Toward Provincetown

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When you drive to Provincetown, instead of taking Rte. 6 all the way in, the better route is 6A which runs along the shoreline and brings you in through the picturesque East End. This painting is from the exact point where you come over the hill and get your first glimpse across the Bay to Provincetown . Every time I see this view it's like it's the first time. Wonder why I'm painting Cape Cod when I'm in Nova Scotia?

It poured all day!!

Days Cottages, Truro Massachusetts

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Okay, I'm sitting in front of the Fundy Geological Museum which has Wi-Fi looking at email and making a post at 10 o'clock PM. The light is just leaving the sky. It was a beautiful day here. Clear and sunny with a gale wind ;) My favorite thing in the world. A breeze!

Days Cottages

One of my favorite subjects is Days Cottages in Truro, Massachusetts. The cottages, all named after flowers were built by the Grandfather of the current owner and are famous. I remember staying here in the 70's and being totally enchanted with the place. Since then, I've had several blissful painting trips with my  girlfriends. In fact, I was here with two of the girls on Sept 11th 2001 and because there is no TV or radio, was unaware of the events of that morning until about 11:30 AM. Never saw any of the TV footage until I returned home on the 15th. Just as well. This drawing is from a photo I took and cropped to fit the square format. Painting to follow.

Apple Madness

Shaking the rust off of my brushes here in Parrsboro. The weather for the drive up was stellar. The skies were blue with big puffy clouds and the light driving into town at about 8:30 PM Monday evening  was spectacular. It was the summer solstice but It stays light longer up here anyway because of the latitude.
Today I broke out the gear and was going to paint a sweet bouquet of wildflowers in a jelly jar....but quickly came to my senses and settled on these apples, which were difficult enough!! You can't stay away from painting very long before you lose your mojo ;)

Step by Step Demo and Vacation

I have been busy all week getting ready to go to Nova Scotia. I had two fabulous Birthday luncheons. Worked Thursday after which I stayed up half the night doing laundry. Friday, I cleaned my house and then attended South Shore Art Center's summer awards ceremony where my homey, Kelley MacDonald received a blue ribbon for first place in oils. You GO GIRL! On the way home I did the food shopping for the vacation, not that Canada is a third world country but the food is pricey and I like to save a little on groceries. Yesterday I packed the clothes I'll take and did the banking and postal duties and was ahead of the game. Today, I had to finish up some crucial gardening and begin packing the car. So, despite my desire to get some painting in, it did not happen.

So.. I'm leaving you all with a step by step demo of one of my 12x12 paintings. Next post will be from Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Stay tuned.

"Green Tea"

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I try to start a painting knowing basically what my color scheme will be, but sometimes a painting takes on a life of its own, colorwise. As this one did.  I also had to photograph this about 30 times and kept tweaking and tweaking because when you see a photo any flaws pop right out. Finally, I had to just STOP because I kept seeing beautiful colors in every aspect of this painting.  

By now, you all know that I can't resist a beautiful prop and everything is a prop to one degree or another. These cups and saucers came in a variety of colors and I bought 4 sets, so......you'll be seeing them again. I am also announcing a painting give away to be posted when my counter at the foot of this page reaches 40,000. I added that counter 15 months ago and I'm delighted that my paintings are reaching that many viewer out in the world! Stay tuned!

Truro Dune Shack

This shot was taken in Truro last December during the first full moon of that month. The second moon was the 'blue' moon which occurred just before New Year's Eve. This is also my first nocturne. A genre that I love but have never had the knowledge to paint. Hopefully I have achieved it here. There's more subtlety going on in the color than shows here. I also made a value adjustment on the shack way on the far left where the white trim is. It looks too bright in this photo.

Jelly Stack

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These were so much fun to paint that I had another go at them. When I set up a still life I think about the colors I'll use and then choose a background of complimentary colors to create color vibration. This time I put the donuts on an orange plate I got at Job Lot and used the green tissue paper to set off the orange. That way I can use lots of funky colors like lavenders and violets in the donuts and they still look real. At least they do, to me ;)

Kelley's Jellies

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 Yesterday I called Kelley, the Queen of jellies and asked her if I could paint jelly donuts and she said, "of course you can, I don't own jellies." But she is kind of famous for her paintings of donuts. Anyway, these are GLAZED jellies from a local shop called The Coffee Shack and believe me when I tell you they put the Giant Donut chain's mass produced product (which used to be great) to shame. When Kelley came to stay in my neighborhood a few weeks back I steered her towards this place and she hasn't looked back. These are to die for. Seriously.

Beach Garage WIP

I had a great day painting this old garage in my neighborhood with my friend Nancy. Until I dropped this into the sand face down :(   I loosened those little brackets that hold the painting onto the easel a little too much while trying to work the edges. I'll wait for it to dry and scrape off the sand and finish it. It feels quite 'beachy', though ;)

Take Me Out

 

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Take out food?  I like it more and more as I get less and less interested in cooking. Not that I don't cook at all. My signature dishes are Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Baked Ham, Lasagna, Chicken and Pasta. I also make a good salad. But, I'd rather paint.  I love this little Chinese take out carton. Reminds me of my former life as a waitress in a Chinese Restaurant. You want a drama? Work in a Chinese Restaurant. Let's just say, we had a lot of fun and I have a lot of stories.  I could write a book.  But, I won't ;)  

Trailer by The Sea-Again

I went back yesterday to take another shot at this cool trailer. Totally different weather. Wind blowing a gale and sunny instead of hazy. This is painted on canvas board and I have decided that I don't like the finish as much as I like the smooth gessoboard I painted the first one on. I met some cool ladies and had a great time.

Trailer by The Sea

There's an old trailer park situated right on the water in my Oceanside town. My first apartment overlooked this scene which except for the updated RV's occupying the spaces, looks pretty much the same. Sprinkled throughout are original gems like this wonderful little get-away. Some things don't change all that much and that makes me very happy!! Check out Girls Just Wanna Paint to see the other paintings for the 'beach' challenge.