Sunny Day in the Hollow

"Sunny Day in the Hollow"

18" x 18" oil on linen

A recent painting done at a CT state park called Chatfield Hollow State Park. With the beautiful sunny days, I often feel torn between hiking and painting. I got to do both the day of this painting!

Shroomscapes: My Paintings at the 39th Annual NEMF Sam Ristich Foray

"Portabello Blues" 

Oil on panel

8" x 10" 

Eight of my "mushroom paintings" will be on display at Crozier-Williams Center on the Connecticut College campus in New London, Thursday, July 30th - Sunday, August 2nd New London for the 39th annual Northeast Mycological Association (NEMF) Sam Ristich Foray. Connecticut Valley Mycological Society (CVMS) is hosting the event this year at Conn College. 

My friend Laurie Gorham told me that She'd seen my earlier mushroom paintings and thought I could come up with more "portraits" for the conference.  Thank you Laurie for the heads-up!

Check out the organization's FB page here for more infomation on the conference, updates and   photographs by NEMF member of locally foraged mushroom, morels and fungi. 

"All in the Family"

Oil on Panel

8" x  8"

                                        

Bull Dogs

"Sam Side"

Miniature magnet (oil on panel)

 2" x 2"

"Sam Sitting"

 oil on panel

 7" x 5"

Two portaits I painted this year of a beautiful bulldog I briefly got to know.  The first one is a "miniature magnet painting": I attachd a super-strong 1" round magnet to the back of the panel to create an original work of art that can decorate the fridge, or office file cabinet. Who says art has to be restricted to white walls?

Lucy Kemp Welch A Painter of Horses

I have really enjoyed Laura Wortley's book Lucy Kemp-Welch: The Spirit of the Horse over the years. But it is time for me to part with it as I need to get rid of some quite good stuff.

Lucy Kemp-Welch (1877 - 1958) is best known for her illustrations for the 1915 edition of Black Beauty, but she had a long career as a painter and art educator at a time when women artists were still very rare. During World War One she was employed by the British Army to depict battle scenes.  

Here is a link to many paintings I have never seen and would love to see in person.

Slide Show of Lucy Kemp Welch Paintings

To buy my used copy in good condition click here 

The Spirit of the Horse , Artist Lucy Kemp Welch

Creating Another Hand (flex tool)

I was inspired recently by Carol Marine's description of how to use an adjustable arm with clamps on both ends as an extra "hand" to hold a viewfinder when painting still lifes from her book DAILY PAINTING (pp 82 - 84). Thank you Carol for sharing your ideas!

Now, I said to myself,  I can also use this to hold a reflector card when I photograph my artwork.

After researching the cost of this tool and reading some reviews of the quality of ready-made versions, I found this interesting video by knoptop on YouTube showing how to make a flexible clamp from an old lamp. Thank you knoptop for this video!

Below is my clamp that I made from an old lamp after watching knoptop's video. The lamp I found in a thrift for $3 already had a clamp on one end, so I removed the light fixture and replaced it with a smaller clamp to hold my viewfinder or reflector card; a small piece of flexible foam fills some of the space within the clamp for a secure hold.