Small Oil Commission - Oak Forest In Fall

 

    

"Fox In The Oaks"- Commisiioned oil on copper 6 x 8" copyright 2018 www.kathipeters.com

First commission of the year is finished and framed, ready to ship out next week to its new home. Usually a commission portray a clients favorite equine friend, a four legged fur-kid, canine or feline, or a person. Yes, and  I have even painted an osprey with his nest for a repeat client......but painting an oil of an oak forest, that was out of the client imagination, was a first! We worked together , virtually 'putting our heads together" and this is the forest that she envisioned and I captured. She wanted an oil on copper and so that is what I went with. A sneaky fox was added into the mix. The painting came together and we are all happy.

 

Our winter has been hard so far. The older I get, the harder it is to maintain a horse farm and pursue my art endeavors. I've been dibbing and dabbing at work.....painting more works in my head than what have been actually put to canvas or paper. I've painted a lot in my sleep too. But I imagine that doesn't count in one's actual body of work.  I know spring is coming. So stay tuned.

I will paint!

 

And if you are so inclined as to pursue my producing a commissioned work for your walls.......your vision.....let's talk. I am easy to work with.

Robin's Egg Blue And A Luna Moth

  

"Robin's Egg Blue", oil on copper, 6 x 6" ©2016 www.kathipeters.com

 

There are so many Robin families living on our small farm. I guess they like the multitude of worms that dig in our soil.One lone egg was in this nest.....others came after. But I had to paint that lonely one "Robin's Egg Blue".

 

And several days ago we were again visited by a Luna Moth. Each year they come....and each year they intrigue me with their design. Very Klimt-ish. They come attracted by the back door light I keep on at night in an attempt to keep deer out of my studio garden and our vegetable garden. It doesn't seem to work. But it does seem to invite the Luna's to our farm. "Night Visitor" is available on my website as is "Robin's Egg Blue".

 

"Night Visitor" , oil on board, 6 x 6" ©2016  kathipeters.com

Another Small Oil And Summer Is Here

Bee working hard.   copyright 2012 www.kathipeters.com

I have been busier than a bee in spring....and now that summer is officially here, I can't see things slowing down for a long while!!  The spring that brought us lots of rain, turned sunny and warm and the gardens are growing like Topsy. I can't keep ahead of it all.In fact I can't even catch up!!!!  But I am enjoying each new flower that bursts open with color and scent. I know that we are thoroughly blessed here on the farm.

Rosa Rugosa just starting..how sweet the smell.

The horses are enjoying all the green that their pasture has put forth.... and we all are resting easy since their winter's hay is put into the barn and sweetly perfuming the loft air. 

Clematis adorns the arbor giving us shade to enjoy.

Nell and I have taken to the cooler woods paths for our walks....and on one of those woodland walks we spied a small bird's nest hanging from a sapling, swaying in the breeze. One tiny egg lay in it, all speckled, it was safely hidden under an umbrella of the sapling's green leaves. How sweet and small a promise it is.I think it is a nuthatch egg. I had to do a small painting of it...small as the egg and nest themselves. "One Egg" is an oil on copper, 4 x 4" image size.....and will be framed in a golden wooden frame, available on my website.

"One Egg"   Oil on copper     4 x 4"   copyright 2012  www.kathipeters.com


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More Plein Air....I am Addicted

"Two Poppies"  Oil on copper    4 x 4"  copyright 2012  www.kathipeters.com

I am addicted.If the sun is shining I have this urge to head outside,smell fresh air and leave my studio comfort to fight bugs and the elements!! With a few colorful flowers peeking through the ferns and not yet blooming perennials...two poppies sung out. "Two Poppies"  were painted.

Now the weather  man has predicted rain for tomorrow.I promise myself that tomorrow I will stay focused on the studio painting that needs finishing...I promise!!

New Painting In The Works

"The Yellow Door"  a work in progress............copyright 2012 www.kathipeters.com

Spring seems to have arrived. Nell and I have been taking walks out into the back pastures and I have been inundated with ideas for new paintings, all inspired by our farm, our horses, my world. This casein on canvas pictured above is the first .....and I have a copper panel ready for an oil landscape. I know that soon [ if the weather cooperates ] I will be called outside to prepare gardens and dig in the dirt. I can't wait! So I am driven to create more now, so I can garden later!!

My work has been invited into the American Academy of Equine Art's Invitational Exhibit "The Horse In Fine Art"  to be hung in Lexington,KY at  the historic Spindletop Hall. The show opens April 2 and hangs through May 26, 2012.

I will also be having work again in the 10th Annual "Festival of Art" in Belfast, Maine at The University of Maine's Hutchinson Center. This show opens May 10th with thier reception and then runs through the 13th. These are two are some the many shows I am particapating in this spring ...more to come this summer. So I guess I need to keep focused and painting.....   so hard when spring starts calling!!!

Spring pushes back the snow from the fields. copyright 2012   www.kathipeters.com



March in February

Chickadee sings a spring song!!

The weather continues to sparkle and with the sun higher in the sky, days seem warmer....much like March! We at Cob Cottage welcome the warmth....we are not complaining at all.The bird feeders are kept full and our yard is full of bird songs,with the Chickadee already singing its spring song.Bring it on!!

I completed another small oil on copper....but this time it is of an old barn,long empty of it's critters, in northern Maine. The old barn stands in Wytopitlock, Maine, up near the Canadian border, near New Brunswick. I changed it out a bit....added the yellow door which makes it remind me of our barn here at home. The fence was falling down and the fields overgrown. It is a scene you see a lot around Maine ,as farms are abandoned .....and the horses are gone.And that is why the title: "The Horses Are Gone"  I have 2 more copper panels prepared and ready to go. I am headed to the easel!!

"The Horses Are Gone"   Oil on copper   6 x 6"    ©2012 kathi peters

Spruce Head,Maine New Painting In February



The start of the Mill Cove painting.

I  often get questions on how I work....and I must admit working in oil on a copper panel is very different than working in casein on board. For one thing the oil on copper goes on slippery and slick. Casein on a toned board or paper goes down gritty and matte. The difference between the two is one of the major reasons I enjoy them both.

With the oil I start with a full color block-in which leaves me with a sort of abstract image. Once I have established the composition I go in to the "embellishment" ....deciding what I want to detail and what I can leave out.I don't want too much detail.I personally prefer less detail, more nuance, and that is the song I want to sing. The oil I just finished is pictured here, in this blog post, in the beginning stage and then as the finished work. I think you can get an idea of how I went with it.

I do use the same color palette with oil as I do with my casein work. My watercolor work is a whole different palette and is approached from a complete different direction. But that is another story!

I am having fun with my oil on copper while doing these past small Maine landscapes. I plan on doing 2 more, but the next 2 will be more inland scenes,not costal. But they are all what I love about Maine! We love living here.

"Mill Cove-Spruce Head,Maine"      Oil on copper      6x6"   ©2012 kathipeters.com

OIl Painting of Port Clyde, Maine

"Raspberry Island-Port Clyde,Maine"  Oil on copper    6x6"

I have started on several small oil paintings  from the recent trip last week to Spruce Head and Port Clyde. The sun was so bright that day and the late winter landscape with all it's abstraction really inspired me to get out my oils and prep some copper and start to paint. This is the first painting done...bright blue Cerulean sky and Ultramarine Blue water.....What fun! It is available on my website as it dries!!

Maine is beautiful anytime of year, and this winter has been so kind to us.I know Spring is not here yet,but the snow is melting,and today with the temps at a high of 50F here , Les had his lunch on the deck. That really helps one with cabin fever!!!

Back into the paint now....working on anther  6 x 6" oil and this time of Spruce Head. Taking a break from equine paintings for a bit!!

Painting In & Out - In Casein & Oil

"Day Lilies and Bird Bath" Plein Air

I felt a need to get out of the studio and away from the casein painting I am working on, so I readied my Thumbox with oil paint and a new 8 x 6" copper panel...and off into the very warm day I went, to sit in the shade on the north of our house, while I painted the glorious yellow day lilies in blossom where they sit under the front "Look Into Garden"'s bird bath. I am liking the ability to change medium and subject matter....and environment. I am starting to get the knack of plein air work. It is a learning process for me. I have a hard time focusing on what to paint and how to approach the work when I am surrouned by so much visual abundance. I am thinking that this changing of gears,so to speak,will only help me with my studio work too. Now that I have the small  plein air oil drying in the studio,I look at it and can see where values need to be addressed,lines fixed and will finish off the painting... and will then be putting it up on my website.

I also finished a small casein of our JRT  from the photo that I posted in my last blog entry. "A Sweet Face" is varnished, framed and going to a good home. It is so easy to buy work off my website over the Internet using PayPal's secure login. Don't forget!

"A Sweet Face"   casein on board      6 x 6"     SOLD

They say we are getting some rain.This is good.The fields are dry around our farm....the gardens need watering daily.The watering takes a good part of the day.I have to grab my studio time when I can. I am grabbing some time now!