Make Believe

All around me I see lush hydangrea shrubs in bloom. Paint me!, several of them have yammered. However, despite their persistent demands, I've had such trouble finding any lighting or backdrop that speaks to me.

really?

Suddenly I remembered I can create whatever I want. I can make believe!

And so I have.

I pulled out a matte knife and a brush. Upwards of ninety-five percent of this painting was created by scraping a knife or dabbing a #16 bright. Almost no brush strokes at all. The hydrangea bushes in my neck of the woods are not set against vivid red-orange of any kind, but look at this paniculata!

Strutting the Red Carpet
6x6", acrylic on gessobord
floral
2015

South of the Border

My friend Martha, with whom I became friends when we both found ourselves at the American School in London for our senior year of high school, grew up in Southern California and has an affinity for south-of-the-border culture, color, flora, and flair.

She recently sent me a photo of a Mexican Shellflower strutting its stuff in her Portland, Oregon, garden. With a little south-of-the-border flair myself, I swished my flared skirt with a twirl, swished a bunch of water on my canvas, let my paints dance and swirl, and lit up a late-summer afternoon with abstracted vibrancy and energy.

Olé!

Martha's Mexican
6x6", acrylic on canvas board
floral
2015

Getting the Boot

Summer's endless, right?

Until it isn't.

Driving to a beach picnic at Wingaersheek, got a distinct hint that summer's gonna get the boot.

Painting this scene of the woods along Concord Street in Gloucester presented several challenges for me to play with. A rock wall and a profusion of untamed green growth for starters.

It also offered up the repeat gift of teletransportation. While I painted—from a photo at home in my studio—I was on Concord Street. Breezes cooled my skin. Pine needles stuck to the bottom of my flip flops. The light got in my eyes a couple of times. I watched out for cars.

This was no "theoretical" transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without transversing the physical space between—I tell ya, I painted en plein air.

September 1: I'll Give You a Hint
6x6", acrylic on canvas board
nature
2015

Yin and Yang

Hate to throw away unused paint left on my palette. Save the littlest bit.

Eventually end up with a crowded unwieldy mess.

Yes, mildew might have been known to grow on my stay-wet palette. More than once.

But!

That precious mess gives rise to apparently opposite or contrary forces that are actually complementary.

Had to refresh my palette today. Therefore, had to use that leftover paint.

More bookmarks!

Taped watercolor paper in place, opened the door wide to discovery and investigation, tried my wings with some fauvism, played with a matte knife, experimented with styles and ideas from other artists whose work has drawn my eye.

Yin and yang.

pigsty palette

pigsty of taped paper prayers

Paper Prayer 13
2x6", acrylic on watercolor paper
abstract
2015
[not for sale]

Paper Prayer 14
2x6", acrylic on watercolor paper
landscape
2015
[not for sale]

Paper Prayer 15
2x6", acrylic on watercolor paper
abstract landscape
2015
[not for sale]

Paper Prayer 16
2x6", acrylic on watercolor paper
abstract skyscape
2015
[not for sale]

Out in the Sun Too Long

Grabbed new gessobord, two brushes, and a matte knife to play with the scene from Little Neck Road again. Might have stayed out in the sun too long.

Fun, though, to make discoveries while pushing and pulling paint around with a knife.

Wide Open Summer
6x6", acrylic on gessobord
seascape
2015

Sticking my Neck Out

Out on Little Neck Road, you can get a bit of height from which to look down over the Ipswich River as it finds its way to Ipswich Bay. You can see mud flats at low tide, boats and boaters in motion, the bay off behind a neck of land, and summer cottages crowded there, sticking their necks out to catch the view and breathe in the salt air.

I stuck my neck out this morning to try to capture that view impressionistically. Most fun for me today was to get the huge wide open sky in place in moments and to create dozens of cottages with just a few strokes.

Now I'm itching to paint the scene again with half the strokes and twice the expressionism.

Little Neck Road
6x6", acrylic on gessobord
seascape
2015

Profusion

Dave's gardens are a huge gift each year, gussying up our yard to a fare thee well—blackberry lilies here, rosa rugosa there, coneflowers cavorting in this spot, dahlias dignifying that, phlox primping in front, sedum strutting in back.

In late August, summer runs wild in those gardens with a riot of color and texture and fragrance and tangle and boast and profusion.

Recently, a troupe of orange cosmos has been dancing exquisitely in a side garden, glowing when late afternoon sun passes through translucent petals. Leaves and stems leap every which way as the supporting cast.

Had to paint the stage production.

Summer Gone Wild, Dave's Garden
6x6", acrylic on canvas board
floral
2015