Summer WaterScapes

Watercolor on paper, 6x8 

 During this year,  I have found that working in watercolor is more relaxing than oils.   They are easy to set up for a work area, and it's much easier to be able to finish a painting in a single day or weekend.  I love being able to take small breaks while the paper dries before I put on a new layer of color.

These lake scenes  are en plein air paintings while vacationing in northern Michigan.  It feels good to get out of the studio and sit outside all day, and still be productive. If not painting, I can sit outside all day lounging under a tree looking at the water and waves, feeling the cool breezes.  Summer is a short season up there, but its short life is balanced by the abundance of beauty it displays.

Watercolor on paper, 6x8

Last Spring I worked on a few paintings using photographs from past trips to the sea.  I started to become tired of my typical "blues" and as the weather became warmer, I started to experiment with  orange and yellows.  I found an inspiring photograph on Instagram by one of my friends, and used it as my guide for a sunset on the sea.  I am looking forward to returning to this color palette this autumn and winter.

Watercolor on paper, 6x8

  I would like to do more painting en plein air this year.  It feels awkward for me to be out of my studio but I think it might help me grow. I am hoping to make this a new challenge that will take me out of my routine, and to find inspiring landscapes in Indiana.

Watercolor on paper, 6x8

watching the water from sunrise to sunset

Winter WaterScapes

Watercolor on paper 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

I've been continuing to work with watercolors.  I like them.  They are easy for me to set up, finish a painting, and easy clean my work area. I can work in watercolor paint without dedicating too much time to the process.   I have set up some new lighting in my studio. This helps me to have more flexible work hours and to be able to work at night.  

I've been out of my studio for a while.  I had a visitor who needed a bedroom for a few months, and I gladly gave her my studio/office to set up a room. I needed to change the energy in my place, and having her here helped me see what I was missing from life. During her stay, I stopped being creative and threw myself into my career. 

Now that I have my studio back, I've reorganized, and found a new desire to get back to work.  

I hung a large oil painting in my studio. It had been stored the past five years so haven't really been able to look at it.  The canvas fills most of the wall. It is the painting in the post titled "Green Blues" from 2012.  Looking at this painting everyday has inspired me to go back to this style in composition.  Calm waters in the background, with textured water or land in the foreground. 

 These watercolors include using my gold pen.  A fond memory from my days working in my atelier in Nice, France. 

Watercolor on paper 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Watercolor on paper 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Water Inspired

Water color on paper 6 x 8

 I had a little time to travel in June up to great northern Michigan.  I have Oil paintings that I have posted of this small, calm lake.  For this vacation, I wanted to do some sketching, and I chose to bring along my water colors as a way to quickly bring some color to my thoughts and sketches.    

Whenever I am at the lake, I can feel the history of the area.  The summer travelers since the early 1900's have come up here to escape the heat of the summers. Ernest Hemingway had a cottage on a lake near by.   I always feel inspired, as maybe he did, to express the peace and calm of the surrounding nature and the lake.  It's a peaceful retreat to be able to calm my thoughts, release tensions, and fill my senses with nature.

I feel privileged to be able to continue to enjoy this home away from home that I have known all my life.  I can feel much love permeating from the walls when I walk around the cottage.  Every room and hallway are filled with the love of my grandparents, and the continuing care of everyone in my family who enjoy the cottage.  The rooms still have all the same comforts that I remember from my childhood.  It is a place to escape that is familiar,and not changing too fast. I am able to easily slip into a routine that I have know all my life.   

Water color on paper 6 x 8

Water color on paper 6 x 8

Pencil on paper 5 x 7

Pencil on paper 5 x 7

Pencil on paper 5 x 7

From Sketchbook

Something New Finished

Oil on canvas 32 x 40

This is the finished painting of Facing my Fears.  I still have this new creative focus in life and art to challenge my fears and not put them behind me, but make them a part of me to help me move forward.  Defining my fears has been difficult, since through the years I have covered them with new ways of thinking to get around them.  I thought I was facing my fears then, but really I was only changing the routes to go around them.  
   
I see myself at a transition point in my life, and feeling stagnate.  Although I am passionate about new/old  ideas that I want to pursue, I have been procrastinating to take the steps that I need to make these ideas move forward.   I believe spiritually, psychologically, and physically, that challenging the fears in my life, and moving past them will give me the new energy that I need to progress.  The energy field that surrounds me will be able to open up and allow new nuances to enter and influence my direction.  If I want to keep moving forward in life, I need to cross over the fence,  or jump to the other side of the creek bed, and not be afraid of what's on the other side.  

(I watched a program on Leonardo da Vinci.. it has inspired me to try a portrait painting. :)     

Going Back

Acrylic on Canvas- 25"x 32"
tableau de Yannis

I call this painting tableau de Yannis.   While I was in Nice 2010, I asked Yannis for his advice several times for the direction I should take with this painting. 

I met with Yannis and Paulin again in September. It has been the first time to see them in five years.   It was good to see the gallery again.  It was time to go back, no regrets.   They have shared with me a significant part of my life that will not be forgotten, and for their friendship, I am grateful. 

There was always laughter between the three of us.  We were the three artists.  The best moments were spent filling my sketch book with characters and scenes while drinking vin chaude or beer in the afternoon.  We spent hours in bars sitting at a table, telling our stories conveyed in small caricature drawings.  There was once a day we spent a few too many hours at one of our favorite bars.  Our laughter and behavior started to become a little too disruptive, and eventually we were asked to leave.  There was much joy between the three of us. 

les trois amigos

 It felt good to be back again, like a second home, seeing them, and knowing that there could still be a small part of me in them as well. 

Something New

Something new, but back to something old also.    This is a painting for a concept to look at my fears.  As a result, it has influenced a lot of decisions in my daily life, and evaluating my anxieties and fears to determine their validity.   Instead of holding back, doing it anyway without "fear" of the impression that I may give out or of the consequences.  

I've spent the day in my studio today listening to Beethoven, evaluating my next step with this painting,  intending to take my brush into hand.  But today and lately, I have been too distracted.   I am overwhelmed by my thoughts and planning for my next trip to France,   Villefranche-sur-mer. It's been a long time since I have made this journey, and I hope to be able to make peace with the sea. 

Happy Day, May 2011 Villefranche sur mer