Fall 2016 taking a drawing class from Jill Eberly. Learning  a lot about portraiture.
Taking another class from her about 3-d Drawing. Exciting going to add figures to my landscapes.

PLEIN AIR INPRESSIONS

Couple more weeks we can get back outside painting and in the mean time we are meeting at Bearhands Art Factory in New Bern to study still life painting so we dont loose our edge. We were all in the grove last fall.Our last paintout of the season was Harkers Island, a little boat and fishing village where the water and land meets the sky.

We changed our name  to Coastal Carolina Plein Air Painters of NC, we were Coastal Plein Air Painters. We hooked up to the NC Plein Air Painters and we needed a name to describe our location and not be confused with South Carolina plein air painters.In the meantime we have a show called Plein Air Impressions and we hung 48 new paintings at the Carolina Artist Studio and Gallery in Morehead City .Eight Plein air Artists are showing their work George Hunter, John Hanley, Barbra Hesketh, Eleanor McArver, Janet Dixon, Karen Rawson,Susan Henry and me. The opening is March 8th Friday 6-8pm at the gallery and it will be up for two months.

River Dunes Boat House

Two day's later it's a sunny day. Which actually made it more of a challenge because of the lighting effects. It took me 5 hours to do two studies.

Boat House Pond

John Hanley hard at work

 

Susan Cheatham's pastel in progress

Sue Henry is almost finished.

Painting Plein Air in Winter

Painting in winter can be a challenge. Sue Henry, John Hanley, and I had just that experience.
We went to River Dunes to paint and by the time I got the go ahead to paint from the property manager, the clouds came in. Jhon Hnley worked on a painting. Sue and I ended up doing sketches. then the clouds came in and it got very cold. so we opted for another day. Hopefully sunnier. Although cloudy is nice sunny has more color combinations and contrast. What was very curious but interesting the reflection in the water were clearer than the sky. We will return on sunnier day.

Cassadys Easter Bird

May is almost here. New painting season is starting.

Just got back last week from a six month tour on Grace in the Florida Keys and beyond. I visited as many art galleries as I could, like 70+. Art is alive and well in Florida. I caught up with Mike Rooney, who was spending winter in Key West while I was there. Its a great place to paint and there are many plein air artists painting there as well. St. Augustines is worth a visit for art galeries as well as Vero beach, I have to say Miami at South Beach is more about fashion and people watching and art deco architecture. Our sister boat Jabaru, Aussies Peter and Gail went to Cuba and are now on the Yucatan Peninsula. As soon as we left them and turned our boat north instead of keep going south, we had to fight our way home. The weather windows were not good, the storms frequent, waves and current slowed us down. so I have to say i have experienced every wave from the Dry Tortugias to Oriental.

I took about 5,000 pictures so I will have a lot of material to work from. I did some painted in watercolors and gave a few lessons but this trip was really about sailing and cruising.Holly, my sheltie dog, stayed with me during all my watches.

I hope you will attend some or all of the lectures for Paint Wilmington which is happening now by nationally known artists. Tuesday and Wednesday are still open. I went yesterday to hear Tim Bell and Robert Isley . It was well worth the drive. Their combined enthusiasm was inspirational. David Leadman and Nancy Marshall at Walls Gallery are sponsoring these lectures at no cost to artists. The art and the quality of knowledge they possess are phenomenal weather you are an art buyer or an artist.

Here is a few tips from Robert and Tim:
Orange activates color, add yellow ocher and it makes a great tone for an under painting.
Use a big palette, the bigger the better.
They both recommend using split complements, and paint within the range of colors within the color triangle for color harmony and palette control.So that would mean using about seven colors for your palette and mixing paint from just those colors. You can also expand your colors from the seven if you need to. You will then be able to find your color preference. This will give you about 12 color arrangements.
Paint with the hips and shoulder for a straight line.
You stand on the shoulders of great painters. Be the most progressive modern painter.
In other words, find your voice and paint it.

FIRST PAINT OUT OF THE 2011 SEASON;
We will meet at Port City java for coffee at 9 am to gather our wits then head out to the Ghent district in New Bern and paint at Spencer and Second Avenue around 10 am
Happy Painting.
susan

Spring is here.Its time to paint.See you in the gardens.

Daffodowndilly

By A.A. Milne

She wore her sun-bonnet,

She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered toher neighbor:

'Winter is dead'.

- from When We Were Very Young