Three New Spring Paintings

"Bright And Beautiful"  Oil on board   8 x 10"  copyright 2012 www.kathipeters.com

For days on end, the sun has shone and the weather has been calling me out to the gardens. I have revelled in the spring ritual of pulling weeds and digging up and moving plants.I have also come to the conclusion that I have too many gardens and not enough hours in a day to get all the things done that I want to, or need to. So Nell and I have tried to divide our time between gardening and painting. I am making headway with both!!

I finished an oil painting of a mare and foal...beautiful Hanoverians with coats of many colors. When I saw the photo of these two,a photo shot by friend photographer Vicki Wright of New Jersey...I had to paint it. Vicki has some wonderful photos of mares and foals, and I seem to be on a foal kick....must be a spring thing too!! I took artistic license with the reference photo and gave birth to "Bright and Beautiful". Thank you Vicki!!!

So after working in the studio, I was looking for a change of pace and to take advantage of the beautiful weather, headed out for some plein air painting. I packed up my trusty little thumbox pochade and headed to the orchard with Nell, where I enjoyed painting in sunshine and fresh air. Our plum trees are resplendent this spring, promising plums and jellies this summer. I can't wait!! So in honour of their beauty, I portrayed their blossoms against the blue April skies. I painted in oil, on a copper panel. "Plum Blossoms" is a 6 x 8" oil and will be up on my website in the Small Works Collection.

"Plum Blossoms"    Oil on copper     6 x 8"   copyright 2012  www.kathipeters.com

 

And then I started another oil on copper with my bright yellow daffodils as subjects....Their color just sings against all the green that abounds this time of year. Here they are....also displayed in the Small Works Collection of my website.

 

"Spring Yellow"   Oil on copper    8 x 6" copyright 2012 www.kathipeters.com

Now we are supposed to have a  few days of rain and gray weather,they say. ..I shall not complain.We need the rain. April showers bring May flowers. I can't wait!!!

There's One In Every Crowd - Critics

 

Resident critic

Over the past few days I have finished the veggie gardens planting, bedded it with hay, mowed lawn twice and figured out how to set up my new plein air easel on the fly. Yesterday was a glorious Maine day and after getting barn chores done,and finally finishing an oil painting I had been working on for ages. [Well not working on...MORE LIKE letting it sit, waiting for me to work on it again. ] I set up my new easel outside in the garden under the arbor and sketched the orchard. I think I will be liking this 'out of the studio' experience......and now that I am REALLY set up for it, I am sure I will do it more often. I had company while I worked. I had a critic who watched my every move and in the end agree I had done a "good job" and it was time to eat. If only all critics were that easy to please!

The orchard sketch

 Days are so busy now. The summer buzz. For instance, I am headed out to the barn now for stall mucking, then I need to water gardens....and THEN I get time in the studio. On my to-do list today ...I need to choose what art work goes to Equidea Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY. I personally will be there this year, for August 5th, doing a' painting in casein' demonstration in the morning....the same day of the Gallery's champagne reception in the evening. Come on out and share a bit of the bubbly with me! Buy a painting!

This racing oil painting might be heading to Equidea Gallery.....I have to decide today. I will ask Nell to help me decide. She always has opinions.

This oil was done after a  6x 6"casein painting I did. The oil is bigger.

Playing Out - Painting Out

Asticou Gardens in bloom.

Yesterday we took off on a road trip to Acadia National Park on Mount Dessert Island in Down East, Maine. We got up, packed the car, filled Nellie's Ditty Bag with goodies,and off we went to play. I had also packed a bag with my plein air painting supplies, including my new lightly used thumbbox pochade that artist friend Renee Lammers had just gifted me.We ended not having time for me to paint, but I did get oodles of photos for future paintings.The gardens at Asticou were brilliant with their June splendor of azaleas mirrored on glass like waters. We picnic-ed in Acadia shade. Nellie got a walk in the woods to smell the not yet ready blueberry bushes and sweet cedar and pine. Acadia is my favourite place to be....ever.



The eagle  would not look at us.

We saw a eagle sweep and grab his lunch from Hadlock Pond.I tried to get a better picture of him but he would not turn his head towards us.But another feathered friend, whom we met in Ellsworth, was more than happy to come visit in our face.....Mr Crow was very truculent,looking for handouts and had no problem posing for photos.

This crow will be painted!

So though we had a lovely break from the farm and studio, today we are back to the same old and I am in the studio.....Les is mowing the lawns and orchard.....and it is summer in Maine!

Here is a quick little casein plein air painting I did ....sitting in my garden and trying out the Guerrilla thumb-box....what a neat little unit it is! I have gone back into this painting after I shot it here. You can see the current paintng on my website . I will be doing more paintings outside....I am ready!

"Sweet Spring Colors"     casein on canvas on board    6 x 8"

Small New Painting & Big News

"Belted Cow # 4"               casein on board                 5 x 7"

In between working on bigger paintings, this little Belted Galloway painting was done and is now available and up on my website, easily bought through secure Pay Pal. I have a few of these small casein works that I will be putting up soon.

I also have some exciting news...my work is now exhibited and available at the Freeport  Edgecomb Potters store. I am happy to have this Maine connection ...bringing my work back home to familiar ground! My work depicts one of Maine's highlights...Acadia National Park, is now showcased in this Freeport, Maine store. I just might have to get off the farm a bit more often and get some plein air work done now!! Good excuse, I say!

"Acadia - Duck Brook Birches"   casein on board    16 x 8"

Spring Brights Around The Cottage

Muscari and stones      4/26/2010

 Bright splashes of color are appearing all around the cottage gardens.When the sun shines they sparkle. When it  is gray and over cast out [as it often is in spring] the colors still sing and invite a walk around the garden paths...even in the rain.So I am enticed out of the studio more often and that means less studio time.But I am still slugging away at commission work and some originals.I am not a fast painter.I have to 'think' a lot. Maybe that means that I am really not cut out to be a plein air painter.....but my artist-friend Renee Lammers is bound and determined to get me out and painting plein air.We shall see! I do have commitments for works for fall shows...and those paintings must come first. In between I will venture forth with Renee on occasion. But truth be known, I could also just sit on my own farm and paint forever.....especially now that spring has sprung!

My studio is so cozy now...especially with it's bright spring colored file

cabinet...I love working in it!

But the orchard is in bloom.The water trickles from our garden pond through the pond plants.......and evening shadows stretch across the lawn and fields, blue and cool.

Life is good on Cob Cottage Farm this spring!

There are paintings to be done...

inside and out!!

Thinking About Painting On Copper

  

Yesterday was a day of learning for me..and a day of a bit of enlightenment. A fellow artist and a very interesting lady, Renee Lammers came to our farm to paint our fields, barn and horses.....and tucked into her plein air bag of tricks were not only her oils, brushes, sun umbrella, and wet painting carrier box, but also panels of copper. Yes, copper metal...Renee paints with oil on copper plates and does wonderful plein air works that need looking at! Like a impressionist Mary Poppins, she dropped her bag on our back deck,set up her pochade and panel and went to work. She says she loves having someone watch her paint...so that is just what I did. We talked, she painted and I learned. The afternoon flew by quickly, even though she was interrupted several times by a certain JRT who wanted her [or any one's] attention.

I have been wanting to try plein air painting, as I usually work exclusively in my studio space....and it was great to see Renee in action, see her set up and talk with her about why she chooses to stick with plein air work. Renee travels all over Maine and beyond to paint.

She is a great teacher, easy to talk to and she explains her why and wherefores so well. Even I could understand, and must admit I am taken with the idea of stepping out of my 'comfort zone' more and go plein air ...even if only for a change. You know to wake up the old brain cells!!

So if you want to see what Renee painted... go to her blog and see her work...and her take on our day! I know Renee and I will be painting together in the future....and I want to learn more about her 'bag of tricks!!


Tell her I sent you!! ;-)