Autumn Path, completed

Autumn Path, 30" x 30", oil on gessobord

As promised, here is the finished painting.  But....due to the light fading before getting a good shot, this picture is a bit on the glaring side and doesn't show the true color of the mountain in the background.  I'll work on it and get back to you.

Finishing up ... Autumn Path

Autumn Path...almost done

Autumn Path...just beginning

Well, it's been awhile hasn't it?  Sorry about that.  My paycheck job at The Lodge at Deadwood has been keeping me hopping.  Way too tired to paint by the time I get home. 

This particular piece has been completed,  but my last shot of it really sucked.  So, my significant other (from now on known as S.O.), Jack ran to his office in Deadwood and got his camera.  He just got home and will try to take a shot of the finished piece with what light is left in the day. I'll post that shot when he's done.

This past mid October, we went for a walk with our black pug, Frank, along the Mickelson Trail in Deadwood.  I deliberately left the shot unfocused and wanted to paint a softer, looser landscape. 

Currently some of my work is on display and for sale at the Spearfish Arts Center in Spearfish, SD.  I'm enjoying meeting new people and getting to know the Black Hills arts community.

Have a great holiday season everyone!

Getting all wired up!

I finally took the time to charge up the drill and got the new paintings all wired up for the First Fridays Artist reception at the Spearfish Arts Center in Spearfish.

Jack loaded them up in the car for me tonight. I have a 6 a.m. shift at work tomorrow and didn't need to be doing that in the dark!

If any of you are in the Black Hills area of Spearfish, Deadwood, Lead, etc., stop by Friday night, October 7, 5pm to 7pm. I am one of 3 artists featured.

Finished spring floral just as fall rolls in...

"First Peonies"
24" x 24"
oil on cradled gessobord

It took two weeks, but I got back in my studio to finish this floral. These are my first SOUTH DAKOTA peonies. It was our first spring in this house and I didn't know I was going to have a nice big peony bush growing next to the fence.

Fall is just starting to show its glorious head in the Black Hills. The temperatures are much cooler in the evening and mornings. The afternoons are still in the seventies and low eighties, but those days are numbered!

Once it gets too cold to play around outside, I'll be back in the studio more often.

I'll be one of the featured artists at the Spearfish Arts Center in Spearfish this coming October. October 7th actually. I finally have more pieces featuring SD stuff. They like that around here.

Back to florals

"Mary's Allium"
12" x 36",
oil on cradled gessobord

It's been awhile since I've done a floral. I don't know why I don't do them more frequently. Maybe spring and summer go by so quickly OR because I no longer have flower gardens. My gardens in back in Grand Detour, IL were a constant source of material.

This floral is comprised of large allium. This photo was taken at my dear friend's garden. A very unusual, but stately flower in the late spring garden.

The next painting will be a still life floral of peonies. Stay tuned.

Despite cowboy season, I finished a painting!

"Yates Shaft Sunset," 30" x 40", oil on gallery-wrapped canvas.

A couple of weeks ago, I started 3 different paintings. Today I finished one of them. It's the only landscape of the three. This view is from my backyard. Can you believe it? Being a girl from northern Illinois, rolling hills are the closest to high altitude I ever got to.

It's been a very busy 2 weeks with work being very busy because of the tourism season in Deadwood and surrounding areas. In fact, I saw my very first rodeo yesterday in Deadwood during the Days of 76 rodeo. Those people are a bit nuts to torture themselves like that, but it was oddly exhilarating also. A woman sitting next to Jack and I gave us the ins and outs of the rules and regulations of the different rodeo events. And the cowboys weren't bad either.

Any way, I hunkered down today in the studio before the heat of the day set in. The picture shown is not really doing the painting much justice, but it's tough getting the right shot in the light I have in the studio.

Next up...Alliums.

toodles.

3 Canvases started today

"Peonies"

"Alium" starting out.

"Clouds" in it's earliest stages.

"Clouds" about 50% done

Beautiful day in Lead today (pronounced "lEEd.")

Sketched out 3 different size canvases. One large landscape and 2 florals. Once they were all blocked in, I started laying in the color of the large landscape...a sunset scene taken from a photo I took from our back yard.

Also, Frank, our black pug, decided to keep me company the whole time. He's a bit of a snorer, but good company.

"Lilac Road," from start to finish

"Lilac Road" 16" x 20" oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

Finished product.

Almost done. Blocking in colors and values.

Starting out with the cad red background and putting in the values.

This painting painted itself. The hardest part about the piece was getting my butt to the easel and DOING IT.

I woke up Easter morning with no plans on my plate and the sun shining. Since I don't live near my family, there were no Easter obligations and the day lay before me unencumbered with social appointments. On this past Friday, our lovely town of Lead, SD got a good 8" of snow. Yes, snow. But, the last 2 days have been back in the 50s with the snow melting quickly.

So...here is my newest painting. It's the final in the series of the 3 spring lilac pictures I took when I first moved to South Dakota. This is a small gravel backroad in the Johnson Siding neighborhood of western Rapid City.

I LOVE lilacs. The smell brings me back to my childhood and last year the lilac season was a full month behind northern IL...so I got TWO lilac seasons.

Here is "Lilac Road" in its progressive stages. Enjoy.