Girls Just Wanna Paint: Summer Memories

“First Place” sketchbook watercolor 

There are so many things to love about the Marshfield Fair and Horticulture Hall is one of my favorites. On a recent rainy day, a friend and I sat inside and painted this display of sunflowers. Traffic was minimal and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. 

Our Fair is awesome!

Girls Just Wanna Paint - Dog Days

• 
  
• 
  
• 
• This is the teeny tiny front cover of my 2.5x3” book
• 
  
• Oh, the dog days of summer! 
• Hot, humid and long. 
• I’ve been hugging the air conditioner while working on a little “concertina” folded book, in my dining room/kitchen studio. This is a meditative way of thinking about how to design each page or spread of pages. I have a hoard of gelli printed papers, ephemera, paint, Posca pens and embellishments. 
• I hope you enjoy these process photos.
• 
  
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• 
• 
• 
• 
  
• 
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Girls Just Wanna “Paint like Sally”

 

“Somewhere In Time”

Procreate digital Painting

This month’s GJWP challenge was to “Paint like Sally”. Sally Dean is one of the most versatile and creative artists I have ever known. Painting in all media, all styles, mosaic, paper mache, clay, wood carving, there is nothing that she cannot do. Check her and the other ladies out here.

Find me on Instagram

See my work at Daily Paintworks

Kitchen Windowsill

“Kitchen Windowsill” 

9”x12” watercolor

for sale in my Daily Paintworks Gallery 

My red and orange nasturtiums have been prolific this summer and displaying them in my collection of glass vases, bottles and jars and painting them, gives me great joy!

The Road Less Traveled

“Which Way Should I Go?” 12”x15” 

mixed media on watercolor paper

By Mary Sheehan Winn

On Instagram @ mary_sheehan_winn 

Every single decision we make changes the direction of our lives. It’s just that simple. 

I’m lately working in various genres of art. Some traditional and some experimental. This is a multilayered piece including crayon, paint, and gelli printed papers. For a traditional painter like myself it’s a constant struggle to cover up elements and make changes, or to know if it’s finished. 

I’ll let the viewer decide.

This is my piece for the Girls Just Wanna Paint Challenge.

The beginning 

“Soulmates, Pam and Piper”

“Soulmates, Pam and Piper” 12x12 oil on canvas

This is my take on “light” for the Girls Just Wanna Paint December challenge (post scheduled)

This painting was a gift for a dear friend who inspires me with her grace and stamina, despite seemingly insurmountable odds. 

As soon as I saw this image I knew I had to paint the halo glow of the setting winter sun, around the silhouettes of Pam and Piper. Since the image was fairly dark I had to adjust and invent a composition that would set off the two main subjects. I delivered it on my annual trek to her Christmas Eve with the horses, open house in the Berkshires. It was magical🎄⭐️

Check out their soil restoration products at the links below.

http://equiculture.online/

https://www.facebook.com/equiculture/

Please enjoy my photos of these magical equines.

Happy 2022 🤞🏼

Girls Just Wanna Paint Challenge Pink and Orange

 

“Pink and Orange Tulips”

8x10 sketchbook pen, ink and watercolor

This month’s Girls Just Wanna Paint Challenge is pink and orange and as usual, I was putting off doing my painting until the last minute dreaming up all of the different ideas I had. 

Luckily, I had this one in the archives because last Wednesday our area was hit hard by a Nor’easter and I spent the past four days doing stuff that involved cleanup and assistance and I was too tired to paint!

GJWP Challenge Chair

“Chair and Sunflowers in a Green Room”

Painting combined with Procreate.

I began painting this simple white chair with a pitcher of sunflowers upon it but I hadn’t set up a background. I liked where I was going so I put it into Procreate to see what could be done to resolve it. I ended up having the most success I’ve ever had with Procreate and loving the result. 

I will post the finished painting at some point and it may or may not look like this.

Check out Girls Just Wanna Paint to see the other chairs.

Pam’s Muffins

 

“Pam’s Muffins”

5x7” Watercolor and Ink Sketchbook painting 

Our recent “Painting Safari” took place at the Scituate home of our own “Hostess with the Mostest”, Pamela, who baked us delicious berry muffins and in her usual fabulous style, set them up in a picturesque still life in her front garden. I set up my camp chair in the shade and did this sketch. 

I had to tilt the tabletop slightly because it was at eye level, and I incorporated the windows which were not visible from my angle. Sometimes it’s nice to invent a scene out of different components.

Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge “June”

 

“Up by Newville Lake”

8x8 oil on panel

My husband and I have spent many a rainy June in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. This is typical weather for the season along with copious  blackflies. Nonetheless, I love it there. 

This was painted in my car because of pouring rain. Check out the paintings at Girls Just Wanna Paint.

My nifty setup 

Lost in Thought and Girls Just Wanna Paint

Burning Bush

“Burning Bush” 9x12 oil on panel

I painted outdoors on one of the last warm days and was struck by the light shining through the foliage of this flaming orange bush, against the dark background. I knew I had to take it on! It was a struggle to “make” something out of the area around the bush, which was actually a stone wall, but I figured it out using temperature and color.  I had only to create some shadow areas with a grayed down mid range dark. I toned the canvas orange which preserved the glow of the bush.

GJWP Challenge “Unity”

“Grays Beach, Yarmouth”

6x6 oil on panel

This month’s Girls Just Wanna Paint topic is Unity. I painted this en plein air, on Grays Beach in Yarmouth a few weeks ago and the unity is the wind, the water and the sand. I love the beach!

Storm On Trouants Island Road

 

Trouants Island is connected to the Marshfield Hills mainland by a dirt road through the marsh, which is only passable at low tide. 

I was out there recently during a summer rainstorm. Suddenly the sun broke through the still black sky and lit up the marsh in a dazzling display of bright greens! Check out our paintings for this month’s challenge “Marshfield Hills”, at GJWP.

Road Trip and Celtic Cross

Celtic Cross

7x9 Sketchbook Watercolor

My desire to participate in a Plein Air event, arose from the advent of the first annual Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival, which took place in June of 2017. My husband’s mother comes from this remote part of Nova Scotia, Canada, located on the North West shore of the Bay of Fundy and we have spent two decades traveling up to visit relatives and stay in a little cottage on the shore.  Thus, when I was alerted to the PIPAF event, I just had to apply, because Parrsboro is mine. I stopped in this cemetery in New Brunswick and snapped a few photos. I love cemeteries for their garden like settings and beautiful monuments. This is my contribution to Girls Just Wanna Paint, “Not New England” challenge.               

The Girls

"The Girls" 

9x12 oil on panel

The dairy herd at Two Islands in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, one of my favorite places in the world.  Cape Blomidon is in the distance. 

I made this fit into this months Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge, which is 'Women'.  After all, dairy cows are females.

Selfie with Shades

"Bad- itude" 

12x12 acrylic on panel

I have never done a self portrait but I was shopping and found this pair of oversized, mirrored shades and took a selfie with them on. I didn't buy them, but I liked the effect. 

I'm recently enjoying working in acrylics which offer a very different experience. They dry quickly but, you can layer over them with transparent colors. 
Check out the Girls Just Wanna Paint, Sunglasses Selfie post here tomorrow.

Girls Just Wanna Paint June Challenge

"Lotus Flowers"

8x10 acrylic on canvas paper

I love lily pads and waterlilies also known as lotus flowers. They are prevalent in Asian art and culture. The flower opens with the sun and closes at dusk.

*The main meanings of Lotus flower are: Beauty, Grace, Eloquence, Direct and deep spiritual contact, Mysticism, Faithfulness, Patience, Love, Compassion, Purity, Rising out of suffering, Enlightenment, Self-awareness and Rebirth. 

There is a time when we think there is no way out of a situation, like we will stay stuck there for eternity. However, all the pain we are coming through will be soothed. Lotus flower is here to remind us that we mustn’t give up, but fight against all the difficulties. We have a chance to rise out of the pain, but first of all remember that no one will do it for us, but ourselves.

Check out Girls Just Wanna Paint to see the paintings of the "together apart" challenge.

*except for the first paragraph, this text was copied from myflowermeaning.com

Swimming Against the Tide

"Swimming Against the Tide"

8x8 Ink and Watercolor 

Swimming against the tide is a metaphor for the way I feel these days. 

Check out the Girls Just Wanna Paint interpretations of FISH here.

"Still Life" GJWP challenge

"Still Life" Acrylic 12x12 

$350 click link to buy

I'm primarily an oil painter, sometime watercolor painter and dabble in other media. I picked up acrylics a couple of years ago when I took a workshop with my friend and fellow GJWP artist, Page Pearson Railsback. 
I love the creaminess of the paint and the way I can create transparent layers over previous passages. The color is rich and not chalky as I remember it from my long ago, art student days.
I'd been working on this abstract piece which seemed like a metaphor for life coming to an abrupt stop. Placing careful brushstrokes next to one another, as I worked out the color harmony on this was fun and meditative. I plan on doing more.
I'm still in Naples and don't plan on returning home until the insanity subsides.