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!