Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks, oil on board, 8" x 6"

These hollyhocks grow wild at the top of our driveway with enough confidence to take over the neighborhood. We've been here 20 years and we don't know where they came from but I love their chutzpah. I put them in an aluminum vase that has the same finish as the big milk containers on my grandparents' dairy farm (which is now Distillery Lane Ciderworks, by the way). This was painted plein air.

It's been months since the last post. I had to take a break to spend as much time as possible with my mother as she fought and lost a battle with breast cancer, after being in remission for 35 years. This was the first successful painting since we lost her, so this painting is for you, Mom.

Catching Up: Spending Time in Water

Tim and I gravitated towards painting water this summer. How can you not if you live and paint in Southwest Virginia. The top painting is a plein air oil of an area just upstream from one of several great swimming holes on the Maury River in Goshen Pass. Here's a photo from our scouting trip. We call this "Nature's Jacuzzi".

The second photo is of a plein air pastel painting from a rock in the middle of Bottom Creek Gorge on Bent Mountain (a Nature Conservancy area).  Both paintings required fording river or stream, the top one the most challenging, but it was summer so no big deal, other than the strength it took to lug all the stuff as you balanced on rocks. It did inspire us to buy waders so that we could paint similar scenes in the cooler months

Under the Live Oaks

 We set up one peaceful day at Ft. Fisher State Park, near the ocean in NC and I drew the live oaks above. The next day we set up again in their shade and I painted the other direction.  It was during a heat wave, but the ocean breeze and the shade made it pleasant. I was bitten by fire ants, but my cold stainless steel water bottle eased the pain. We inadvertently chose a special event day and we became another attraction, but I can focus. What made it Extreme Plein Air Painting was the civil war cannon they fired without warning every 40 minutes or so that made me jump out of my skin every time.

Peach Season

Peach season is as fleeting as sunlight has been this summer. So, I combined the two. I felt a need to also focus on more focused, controlled color mixing, so I choose a simple subject so that I could focus more on the color variations. But I was surprised at how complex the color variations are on a peach in sunlight.  I'll do one more at least.  These are 8" x 8" oil on panel. annepfeiffer.com

Shifting Light

Shifting Light, 9" x 12" oil on linen board

Plein air painting from Explore Park (BRP in Virginia) overlook, looking south. As I finished this, my husband, also a painter, pointed out a very large dark grey cloud to my right and we high-tailed it out of there in time. The miracle is that I had just enough time to finish. Plein air painting this summer has taken on the need for sophisticated logistics to paint between storms and finding places where you can stay close to your car for when the next deluge comes.

Love

11" x 14" oil on board, painted alla prima in natural window light.

Winter Morning Light

I painted this from observation of a still life set up by a window that had strong morning light. If any of you are fans of Crate and Barrel design aesthetics, you can appreciate how I couldn't help but buy that little green creamer from the Chicago store...and the modern white pitcher and creamer in the painting below, and a gravy boat, and a little turquoise bowl and a yellow hand juicer, and a couple gorgeous hand towels....  9" x 12" oil on board.

Two New Still Lifes

 Both of these are alla prima from observation of still lifes by a large window. The top was a sunny winter afternoon. The bottom was an overcast afternoon, actually New Years Eve. Clementines are fun to paint. They are not actually round and they can glow, illuminating with an orange light. The top image background was a white wall in shadow. But there is a yellow couch by the window, bouncing yellow into the wall in shadow.  Nice effect.   Both are oil on panel, 8" x 8".

The legend of St. Nicholas includes the belief that he mysteriously provided a gold ball in the stocking hanging by the fire of the home of a poor man who was about to lose a daughter to slavery if he could not come up with a dowry for her to marry. He had three daughters, and received a gold ball as each neared the time to marry. This explains the tradition of oranges in stockings or in holiday decorations.

Something About Red

Both of these are 8" x 8", oil on panel, $350. The top painting has sold.

Post-Przewodek Workshop

I spent a week in Eaton, Maryland at Easton Studio and School for a workshop with Camille Przewodek. Similar to Lee Boynton, she studied at the Cape Cod School of Art with Henry Henshe. I need repetition, repetition...before it really sinks in. I liked her direct style of teaching and I felt that I was getting in the flow in these two. Both are plein air, 12" x 9" oil on archival panel.

Two on a Summer Afternoon

I painted these two on a warm June afternoon, trying to capture that unique summer sunlight. Notice the thunderhead peeking up over the trees in the top one. It turned into one of those intense summer storms with hail. You know, the ones that show up as a red blob on weather.com's satellite image.

The top image is 12" x 9" and the bottom is 6" x 6", oil on archival panel. If you are interested in purchasing either, email me or go to my Daily Paintworks gallery (see icon at top of this page).

Lucky

Carvin's Cove again. I'm lucky to be living near this beautiful lake.  

Plein Air Still Lifes

Plein air still lifes are my favorite because of the challenge of creating a sensation of sunlight. I'm trying to create more casual arrangements, instead of formal compositions to give a feeling of the viewer being present.  This one is 12" x 12", oil on cradled hardboard, which means it does not necessarily need a frame.

Another High Key Still Life

White teapot on white fabric with clear glass...always fun. 8" x 8" on Ampersand gesso board.

High Key Still Life

One of my favorite challenges is a high-key composition, which means most of the values lean towards the light end of the scale, creating a sensation of strong light bouncing around, like sun coming through a kitchen window, or hitting objects on a table outside.  14" x 11" oil on Ampersand gesso board.

A Small Still Life

After seeing so many other artists offering small paintings, I thought I would attempt one. Maintaining my brushwork on a small scale is challenging at first, but I quickly got used to it. These smaller still lifes are very charming. 6"x 6" oil on Ampersand gesso board panel.

The Yellow Pitcher

More still lifes exploring the red bowl on turquoise fabric. These are 8"x8", oil on board.  To purchase the top one, click here.  For the bottom one, click here.

Red and Turquoise

I set up a table with a backdrop, having bought fabric like candy. The red cup and turquoise fabric intrigued me. Oil on 8"x 8" board.

Still Lifes

These paintings are 8" x 8" on archival Amerpersand gesso board. The objective of a colorist approach to painting objects in light is simply to see and recreate the color of light. The color of an object is different in light and shadow and you must practice seeing and mixing all the nuances. Lee Boynton taught me to use a larger palette to accomplish this because, although you can mix a color wheel's worth of color with just a few tubes of paint, the purity of the hues is most intense in the many colors straight from the tube in a larger palette. The paint is applied thickly and confidently...well, at least it is supposed to look like I was confident. Some days I am definitely more confident and energetic than other days, and it does show in the finished paintings. 

Ideally, I would paint a still life outside in the sunlight (like the middle one), but that is not always possible, so I have a strong daylight lightbulb light for studio still lifes.

A Couple Plein Air Paintings

The top is oil on cradled board 8" x 10" of a view on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Explorer Park when the late afternoon sun was lighting up the tops of the orange grass. The second, oil on uncradled board, 9" x 12"  is of the late afternoon sun shining on the banks of Carvin's Cove during a time of low water.