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. 

Summer Field

Summer Field, oil on Arches oil paper, 8x6"

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I painted this late last night as an experiment and because it is so cold in my basement studio that I needed some warmth.  The painting is actually much brighter then the photo suggests. 

Red

Red, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6"x8"

Day 20, 30 paintings/30 days

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I started this painting late last night to post for today, and I'm not really a late night person (anymore). The redeeming factor was I that I am very pleased with it.  I took the reference photo while taking my son back to college, and in that fleeting second, captured a scene I was thrilled with. So much so, I may do a version 2.

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.

Sloped

Sloped, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 8x6"

Day 18  30 paintings/30 days

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When you are standing in a vineyard, you can easily become mesmerized by the neatly organized rows, and how they can lead your eyes back to the layers in the distance.  I attempted to capture this in Sloped.

Farther

Farther, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"

Day 17, 30 paintings/30 days

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These cliffs of slowly wind-eroding rocks from southeast Utah have become a favorite of mine to paint.  I took hundreds of photos when I was there at the end of the summer, but after careful examination stored them in a file after returning, due to a few failed attempts at painting them. They are so complex, one's first instinct is to try and capture every nook and cranny, which isn't possible. My interpretation took on a new freshness when I took a broader mindset, so to speak. The theme of this challenge has been "Looser", and that certainly applies to Farther.

Overlap

Overlap, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"

day 15  30 paintings/30 days

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I worked and reworked this little painting, and I am just not satisfied with it. I did not want to scrap it because I love the composition contained in the reference photo, but somehow could not interpret it quite how I envisioned. But, I decided to post it as-is, to show that I painted for day 15, even though the end result was not up to par.

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.

Distance

Distance, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x8"

Day 12,  30 paintings/30 days

I can't remember where I took this picture, but it did not get lost in the shuffle of the plethora of pics I took at the end of the summer. It signifies the vast, vast area of the American West. I would have named it Vast, but I've already used that title on another painting from the series :-)

Unoccupied

Unoccupied, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x9"

Day 10, 30 paintings/30 days

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I am 1/3 of the way done with the challenge and I must say, compared to the challenge I did at this time last year, I am truly enjoying it!!  Last year, I had the best intentions but shortly after the it started, I realized I was not enjoying myself.  I do think what I produced was quality work, but I was too concerned about getting a painting done for posting purposes rather then enjoying the challenge of improving my painting or stretching myself artistically.

This year, I have so much more going on in my busy schedule, but I am finding the time for thought and effort  with each painting I am doing.

Fruitful

Fruitful, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x9"

Day 9, 30 paintings/30 Days

I switched gears with this one. I tried to stay loose and use purposeful organic marks. I am happy because this is the direction I have been working towards!

Solo Silo

Solo Silo, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 9x6"

I changed this composition quite a bit from the photo reference I used, and I like the way it turned out.  I have had this photo tagged to paint for over a year now, coming back to it until it finally shouted at me long and hard. It portrays late fall, early winter ....perfect for a cold January new year.

Remote

Remote, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 9x6"

Day 4, 30 paintings/30 days

One of my goals when I signed up for another 30 paintings challenge was to paint in a looser or "free-er" style.  Painting on paper has been interesting as well, and I am enjoying it. It is forcing me to use different styles of brushwork. It's all good!  With Remote, I feel as if this is all beginning to come together.  I painted a different version of this image a while back, and the two look nothing alike.  I am also pleased with the color scheme. Kind of mood provoking or "Rothko-esque" if I do say so myself.

Zion

Zion, oil on watercolor paper, 9x6"

Day 3 30 paintings/30 days.

What can I say?  I would live in the National Park if they would let me! :-)

St. Louis bound

St. Louis Bound, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x9"

Day 2, 30 paintings/30 days.

The highway from Louisville to St. Louis, other than a few spots, can give you tunnel vision. Unless you are constantly looking at every scene and envisioning a painting as I always am. I drive this route fairly frequently now, as my son attends Washington University in St. Louis.  What a better way to pass the time then to look for subject matter.  

Bernheim in Winter

Bernheim in Winter, oil on gessoed watercolor paper, 6x9"

OH Happy New Year! On top of everything that I have going on (it's great to be busy), I have decided to enter another 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I am going to paint, unless otherwise noted, on gessoed watercolor paper.  It is an interesting and less expensive surface to paint on during the challenge. I may not paint all thirty but the spirit is willing. With preparing for an exhibit, a show, making frames and working on the ARTwheels Mobile studio/gallery camper, I have had little time or energy to paint. So I wanted to start this new year off with a reminder for myself that I can do it ALL!!

Yesterday, Hugh and I delivered many boxes to the Polvino Art Center in Nicholasville, KY for my solo show that will open January 8. The opening is from 5-8 and I would love to see all your smiling faces there!
After we left the gallery we walked around historic Nicholasville. Nicholasville is close to Danville, KY where I attended college, and way back when, it was know as the place where the college students went "over the hill" ...a.k.a - went to buy booze.  How different it looks in the daytime!! :-)
We spent some time in an antique shop and had a lot of fun looking at elements of history. I bought a fedora, and a beer stein (speaking of booze) from my favorite city in all of Europe.