enough to be commissioned to paint 6 small Hull sunsets. I've been working from photos, and if anybody ever tells you they did an entire painting from 'life' when doing a sunset... be suspicious! This moments are fleeting! The first two, shown here, are complete, with the exception of the grass, etc. that blew on the wet paint. That will flake off when dry. I'm mid-way through the third, and will post #3 and #4 together. So these are not for sale, although I'd take one more commission on similar ones before the holidays.

Boathouse Road, 6x12, Oil

SOLD

This is a 'late' post - I painted this on Thursday of last week in Westport on Boathouse Row, - a gorgeous day in a gorgeous spot. I'm getting bored with the little landscapes, though. I feel the need to do some 'color shots', and play a little with design. We'll see what comes through. Sand and sea and sky and trees... nice and all, but it's failing the 'So What' question. What do you think?

Camel Hump Dunes, 6x8, Oil

SOLD

For those of you seeing this and saying "ANOTHER dune painting!?!" ... sorry! I couldn't help myself! Yesterday I went painting with friends in Westport, MA, which, IMHO, has the best beaches in Massachusetts, because 1) it's got dunes, and 2) it's still in the 'Gulf Stream' which brings warm water to swim in (well, Portuguese Man O'War, too, but still...). Anyway it was, YET ANOTHER picture perfect day. As luck would have it, I had a total of two hours to paint and I absolutely SLATHERED this little one first, so I could paint a larger painting (see http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com/ for the larger piece). I'm working on a few commissions so 'free' painting time is at a premium, hence the 'slathering'. I like it anyway! Maybe more, since there was no time for fussing!

Saved From The Pie, 6x6 Acrylic

I'm celebrating my new oven, and wanted to bake a peach pie - just in time, since it's peach season here! So these three jumbo-jet sized peaches begged to be painted... and I let them! I have a little blue and yellow dish that I like and I thought would be a good supporting cast for the yellow/orange peaches, so I piled them on it. I've been painting outside lately, and been skipping the Daily Painting while the weather was so unbelievable - back to work/fun now! See the painting of Hopper's House, on http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com.

Tea Time, 6x6 Acrylic

Finished this painting this morning by 7 a.m. I've always loved the celedon green teapots at this little restaurant in Westport called The Bayside. There's a view down to the water and it's just a sweet little place. I've been painting a lot - I'll post my North End painting on my studio blog at http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com/ after this post. I did one oil study there, then an acrylic. I absolutely cannot decide which medium I like better, although oil has a slight advantage :)

Clamdiggers, 6x12 Oil

I painted this study outside an Open Studio I was in yesterday in Bristol. Had a nice time, met some nice people, and got this painting in. These two girls were at the beach this summer in Westport, digging for clams. I don't know how successful they were with their red plastic shovels, but they had fun, and I did, too, just painting it. In November I'm studying with Peggy Kroll Roberts, who is a fantastic figure painter in Arizona. Selling my Daily Paintings has helped fund this, and I thank all of you who've helped!

Little Gould Island, 6x6 Oil

This was actually painted this winter, before Blogging entered my life! It's one of many paintings I've done of Little Gould Island, which sits right across from my house. I've painted it in fog, snow, sunny weather, sunsets (no sunrises yet, lazy thing that I am) and it still calls for more paintings of it. I think of Monet, and how his wife maybe said to herself "Not MORE waterlily paintings!" I understand it! Anyway I spent yesterday painting in Boston's North End, one acrylic and one oil - I'll feature them later today on http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com/.

Just Kale, Oil, 6x6

I can't let go of Summer, but I do love it when the kale and mums have their time. I am fascinated by all the varieties of kale, and how long they last into the cold months. The colder it gets, the more vivid the colors of purple, pink, olive and sage seem to get. Here I was having a little fun with the rufflinng leaves, doing some calligraphy on top. The actual painting has more contrast, but I have not successfully learned how to Photoshop that. Now I'm off to the beach for a little sun on the dunes. I have the whole day to myself, and I'm going to try for 3 painting sessions:)

Morning Glory, Oil, 6x6

SOLD

This morning Tim challenged me to capture the luminosity of one of the varieties of Morning Glories gracing the garden. There's a story (of course) behind this. I've always loved these cheerful little flowers, and have struggled to grow them, while other people seem to have them weed-like in their garden. Last year I was NOT to be denied. I bought 300 seeds of varying types of Morning Glories and soaked them overnight to soften them, then carefully planted them around the whole perimeter of the garden. Not realizing this, my dear husband came along a few days later and dug up the entire perimeter to plant sweet peas and peas and beans. Well, this year, I INCREASED the amount of seeds I planted, and staked out the territory (with pleas to Tim to allow them to grow undisturbed), and, well, something 'clicked' and I am absolutely overrun (I'm not kidding, they've practically killed a few rose bushes) by Morning Glories. Well, now that they're here, I'm loving all the different varieties, although, just like me I forgot all their names. (I hope they re-seed, too ;). I tried to keep it kind of loose and only let myself use a small flat soft brush. I also am experimenting with edges, trying the Carol Marine thing of going back and painting overlapping colors back and forth over the edges. I like it... do you?

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.

Sea Shell, 6x6 Acrylic

What do you do when it's AMOST dawn, you've been up since the wee small hours, and you've read till your eyes are gritty but sleep is still elusive? Go shell hunting... in the dining room... and paint! I found this one originally on the Cape, but these shells wash up here, too. I liked the subtle pinks, yellows and blues of this little one. May as well be productive! This weekend is 'studio dismantling' weekend, so I guess I'm a little wired :}

Singapore Sling, 6x8 Acrylic

We tried a new Asian restaurant called Jackie's Gallaxy (well, new to US). I brought home the little umbrellas that were in the drinks, thinking they'd be fun and easy for Daily Paintings. (NOT so easy to draw!) I've been away painting on the Cape, I'll post some photos from the plein air efforts on my STUDIO blog (http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com) !

Garden Geraniums, Acrylic, 6x6

These are geraniums from our pots in the garden. I loved the color combo of violet, fucshia, and orange. So bordering the vegetable garden (which has gotten a little out of control) are four black urns with these geraniums. Weekend very full, hoping to get some painting in, though, and I have been plein air painting (see http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com ) in this beautiful weather.

A Little Over The Top, Oil, 5x7

When you're stressed, you can't hide it. I've been avoiding Daily Painting lately because I knew they wouldn't be good. I've been frantically searching for a new studio, and I have a 'perimeter' in mind that I won't go beyond. It was so expensive (gas-wise) to commute to my old studio (which is still full of work and supplies) that I've decided to limit my distance to a 15 minute ride. Not much out there, but we were supposed to have access to our building till at least Nov. 1. Now I find out they've been breaking into our studios to see how far along we are in terms of moving out, and they expect us out SATURDAY. So here's my poor little ill-planned daily painting. 'Over the top' because that's where this rose is heading! I was more interested in the little vase, but still. Been painting plein air (see Studio Blog) when I'm not searching want ads, craigs' list and bulletin boards for studio space. (Whine, whine, whine, I know!) Anyway, I painted this little gal with paint all the way around the sides, so I can just hang a wire on the inside and it will lay flat against a wall, no need for a frame.

Oh, yes, and I am looking at studio space this afternoon (more than I wanted to pay, less than she wanted to get...) so wish me luck!

A Summer Gift, 5x7, Acrylic

This was waiting for me from Tim after a long day at my Open Studio on Saturday. Sometimes the best gifts are the simplest. These flowers were from a neighbor named Bill whose house I painted (which sold to someone else at the Opening of my show) I think I called it "Purple Sage". I had wanted to do a longer canvas/board, something like a 6x12, but I'm all out - thank goodness Dick Blick is having a canvas sale! Hoping to paint plein air today, maybe I'll even get a Daily Painting out of it!

Two Cherries, Four Currants, Acrylic 6x6

Bounty from the garden - the cherry tomatoes look huge and motherly compared to the tiny currant tomatoes! Soon the yellow cherry tomatoes will be ready, and I'll paint them, I'm sure. I was happy with how loose I was able to keep this, considering I was a ball of tension when I started - not wound down yet from our Open Studios Tour this weekend. The tomatoes are so welcome but I hate that they signal the 'back half' of summer. I need to make a list of the things I wanted to accomplish this summer, to get back on track!

Cactus Pear Margarita, Anyone? 6x6 Oil

Last night my husband brought home deliciously ripe cactus pears from the Fruit Center Marketplace in Milton. They're hard to find where we live, and it was such a treat. Just slice the very top off and scoop out the sweet plum-like fruit for a nice portable snack, OR.... make margaritas with them! I was playing with quick, thick paint here, not fussing if my outlines remained. I think the effect is fun, and, I hope, happy.