"Stone Cottage with Grape Vines" (oil on stretched canvas; 11" x 14")

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On the second day of Danni Dawson's workshop, I decided to paint the studio of her husband and fellow artist Mike Francis, a charming stone cottage with wooden doors draped with grapevines.  As I painted the scene in the shade of a plein-air umbrella, the overcast sky eventually cleared by the afternoon.  The sun moved to cast the lovely shadows of grape leaves on the old, patinaed doors.

I used to "mass produce" these plein-air paintings two a day during a workshop.  No more!  I took my time by carefully observing the growth patterns and cast shadows of grape leaves, and finished the painting on the following day.  It was a lot of fun and not as exhausting!

"Winter Sunset" (oil on linen; 10" x 12") sold

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Sometimes I don't have to go far to find something to paint.  All I have to do is to step outside and look up.  One winter day, there was a light snowfall, then freezing rain.  It was altogether a dangerous driving condition in my hilly neighborhood.  I went outside to put the trash can to the curb for the following day's garbage removal.  That's when I saw the above scene.  I had to take a picture.  When I came back out with my camera, a car went by slowly.  Frozen snow reflected the sunset sky. There was a hush all around.

"Spring Sky" (oil, 24" x 30")

I have painted my neighborhood before, as you can in the above painting.  You can recognize the same tall tree, same houses, and same curvy street.  I love my neighborhood and this is how I watch it, not with a gun, but with a camera and paint brushes!

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 Fourteen of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge.  Thirteen paintings done.  I may take tomorrow off.  Have a great weekend!

"San Francisco's Painted Ladies" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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Reference photo

I love San Francisco.  It is the city through which I entered the United States back in 1984.  For whatever reason, the moon was huge that evening.  I thought that in America even the moon was magnificent!  San Francisco has got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. 

You've seen these houses in postcards, right?  According to Diana Hollingsworth Gessler's Very California: Travels through the Golden State, hippies in the 1960's began painting some of the Victorian houses in Alamo Square in wild colors (up to 20 on one house), thus the great nickname.

I meant to paint the above scene for years, but didn't.  The assumed difficulty in architectural drawing was the reason.  I can be such a chicken sometimes.  Yesterday I finally felt brave enough to do it.  That's the beauty of having a goal of working on a series.  It really gets you motivated.  "Painted Ladies of San Francisco" is No. 3 in my new series-"California Colors."  California, here I come.

"Beth's Rose Arbor" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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Reference photo

Beth is a dear friend of mine who went to graduate school together in Minnesota.  She, a fellow historian, was indeed my first American friend, who helped me acculturate to the new country.  Several years later, Beth, a person with a heart of gold, took time and trouble to edit my 400-page-long PhD dissertation!  Alas, we haven't seen each other for almost 20 years.  The only remaining contact was the annual Christmas card, which kept us in touch. 

That was until we reconnected through Facebook.  We now know what's happening in our lives, family, and house.  I saw the robin's nest with four eggs right on a window sill at her house and worried whether they would make it.  They did.  Last week she posted several pictures of her garden; one particular picture of the rose arbor caught my eye.  I asked her if I could paint from it.  She replied "yes" and emailed me the full file. 

We agreed that the gas meter and other evidence of the everyday suburban life be edited out from a painting.  Since I have never been to her house, I couldn't tell what was beyond the inviting arbor/gate, heavily laden with the old-fashioned roses called "Pinky".  So I had to make up as I went along.  I am not a big fan of the late Thomas Kinkade, but "Beth's Rose Arbor" has the Kinkadian romantic feel, doesn't it?  I hope Beth approves.

"Scandinavian House" (oil on stretched linen; 14" x 18") sold

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Composition drawing for "Scandinavian House"

I was busy during the Thanksgiving holiday, not visiting with family, but working.  It was my sweet husband who cooked on Thanksgiving!  Why?  I had to finish two commission paintings that need to be shipped by early December.  One of them--"Waterlily Dreams"--I already shared with my readers.  "Scandinavian House" was the second painting I worked on during the holiday.

This  portrait of a house was commissioned by my dear sister-in-law for her husband.  She is probably the only client who didn't negotiate the price; she told me she didn't want a discount.  Bless her heart!  She and husband had raised their four sons in this house.  After their children left, they decided to stay instead of moving somewhere else.  They recently made some additions, and that is why my sister-in-law decided it would be a fun "addition" to their new additions.

I worked with a couple of pictures she took in the afternoon.  She worried about the "artistic" quality of the pictures, but I told her that I liked them just fine.  The late afternoon sun casts long tree shadows on the driveway, lawn, and house itself.  You can tell that the property is surrounded by the tall, slender pine trees.  They are very important in the composition as much as the house itself.  I felt that the two tall trees in front of the house were like the father and mother of the family.  I made sure that they didn't bisect the painting perfectly.

I first did a value drawing on a piece of paper in the same size as the painting itself to work out the composition.  This is something I rarely do as I usually compose in my head and jump right into the painting process.  But, for this important project, I didn't want to waste time and spoil the fresh brushwork by messing around with the elaborate architectural drawing on the canvas itself. 

After my client approved the composition, the rest was a breeze, as I had already decided on the palette: blues for the sky, warm yellow oranges for the house, greeens for the pine trees, and blue violets for the shadows in the driveway.  She wanted the driveway a little less prominent while I was working on the painting, so I obliged by making the lawn a little bigger.  I felt such affection for the family that I think it shows in the final painting.  Doesn't "Scandinavian House" look like a happy house?

"Winter Afternoon" (oil on linen; 12" x 9") sold

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I've said this before, and I will say it again and again.  You don't have to go far for beautiful sceneries.  Beauty--Nature and man-made--exists everywhere.  It's all around us.  We just have to keep our eyes open.  Take a walk in your neighborhood after snow.  Do it when the sun comes out.  An early morning or late afternoon light will transform your neighbor's driveway into a winter wonderland. 

Just leave your phone or iPod home.  Talking on the phone or listening to a loud music doesn't mix well with the quiet appreciation of sight, sound, and smell that one is supposed to be engaged in while taking a stroll.  We've taken the idea of multi-tasking to the ludicrous level.  We don't feel any more sense of accomplishment with all that multi-tasking of doing several things at the same time.  Instead, we are simply stressed out.  Let's take a time out.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

"Spring Sky" (oil on stretched canvas, 24" x 30")

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Reference photo

Two weeks ago, I came home, parked the car, and happened to look up.  Wow!  I had to take a picture of this sky properly, so it was done in the middle of the street.  No worries, there was no car zipping by me.  I was interested in the sky, however, not in my neighbors' cars.  When I showed the picture to my teacher, Diane Tesler, she suggested that I should include the entire picture in my painting.  She thought it would make a nice social documentary for the posterity--how ordinary suburban people lived in the early 21th century America.  A nice composition, too.  The sky is framed by trees on both sides of the canvas, you see?

The sky is the star of the painting; and the houses, cars, etc. are just a counterpoint to the Nature's wonder and beauty.  As I keep harping on, you really don't have to go any particular place to come across a view worthy of a painter's brush.  The early spring's bare trees have a beauty of their own, but in this case, they allowed me to see the glows in the sky through their delicate traceries.  Because of a warm weather and plenty of spring rain, the leaves sprouted fast and furiously; by the end of the week, the neighborhood had become totally green!  I am glad that I seized the day and took the picture.