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.

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.

I have been away too long....time to start posting again!

Somehow time flew this summer and I managed to ignore my blog. We did a plein air event as a benefit for the local Land Trust. My sister Adele was in town as Artist in Residence in Breckenridge for a month, and I spent more time painting than I thought I might be able to. I went to Westcliffe CO in September for another Plein air event that Adele and our friend Joe Garcia were involved in. In the process I managed to get better at painting outside and even did a few plein air pieces I don't mind showing other people. I have taken two workshops with Jill Carver, trying to improve my outdoor painting skills and perhaps something stuck. But then again, next time I go outside to paint, I might have to wipe every attempt off!

Joe, his wife Anne, Adele, and my husband and I also managed to set up a business doing painting workshops in New Zealand. The first one that Joe and Adele will be teaching is full, and we have scheduled Michael Chesley Johnson and Barrett Edwards to teach two in February and March in 2013. See http://www.paintnewzealand.blogspot.com/ if you would like more information. I also was juried in to Women Artists of the West and will be joining Plein Air Artists of Colorado in January. My goal is to paint even more next year and will start by joining PAAC in Taos in May for a paintout.

So do I have an excuse for not posting? Not really, but I will do better this fall and into the winter.

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!

What fun, a New Zealand watercolor workshop!

I was born in New Zealand. It is a fabulous little country with wonderful, friendly people and I go back there as often as possible. I have mentioned here that my sister, Adele, is an artist. She has taught many watercolor painting workshops in Italy, France, and here in the States.

She and I have noticed that no one does workshops in New Zealand. There are lots of offerings in Italy, France, England, Portugal, even Croatia! But none in our favorite spot in all the world. We decided to fix that, and she and her good friend, artist Joe Garcia are going to teach one, or maybe two, watercolor workshops in February/March 2012, about 18 months away. I take workshops, not teach them, and I am an oil painter. However, I get to go and be the van driver, breakfast maker, and chief cook and bottlewasher. I am thrilled! We will be in the North Island of New Zealand where Adele and I grew up, so anyone going will have tour guides who really know the area and all the great painting locations. Joe and his wife, Anne, have vacationed there with us many times, and know it about as well as we do.

We must have hit on a something, because after she mentioned it on facebook and her blog, she had a huge response, and we are now considering adding a second session a few days after the first one. I am really looking forward to it, and hope to spend an extra month there after the workshops are over. If you have any interest, let her know so you can get a spot. Each group can have up to 20 people, with two instructors.