Around the World Blog Hop

I am delighted to be invited by longtime friend Marilyn Webberley, to join the Around the World Blog Hop. Marilyn has been an inspiration in her life and in her beautiful artwork as accomplished oil painter, master calligrapher and set designer. Thank you Marilyn.   http://marilynwebberley.com/blog

                       "Chorus Line" Pastelon paper  7 x 17        From my archives.

These questions are timely for me right now as I step off into a new direction.

1. What am I working on?
A 24" x 24" sits on my easel right now, an enlargement from a 4" x 6" plein air landscape from last summer.
I have been  a longtime figure and still life painter working in pastels, with occasional plain air landscapes.  A door has opened and I have walked through into almost exclusively  landscape for a number of reasons.  I love the feel of oil paint in my brushes, (bigger brushes)  and the marks they make on canvas or paper, as well as the freedom in just exploring space, value and color!  I've been privileged to join a group of beach painters along with a  dynamic teacher for a week each of the last 2 years, attempting to paint what is essential in a constantly changing light, magical light. It is a challenging transition from my deeply ingrained habits , vastly exciting!

As my blog title indicates, I  have for years been a dedicated pen and watercolor sketcher, and now have a group of wonderful like minded friends who meet every week  and sketch life on Whidbey Island.
http://whidbeyislandsketchers.blogspot.com/          
We love to draw,  we enjoy each others company indoors or out, its a treasure in my life.
My husband and I just returned from 26 days exploring and sketching in Italy. I know as I look at these pages in years to come I will be taken right back into those delightful days! I teach sketch classes and am an advocate for  anyone with the slightest interest to find a personal way to add this to life.

                                               

                                    "Last Sun"  Oil on canvas 6 x 8

                         Returning from the beach with a vanload of wet paintings!
                                  Oil on sized 140 lb watercolor paper

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?
Visual artists share a common language and we each find our own way with it. Where I  find my strongest emotional involvement  is in color and color relationships. Presently I am working very hard to find  what is the necessary concept in each painting, and let go of what is not necessary. This will joyfully  take up the rest of my life.

                                   "Veiled Afternoon"Oil on canvas  12 x 12
                               From a Storm Watch visit to the Washington coast

3. Why do I create what I do?
Painting brings more satisfaction than most anything else I do.

4. How does my creating process work?
I love to start paintings! Its all about possibility as I work to get the canvas covered with the best
decisions possible. Then I get more constrained, what needs correcting? How much correcting? How will that affect everything else? How much can I let the script change in reacting to what I see?
I do spend time in pre planning. I look for not only color but value and shape.  My i pad has become a reference when we can't be outside. I can tweak and play with shapes from the photos and compare options as well as work with fleeting light tho it is never the same.

  Tagged names on their way!