Back to painting

I have not been painting for the last 2 or 3 weeks and it is difficult to get started.  I picked the last of my roses from the garden and arranged them.  I loosely based these two knife paintings on the arrangement.  I wanted to just have fun and "ice" the canvas (like icing a cake).  I really like the loose, sort of abstract look of a knife painting.  I did notice that when I took the photo of each, I cropped the painting a little too much.  Things don't quite hug the edges as they appear in the photos.

The Shard Pile

I had two wonderful houseguests last week.  We talked art, visited a studio and art museums and painted.  How good can it get!  One of my guests shared a photo she had taken in Italy.  It seemed to be very busy but was very interesting to me.  After all, I am a gardener and have a collection of unused pots and shards.  It was a challenge to paint and there was a lot of problem solving to be done.  This is my attempt.

Parked for a Reason

I took this photo early morning while in Zionsville.  The sun was perfect.

Sunflowers--one of my summer impressions collection

Summer Pickings

I visited my garden before the heat today.  This is a painting of some of the gatherings.  Hope it makes you feel happy to enjoy a hot, summer day.

Plein air at Oliver's last Saturday

We have an informal plein air group that gets together the first Saturday of each month in different locations.  It is a lot of fun and sharing.  This month we met at Oliver's Winery.  Their grounds are beautiful and inspired this painting.  It was extremely hot--the hottest day of the year so far.  So I only painted for a couple of hours.  Just as I finished my painting, a guy I went to high school with and his wife were visiting here from Utah and happened to stop by Oliver's.  His wife wanted to purchase my painting which was wet and I'm sure could have used some refining strokes.  I gave her this painting as a memento of their trip and our chance encounter.

The Farmer's Shed

I have a way to go in painting landscapes.  Still in the learning phase!

Iris on a May Day

My spring garden is an unending source of inspiration.   This, too, was a quick brush/knife painting--just trying to capture the essence of the flower without much detail.

Geraniums

This is a painting of a pot of geraniums on my deck.  I got so excited about the color and had so much painting with a big brush and a knife--keeping the painting very loose.  Big mistake--vanished before taking photo.  This created a foggy glare on the painting.