Using a separate monitor for reference photos

The photo I used for this painting was taken on a very smoky day this fall.  The wind was from the north, blowing in smoke from fires in Montana.   I  recently bought a new 23" monitor which I connect to my laptop and display the photo I am using for reference in the studio.  I hung it on the wall on a mount that I can move so I can pull it closer to me or push further away.  I like it much better than printed photos, even from the drugstore.  My own printer leaves most of the color out, so it is useless, but I have been very pleased with the monitor.  It lets me see all the color, even in the dark areas. 

Fall is over in Colorado's high country

Started as a plein air piece, but finished in studio and given to friends of mine.  This was a glorious autumn and I went to Cataract Lake, where this was painted three times in one week!  The first time I hiked there, and I swore I would come back to paint.  I did, twice.  I just finished a large painting from a photo I took while there.  I will post it in a day or so.

At the Beach

I am working on a series of paintings done from photos I took in New Zealand.  My sister, Adele Earnshaw and our artist friend Joe Garcia have a three person show at the Santa Ysabel art gallery  in California in December.  It will be of work we did plein air while in New Zealand last February/March and a few studio pieces done since.  This one is titled "Safe in her Arms". 

Am I leaving landscapes for figures?

From my latest posts, one could conclude that I am turning into a figurative artist.  Not so, but I do enjoy doing them.  In fact, I entered three pieces into the WAOW show being held in Texas in November, and the two they accepted were figuratives.  So pehaps it is some reinforcement that I should keep painting them.  This was not entered as it wasn't finished in time for the deadline, but you will find the accepted two on this blog in the last 4 or 5 posts.   I am still not completely happy with this one, but I think it is the best I can do at this time.  Painting faces without detail is not easy! 

Summer in the Colorado high country

Last year was a very wet year, with a record amount of snow over the winter and good rains in the summer.  As a result, the wildflowers were spectacular.  This year is the complete opposite as we now have drought conditions.  I hiked Shrine Ridge a week or two ago and it looked nothing like this painting I did from a photo of same area the year before.   In this painting there is snow on the peaks, and it was all gone by May this year.  I am trying to figure out which paintings to enter into the Women Artists of the West show.  The deadline is August 1st, and this may be one of them. 

Another Happy Face

In my last post, I mentioned a dog painting I did that I called Happy Face.  This is it, although, I am afraid it is a little washed out from the original.  I wish I knew how ro adjust the color in photoshop to add more gold and tone down the blue a bit..  No matter, I am not selling it here....
It was fun to paint.  Have you ever seen a Golden Retriever without a happy face?  They are always smiling. 

Happy faces

I recently  finished a painting of a Golden Retriever that I called Happy Face, (because Goldens are always happy!)   But after painting these flowers today, I decided "Happy Faces" would be a good title for this one too!  One of the artists in our co-op gallery had brought these sunflowers in, and as I had to work there today, I took my paints with me and did a couple of quick little paintings of them.  I don't very often do flowers, but these were fun! 

One day I will take a Karin Jurick workshop!

I started out painting landscapes, mostly because it scared me to paint people, but now I really enjoy figurative work.  I would love to take a workshop from Karin Jurick or from Michelle Torrez.  One of these days! 
When we were in New Zealand in March and April, we visited an island bird sanctuary called Tiri Tiri Matangi.  Lots of schools take groups of kids there on field trips as they have a lot of native birds there that are very threatened.  As we were getting ready to leave on the ferry, these kids from Parnell school were killing time by "chucking stones into the sea".  I took lots of photos of them and was taken with this little boy as he seemed to be a bit left out by the older girls.  Note the school uniforms and the hats, a required part of the uniform.   New Zealand is right under the hole in the ozone layer and melanoma is a concern there. 

Another from New Zealand

I have been back from New Zealand for about a month now and am getting ready for my month as featured artist at my gallery in Breckenridge. This is a little 6x8 called Angry Seas that I did in NZ. It will be on display and for sale at the gallery in June. I am running around picking up frames, framing paintings up and trying to paint new ones too. But I am managing to get some new work done. My sister Adele Earnshaw will be here at the end of June and we are doing an outdoor show together, so with both shows going on, I will be needing plenty of work.

A figurative painting for a change

I have been going through the photos I took in New Zealand as I want to do a few pieces from there, but paintings that could be anywhere.  I watched several little kids with an eye to getting some good reference, and got some shots of this kid as he played with his boat in the water.  I was hoping no parents noticed as I didn't want to have to explain why I was photographing their kids!    It is just a little 6x8.  I really enjoy painting figurative work. 

A quick oil sketch

I have been participating in a group who is trying to paint from life, every day. The every day part is tough and I haven't been good about doing it that often. It is still a bit cold in the mountains of Colorado to get outside to paint. I have three cats, so decided they will be good subjects during nap time. Today I must have been too noisy as they kept moving. I wiped off two starts when my subject left, and started two more which never did get finished. This one isn't finished either, but I liked my start so won't wipe it off. I just wish I had wiped out the sketch lines of the parallel angles in the bottom center. I didn't notice them until I photographed it. It is amazing how many things show up in a photo that you don't notice while you are working on it.

New Zealand in summer, a great time to paint!

We have been in New Zealand for almost 6 weeks now and will be leaving a week from today.

I have loved being here and plan on coming back next year to do it all over again, but it will be good to get home. I have tried to paint every day, although it has been very rainy and I cannot paint inside in our rented house, so it has limited me. Still, I got a couple of dozen small paintings done. I don't necessarily want anyone to see them all, but this is one that came out ok. The photo is a bit washed out and perhaps I should have darkened it before posting, but I really don't like to manipulate the photos and prefer to just post what I get. If I want a better photo, I should get a better photographer! ;)

One more before leaving for New Zealand

A friend of mine had asked me to paint her dog. As we were only a month or so away from leaving for New Zealand for seven weeks, and my to-do list was very long, I didn' t think I could get it done before leaving. I sketched it in, and then it sat on the easel for a week or two, looking at me, asking why it wasn't finished! So one night I decided I was going to get it done and it just fell off the brush. I love paintings like that! This was photographed with my iphone (which takes better photos than my good camera!) but it was still wet, so there is a little glare on the right side. Now all I have to do is frame it and get it to her before we leave, now in less than two weeks.

A dog commission

This is the third dog commission I have done for this family, but it was the toughest! The photo they sent me of the dog wasn't the greatest, and when I tried a close up, I couldn't figure out where the various parts of the dog were within the black blob that was the head! I don't paint from imagination very well, and really do need reference. So I decided that I loved the girl and the dog together, and did that instead. It made it less necessary to get as detailed with the cockapoo. I titled it Best Buddies, as they look like they really are. The painting is a present for the little girl for her February birthday.

For once, a painting without a lot of fall color!

Of course, there is fall color in it as that is what I do, but no aspen leaves this time. This is an interpretation of the view at the top of Lizard Head Pass, near Telluride. I was there in September when the leaves were at their peak, but the pass has a lot of pine trees too. I really liked the color of the distant trees and my goals were to get that color right and to make the foreground interesting, which is something I find difficult to do. This is a fairly large painting at 29x24.