Winter In Maine Is Cold

Graphite Self Portrait ....or having fun!      ©2012 kathi peters

It is cold. It is winter and we live in Maine. One would think that we would be used to this....but it always is a bitter reminder that Mother Nature is in charge... and we get what we get and HAVE to cope, as we bundle up in multiple layers, to go down and do barn chores, waddling like Michele men through new snow and ice. THIS is when I wax nostalgic for Italy......sun and warmth. I have been looking through old photographs of my life, ions ago,in another life.....growing up in Italy. A lot of sweet memories there.....and they help warm my winter days in Mid-coast Maine.

But I have also been painting.

I have done a new oil painting, again with a copper panel for the substrate.The subject of the painting is an old bicycle that stands leaning on an old tree....and has been standing there for several years now....summer, winter,spring and fall...in all weather....in snow or rain. I have been wanting to, planning on painting it, for a long time. Each time I drove by the yard where the bike sits, I would say to myself...."Paint that!"  It was time to do it last week....so here it is. I have added it to my website.

"Retired"    Oil      10 x 10"  ©2012 kathi peters

The sun is dipping lower in the sky now. The temperature only rose to a chilly 10º F. today, is starting to fall again. I guess it is time to bundle up, waddle to the barn and close the horses up in their cozy stalls for the night. They will appreciate it. Winter in Maine is cold.

 

Our stand of spruce.    ©2012 kathipeters

American Saddlebred Painting Done

"A Sweet Ride"   casein on paper    9 x 12"            ©2012 kathi peters

The first week of the new year is over and I have two painting chalked up as done. I have had the luxury of long spans of uninterrupted time, where I have been able to start approaching some paintings that I have been meaning to do for a long time. I am starting into them now!  
We are expecting snow tomorrow....I am in the mood for painting with oils, so I am starting a winter scene to get ready to shovel the real thing tomorrow. Today is a sunny day but very cold out.....I am staying cloistered in my studio.

The above casein painting is finished....a fun Saddlebred horse painting.  Now back to the easel.

A Fjord Pair

"Fjord Pair"   Watercolor      11.5 x 16"    ©2012  kathi peters 

The watercolor of the Fjords is done and before the snow came, I was able to capture a good photo of it. I have put it up on my website purchase, unframed.
Now,with NO snow outside, I am finished up a 9 x 12" casein of an American Saddlebred horse and rider. A lovely studio day for sure!       

New Fjord Pair Watercolor In The Works

The New Year celebrations are over.We enjoyed dinner with fellow artists and their spouses.[the unsung heroes!].Artist Susan Renee Lammers and her husband Robert invited us to a lovely dinner highlighted by a delicious seafood chowder that we shared with Gregory Dunham, his wife Pat and their daughter.There was much laughter and talk....a great start to the new year 2012. Now it is time to get back to the studio with new conviction and to create.

"Fjord Pair"  watercolor  ©2012 Kathi peters

I have started a watercolor of a driving pair of Fjords horses.It is almost done at this point. A second painting,a casein on paper sits on my easel, and I work on that while I wait for the watercolor to dry between glazes. I am not one for hurrying up the drying progress of watercolors with the use of a hair blower....I prefer to let nature take it's course and elect in stead, to use that time to change direction,with new eyes and work in another medium.....still a water medium... but in my first love casein!

And I have prepared a copper panel for a new oil....Now I need to get that idea sketched out onto the copper.  A new year...new ideas!

Maine is cold now.This morning the temperature was a bone chilling 3º F. Nellie and I are trying to work up energy to head down to the barn to do barn chores.Just a another cup of coffee and I should be ready to go!!

Cold frozen ground,with clouds rushing by. © 2012 kathi peters

After Christmas

Morning dawns over the farm the day before Christmas ©2011 kathi peters

We had a lovely Christmas with family and friends. Christmas day blessed us with a perfect snowfall....Santa found Cob Cottage and all the four-legged family members received gifts. Now we are all getting back to work....and I am in my studio after what seemed to be a long break. Too long.

A vacant home during the winter months.©2011 kathi peters

  Nell and I are enjoying walks along our woods trails and found this small nest left after the occupants headed south. I think it might be a chickadee nest?? Or maybe Nuthatch's? I will be doing a painting of this nest....I do feel the need to do work other than equine art...!! I think I will try it in oil???

So new work will soon be available....and soon it will be a new year with new goals. I have been "thinking" a lot of late.

Holiday Wishes From Cob Cottage

©2011  Kathi Peters

It is a very damp cold gray day outside. A drizzling rain is covering our farm [and most of Maine] with ice.So in between wrapping Christmas presents and taking care of office paperwork, Nell and I decided it was time to get into the Holiday spirit and have Nell pose with her Holiday outfit.....she as always thought she could be one of Santa's reindeer!!

                                                         

                                                        BEST WISHES EVERYONE!!! 

New Poultry Oil Painting

"Maine Rooster"   Oil on Copper    8 x 6"  ©2011

Wet paint drying in the studio as we speak. In a few days it will be ready to be varnished and ready to go! Over the next week or so my time in the studio will be sporadic. But am I excited about new work coming.
This small poultry oil painting is available on my website in the Small Works Collection Portfolio.
Now ...time to feed the horses!