Another Iris Study

"Another Iris Study"   7" x 5"   Oil

I caught my one blooming iris in sunlight, so just had to do another study of it.
    Of all the flowers nature gives us, the iris is one that since childhood has continued to capture my attention.  So even though most of the yard is in shade, it's the one flowering plant I get excited about during the spring months.  This one ended up producing three flowers even though it was the only plant that bloomed this year.

Iris Study

"Iris Study:    5" x 7"   Oil on Canvas Panel

I have a fairly large bed of bearded irises, but this spring only one bloomed.  I caught this view of it late in the afternoon just as the sun was setting.  It's amazing how much light is left at dusk.

Forty-one Strokes Project: Money Plant Study 1

"Money Plant Study, 1"    5" x 7"   Oil on Canvas
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I've been in a creative drought for several weeks now.  I've lost count of how many sub-par paintings have gone in the trash.  Finally, the spring flowers started to bloom.  My backyard is filled with money plants and hostas.   While the hostas' foliage is filling out, the money plants are flooding the ground with their varying hues of purple.  The azalas are in full bloom, my one lady slipper has appeared again and out of dozens of bearded irises, one has blossomed.  In the woods, the dogwoods bloomed weeks early and already gone.

With all this life bursting out around me, I could not break the drought, not until I decided to challenge myself.  I decided to lay out several 5" x 7" formats on unstretched canvas and attempt to capture some studies limiting myself to forty-one strokes.

Today's post is the first of these.  I set up for myself a set of rules:  (1)  A stroke is the duration from when the brush touches the canvas until it lifts, (2) There is no time limit between strokes, (3) Preparation time--i.e. drawing, notan studies and toning--does not count as strokes and there is no time limit to that, either.

Doing this challenge seems to have broken the drought.  As I continue to complete these studies, I will post them and make them available on my Daily Paintworks auction.  And I give myself permission to trash any that don't please me.

The Survivors: My Neighbor's Pines

"The Survivors"      12" x 16"      Oil on Canvas
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This little painting--white pines in my neighbor's yard--began as a demo showing how to discern value differences in shadowed images. It was a gloomy day, mostly gray giving me a subject ideal for the lesson I was teaching.  Rarely do I finish a demonstration, but this one kept calling me to make it into a painting.

I have always respected this little stand of trees.   Several years ago, they were doomed to one of those blights that was attacking white pines.  The tree experts advised my neighbor to chopped them down, but he refused.  Instead, he nursed them back to health.  These days, they are as lovely on a gloomy day on a bright one.

Morning Dawning on the Tallulah

"Morning Dawning on the Tallulah"    16" x 12"    Oil on Canvas
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Mornings are getting my attention lately.  This painting is another winter's morning along the Tallulah River.  I've painted this area of the Tallulah many times, each with a different spirit than the others.

Some of the most magical times I've experienced here have been during the early morning hours, whether because of the light or the season or after a rain or just the quietude that allows our souls to be still.  And when you think about it, mornings are among our strongest metaphors.

Another Early Morning Light

"Another Early Morning Light"   16" x 20"   Oil on Canvas
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Last week as I was pouring my first cup of coffee, I looked out my kitchen window and saw this.  Rain clouds were clearing out as the sun was coming up and the resulting light in my winter woods was breath-taking.  Still in my PJs and postponing that cup of coffee, I grabbed my camera, went out on my deck and began shooting.

Even though I'm beginning to yearn for the greens of springtime, I'm still discovering subtle purples, pinks and oranges in the winter grays that I suspect I'm going to miss when the spring greens actually arrive.  But these fleeting moments remind me of the importance of soaking it all in as it happens.

Early Morning on Windridge

"Early Morning on Windridge"  16" x 20"    Oil on Canvas
$400   BUY

Sometimes the skies here are incredible.  Early Monday morning on my drive into town, I could hardly keep my eyes on the road.  It was about an hour after sunrise and had been raining the night before.  I was so captured by what was going on, I went back home, got my camera and holding it in my right hand as I was steering with the left, I pointed it through the windshield and snapped continuously for four miles and back again.  This scene was just  yards from my driveway looking south on my road, Windridge.

I got lucky.  There's never much traffic on the way to town, but at that time of morning, most of the working folks were already gone and the not many others had begun to stir around yet.  I had the road, the skies and four miles of landscape to myself.  Sometimes things just go your way.

This painting is most likely be beginning of an emerging theme about skies and the landscape I see on my way to town.

Quiet January

"Quiet January"     12" x 18"    Oil on Canvas
$200  SOLD

In these north Georgia hills in January, there's no predicting the temperatures or weather.  We'll be outside without jackets one day and bundled up in our winter coats, scarves and gloves the next.  We might have enough snow to bring the entire world to a halt or we might not see a flake all winter.  We make grand plans at our own risks.  But there are a few places in January that most likely will be cold no matter what the temperatures are a few miles downhill.  The Tallulah River is one of those places.  This little painting is done on one of the colder days when other than having to pull out our winter wraps several times, we've not yet seen any snow.

One thing I love about the rivers here is that if you don't stay in the moment, you're likely to miss something.  During these moments, the sun was fully lit one moment, then partially blocked by clouds the next.  I happened to catch my moment at a time when the on a pinpoint of sun was breaking through.

New Book: In Praise of Mountain Waters

Announcing my new book, In Praise of Mountain Waters

Available at Amazon.com

And Happy New Year!

A Wish for Peace

No painting this week, rather a wish for peace and joy to all people everywhere.