October on the Guadalupe River

12 X 16 Oil on canvas 

(Click on painting to view larger) 

Last October my daughter and I painted at a festival at a winery in Comfort Texas.  We drove on narrow country roads up and down hills through the countryside.  We crossed a small bridge over the Guadalupe River, and I asked my husband to stop so I could take some pictures of the river from the bridge.  This is painted using one of those photos as a reference.  

October in Central Texas doesn't have the spectacular colors of fall.  The live oaks, which are one of the primary trees in this area, don't lose their leaves until the spring.  They stay green all winter.  We have do have some subtle color changes, with an occasional tree or shrub glowing with bright colors.  

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Taos Snow Scene

This scene was painted from a photo I took in Taos at Christmas.  We rented a house out of town with our extended family.  Several mornings we went for a walk along the gravel road, trouping along with a couple of dogs.

The dogs were so funny running out into the trees and then back to their humans to touch base, then running out again.  They covered twice as much ground as we did, and I think they probably enjoyed it twice as much.  So many exciting smells!

This scene was on a cloudy day, and the light was very flat.   I loved the mistiness over the mountains.  And again I was amazed at how much color there was in the winter grasses and shrubbery.

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Snow scene in Taos

11 X 14 Oil on stretched canvas

I painted this from a photo I took on our trip to Taos at Christmas.  There was still snow on the ground under trees and shrubs.  I kept taking pictures and exclaiming, "look at all the colors!"

I was pretty happy with how this turned out.  It's my first attempt at using my own photos, rather than copying a painting.  I have another one that I'm working on.  I took lots of pictures, so I'll probably have a few more of basically this same color palette.

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Peaceful Meadow Landscape # 14 after Kevin MacPherson

12 X 16 inch oil on stretched canvas.

This is the last painting in my series of painting from Kevin MacPherson's books.  I like it the best of all that I have done.  I really feel like I have learned a lot by this project.  My paintings don't look like his, but  using his paintings as a reference has helped me to paint in a much looser style than when I first started.  I was attempting to paint too much detail.  (Like every leaf!)

Below is a picture of his painting from his book.  You can see that mine varies a lot from his.  I actually chose this painting because of his lavender sky.   It looks beautiful in his painting, but mine just looked muddy and made my painting too dark.    So I changed the sky to a bright sunny day.

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Sunny Hillside...Painting # 13 after Kevin MacPherson

12 X 16 Oil on Canvas

I loved the trees in the distance in this painting!  I was really happy with the values and range of colors.

However, I'm not really satisfied with the sage bushes in the foreground.  No matter how many times I re-worked them, they don't read correctly to me.  I don't know if it's a value problem or a warm/cool problem, but I just felt I didn't solve it.

Anyway.   I have one more painting to post that is based on MacPherson's book, and then I'm going to try something else.  I intend to start painting some scenes based on my own photos.  I'm a little apprehensive, but I think I'm ready to do this.

I have been in a painting funk for about two months.  I haven't been able to attend my painting class, and I just haven't wanted to pick up my brush at home.

Carol Marine's blog post this morning was just what I needed.   I was having all those same thoughts about not painting, how poor at it I am, and a general reluctance to even start anything new.  It was great to read the thoughts of Carol and others about experiencing artist's block.  Maybe I am an artist.  I have Block!

Thanks to all who have checked on me during this period.  I really appreciate all your kind words and encouragement.