Afternoon Walk - day 2 progress

Day 2 work on the painting and I am about half way through.  

The weather was nice enough to get out to my studio and paint today.

Blocking in the green ice plant areas

Working on the path

Blocking in the cliff rocks

Refining rocks, blocking in the fence, figures,
refining grassy areas, water & distant hills, adding sail boat

Mixing palette

So the painting is coming along and about half way finished.

Afternoon Walk in Pacific Grove

Painting "en plein air" on location  - it was cold!

   

The original plein air painting created in PG

I am enjoying doing a commission painting working from a small plein air painting I painted along the Pacific Grove coast a few years ago.  These nice folks bought a note card of the painting at a bookstore that sells my art note cards.  They liked the painting on the card and asked me to do a larger painting for them.  The storms in California have made it difficult to get to my studio until today, but I finally got a start on the under painting.  I will post my progress as it goes.

Step 1 prep the canvas with red paint
and draw the composition

 

Blocking in some of the background color

DAY 1
I like working on a red background sometimes,
especially when there is a lot of green in the painting.
The red background will 
sparkle through in a few places, adding interest. 

Here I have started to block in the focal point tree shapes.  

             Hopefully, I will be able to work on the painting again tomorrow!

Sloshing Around in an Almond Orchard

 What a fun day sloshing through the almond orchard!  When my friend's family irrigates their almond orchards I come running over with my paint box!  Sam had the sprinklers going and there were large puddles of water under the rows of the almond trees.  Luckily, I was able to set up my paint box on the driveway and saved my shoes from getting soaking wet.  I couldn't wait to get out my paints!  The reflections are wonderful... almost magical under those trees!  I can see so many colors in the water, soil and grasses on the ground alone!  The trees bend here and there in different directions and the soft green leaves on the branches hang down loaded with the almonds.  It is late July and soon the almonds will be harvested in the Central Valley of California where I live.

 Here you can see my paint box.  I started out in the shade, but soon the light dappled through the tree behind me and I had to put up my umbrella.  It is important to see the painting in even light as I am painting it. 

When I got home, worked on the painting a little more, refining some places, adding more color, etc. using my photo references and my memory.

Scroll down to see the finished painting in a frame.

Here are some of the photos I took that day to help me finish my painting. 

Look at those reflections!

"Time To Irrigate" - oil on linen panel - 9" x 12"

Here is what the painting might look like in a frame.

Available for purchase on my gallery page at

www.RhettsStudio.com

 

Painting the Almond Blossoms

I had the opportunity to paint way out in the countryside at a friend's house east of Modesto. CA.  The California Central Valley is the home of thousands of acres of farms and especially almonds.  Each spring the valley is white with trees all in bloom.  It almost looks like snow and when the blooms fade and start to fall, it looks like it is snowing!  It is not great for people with allergies, but it sure is beautiful!

 My friend's house is at the top of a hill overlooking the valley for miles.  You can see the Sierra Mountains and the foothills before them.  Layers and layers of hills and valleys all covered in neat rows of blooming almond orchards!  It is an amazing scene.  I was attracted to this view because of the road that zig zagged back into the distance.  


My friend and I set up our easels and painted the scene for several hours.  When I got home my painting surprised me!  The colors seemed so very washed out, which often happens when plein air painting.  I have a show coming up where we take a painting we did in plein air and enlarge it in our studio.  So I thought this scene would work for me.  So enjoy watching my process below.  

Painting on location

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Working out the composition

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Adding color washes to the canvas to cover the white canvas

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Working on the road & back orchards

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Adding under painting color to the right orchards

Refining the trees

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Adding the blossoms

Testing the finished painting in its frame.

"Acres and Acres of Blooming Almond Orchards"

15" x 30"  oils  $2400

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Plein Air Painting in a Classic Rose Garden

I was so fortunate to have been chosen to be one of the artists who got to paint in the garden of one of the homes on the Carnegie Art Center's Designer Home and Garden Showcase on May 11th, 2019.  The grounds around the house were so beautiful and they had a formal, classic rose garden which attracted my attention.  
You can watch the video I took while I was painting in the garden.
I was sort of nervous when I did this video from my iPhone, so have patience! 
This painting is now on Daily Paintworks and will be up for bidding in an auction starting May 23rd.

Painting in progress

Cat Portraits

I love cats.  Can't help it.  I have had a cat in my life since I was a child.  But I must admit I have not painted many cats, so I decided it was time to do so!  Here are my latest cat portraits.

"Leo the Cat" 8" x 8"  oils
Leo is my current baby.  He is so sweet and demands lots of attention!

"Blue Eyed Kitten"  8" x 8"  oils
This is my baby kitten we named Lacy.  We called him that because
as a kitten he loved to play with our shoe laces!  We loved him so much,
but sadly, he came down with cancer and we had to put him down.
 But we had 11 wonderful years with him.

"Calico Cat"   8" x 8"  oils
This is a portrait of my kitty named Vickie.  She is so sweet!
She has the most interesting coloring.  We love her to pieces!

"Black and White Beauty"   8" x 8"  oils
I love black and white cats!  This cat has lots of white whiskers
so she is all about those whiskers! 

My new cat paintings are available via Daily Paintworks!  

Click on the DPW link to get more information.

Painting along the Big Sur Coast

Let's Take a Long Walk
9" x 12"   oil on panel

A few years ago I took a photo while on a casual trip down the California coast on my way to Big Sur.  The scene was so pretty.  Rolling hills, native grasses and a path going off into the distance.  I painted the painting later, but was never really happy with it. 

This week I revisited the painting to see what I could do with it.  Now I am happy!  I remembered that scene and loved the beautiful, colorful native grasses.  How I wanted to walk down that path!  But it was a long walk and as I do not walk well, I could only dream.  

It is now up on my Daily Paintworks online Gallery.
If you click on it you can see close ups.   

$450  without a frame
If you are interested in adding this painting to your own collection,
 please send me an email via Daily Paintworks.

New Coastal Paintings

A Beach For Seals
11" x 14"    oil on panel

I have been working on revising and up dating some older paintings.
I created this painting on location during the Big Blue Live TV show a few years ago.  It was painted at Hopkins Marine Station Beach near the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I love this beach because it is fenced off and the seals have the beach all to themselves.  As I was painting from the pathway above and behind the fence, I had fun watching the seals resting and playing in the gentle surf.  Such a pretty place.

Send me an email via Daily Paintworks
 if you are interested in purchasing this painting.
You can see close ups of it on Daily Paintworks online gallery. 

$600 ~ does not include a frame.

"Sprinklers" Painting in Farm & Field show

"Sprinklers"    11" x 14"   oil

My painting "Sprinklers" has been juried into 

the Farm & Field show 

at the Carnegie Arts Center.   

The show runs through July 29th, 2018.  

The Carnegie Arts Center is located at 250 N. Broadway in Turlock, CA.  

This scene was painted from a photograph taken of a newly planted field near Snelling, CA.  
This area is beautiful with rolling hills and lots of fields.  

Pacific Grove House Painting Finished

After a few more corrections, additions and changes, the painting of the Pacific Grove house is finally finished!  It was really fun to do this painting of this cute house in such a beautiful setting.  I hope the family is pleased with it.  The original painting goes to Oregon soon, but prints and other goodies can be purchased on Fine Art America.  

Pacific Grove House Painting progress

I have reworked the house color to a more muted color.  I still need to put the mobile hanging from the eaves.  Hope to get to that next week.  

We have been having a lot of wet weather lately and it has been making it difficult to get the painting to dry.  I am hoping the coming hot temperatures will help dry the oil paint.  It has to dry so I can give it a coat of varnish and ship it.  

It has been very busy here with my husband having cataract surgery and several shows I am trying to get paintings finished to enter.  Hope to get back to the Pacific Grove house next week.  

More Work on Pacific Grove House Painting

This is what the house looks like today.  My client's uncle lives in the house and he said the lavender had been removed so I don't know exactly where it had been.  The large, tall trees make a wonderful background to this house.

Using my practice painting (see previous blog post), and the many photos I took of the house, I was able to make a drawing in proportion to my 18" x 24" canvas panel and graph out the basic drawing.

These photos show my steps in working out the dark and light values in the foreground and trees.  In the bottom right photo I have added the house color, brick and refined the tree shapes & colors.

These photos show the steps working out the sky color, tree shapes, adding the lavender and shadow patterns on the house.  I also worked on the yard plants and added the fences.

More refinements to the trees, adding the small tree in the front yard, and more work on the lavender.

Here I have added the curb & street and added more plants to the front yard.  I felt the mail box was too big, so I made it smaller so as not to detract from the house.

At this point I feel that I am nearly finished with the painting, except for a few more refinements and pending input from my client.  When the painting is finished, it will need time to rest and dry before signing and adding a coat of varnish.  

Preparing for a New Commission Painting of a Pacific Grove Home

After taking many photos of the house,
I made some quick sketches.
Here is one of them.

 I have taken on a new commission.  A nice lady in Oregon remembers her good times at her grandmother's home in Pacific Grove, California.  She has asked me to paint her grandmother's house to add to a wall in her home.  She plans to surround the painting with photos of family and fun times.  

So I took on the project.  Here are photos showing my process working out the problems of the painting with sketches and a 9" x 12" practice painting.

She fondly remembers the lavender in the front yard, and although it is no longer there, I plan to add it to my painting.  

See the next blog to see how I progress on the 18" x 24" painting.

After making the drawing and graphing it out,
I re-drew the drawing on to a small canvas board and begin blocking in the dark values.
This practice painting was just to capture the color and value patterns. 

Here is the finished 9" x 12" practice study.  I may still make more
changes to this little painting later.

2018 Open Studio

Sand Dunes and Eucalyptus     6" x 6"  oil on panel

Returned recently from a fun time painting in the Carmel (CA) area.  I hiked down through the sand dunes at the end of Ocean Ave. in Carmel to make this painting.  The ice plant is a nice contrast with its red color against the green eucalyptus trees.

You can bid on it in the Daily Paintworks auction 

Here is the scene I painted from in Carmel.

Angel Trumpets Painting

My painting "Angle Trumpets" is now up for auction on Daily Paintworks.
You can bid on it here:
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/753140

Angel Trumpets   oil   12" x 9"

These are the most beautiful flowers!  I love the way the light hits and shines through the flowers!