Old Family Relics And New Oil Paintings

 

"Paint and Patina" , oil , 12 x12"  ©2015 www.kathipeters.com

 

As I get older....and it seems to be happening too quickly these days,.....I find I am cherishing the bits and pieces of our family relics that we have around our small home. And feeling a need to capture some still life paintings , I set up a makeshift shadow box to set up my still life arrangements. Not fancy…..a background cloth to bounce light onto the subject ….and set about doing “Paint and Patina”, depicting two objects that have meaning for me, and hopefully to someone else.....my grandmother’s old teapot that age has graced with a lovely patina [ along with old dings and bumps] and my old painting knife that has been with me since my painting days in Italy. Two old well worn objects painted by a rather 'time worn' artist.  This is the first of many still life works.

So I paint.

Pondering.....and Two New Paintings



"The Rocks Of Maine's Coast"      Oil on copper panel      6 x 6"       ©2012 www.kathipeters.com

When the days get shorter, my studio time seems to get longer. It doesn't really compute, but it seems to be the norm. I am sitting here now looking around my studio and trying to figure out how I can get more room in the studio that I was sure was "big enough". It now seems to have shrunk. Funny how that happens. So as daylight shrinks by the minute....my studio shrinks by the day. I need to get more creative on how I use the space available to me. So I sit here pondering.......

I love where we live. Periodically I need an ocean fix. Maine's coast calls to me, maybe because I was born in a water sign month.....or because I was born on the coast. I need to be near water. And lately I also have been feeling the need to paint work depicting the ocean too. Luckily, I am near it.....inspiration is only a short ride away. Pictured above is one of my latest works, a small gem of a painting depicted our rocky coast of Downeast Maine.

And then after I picked the very last of our pears from our small orchard....I set up and did a small still-life painting. It seemed only fitting. Small and small....!

"Four Pears"  OIl on copper panel   6 x 6"   ©2012 www.kathipeters.com

 

And NOW I am thinking that my studio is small........

Working On Memorabilia

"Jumble Of Friends"     Casein       9 x 12"    ©2012

Our home is filled with old memorabilia.... with memories of my childhood, growing up in Italy where I collected nic-nacs on any road trip we went on., and memories from before Italy, when we lived in New Hampshire and I played with doll houses and made fairy houses in the woods surrounding our farm in the granite state's forests. Over the years some of these figures and toys have gone missing, been broken, or traded for something better. But until today some of my "old friends" have remained intact and still provide me with joy. And I have been feeling a need to immortalize these friends...and so I have done two still lifes.....two casein paintings , maybe to "play again" with these old friends....?

'Jumble Of Friends'", above, depicts a bowl that now sits in my studio with some of my old figures,and after seeing it, day after day, the idea to paint it seemed appropriate. I do have other figurines that need to be highlighted in a second painting...that will come. But after doing the friends in a bowl, I decided to paint an antique watercolor paint set that I was given to me years ago by my granddaughter. Jackie saw it at a shop and thought I needed it! I love looking at it and wondering who the child was, who owned this set...?? And did they grow up to be an artist?  So this has become my second still-life painting....."The Artist's Tools" .

"The Artist's Tools"  Casein on paper   9 x 12"   ©2012

 

 

So there will be more still-life paintings in the works.....and maybe others can relate

 to my fascination with things old and memories immortalized.

 

A Christmas Show!!



Art work  displayed       "Shades Of Gray #8"   Oil on copper        22 x 22"     ©2010

I want to invite everyone to view the wonderful on-line art show featuring the work of many of the  Women Artists Of The West's talented members...!!!

So many great Christmas present ideas!!

I am proud to be part of this select group of talented artists!

Yes.....ENJOY!!!! 

My Roses In Oil And Acadia Drafts In Watercolor



"The Garden Hat And Roses"      oil on copper           6 x 8" 

 I have been painting in oil.In fact I did a small oil on copper of my hat and my roses as I thought I would might in my last blog post. I have put this small work on my website and it is available for purchase in my Small Work Collection.  'The Garden Hat and Roses'  is offered framed... and shipping within the USA is free!!

The past few days have been wet and muggy.....good studio weather! So I have been concentrating on a new watercolor of draft horses I saw up at Acadia and on getting my art work ready to be framed,.....and then to get shipped out to Saratoga ,N.Y.  for Equidea Gallery's race season art show.
More on that later!!

A watercolor work in progress!

Inbetween studio and barn chores I get to enjoy new colors as they bloom in the gardens!! Always a joy and that offers constant eye candy!!

Monkshood have blossomed!

"Interwoven" Oil On Copper Done

"Interwoven"   oil on copper       10 x 10"

This  oil painting is done,and signed and ready to frame. My vegetables in my garden are climbing up our arbor and clinging to the grape vines .....probably not  a good thing....but it does make for some interesting images......How could I not paint this part of our life here at Cob Cottage.

The weather has been very warm for us the last few days...a stretch of sunny humid and depressive heat. The animals and I are looking forward to fall weather with colors and brisk sunny days! Bring it on!

Still Life and Beautiful Maine

"Roseville and Angels"   casein on board      7 x 5"

This small casein, "Roseville and Angels" .....a quick still life depicting my Roseville vase and my clay gold painted angels from Italy, that has been floating around in my head for quite some time.The time was right finally and here it is!  I bought the wee angels as a child ,when we lived in Milan, Italy. I found them at a street market, and now in retrospect, I am sure they came out of a church at some time. I have always had them in my bedroom....along with a few other angels I brought with me, from Italy, years ago.They guarded me then and do still today!

We have been enjoying this year's spring in Maine. Our area of the state is wonderful this time of year, when the green of new growth pushes the gray woods branches back into the background,  as the yellow green takes over. I had business in Camden the other day and took time to grab some shots of the harbor and two masted schooners there.....and the yellow-green of the mountains surrounding this wonderful ocean front mid-coast village.

I am sure there will be some paintings done in the near future inspired by these shots!

But for now I need to get back into the studio working on some equine images for my Lexington,KY show coming this September.....I have so many ideas..............

and not enough hours in the day!