Sunday 30 August 2015

Getting Ready for my show at the Holter Museum




Down to the wire I'm putting finishing touches on a couple of large oils.

Wish I could finish them sooner so the paint was drier when I delivered them.



 Here are the finished images:

                                           Willows at Simms,  oil,  62 x 54"


                                            Two Trees,  oil,  62 x 54"


And a smaller one

Last Light on the Missouri,  oil on canvas,  18 x 24"

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Artist Appreciation Month

I received an email last week telling me that August was Artist Appreciation Month.  They asked if I might write a blog post honoring an artist who influenced me. Oh, how to choose, there are soooo many.   But I have to go back to the  very beginning and honor the master who inspired me to tolerate my first thousand (2 thousand?) bad paintings while I was learning.  He made me want to paint well so badly.  Winslow Homer.

Homer - Fishing Boats, Key West

 When I discovered his Key West watercolors I was living on St. John  in the Virgin Islands and these sights were all around me.

His paintings made me thirsty to learn watercolor.

Soon Start,  watercolor,  4 x 7"

This was one of my first.


Moonbeam at the Finish, pastel, 8 x 11


You can see how he influenced this one - one boat in shadow, the other catching the sun.


Homer - The Coral Divers, 1885

Without using gaudy color he caught the brilliant sun and light of the tropics.


Raising the Mast,  watercolor,  11 x 14

Seeing his vision of what I was looking at honed my own.

Sail Abeam,  oil on canvas, 30 x 30"


Beach Lineup,  pastel, 18 x 24"
Homer - Hauling Anchor, Key West

Even now,  nearly 40 years after discovering his tropical watercolors, I am still mesmerized.



          Thank you to Marietta Gregg at Patience Brewster for prompting me to honor this giant.

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