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! 

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. 

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 touch of summer when it is still white outside!

It may not be white where you are, but it is still snowing in the mountains of Colorado! Here is is May 19th, almost Memorial Day, and summer still seems far away. Our winter is never ending! This painting is a little 6x8 oil. My reference photo was taken at the beach in New Zealand when I was there in March. New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere and the seasons are reversed, so it was late summer there. The North Island is a very temperate climate, so they never have snow and the gardens grow like crazy. Every time I go there, I have to get used to the sub-tropical look all over again.

My sister, Adele Earnshaw and I were there for three weeks preparing for the water color workshop she and Joe Garcia will be doing in February/March 2012. We just had a cancellation so we have an opening if you know anyone that would like to go. Send them to our blog www.paintnewzealand.blogspot.com for more information. Actually it has lots of info about New Zealand, and we are adding more every week or so, if you would like to go there just to see what my home country is like. I love it there!