"Lavender Girl" (oil on stretched canvas; 10" x 8") sold

sold

A little girl in a white shift dress and hat is walking in the lavender field, with a straw basket in hand. The golden late afternoon rakes across the purple clouds of lavender. The online workshop I took with Dreama Perry last fall got me into lavender fields, so I have painted several paintings of the theme. As they get sold, I am posting my work. Negligent, am I not?

"Lavender Heaven" (mixed media on paper; 9" x 12") sold

sold

A girl in a white dress and hat is picking flowers in a field of purple, scented lavender clouds. It is a lavender heaven! The painting is of the mixed media of watercolor and lightfast Caran d'Ache Luminance colored pencils. It was difficult to achieve the spiky, yet soft texture of lavenders, so I used colored pencils for them.

"Elizabeth at the Lake" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

The boyfriend of Elizabeth commissioned me to paint this painting of a figure in landscape as her birthday gift.  The peaceful setting is Emerald Bay, near South Lake Tahoe, CA.  One thing the couple were not able to do for their idyllic vacation was bring her dog Slick, which she would have loved. Tommy asked me to paint Slick, an English springer spaniel, into the picture with her.  How can I say no to such a sweet request?

"California Beach Kids" (oil on stretched canvas; 18" x 24")

click here to buy

The family vacation to California back in 2007 concluded with a few days spent in San Francisco.  This trip led to so many paintings; "California Beach Kids" is the latest.  The setting is the beach at the Maritime National Historical Park, which includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, and a maritime museum.

After checking out the historic ships, we were people-watching.  Some brave souls swam in the cold water.  This group of kids, all decked in bandanas, were testing out how cold the Pacific Ocean water was.  A couple of boys were a bit more adventurous than the others. I hope you feel the fun atmosphere of the day.

"Strawberry Pickers" (oil on stretched canvas; 16" x 20")

click here to buy

I have been working on this painting of two young women picking strawberries at Schlagel Farms in Charles County, MD on and off for several years.  The thing that bothered me most was the figure's hands on the left.  While I was at it, I also redid the strawberry fields surrounding the women and the trees in the distance.  I am finally satisfied with "Strawberry Pickers" and swear I will NOT touch it again!

After second reworking in 2014

"Peter and Melissa" (oil on stretched canvas; 20" x 16") gift

gift

We have a family tradition: whenever someone gets married, he gets a double wedding portrait from the family artist, myself.  I thought when one of my husband's nephews got married last summer, I would give him a nice toaster and call it quits.  No such thing!  The expectation was so high that I couldn't dare without devastating the groom.  I included some step-by-step pictures that are not high-quality, but still give you an idea of how I approached this important project. 

Step 1: The drawing already looks like the love birds!

Step 2: Peter is my husband's nephew and namesake. My husband is known as Peter the Great in the family.

Step 3: It looks like a spring wedding, doesn't it? The lovely outdoor wedding was actually an August one. We dodged a bad weather, which came in the evening when we were partying inside. A lucky couple!

Step 4: The bride in her dress without a veil looked like a radiant Greek goddess!

Step 5: This bearded young man is one of the twins, whom I have known since he was eight. He is my favorite nephew--kind, thoughtful, smart, and quietly funny. He reminds me of his uncle, my husband.

"Happy Days" (oil on stretched canvas; 18" x 18") nfs

nfs

I worked on this painting of my daughter, at the age of nine, on and off for several years; I finally feel satisfied.  The reference photo was taken during my family's vacation in northern California.  At Glass Beach, we scavenged the beach for pretty sea glasses as the sun set and the place became bathed in the golden light.

Whenever I look at this painting, my heart is filled with tenderness.  She is now a high-school senior, about to go off to college.  In my mind's eye, she is always about this big, or even younger; she is full of joy and innocence, ready to sit on my lap for a big hug.  These were the happiest days of my life.

"Smell the Roses" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 10") nfs

nfs

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter and I went to the Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden in Arlington, VA to admire roses.  It was too hot to linger, but I was able to take a few good pictures for my rose paintings.  My daughter happened to take the picture below when I was smelling roses.  I really liked it, so I decided to paint a self-portrait out of it.  What do you think of my efforts?

The reference photo

"Sandcastle Builders" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

Sandcastle building is a big deal at Prince Edward Island, Canada.  I even saw a park ranger doing a demonstration of how to build one at Cavendish Beach.  You need wet sand.  The girl in the painting is about to go get some sea water with her bucket!

Watercolor sketch for "Sandcastle Builders"; I cropped it for the painting and got rid of the beach bag and blue bucket on the right.

The transparent underpainting.

I started putting down opaque paints.

As usual, I developed the figures, along with the umbrella, last.

Girl with a Straw Hat (oil on linen; 12" X 12") sold

sold

A glimpse of a girl in a blue dress with a straw hat on a sand dune in Prince Edward Island, Canada led to this painting.  I have always been attracted to landscape paintings with figure as the main interest.  Now my skills have improved to such a level that I feel confident in trying out my own vision onto canvas.  What do you think of my efforts?

Watercolor sketch for the painting

Transparent underpainting

I often develop a landscape from the faraway things first.

Developing the middle ground and foreground.  Do you get the feeling that I am avoiding the figure?  It's partly that, but it's also because I want to create a believable and livable environment for the figure first.  

"Beach Boy" (oil on linen; 10" x 8") sold

sold

I saw a boy carrying a big yellow bucket filled with water for sandcastle building on Cavendish Beach at Prince Edward Island in Canada.  I took a picture, which turned out so well that I had to paint him!

The transparent underpainting.  Yes, I start a figure painting in the same way as florals and landscapes!

I started laying down some opaque paints.  

Now it's time to work on the figure.

Collage of My May Paintings

Collage of My May 2014 Paintings

Here is the collage of my May paintings.  A lot of dots!  If you have a super sharp memory, you may notice three paintings you haven't seen in any of the blog posts this month: the dogwood one, the deer one, and the cupcake one.  It's because I didn't torment you with all my reworked paintings.

There is a story behind the pink cupcake painting.  I have given it away to my Facebook fan last year.  But a collector in Spain bought it out of my website despite the red dot!  What to do? Well, a sale is a sale, so I painted another that looks very much like the original.  This is the first time I sold the same painting twice.  Business must be good!

"Strawberry Pickers" (oil on stretched canvas; 16" x 20" x 1 1/2")

In case you are thinking that I haven't painted much in May, here is what I have been up to.  I have been busy taking care of my family and garden.  I have been also working on old paintings to see if I can improve them.  As an oil painter knows, an oil painting is not finished until the artist cannot take it anymore!

For instance, look at the old "Strawberry Pickers" below.  I was no longer happy with the painting I did in 2011.  Although I liked the gestures of the figures, the rest of the painting lacked oomph.  In the "after" version above, the colors are more saturated and brushstrokes are more confident.  These days I paint as if I mean it.  The painting is filled with the joie de vivre.  I am bursting with energy so much that the painting doesn't stop at the edges and continues into the sides!

The painting is about the celebration of joyous spring, luscious strawberries and, above all, carefree youth.  The updated version conveys the message more clearly, don't you think?

"Strawberry Pickers" in the original state; what's up with all the busy strawberry leaf details in the foreground!

"Strawberry Pickers" viewed from the left side

"Strawberry Pickers" viewed from the right side

"Azalea Garden" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

sold

I saw a young mother and her daughter going down the steps in the azalea garden at the Norfolk Botanical Garden in Norfolk, VA.  It was a delightful spring day and there were many other beautiful areas in the garden park.  But the above scene is what I cherish the most of the memories of that enchanted day.

Of course, this painting would have been a perfect offering to my readers on Mother's Day. Better late than never.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

"Lady in Pink" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

sold

The happy lady in pink is a good friend of mine, Vivian.  We took an art class together for a couple of years some time ago.  Several women in the class hit it off and became good art buddies.  We regularly went to art museums and occasionally had parties at one another's houses.  One beautiful summer day, a member of our group who had a pool threw a pool party. Vivian showed up in all pink.  How pretty she was!  I hope you feel her kind spirit, because she is one of the kindest people I know.

Alas, our fellowship came to an end.  One friend moved away; I stopped taking the class; Vivian is too busy as an art teacher to take the class either.  I miss my friends.  I painted "Lady in Pink" in nostalgia and happiness.  To friendship!

"Love of My Life" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16") gift

gift

These two people are the love of my life--my husband and daughter.  They give meaning and purpose to my life.  My daughter is a busy high-school kid who participates in many camps during the summer months.  We haven't taken summer vacations for two years because of her busy schedule!

Bemoaning the fact, I suggested a day outing one day.  But the forecast was ominous with thunderstorms and such.  We stayed put.  The weather, however, turned out to be one of the best summer days in the Washington area.  After a nice dinner at a restaurant, we went for an enjoyable walk in a neighborhood park.  I took the reference photo for the painting at the pond gazebo.

"Love of My Life" again proves my philosophy.  As long as we are with the people we love AND enjoy each other's company, we don't have to go to Europe or a tropical paradise for a "quality" family time.  My husband asked me to paint the scene to capture our happy day together.  The painting is for him.

"Crossing the Mississippi, Minnesota" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

I love Minnesota so much that I married a Minnesotan!  He has many relatives there, so we try to visit it as often as we can, which is not often enough.  During the last visit two summers ago, we went to Itasca State Park, the headwaters of the Mississippi River, in north central Minnesota.  The kids of all ages can cross the mighty river and feel mighty themselves.  You can walk across the small wooden foot bridge, like the family with a dog in my painting.  Or, if you feel particularly brave, you can wade the river barefoot, like those in the picture below. What would you do, if you were there?

My daughter had a lot of fun crossing the Mississippi!

If you send me your pictures to kimstenbergart@gmail.com, I may make paintings out of them.  How fun is that!  At the end of September, I will do a drawing and one lucky person wins a free painting.  You can buy the painting anytime, but there is no obligation.  Thanks!

Today is Day Twelve of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge.  18 more paintings to go!

"Summer Lake Cruise" (watercolor on paper; 14" x 10") sold

sold

The scene is a lake in the New York state, which I visited on way to Niagara Falls many years ago.  The vacationers were getting on board of a cruise ship festooned with patriotic flags; you can see the captain on the bench watching them.  I left the foreground and the sunlit parts of the figures and boat untouched, since nothing beats the pure white of the paper for imitating the sunlight!

"Strawberry Pickers" (oil on stretched canvas; 16" x 20")

Reference photo

The scene is from Schlagel Farms in Charles County, MD, where I was picking strawberries with a friend in May last year. I looked up and noticed two young women; one was seriously trying to fill her flat while the other was daintily selecting the juiciest one at a time. I happened to have a camera with me and took a couple of shots.

As I am always intrigued by the concept of putting figures in a landscape, I was delighted with the above photo and went for it. I think I nailed the gesture of two women without getting too fussy.  The figures with their warm tones and bright clothing pop out against the sea of backlit, green strawberry leaves and the soft, hazy, purple trees in the background.  Can you feel the heat, humidity, and sun?  The strawberry season is just around the corner.  I can't wait!

"Kids at Sunset Beach" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

"Kids at Sunset Beach"
sold

"Moonrise" (oil, 8" x 10")
sold

"Central Park Reflections" (oil, 12" x 9")
sold

I am fascinated by water's ability for reflecting things above and around it.  Especially when there is no strong breeze, water acts as a lovely mirror.  At sunrise and sunset, when the sky takes on those ineffable hues of pale yellows, oranges, pinks, mauves, subtle blues and violets, water becomes the enchanting bridesmaid who accompanies the beautiful bride--the sky.  Throw in some magnificent clouds to the mix, we are in heaven on earth!