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.

On the Mud

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This kind of weather makes me feel good about being inside. Here in cool, gloomy, gray New England I'm tucked into my studio painting boats. This boat is moored at Five Islands, Nova Scotia, where the tide goes out completely, leaving beautiful red mud and rivulets of turquoise water.

After being on Daily Paint Works for a year, I've decided to offer my paintings at auction which gives me the option of starting them at a lower price than the 'buy now' price I've been setting. I know that I like bidding on and winning an item for less than the fixed price and so will you. It does happen ;)

Five Islands Barn

Five Islands Barn 
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I love the dramatic light in this painting which was the point to begin with. My patient husband stopped dozens of times for me to take photos on this ride down to Five Islands last summer. I photographed every barn we passed from multiple angles. Typically I tell Don to drive down the road and turn around which gives me a chance to shoot quite a few pictures. When I showed him this painting he said, "Oh Yeah, I remember it." A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right? Click on the buy link to purchase.

Nova Scotia Farm #2 6x6 on Arches 140lb CP

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Over all the weather here has been quite nice. Cooler than the locals like it but great for the snowbirds. A couple of days were about 83* and humid so I cranked up the air conditioning :) Then the cold front returned and I opened the windows. I confess to hitting the pool, too even though I put my pool robe on backwards yesterday and stuck my arms through the sleeves to read :D it was kind of brisk!

On Monday I browsed the many thrift shops on 10th Avenue South and picked up a sweet porcelain cow creamer!! So, stay tuned for it to be featured in a painting. Also found a sweet pair of S&P shakers from the 1940's with red plastic tops, a couple of white items and a clear plate from the Good Will store.  Sweet! 

Here's another version of this farmhouse. More to come.

Nova Scotia Farm

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This house sits in a vast open field overlooking Five Islands, Nova Scotia, one of my favorite places. I finally was able to break out the paints and do some watercolors after spending some time settling in and visiting with family. For me, watercolor is about letting the paper do the work. Another version of this will be up tomorrow.

An Experimental Painting

These Nova Scotia cows are standing on a hill and the land in the background is actually across an inlet. I had this sketched in and decided to use the mixtures left on my palette from another painting to block in. The colors are influenced by the pink light from the setting sun on the buckskin cows. I included this value image which tells me that my masses are pretty accurate. I'll clean up my palette and bring this one to completion.

Anna's Cottage 8x10 oil on board

I've been so lax in posting but I don't think anyone's hanging on my every word ;) I've had family togetherness since Saturday, beginning with a lobster cookout at my mama's house, in Brockton, with all the sibs and significant others. On Sunday, my baby bro Tom, his wife Anne and their toddlers Ryan, 3 and a half and Colin 2 came to stay until late yesterday afternoon. We had lot's of fun at the beach during a super high moon tide on Sunday and exploring tidal pools yesterday morning at low tide. Awesome to have these babies in the family after so long without young ones. I am working on another watercolor which I'll post in a day or two. With all the Codman trauma, some paintings never made it to the blog. I painted this 8x10 in Nova Scotia in June. I call it 'Anna's Cottage' after one of 3 sisters who owned the cottage. After I did the painting I found out that one of the sisters, Joy, had just passed right when I was painting it. Everyone who knew her said that her name, perfectly described her. She was a young woman of 72 :(

Five Islands 6x8

This was painted in Nova Scotia on a misty summer day in June. I stood outside with my palette on the hood of the car and painted this on canvas paper mounted into a little cigar box I picked up at the tobacco store. I love the landscape here. Sorry for the lag in posting. I'm sure with the move to the new studio, I'll be energized again.