Summer is All About the Color Green

Tomorrow's the 4th of July, and already it's so hot and humid I feel like I need to swim through it sometimes.  Presently I'm reading Pat Conroy's South of Broad which takes place in Charleston, SC, the city near the barrier islands of Seabrook where I painted in the relatively dry spring.  He describes the summer in Charleston as being even more humid than Indiana so I shouldn't wine too much.  The other thing about summer that painters want to wine about is the color green--there's just tooooo much of it in the landscape.  Painting in the summer is all about seeing how many variations of the color green we can come up with.

This is my first painting of the summer, and I'm trying to discover some of the greens in the trees over Burnett's Creek outside Battle Ground, IN.   I've included a photo of the initial drawing on the (oil primed) linen canvas with its "block in" to show you how it looked as I began the painting.

"Sultry Afternoon on Burnett's Creek", 20" x 16", oil on linen canvas

This is how it looked when I "finished" it yesterday.  But I'll put it away for a week and then see it fresh to determine if I need to tweak it one way or another.  If you'd like to make a comment, I'd love to hear them.  And please forward this on to anyone else you think might like to see it.  Hope the summer's been good to you so far and that you're staying relatively cool.  

Spring is Here! Let's Go Painting!

You may have thought I left the country, with my last blog post being sent January 19th, but I only went to Oregon to take care of my sister after her surgery.   Even though Oregon is beautiful in the winter, it was too cold to paint and consequently the long silence from me.  However, I did manage to paint one small image from a photo that I took of the parched Oregon hillside last August.  So here is my one new offering for you:

"Hillside in August", 11" x 14", oil on canvas panel

When I returned from Oregon, I was excited to learn that one of my paintings was accepted in the Indiana Artists Club Juried Exhibition which will hang at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  The opening and awards are April 17th with the exhibit running through June 5th.   I hope you can get to see the paintings.  This is my painting that was accepted:

"Winter in the Lilly Garden", 16" x 20", oil on linen canvas

Now spring must officially be here because I'm off tomorrow to paint at the first paint-out of season in New Harmony, IN, the historic town located in the tip of the tip of the Indiana boot where the Ohio and Wabash rivers come together.  The Indiana Plein Air Painters call it "The First Blush of Spring", a three-day event which usually brings over a hundred painters from Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and even further afield.  Howard, my husband and sweetie, is going with me to play guitar and banjo with all the musicians down in that tiny old fashioned town.  Here's a link to some of the history of this Utopian community where the National Geological Survey was also founded.  http://maxkade.iupui.edu/newharmony/home.html

I hope you enjoy these paintings.  You can see more of my paintings on my web site at www.kathrynclarkfineart.com  And you know I always like to hear your comments on the paintings and anything else you'd like to contribute.  If you have friends who would like to receive my artist blog, please pass it along to them.  And I promise you won't need to wait three months for my next post.   Hopefully at least one painting will pop out of me in New Harmony.