02/22/12 Busy, Busy

When I got to the studio yesterday morning I was greeted with a rather large puddle of water in the back hallway! Spent the morning moving the large canvases and assessing the damage - none, thank goodness! The storm drain had backed up with the large rainfall we had last week!

I moved my large Cinque Terre painting to the wall and decided to frame my two most recent pleinair paintings. Those are the two you see on top. The one in the dark frame is from the Arboretum, DeGaulier house and the piece in the gold frame is at White Rock Lake across from the Marina. Both of these are available for sale. Finally, I decided to revisit my Middleton Farm painting from my time in Charleston. This is the work on the easel at present. I am almost finished with the sun shining through the moss but now I need to ramp up the darkest darks also.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Carol

02/19/12 Still on the easel

I am slowly adding the hillside houses and have darkened the ones that were put on first. I am waiting for this to totally dry before I decide what to do next.

Thanks for looking at my blog. Carol

02/15/12 The shadows on the hillside

The town of Cinque Terre is in twilight shadow on the hillside. I think I have done the lights correctly but I need to darken the house fronts some more. This is becoming interesting.

Thank you for looking at my blog. Any pictures that you see are for sale so feel free to contact me at 214-535-2394. Carol

02/09/12 Blending even more!

I have put on another layer of paint. This blending takes a lot of patience because you have to put on thin layers of paint and brush until your arm nearly falls off! I am almost pleased with the sky but felt compelled yesterday to add the shadow mountain. I won't be working on any of this today because I am going out to pleinair paint - and it is freezing! Now I know I'm nuts!! This big baby will be warm in the studio slightly drying while this big baby is outside painting!

Thanks for looking at my blog. If you are ever interested in purchasing any of my paintings please contact me at 214-535-2394 or mcmduke@mac.com Thanks again, Carol

02/08/12 Learning to blend

This looks like a mess right now but hopefully it will begin to shape up soon. This is the very beginning of a sunset in Italy picture that my niece and her husband took this summer while on their honeymoon. I hope I can do it justice.

My first problem was that I chose such a large canvas but it seemed to call for one and I've never painted on one this large. I know I have to raise the mountain on the left so it won't be even with the horizon and do some more dry brushing! My right shoulder began hurting yesterday after about 5 hours of brushing, blending and brushing more!

I stopped to go to a demo at the ACA and ended up leaving because I couldn't hear a word that was being said and the painter, although awesome, is just not a "teacher." The whole time I was there I was struggling to hear what was said.(he is also very soft-spoken) So sorry, because I had been looking forward to this demo for several weeks!