With a little help from my friends...

"Frog Pond"  9 x 12 oil

I recently came home from a family trip and had to unpack the truck that was filled with food, ice chests, inflatable boat, beach chairs and what-not....and then I had to pack for the next morning paint-out with Reno Tahoe Plein Air Painters.  I stayed up late, recharging my camera and picking out a panel size and panel carrier for it....and loaded the car trunk with the tripod, pochade, umbrella, and packed a lunch to take.....

The next morning when I got there, I opened the trunk....and OMG....I forgot my totebag with oil paints, brushes, turp, paper towels and all the stuff I need to do a painting!

I was totally discombobulated and thought the day was a total bust...and here it was a gorgeous day and I was so looking forward to painting there...

Three other painters arrived and one offered me paint and one of his brushes (he recently pared down his load to only 5 brushes!).  So, I set up next to him so I could rinse out my one brush in his turpentine....and I loaned him my umbrella to shade his work.

Well, I was delighted with how my little painting came out in this circumstance!  Hurray for friends!

Summertime Paint-Outs - Staying Cool!

"Connie's Garden"  12 x 9 pastel

Today I went with a painting friend to our local arboretum and we found a cool shady spot and enjoyed painting the flowers.  The employed gardener (or was she a volunteer?) was happy I was painting an area she planted this year.  So I named it after her!

"Summer Cove Escape" 10 x 8 oil

Yesterday I hiked down a path to a quiet cove beach with a painting friend, Monika, and we painted and then dipped in the cool waters of Lake Tahoe.  What a great day!

"Summertime at the Lake"

Before I met up with my friend, I was close to Sand Harbor.  I took a painting I had done previously and did more work on it at the exact same spot.  I like it better now.

"Down By The Pond" pastel painting

12 x 9 pastel on panel

This painting has been re-worked!

It was horizontal before - 2 blog posts past -

I decided to hose it off in the backyard and start over!  The first attempt prepared me for this second one.  I have to admit - I haven't painted a green landscape very much!

Painting cattle...for the first time....

9 x 12 oil on panel

Yesterday two other artists and I went to an historic ranch called Silver Saddle Ranch outside of Carson City, NV.  It was a charming old ranch with cattle in different fields.  Some had given birth to calves already.

I worked with my new oil set up (oops - I forgot to post pictures of it) and it was much better than the French Easel.  You can see a little of my set up below:

I worked longer in the field - maybe 2 or 2-1/2 hours.  It was hard!  The cattle keep moving!  So I finished it today at home.  The only problem is...I think my cattle look like pot-bellied pigs!  (Kinda small).  The cattle in the background were real hard - they are just blobs, but they have to LOOK like cattle blobs!   Oh well....it was fun to try!  And I enjoy a good challenge.

"November Snow" pastel painting

9 x 12 pastel on terracotta LaCarte

This is the first pastel painting I have done in a while!  It was fun to do again after time-off with watercolor and oil paints.  I painted this on a reddish-colored pastel paper, because the willows were a rich reddish and orange color in November.  This location is at the top of Mt. Rose Highway in the meadows.  We had some snow and it was cold enough to start freezing the edges of the wetlands.  The sky was a brilliant dark blue that reflected in the water.

"Cool Waters" pastel painting

14 x 11 pastel on board

Today I finished this painting.  I am so happy, this is my last painting I am going to submit to an upcoming show....then....that's all!  No more shows for a while!  The pressure is off.  Whew!  Now, I can relax and do some watercolor flowers I have been wanting to do.  I also want to go back to painting in oil to experiment with that too.  So nice.....

A new watercolor painting in progress!

Yes, I still love watercolor!  That last exercise to loosen up got me going!  I am doing a full sheet landscape from a photo I took at Monterey, California.  I am working from top to bottom.  I used liquid mask for the clouds (removed now) and the ocean foam in the lower right corner (still on - it is orange colored mask).

The trees were fun to do.  Very loose, flicking movements with a pointed round brush.  The rocks I am doing with a flat brush.  I am just beginning to put in the orange and red colors of the iceplant flowing down the rocky coast.  When I am done with that color and it is dry, I will put in the greens of the iceplant.  I didn't want the green and red to mix and make muddy brown.

I still have more rocks to put in on the lower half of the painting.