Five New Paintings Added to my Home

I've mentioned before about how three of the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAPSE) stayed in our home for the week of October 14 -19 for their Leiper's Fork Paintout. It was a fun and rewarding week. All three are friends that I enjoy being with and admire, and it was a good week of fellowship and painting. One of the customs of the PAPSE artists is that they each give a painting to their hosts. It is an incredibly generous custom because their paintings are not only beautiful but valuable. I didn't know that when I first agreed to host some of them. I was just excited at the prospect of getting to know some professional artists and hopefully glean some tidbits of artistic wisdom from them over the course of their stay. The painting gifts were a bonus!

Last fall, I posted about our September 2018 experience of hosting three of the PAPSE painters. They don't usually have a paintout in the same location two years in a row, but after a hurricane last year, the Florida gallery that was planned for this year had not recovered sufficiently to host them, and so they returned to Leiper's Fork. Next year I believe they're going to Virginia. We hosted for two years in row, but it will be at least another couple years before we have the opportunity to host them again.

This year Jim Carson gave us this wonderful painting of a neighbor's yard a few doors down from us. Amos is a lawn mower repairman, and he does his work under the pole barn/carport. We pass this scene frequently - and Amos and his family are such good neighbors. He's been there for many years - long before we moved here - and is known as an expert with lawn mowers - honest and thorough. He has repaired our lawn mowers several times over the years. We love this painting that reminds us of the "salt of the earth" people that live along our charming country road.

Lawn Mower Repair, oil on 12x16 linen panel

Then Kathie Odom painted this scene in"downtown" Leiper's Fork. A small mobile home was in the parking lot of a little shopping area across the road from where she was set up to paint. That old wagon was there, too; they were being used during the weekend festivities. I watched her paint this, and I immediately loved it! I was thrilled when she gave the painting to me!

One Bed, One Bath, oil on 12x16 linen panel

Here is a photo of her painting it.

Perry Austin gave us this beautiful painting of trees on old Hwy 96 in Leiper's Fork. That's the road that our church is on. Such a beautiful scene! I want to locate the exact scene when I get a chance.

Old 96, Oil on 12x9 board

Those were our three gift paintings from the week of PAPSE in Leiper's Fork!  Amazing, aren't they?

The PAPSE week was filled to bursting with amazing art! Artists wereall over our village of Leiper's Fork and surrounding areas painting local scene. It was an inspiring sight; it was fun to walk around town and watch them paint.

Sometimes paintings really capture my attention and I know immediately I want them for my home. Artist Greg Barnes did the painting below with pastels. I also painted that barn that week - not nearly as well as Greg did, of course, but the fact I painted it made me appreciate this painting even more. The roof of that barn was a green which Greg interpreted with that gorgeous bright turquoisy color that pops beautifully. I love the softness that the pastels give this painting. It took me a few days after the show & sale to decide to buy it, but I am so glad I did. I love it.

Kelly's Barn, pastels on 8x10 panel

It took me even longer to decide to buy this next painting. Since Perry Austin had to leave early because his new granddaughter was born, he asked me to pick up his unsold paintings from the gallery after the sale was over. Of course I told him I would pick them up and ship them back to him. At the last moment, the gallery owner decided to keep one of each artist's paintings for a mini-show for a few weeks. So I kept Perry's other paintings so I could ship them all back at one time. That's how I ended up with two of Perry's paintings displayed on the counter in my art studio so they could continue drying until it was time to ship them back. I kept looking at this painting. It's a painting of downtown Leiper's Fork. The flag is the perfect touch because I see that flag every time I drive into Leiper's Fork. The painting says Leiper's Fork and home to me. I finally realized I would regret not buying it. I now have 3 Perry Austin paintings, and this one is probably my favorite.

Leiper's Fork, oil on 16x12 board 

And I have a photograph of Perry painting it!

Over the past few weeks I have added significantly to my original art collection at home. That's a good thing because I love having art in my home - especially the art of people I know personally. One of my great joys is looking at them all - thinking about the circumstances surrounding each one. I love seeing the way different artists use their colors and brushwork. What better way to decorate one's home than to fill it with beautiful art?

It is probably a good thing I'm not a gallery owner because I'd end up buying more paintings than I'd sell. 

PAPSE Painters In Leiper's Fork - What a treat!

The Plein Air Painters of the Southeast have been in Leiper's Fork this past week, and we have had the honor of hosting three of them in our home:  Perry Austin and his wife, Carol, Jim Carson, and Kathie Odom and her husband, Buddy. It has been such an enjoyable week!

Although we've spent the week with well known artists, the first photos of the week are of my own painting when my friend, Sheryl, and I went out plein air painting on Wednesday. We drove to a farm that had this barn. I loved it and decided to paint it. However, I wanted the roof to show up more, and thus I used artistic license to make it a red roof instead of green.

This is a terrible photograph of my painting. I have no idea what the shadow is on top. I will photograph it again later and switch it out.  I'm not quite finished with this yet - but I like it so far.

Later that afternoon we drove to Radnor Lake and painted there. Here is the scene a chose to paint:

I am FAR from finished with this one - but I have the basics, although I definitely have to change that path!  I will post the finished painting in a few days. The shadows are what intrigued me, and I'm eager to get back to this painting and get those shadows looking right.

The best part of the week has not been MY painting, but the opportunity to be with so many wonderful artists and observe them painting. Our conversations have been so fascinating. I hate to see Kathie and Buddy go home tomorrow - and Jim go home on Sunday morning.

The photo below shows Kathie Odom in our driveway finishing up one of her paintings in preparation to take it to Leiper's Creek Gallery for the PAPSE On the Porch Wet Paint Show and Sale. Thursday was a busy morning as all three artists had to get their wet paintings ready to take to the Gallery for the show & sale.

This photo shows some of Kathie's paintings drying on a table outside our barn - waiting for Kathie's husband, Buddy, to frame them.

Our good friend, Perry Austin and his wife, Carol, got word around 4:00 a.m. on Thursday morning that their new granddaughter was about to be born. So Perry scurried around Thursday morning finishing up his paintings so he and Carol could get on the road to see that new grandbaby! Kathie and Buddy offered to handle Perry's framing, and when the show is over, I will pick up his paintings and keep them until I can get them back to Perry. They were on their way back home quickly - and later we got word that baby Mara was born - healthy and beautiful.

Here is Perry, working out of the back of his car finishing up his paintings.

And here are Perry and Carol Austin with Buddy and Kathie Odom right before Perry and Carol left to go see their new granddaughter.

Here's Jim Carson working on framing his paintings upstairs in my studio.

On Thursday night, we hosted a dinner for our artist guests, along with our friends, Troy and Sheryl, and their artist guests, David Boyd and Greg Barnes. My husband, Ron, asked us to go around the table and each person tell about their most meaningful painting. Wow! What wonderful and touching stories! There were more than a few tears which just goes to show how deeply art touches our souls. If you ever have the opportunity to talk with an artist, I can wholeheartedly recommend asking them to tell you about their most meaningful painting!

Thursday afternoon, Jim Carson offered to let me watch him paint as he talked about his process and answer questions. I learned so much! I'm sure I slowed him down with all my questions, but he was so open and helpful!

All "our artists" (as I call them) got their paintings to the gallery on time and in good shape. Here are Perry Austin's paintings hanging at the Leiper's Creek Gallery. You notice the bottom painting in this first photo already has a red dot sticker! As a matter of fact, all three of "my artists" had a painting sell today!

And here are Jim Carson's paintings at the Leiper's Creek Gallery's Wet Paint Show and Sale.

And here are Kathie Odom's! I believe Kathie sold a painting before I took this photo.

Friday morning, all the PAPSE artists plus some Chestnut Group members painted in Leiper's Fork. I started a painting but ended up needing to go home. So I wiped off the panel and will try again another day.

Here is Kathie Odom painting. I predict this painting will win an award. I loved it! One thing I noticed is how accomplished artists "see" paintings in ordinary things - not the obvious. Kathy's painting is of a small trailer.

Here is my friend, MaryO Smith painting in Leiper's Fork. MaryO was working with watercolors this time - beautiful work.

My friend, Sheryl, a Chestnut Group member, was also painting in Leiper's Fork. And that's Kathie in the background - and other artists across the street. It was fun to drive through town and see so many artists painting!

And Jim Carson completed another beautiful painting Friday morning in Leiper's Fork.

And here is the reason Perry and Carol Austin went home early. Grandma Carol Austin holding newborn Mara. Just look at that sweet face!

Such a wonderful week. We will be sad to see everyone else go home tomorrow and Sunday. It has been a great week with good friends and a lot of marvelous art!

Plein Air Painting Workshop at the Booth Museum in Cartersville Georgia

Last week I attended a Plein Air Workshop at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA. The actual workshop was held at the Booth Art Academy which is about a block from the Museum. The workshop featured three well known artists: Kathie Odom, Lori Putnam, and Dawn Whitelaw. When we signed up for the workshop, we had to select one of the artists to be our primary artist/instructor. I chose Kathie Odom since I had been in her mentorship group for three sessions last January and already knew that I related well to her. However, although I spent most of my time with Kathie, the workshop was designed so that we had sessions with the other two artists as well. A 3-for-1 deal.

It started on Thursday evening with each instructor introducing herself and telling about her art journey. We also received our schedules and information about the activities for the rest of the workshop. There were free samples of Gamsol and Galkyd Light - plus a gift bag with lots of Booth Museum and Cartersville Chamber of Commerce goodies. After about two hours that evening, Day 1 was complete.

Since my Mother lives in Rome, GA (about a 45-minute drive from Cartersville), I stayed with her and drove back and forth to the workshop each day.  I spent a lot of time in the car. I enjoy that, though. I listen to audiobooks, and it's a quiet time alone. The minus was that I didn't spend any time with the other class participants outside of class. Some of them got together at the hotel in the evenings for dinner, drinks and talking. I got to spend extra time with my mother, though. So it all evened out, and I was thankful that I could spend my days painting and learning with other artists - and my evenings with my mother and some siblings and other relatives, too.

Friday morning we met at Euharlee Covered Bridge in Euharlee, Georgia - a little community about 15 minutes from Cartersville. A truly beautiful little place with a covered bridge that is quaint and reminiscent of earlier times in America.

The three artist/instructors set up their easels at various locations near the bridge, selected their subjects and then demonstrated how they paint, talked about their process, and completed their paintings.  The workshop participants were free to watch one, two, or all three of them. I chose to roam from one to another, and that ended up being a great choice. I learned from each one.

Lori Putnam set up facing away from the covered bridge. Her painting focus was the road with its pattern of cast shadows from the trees and buildings.

It was good to see how she blocked in her painting and then selected the colors for the road, trees, buildings.

Dawn Whitelaw set up facing the bridge. This was my favorite subject of the three. It just seems that if you're going to paint around a covered bridge, the covered bridge should be in the painting. LOL!  Dawn is such a knowledgeable and quiet artist. I learn just from watching her, and I loved her presentation at the workshop.

Then I watched Kathie Odom paint for awhile. She also turned away from the bridge and painted the back of a house with a small house (play house, maybe) in the background. There was a large pot in the yard between the two houses, and she wanted that to be the focal point. Kathie has so much personality and was constantly sharing ideas and techniques.

This is another view of the covered bridge. There is just something about covered bridges that I love. They ooze stories of long ago.

After we spent Friday morning viewing and interacting with the 3 artists/instructors as they painted, we returned to the Booth Art Academy after lunch.  There, they had two 90-minute sessions - one with each of our non-primary instructors. That means I spent 90 minutes with Dawn and another 90-minutes with Lori. I learned so much from both of them - the most important thing was the value of drawing a small thumbnail sketch before painting. It helps to ensure the painting is what you want it to be. Via the thumbnail sketch, the artist works out possible issues before commiting it to paint. Then day two was complete.

Saturday and Sunday were spent outdoors and at the academy with our primary instructor. So Saturday morning, Kathie and her students met at a dead-end road right outside of Cartersville where there was a field with some white cows and a red barn. We set up our easels along the road, Kathy demo'ed, and then we tried to follow suit at our own easels. Since it was a dead end road, there were only two cars that came by during the 3+ hours we were there, and those were two nearby residents who came to see why all those people were milling around the road and painting.

Here is a view from where I set up my easel. It was interesting that one person set up right in the line of sight of just about everyone. So the majority of the class had to try to peer around her in order to see the barn. Some people just have no common courtesy. That person then stood at her own easel painting whenever Kathie had us come watch her demo another aspect of the painting. It puzzles me why someone would pay for a workshop and then not take full advantage of trying to learn as much as possible from the instructor.

We had some shade the first 30-45 minutes, but then the sun got high enough in the sky that even with umbrellas and wide-brimmed hats, it was miserably hot. Shortly after 11:30, I had reached my heat limit. The heat was bouncing off that asphalt, and I was melting. So I packed up my stuff and decided to head off for lunch a few minutes early. As I was leaving, I saw several other people packing - and I think by the time I drove off, everyone was pretty much done for the day. The photo below is of me with my friend, Barbara, right before I left. You can see by the background what a beautiful site it was.

This is my painting of the red barn - totally unfinished - lots I want to change about this. Now that I'm home, I hope to finish it soon. It's WAY too dark right now.

We spent Saturday afternoon at the academy. Kathie gave us the presentation she had given the other two groups the afternoon before, and then we all worked on our barn paintings for the rest of the afternoon. Day three was complete.

Sunday morning, Kathie's group met again at the Euharlee Covered Bridge. Our instructions were to set up our easels wherever we wanted to paint, and Kathie would circulate and comment/critique/offer suggestions for everyone. Kathie sure kept her word - constantly moving among all the students. She's one of the most giving artists I know.  Below is my set-up with my painting on the easel. I chose basically the same view that Dawn had chosen on Friday. You will notice the sketch pad where I had done my thumbnail drawing before starting the painting. However, if you look at my painting, you will see that I got the upper lines of the road all wrong. My road ended up looking like there's a hill leading to the bridge rather than a gentle slope.  So, now that I'm home, I plan on re-painting the road to straighten that out. Again, I still have lots to do, but I like this painting so far.

Sunday afternoon, it was back to the Academy where Kathie guided us in making a "greens chart." We mixed colors to make about 20 different shades of green on a panel to keep in our studios or with our plein air materials. It's amazing how many shades of green you can get with just 3-5 different tubes of paint.

And before we left on Sunday afternoon, Kathie's husband, Buddy, took a photo of our group, and then Day 4 was complete. The workshop went past so fast. 

I didn't finish a single painting during the workshop. However, that hasn't bothered me one bit. I feel that I have two paintings close to being finished, and I learned a lot that will help me be a better artist - and, most of all, will help me take my art in the direction I want it to go - looser and more "painterly."

Dramatic Cloud Study

I took the following photo and wanted to paint the scene - with the clouds being the dramatic focus.

So I painted it. Here is my first attempt. Now, I have had two different "cloud lessons" from Rachael McCampbell over the past couple years - and doggone it, I STILL can't do clouds well.



So, after being totally unhappy with those clouds, I scraped off the sky entirely.


Then I painted it again.


Okay - it sucks. So I left it - figuring that if I let it dry a little overnight, it might work a little more easily.  Right now it's just a mass of paint. "Muddy" is the term that comes to mind. I will tackle it again in a day or two.

One thing I considered was that I used an Ampersand Gessobord for this painting. The Ampersand Gessobord has a very slick surface. Maybe I should have tried one of my Belgium Linen panels. I may re-do this scene on one of those. The other thing is that maybe I'm putting on the paint too thickly. I tend to be overly generous with my paint, and that makes it more difficult to finesse things like clouds. So there are two things to work on for this painting.

Stay tuned for more attempts. I know I can get the trees and the grass and the hay rolls to look right. They don't look right now because I've just blocked them in. But I know how to paint them. It's just the clouds right now that have me stumped.

#Oilpainting, #paintingclouds, #marycarolart, #cloudstudy

Across the Field

Saturday morning, I went for a long drive.  It took about an hour to drive around the countryside around Leiper's Fork looking for scenes to paint.  I was specifically looking for barns and fields - something similar to what we did in Kathie Odom's class last week.  It was too cold to paint outside - plus I was by myself.  So I was armed with a camera.  I took a bunch of photos, and after I got home, I decided to paint the scene below - which is actually about a mile away from my house on Carl Road.

I first did a wash of brown on the lower 2/3, and a purply-pink on the upper 1/3.  The image below is after I blocked it out and applied the first colors.

The photo below is where I ended things last night.  The issue I see is that I have the trees wrong.  I have it looking like evergreen trees when they aren't at all.  I deliberately cropped the photo so that there was a bunch of sky.  I wanted to do some dramatic clouds to practice what I had learned in Rachael McCampbell's class this past November.  So I made it a very cloudy day.

I have appointments all this morning and into early afternoon (dentist and hair dresser) - and then Disciple Bible study is tonight. So I will only have maybe a couple hours later this afternoon that I can work on it. Three things to work on:  Make the main barn bigger and more squatty - actually mostly just the lower right roof line, make the trees more realistic (not evergreen - although if it becomes too complicated, I can just leave them as they are - artistic license), and work on the sky to make it more interesting and dramatic.

I will take this painting with me tomorrow when I go to Knoxville for Kathie Odom's second mentoring session on Thursday. It will be interesting and helpful to see the suggestions she makes for this painting and also for the painting I did from the class last week.

Later note: Kathie had lots of suggestions for that painting. I don't think she found anything positive about it. Very disappointing. So much "critique" that it was more than I could deal with or even remember.  So I decided to just chuck it. I would rather wait till spring and take a pretty spring photo of that scene and paint that.

Much later note: Although looking at it again, it's not THAT bad. I think it can be salvaged.  I will work on it again eventually.

Finishing Up and Touching Up and Varnishing

Yesterday's mentoring session with Kathie Odom really inspired me to work on my art today.

First, I finished up the painting I started yesterday in Kathie's class.  I'm really pleased with it.  It will be interesting to see what suggestions she gives me for improving it when I go to class next week.  Here's my finished painting.

Then I decided to do some repairs and improvements to three other paintings. First I took the painting below of Radnor Lake.  There were a few marks on the lake - probably from having the painting sitting around for so long. No telling how those marks got there.  I painted over them, and then did some other improvements to the painting.

Then I took the painting below - one that I painted when I was in Gatlinburg back in October.  When I showed the painting to my mother, she asked what that was in the lower left side of the painting.  I had FOURTEEN rocks in the painting. When Mother asked her question, I realized that it looked totally unnatural.  I had started painting rocks -because there WERE a lot of rocks - just not that many and only a couple large ones - but once I started adding rocks, I just kept going - and they kept getting bigger and bigger.  So I painted over eleven of the rocks and left just three in the painting.  I think it looks much better, and the rocks looks like rocks.  However, I still don't like the way the rocks look.  So I may work on it more tomorrow.

My next project was my second Radnor Lake painting.  The rail along the left side of the trail was too perfect.  So I put some plant growth over part of it to break up the line of the railing, and I worked on the trail a little, too. It's still not one of my favorite paintings, but I'm done with it.

Then, I decided it was time to varnish some paintings.  I took about 9 paintings out the garage and varnished them.  None of the ones above since they all have wet paint on them - but some of my others - some that I really like. So now I've varnished some paintings.  I need to take a bunch of my paintings out of their frames and varnish them and re-frame them.  That will be a project I work on over the next few days and weeks.

Overall, I had a really good day today.  I love it when I get "lost" in painting - and that happened today.  Several hours went by as I worked on the paintings above, and I totally lost track of time because I was so engrossed in what I was doing.  I was listening to an audio book the other day and it mentioned how one get to "flow" when the rest of the world is nonexistent as we concentrate on our art or work or whatever.  So today I was in my "art flow," and that's a good thing.