"Autumn Canal" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

"Autumn Canal" blocked in

"Autumn Canal" almost finished

Today a group of friends, now called the Art League Plein Air Painters, went to Widewater along the C & O Canal, just north of Washington, DC. It was a chilly day, but the light could not have been better. In one more week, most leaves would be gone.  Fall colors were absolutely breathtaking.  I walked around along the canal and down to the Potomac River, taking pictures.  Wow!  I was in a painters' heaven.

Remembering how cold it got last Friday when I painted outside, I was better prepared today with woolen socks, boots, leather gloves, and a warm hat.  Even so, my toes and little fingers became numb after a while.  As I am determined to paint some snow scenes this winter, I'd better get a serious winter gear.

After a few hours of painting, we all walked over to the historic Old Angler's Inn for lunch to celebrate the launch of our new group.  We are going to design the "official" hat, have a group show at a gallery, and do lots of fun things in the future.  When several students of Sara Linda Poly started painting outside of her class last year, we had no idea where it would lead.  Another group out of The Art League organized a plein air painting group this summer.  What we did was to combine the two groups.  As they say, if you build it, they will come.  For us, if you start painting together, more people will join us.  We are thrilled.

"Autumn Woods" (oil on linen; 12" x 9") sold

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Reference photo

I went to paint on the grounds of Madeira School in McLean, VA last Friday.  Before leaving the school, a friend of mine and I decided to take a walk to Black Pond within the grounds, most of  the 376 acres of land is wooded.  We got hopeless lost and ended up back at the parking lot!  The walk itself was lovely, though, as the sun had finally come out, casting dappled light on the path, grass, and trees.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I must say. 

I painted "Autumn Woods" in Bobbi Pratte's landscape class yesterday.  This term's focus so far has been trees.  I've noticed that you just cannot get away from trees if you are interested in landscapes.  Whether they are the center of interest or serve only as a backdrop, trees pop up in so many of my landscape paintings.  It will take many years of serious contemplation and practice, I think, to become truly at ease when it comes to painting trees.  Let the fun begin!

"Katie" (conte crayon on newsprint; 18" x 14")

This fall I have been taking a figure drawing class with Lisa Semerad at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA as part of my figure/portrait self-education program.  Although I pompously said "self-education," there is no substitute for good teachers, books, and models, when it comes down to learning to draw and paint figure/portrait.  So I should have said "self-guided".  My apologies.

Today was the fourth week, with the focus on the head and torso.  The model arrived a little late; then about five minutes into posing, she passed out!  Lisa, an experienced teacher, took it in strides for this sort of thing happens in figure drawing classes once in a while, as tired models rush from one job to another, sometimes with an empty stomach.  The poor model was later struck (gently) by an overhead clamp light, too!  It's fortunate that it was not Friday the 13th, only Thursday the 13th.  I am grateful for the models who pose for really modest monetary compensations.

The above drawings were all ten-minute poses, no time to develop facial features or hands.  The top one was the second of the series and is my favorite.

"Autumn Day at the Bay" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

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Lately the Washingtonians have been basking in a gorgeous weather day after day, as the Mother Nature is trying to make amends after earthquakes, torrential rains, and flash floods of past several weeks.  Which means--I MUST GO OUTSIDE TO PAINT!  So a couple of friends and I made an plein-air-painting outing to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Friday. 

This haven for migrating birds, nature lovers, and other creatures that reside in grasslands and marshes is located 20 miles south of Washington, DC, at the confluence of the Potomac and Occoquan Rivers, just half a mile off the hustle and bustle of the busy traffic on Jefferson Davis Highway (US Highway 1). 

None of us have been there, so didn't realize how much we had to walk lugging our painting gear.  Sure, along the way, we took lots of pictures of other scenic spots.  But when we saw the above view, our jaws dropped.  Lots of Canada geese were resting in the water.  We also spotted egrets and herons.  There were no clouds in the sky.  No bugs, no pestering onlookers,  just an occasional gentle breeze to cool down our brows.  Tranquility reigned.

"By the River" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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Last month was probably the wettest September ever!  Day after day, week after week, we were drenched.  Good for the lawn, but bad for the morale.  It felt like I moved to Seattle, WA.  So when the forecast promised a break of one sunny day, a friend of mine and I arranged a small paintout and kept our fingers crossed.  Last Friday finally arrived, and boy, we were lucky!  Just for several hours in the morning, it was a beautiful, autumn day.  Then, by the time we packed up, the clouds rolled in; the rest of the weekend was the usual washout.

We went to a place called Widewater along the historic C & O Canal along the Potomac River.  We could have painted the canal itself, but nearby we saw this spectacular view from a small sandy beach.  We were on the Maryland side, looking out the Virginian bank of the river.  Look at those magnificent rocks!  Yes, the river was muddy thanks to all the rain, but we could still see colors of the rocks and trees reflected in the water.  Goody!  I painted fearlessly, not worrying about getting all the cracks and trees right.  Who cares?  We were just glad to be out there.

"Flight of Fancy" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

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Today is the one year anniversary of my blog.  What a year it has been!  It was truly a leap of faith for me to undertake the responsibility of writing a blog.  At the beginning, I was probably the only person who read my blog.  These days, who knows?  I have a few friends who keep up with it; beyond them, I have no idea.  Someday I may develop a big following.  For now, I am content with my small, but loyal readership. 

Going with the concept of a leap of faith, I am sharing "Flight of Fancy" with my readers today.  It is based on a photo I found in a shoebox the other day.  I took it nine years ago when my daughter was still in preschool, at a beautiful public park called Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, to which two moms and three preschoolers took a field trip. 

They were having a special exhibit of a butterfly show.  Hundreds of exotic butterflies fluttering about everywhere was a sight to behold.  I somehow captured these two orange butterflies in the frame: one in flight, the other in a brief moment of stillness.  I love the juxtaposition of oranges and violets--a color combination I rarely use, but now I will.

Thank you for reading my blog.  Happy Anniversary!

"A Dozen Roses" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

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A dozen roses.  Who doesn't love them, except some unlucky people like my husband who are allergic to their fragrance?  And that was the problem with painting "A Dozen Roses"--a very high expectation.  Everybody knows what a rose looks like and will be a harsh critic if it is painted poorly.  Something so beautiful is daunting to render right, for the fear of making it stiff, unnatural.  I guess it's the same thing with painting a beautiful woman, especially a young beauty.  I once had an art teacher who swore that he would never paint her!

So it took longer than usual to finish this painting.  At the end of the afternoon (I had started it in the morning), I was exhausted!  I took pictures and sat down to photoshop to see if the red balance was pleasing.  My husband didn't see the painting on the couch, next to the coffee table on which my laptop sits.  He put down his elbow to the right bottom of the painting, thus smudging and removing some of my signature and dark paints!  I was too tired and shocked to scream.  Mutely I got him a tissue to wipe his elbow and fixed the signature.  By the way, there are indeed a dozen roses in the painting; you just have to look for them very carefully.