Winter Painting

When we're not traveling, I while away the gray, damp winter days painting downstairs in the basement. I crank up my boom box or listen to NPR, then am totally surprised when 2-3 hours have passed. My greatest pleasure comes from painting landscapes, particularly from my favorite snapshots of Camp Colegate. How delighted I was when Julia asked me to paint her favorite view of Lake Rabun. It now is hanging over their bed in Greenville, SC.

Dobb's Point, Lake Rabun, GA

I had snapped an adorable photo of Bruce's niece and nephew, Addy and Colin, at The Garland Country Club outside of Lewiston, Michigan. We had gone there last summer to have a family dinner and bless them, celebrate my birthday. We had such a wonderful time, and the children just looked so cute. I know, I have some issues with proportion, color, and heaviness of the paint. I was talking with David Mays this morning, and the recurring theme in our conversation was, "I learned so much from this painting." I hope Addy and Collin's parents enjoy this painting, because I had so much fun and challenge with it - my first human figures in painting.

Addy and Colin at The Garland



 While we were in Michigan last summer, we visited Jamie and Amanda up in the Upper Peninsula, in Escanaba. We were particularly taken with their Montgomery Ward catalogue home. This is the bungalow of the '40's, maybe, that I adored as a child in Middletown. My friend, Pam Sloan, lived in one, and I loved to go there and sit on her porch. Jamie and Amanda are planning on repainting thier home, so I painted it in the colors that they picked out. Amanda was so gracious as to mail me her paint chips, and after several phone calls and emails, I hope I got the colors and combinations correct. I took artistic license with their landscaping. This is the first structure I have painted, other than the boat houses in the Lake Rabun picture.




Escanaba Bungalow



Winter Dawn at Camp Colegate

I have held back on painting from this photo for several years, but finally felt that I could paint the vibrant rays of the sun. Oh, no. This painting started out great, but try as I might, I could not quite get the vibrancy. I tried yellow, orange, then white, and every time I added white my colors simply went flat. This painting is all snow and ice, not blooming flowers. I was so frustrated at the end, that I used my palette knife to indicate the shimmer of the weeds in the foreground. Maybe one should stick to what one feels one does best?