Limes on Stripes

"Limes on Stripes", oil on arches paper, 6x8"

Day 5, #stadaeasel,
It's snowing outside today, so that means a snow day in Louisville. Not sure if I'm going to venture out in the snow just yet so I painted a quick still life. I haven't done one in a long time, so it was fun!

Closed

Closed, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"

I continued with another urban scene. I took this photo walking back to the high school where Barrett has orchestra rehearsal, after I had packed up my painting gear.  The day, although beautiful and sunny was too windy to paint, but perfect for photos.  There is a rail yard with turn-of-the-century warehouses near the school, and it's a terrific place for photos.  The painting is one of the first urban landscapes I've done in a while and I'm out of practice. 30 years ago, these are the scenes I painted religiously. Time to hone in again.

Fixin' it Up

Fixin' it Up, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"

Every Sunday my daughter Barrett has rehearsal with the Louisville Youth Orchestra. The location of the rehearsal is the high school that my older children attended.  It is situated in the "Old Louisville" historic neighborhood, so there are plenty of places to walk, look and photograph during a three hour period of the day.  Last week, I decided to take my painting gear and venture out, expecting to get about 2 1/2 hours worth of work done. After all, it was a beautiful day.  I set up to paint these beautiful, smaller homes of the typically Victorian neighborhood and within thirty minutes, after basically accomplishing a loose sketch, the wind had gotten the best of me.  I started packing up and was approached by a very nice, curious young man named RJ, who admired my painting and eventually revealed he owned the yellow house.  He said he was doing a lot of work to it, because it had been a "fixer upper" when he bought it.  

Distant Trees

Distant Trees, oil on Arches oil paper, 6x8"

Day 28, 30 paintings/30 days

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I have a handful of photos of Kansas and the eastern part of Colorado where the land is equally as flat and mostly farmland.  I had sat them aside last fall to paint from but never did.  When I decided to jump into the 30 day challenge, I quickly threw a file together of 30 photos to paint from, and I've realized I have thrown most of those by the wayside, returning to these photo references instead. It's been a better tradeoff and the paintings are showing the growth I was hoping for during the challenge.

Winter Field

Winter Field, oil on Arches oil paper, 6x8"

day 27, 30 paintings/30 days

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I was unable to paint/post yesterday because I had a sudden onset of a virus and spent the day willingly in bed. This is completely unlike me, so despite the fact that I won't produce the full 30 paintings, and I could not paint, I feel like the rest was desperately deserved.

Here is another vast farm scene that I see when traveling back and forth to St. Louis.  There was absolutely no light values to be found within the reference photo, so I created them. For feeling tired, rusty, and having freezing fingers (basement studio), I am pleased with this little one.

I am also happy to be the Louisville Visual Art Association artist of the day: http://www.artebelladaily.org

Frozen

Frozen, oil on Arches oil paper, 6x8"

Day 25, 30 paintings/30 days

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It's another cold day here in the Ohio Valley.This painting is of the frozen lake and snowy field at Bernheim Arboretum. It is also one I struggled with, the point of wiping the paper clean, but in the spirit of the challenge, I allowed it to be. 

Grazer

Grazer, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"

Day 19, 30 paintings/30 day challenge

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Day 19 came after a long trip back and forth to St. Louis to deliver Hugh back to Washington University.  I had a full day of work, plus CPR training so I didn't paint until 10pm. Needless to say, for the first time in the challenge, the painting and posting almost didn't get finished. But, in normal Celia fashion, (I will not rest when something has to be accomplished), it did. I started this painting two days ago, and finished it a few minutes ago. For a girl who grew up in Kentucky loving horses, they are incredibly hard to paint.  I started it as a challenge to myself, for getting proportions right and all that other boring stuff. I will challenge myself more in the future with this.

Single

Single, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"
Day 13, 30 paintings/30 days
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A wide open space with a designated single lane. I always see these when driving around and want to turn onto them to see where I will end up. But in the end, I respect the fact that it's someone's personal property, and just admire from a distance.

Wet Creek, Arches

Wet Creek, Arches, oil on gessobord, 6x8"

This is the first painting I have done since returning from my great Western tour. I have since returned to work, and helped two of my three children back to school. My third will begin College in a week. Sigh. I hate summers end.

One of the most amazing experiences while on my trip was being submerged in vast, open spaces....everywhere!  I have been to parts of the Southwest and Northwest, but the actual West put me on senses overload. I couldn't take it all in fast enough: the sky, the heights, the constant changes in geological formations and topography, the wind, the temperatures, the sun....

Here was the only bit of water to be found on a day that I hiked for an hour, in 108º. There were warning signs in Arches National Park advising hikers to carry at least two quarts of water each when hiking a three mile trail.  

Overall this painting makes me smile. The first of many to come from the trip.
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/celia-kelly/wet-creek-arches/404820

Close up

Close Up, oil on gessobord, 6x8"

I have so many pictures of these lake banks to choose from so I guess I will have to paint them all until I am able to get outside more. Each cattail paintings I have and am working on, even though different, is allowing me to work on several things:  

1) more abstraction

2) more gestural painting (perfect subject matter for this)

3) the push/pull of background vs. foreground

One thing in particular in regards to #3, that is allowing me to stay fresh with the subject matter, is the darker foreground colors of nature vs. the lighter, pastel, and often stark white of the background.  I am having to work very hard not to make everything the same value, which, unfortunately is easily done, and causes everything to appear washed out.  Adding the right amount of contrast (which is always there in nature even if you don't see it at first glance) is taking extra effort and thought. I am lingering longer at what I think is a finished painting, and then working more.

Cattails

Cattails, oil on gessobord, 6x8"

I was able to do some hiking over the weekend and took some photos around the squishy borders of lake Nevin at Bernheim.  I didn't take my gear with me to paint, because I knew the ground would be severely saturated from the snow melt. I did focus on some beautiful close-ups of cattails, one of my favorite plants. I love them because when they open, their little wispy fluffs set free by the wind.  These were so fun to paint as well. They definitely kept me loose and from getting into "detail-itis".

Sènanque Abbey, Provence

Sènanque Abbey, Provence, oil on gessobord, 6x8"

NFS

My sister in Hawaii, asked me to add to her collection of my paintings, by painting the lavender fields in Provence.  She had visited the region on her farewell of Europe tour last summer before moving back to the states. So this resulted  from that conversation.. L'Abbaye de Sènanque, surrounded by the gentle hills.  She provided me with photos of different views of the lavender fields, and I finally settled on this one for a balanced composition. The lavender fields are striking in each one. 

Bridge in the Woods, watercolor and pastel on 

watercolor paper, 6x8 inches

I found an old photo that I had taken in January, when everything was brown and grey. Sound familiar?  There is always color to be had even during the grey days. 

I have been working towards a more abstract execution. Or at least that is my projected goal. I think with each of these little paint/pastels, I feel I am accomplishing this while I am in the middle of working on it. When I view the finished product though, it's still too tight. Rome wasn't conquered in a day. On I learn.

Parklands 4

Parklands 4, watercolor and pastel on watercolor paper, 

6x8 inches

Getting more abstract, and bringing more color into the mix. Just for the fun of it :-)

Shoreline

Shoreline, watercolor and pastel on watercolor paper, 

6x8 inches

As my research and exploration continues with pastel, I have discovered an interesting technique that seems to be not altogether uncommon among pastel artist, and that is applying an under painting of watercolor.  I went and bought some new watercolor paper and a few colors and brushes to explore this technique. I stated in the previous post that I  know little about pastels, but I absolutely know NOTHING about watercolor. Luckily, my mistakes won't show as the pastel becomes the top layer. Plus I hope to become looser and more abstract with practice.

Pastel over watercolor adds a beautiful, playful level of layers depending on your method of application (smear or not to smear, that is the question). So far, it has been a lot of fun to "play" with, and I feel it is working for me right now.  It allows me to be out of my cold, basement studio and upstairs at a table where I am quite comfortable.  I can "prep" a drawing by painting in the evenings when I am tired, and then continue working on them in the mornings before leaving for work at my 8-5, with the lively pastel when I am...not tired. 

Just for the record, my watercolor paper is acid-free, cold pressed (140 lb.).  I like the texture so far, but I am still a newbie. I will be working on pastel as long as the weather is cold, or I get bored, whichever comes first :-)  Contact me if you are interested in purchasing. 

Near Sleeping Bear

Near Sleeping Bear, oil on gessobord, 6x8 inches

I declare this my favorite painting I have done so far of over 150 posts !!! I worked for a long time on this one trying to get it  right, and I feel accomplished.  Before I started it though, I had a larger gessobord picked out to paint on. I ended up putting it away feeling intimidated by the jump in size ( I know... I need to jump this hurdle, and soon). Now, all I wish is that I had done a larger version of it. But, it's still my favorite!!

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan, oil on gessobord, 6x8 inches

With the 30 day challenge over, I gave myself one day off to rest 

(!!).  When I resumed Sunday morning, I literally asked myself what I wanted to paint and the answer was "more Michigan". Even though I normally like the cold, I do believe each of these lake paintings is giving me more sanity to handle the cold, and handle my extremely cold studio (have I mentioned my cold studio :-))

I am learning more about painting light. When I returned to painting back in April/May, I worked on technique and color, which was more difficult for me than I remembered. The muscles were hibernating.   Now, I am trying to continue improving in these areas and expand my ability and focus on light.  Light has such an enormous impact on the viewer. It will always strike a cord or set a mood whether you are viewing work close up or from across the room.

California Girl

California Girl, oil on gessobord, 6x8 inches

I painted this from a photo taken at the end of the summer of my daughter skateboarding at Santa Monica beach. 

I thought it was the perfect segue from the palm trees posted yesterday, and for the end of the 30 day challenge that I have been participating in. Overall, I was able to post 29 paintings. I had difficulties towards the end with photographing my work due to insufficient lighting. But you can't win 'em all. 

Here's to skating off into the sunset on a beautiful California evening, sent from the currently freezing  mid-south :-) 

Contemplation

Contemplation, oil on gessobord, 6x8 inches

I painted this of my youngest daughter, Barrett, from a photo taken while she and I were waiting for the kayaks to return, so we could have our turn.  Even though she was only 11 at the time of the photo, and the wind was incredibly strong, she held her own out there on the water. A girl after my own heart!

oil sketch, Parklands

Oil Sketch, Parklands, oil on gessobord, 6x8 inches

After returning from an out-of-town trip at midnight last night, and working a long day at my normal job today, I sat down to paint and counted 9 days since I've picked up a paintbrush.  Man, was I rusty.  In order not to force a painting or even put up a palette power struggle, I did a loose, quick sketch of a photo from a beautiful walk I took before my trip to Napa, CA.  I normally don't post sketches but was glad that in my ongoing exhaustion, I still made room in my quickly evaporating day to paint.
**Day 8/30 challenge**