Minimalist

In my move to the river, I really worked to downsize, both my living space and my "stuff." My family has been teasing me that I've become Minimalist.

Perhaps. But I call it "un-encumbering" and it feels good to me.

So today, after struggling with a landscape painting, I decided to take a break and do a painting of Emily Carr. I just read a fictionalized account of her life as an independent artist in Canada at the turn of the century. Its called The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland. That prompted me to research some of the facts about her, and inspired this little 12" x 12" painting. It too is pretty minimalist, but I like it.

Plein Aire

The Neusiok trail near my home is a continual source of inspiration. In this section near Oyster Point, they completed a controlled burn a few months ago. Now the colors are returning - just beautiful. I got started on a painting there the other day. Not completed yet, but here's the work in progress.

Back from Florida

I had all these wonderful plans to post to the blog while traveling around in Florida. Turns out it was so exciting I didn't take the time - we spent a week at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve - it could easily have been a month, so beautiful... out in the middle of nowhere.

Here's a shot from the show I did in Vero Beach, Florida. The show is called "Under the Oaks" and you can see why. It was a really good show, with high quality artists and artist-friendly management.

Last minute touches...

Getting ready to head down to Florida. I figured today was the last day to make painting touch-ups so that they will be dry enough to pack up at the end of the week.

My friend Michael snapped this off-kilter shot of me working on "Eden's Gaze" - it shows how topsy turvy things are packing up!

A slight change...

Decided to make this person a little happier today. Like it much better!

Progress on earlier post...

I see that I posted an earlier version of this painting when it was still in greys, on February 6... here's the progress so far... Its 24 x 24 inches.

More work in progress

Here's a little 12" x 12" on which I've been working. I'm not accustomed to working this small, its a good exercise.

Also got good news! The painting I entered in the Art From the Heart show (in my last two blog entries) won an Award of Excellence and sold - Yay!

The past couple of weeks I've been madly trying to finish up work for my trip to Florida for a couple shows. I also plan to camp at Kissimmee Prairie and will work on some plein air paintings there.