Oil Color Monotype: Italian Geometrics I

NFS

I explained the procedure for this type of monotype in my blog
on Monday. This one was used as a book cover by the David R. Godine
Publishing Co. in Boston, in 1984, for a memoir by Iris Origo, titled
War in Val d'Orcia. I was very happy when they decided to use it,
of course. Also, I didn't have to deal with any art directors telling me
what to do! It was a free ride!

Thanks for visiting today.

Tomorrow is "P" day - I begin to paint in earnest. I am so excited!!

Landscape by a River

10" x 12", Oil Monotype on Paper SOLD

This was really fun. I used Yupo paper as the plate for my

monotype, and watersoluble oils for my paints. You can

lay down a thin layer of slow-drying medium (it has to me

the kind made for watersoluble oils) with a credit card and

work into that. I roll the paint on, different colors in

different areas, and then manipulate it with old brushes,

sponges, sticks, my fingers, whatever..........it's really fun.

Thanks for visiting today.

Gouche Fantasy of Summer in the Shenandoah

7 1/4" x 4 3/4", Gouache on Plate Bristol Paper, Bid Here

I have always loved the Shenandoah mountains. To me they are a

magical place. I spent a lot of time there many years ago. My memories

of them are some of my most cherished. I go back to them time and

time again.

There is almost nothing as beautiful as a line of several

mountains (not depicted here), moving away from you in the distance,

getting fainter and fainter, and bluer and bluer, until you can't be certain

if you really see it or not - it almost looks transparent.

This is sort of a made-up picture. I had a small photograph. But it

was quite different from this. I also like working in gouache, for reasons

I have given previously.

This may be my last post for quite a while. I am leaving on Thursday

for vacation. I will be back on the 22nd, but as I'll be teaching on the 23rd,

and the 24th is Sunday, I doubt there will be anything here until at least

the 25th -- that is unless I can squeeze in a painting tomorrow, or the next

day with all the other things I have to do. I am taking a laptop with me, so

will not be completely out of reach.

Thanks for stopping by.

Page of Small Gouache Landscape Sketches

Canson WC Sketchbook Page, 9" x 12", sketches

in varying sizes NFS

I'm going to be teaching a Gouache workshop

in about three weeks, so I thought I should just

get back in the swing of things as far as gouache

is concerned. These sketches were all done in

a Canson watercolor sketchbook, which is one

of my favorite things to work in. If the pictures

don't get too large the paper doesn't really

wrinkle too much.

I like to use gouache as a combination of

watercolor and the way it is supposed to be

used, as an opaque medium. I love the various

contrasts that can be gotten in that way. It is

also fun to squeegee down a layer of Aquapasto

first, and see what effects that has on your work.

I will also work sometimes on Canson papers, which

have such nice colors, if I feel like working on a

colored background.

The mountains are the Blue Ridge; the river is

the Potomac (two blocks from where I live); the

trees and sky are a park down the way from me.

I really love painting with this stuff. It is relaxing.

Side Yard in Blacksburg

Oil Monotype on Fine Printmaking Paper,8" x 6",

$200.00, Go Here

This very painterly monotype was done from partly from memory

and partly from my memory of a beautiful place where I lived several

summers in Blacksburg, Virginia during the 1980's when my husband

was going to architecture school. It was like the Garden of Eden there.

I will always remember it as being one of the happiest times in my life.

The Eastern Shore at Midday

Oil Pastel w/ Van Eyck Painting Medium on White Acrylic-

Sized Paper, 9" x 7 7/8", $100.00 Bid Here

I have a set of Sennelier oil pastels - actually I have two - one that

I have never touched because it is so beautiful I can't bare to touch

it, and another that was bought over time; piece by piece, also a Holbein

here, a Sakura there, that's been used and used.

I just love this image,

and thought I would play around with it using oil pastels. The Senneliers

are so soft, they are literally like lipstick. The Holbeins - and I forgot to

mention the Caran d'Ache, are somewhat firmer, but still incredibly

smooth and satisfying to work with.

I will put some color down, and take a deerfoot brush ( these are

brushes that I used for blending in oil painting) and dip it into a

tube of Sennelier Van Eyck Painting Medium (gelatinous but delicate),

and you can push the oil pastel around with this, and blend it together.

It is really fun.

Sometimes I feel really serious about my work, and sometimes I think

it brings out my (caution: over-used word alert - ) "inner child". I'm

planning on doing a series of figure paintings next, and they are very

demanding, so that is probably why I am doing this, and why I did the

pears yesterday. Just something light, and.....entertaining.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Chincoteague Afternoon

7 1/2" x 5", Oil on Board, $100.00 BID HERE

I went to Chicoteage with my family many years ago, and I was

most fascinated by the marshy land that spread everywhere, and

the little inlets of water that would reflect the colors of the sky.

It was also fun to see the horses.

The last time we were there some of those horses were actually

wandering around on the beach trying to steal peoples' lunches

and treats, and my daughter, quite a bit younger at that point,

kept talking about "ponies gone bad". It was so funny, and we

had a wonderful day. I think this is kind of a Technicolor

Chincoteague, but, whatever. I had fun using my memory,

which was probably looking " through rose-colored glasses".

Tuscan Farmhouse

Acrylic on Paper mounted on Board, 5" square
$100.00 go to eBay

I did this painting as a copy of a gouache painting

that I did in a sketchbook that I had prepared to

show a group of students who were potential

participants in a workshop in Florence. The workshop

ended up getting cancelled for various reasons, but I

was so happy with the gouache painting that I did

another, larger version of it, and here it is.

I love the simplicity of Italian farm buildings. I remember

riding around in the country when I lived in Italy. I didn't

own a car, so that was a very rare treat. The most spectacular

thing was to see the fields covered with red poppies in the

spring. I'll never forget that. It was amazing. Italy has to be

one of the most beautiful places in the world.