Cleawox Lake

 

Last week we packed our little trailer and headed to the coast for a week of exploring some campgrounds we were not familiar with. Yes, we had rain, but it always seemed to wait until AFTER our hikes to get serious, so we never did get very wet! One day we hiked around Cleawox Lake and the sand dunes at Honeyman State Park. Today I decided to try doing an acrylic painting of one of the photos I took.

 

 Cleawox Lake, 6 x 8 acrylic on panel

Color Box

And sometimes I feel like a kid with a big box of colors to play with.

 

"Out of the Canyon", 5.5 x 7.5 pastel on sanded paper

"Sparks Lake Rock Garden", 5.5 x 7.5 pastel on sanded paper

Sunrise Glow

If I look out my bedroom window at just the right moment when the sun is just coming up in the morning, there is a gorgeous orange glow on the trees behind my back yard. I've tried to capture it in today's pastel.

 

Sunrise Glow, 5 x 8 pastel on Wallis

Dahlia Dance

Something different today! I bought a set of acrylics and decided to play around with it so I would have an alternate art media. First time I've painted with a brush since the days of painting rocks! My first subject is the dahlia field, again. Here is my very first acrylic painting:

 

Dahlia Dance, 6 x 8 acrylic on panel

September Surf

A trip to the coast will almost always mean a new beach painting! The waves at Neskowin were crazy large when we were there, with that lovely green glow in the curl. It was the hottest day of the year in Portland, yet we were chilled enough here to put on jackets!

 

September Surf, 8 x 10 pastel on Wallis

Tree Nymph of BC

This painting nearly caused my brain to come unwired! I shot the reference photo in a butterfly house in Vancouver, BC, and knew that it would become a painting subject, but I didn't know how hard that blossom would be....keeping track of all the little parts of it. The butterfly was easy in comparison. :)
Painted on velour for softness. I have resorted to using a fixative because the pastel can be easily dislodged from the paper without a little extra help to get it to stay. Eeek!

Tree Nymph of BC, 8 x 10 pastel on velour paper

Bloom Where You're Planted

We've all heard this before, right? On a morning walk I spotted this tiny pansy growing and blooming in a crack between a cement wall and the sidewalk, which perfectly illustrates the old saying. I chose a rough textured board to paint this on to simulate the cement.

Bloom Where You're Planted, 5 x 7 pastel on mat board with gesso

Dahlia Parade

The fun thing about being an artist is that no matter how much it is raining outside, we can re-create that sunny day feeling any time we want. So here we go, back to the sunny Dahlia fields!

 

Dahlia Parade, 5 x 7 pastel on cardstock

Blues in the Meadow

Here's another velour "softie". We hiked into the wilderness one day this summer and passed right by this beautiful meadow with blue flowers blooming profusely. I would tell you what they are, but I forgot! This painting is kind of like walking into my memories....a little fuzzy around the edges!

 

"Blues in the Meadow", 5 x 7 pastel on velour paper

Where the Dahlias Grow

My mom and I strolled all around the gardens at the Swan Island Dahlia Festival in Canby. You may see more than one painting from the photos I took that day. What a beautiful place! I am using velour paper again, which is why it has such a soft, dreamy, look about it, which I am liking right now.

Where the Dahlias Grow, 5 x 7 pastel on grey velour paper