Week 29 Best Trade Ever

Today I hiked back up to Lake Isabelle since I only had time to do a sketch when I was here last weekend. The lake had been half drained since Sunday but the paintbrush were still showing off their colors. I brought along friends which made it exceptionally fun. We learn new vocabulary and laugh a whole lot.
I accidentally left the bug spray in the car and the mosquitos were vicious. The trail is very popular and eventually I planted myself in front of the next group hiking up and begged for some bug spray while offering up a trade of M&M's. Luckily, I'm not the only person out there who think chocolate and hiking really go together. A nice woman saved me from being eaten alive and received M&M's for payment. Great trade.

So, it's always nice chatting with people on the trail, you know you already have something wonderful in common, loving nature.

Last Chance Paintbrush at Lake Isabelle

9x12 oil

Week 28 Did you say chocolate?

A really fun project for me this month was doing this painting for Third Eye Local, a marketing firm in Wisconsin. When they asked if I could paint a store front with a holiday theme for Fazio's Chocolate, I said ... mmmm, yes!
It was equivalent to asking my old dogs (labrador retrievers) if they wanted to go for a walk. Sometimes we would say "waffle" just to see the ears perk up - "waffle" was close enough to "walk" that the dogs would go crazy spinning around in circles. I miss them and their lovable destructive labrador ways. So here is the finished painting, soon to be seen on some chocolate packages headed out to holiday shoppers. If you find yourself near Fazio's Chocolate in Elm Grove, WI please stop and have some chocolate for me.

If only they knew how much I love chocolate ...

Week 27 Solar Eclipse: Big and Small Stuff

Today was a big day for small stuff. Like errands.

I ran errands this morning and my last stop ended as the much anticipated solar eclipse started. I found myself in the King Soopers parking lot with a group of cashiers. They were outside passing around one pair of glasses and kindly gave me a peek. It was pretty cool. Then I got home and the neighbors were gathered with even more glasses and an old fashioned shoebox for viewing.
Super cool.

I had started this painting a few weeks ago in anticipation of the eclipse and there it was waiting for me to finish this afternoon. It was nice to stop thinking about all my small stuff and see this big thing today. And then paint a big thing.

Back to regular small stuff tomorrow.

Solar Eclipse I

36 x 36 Acrylic

Week 26 Steamboat Springs Paintout

Well, it's not really week 26 but I've neglected posting, so I will still number my posts in order. I'm in Steamboat Springs for the week painting wth PAAC. I got rained out this afternoon so thought I'd take advantage of the bad weather and do some "housekeeping". Ya know, all that stuff we don't really want to do, it's just "art housekeeping" for me. Gave up the real housekeeping years ago. If you stay gone painting, there isn't much to clean. That's my plan anyway.

Last night, I got in a quick painting and many insects died for the cause. They insisted on landing on the paint, on the canvas and on me. All choices were sadly ... fatal. The birds at this camp spot are scavengers and I'm waiting for one to swoop down and pick up a pastel thinking it's a cheeto. Let you know how that goes.

This morning I set up to paint along the Yampa River and guess what I saw? A big yellow duck, and a swan and a unicorn. Seriously. You see the craziest thing when you get out of the house.

Along the Yampa 12x12 oil

I haven't pulled out the oil paints for awhile so here's hoping I remember how to use them this week!

 First came the swan and rubber ducky - grandpa was in the swan.

The best kind of tailgating!

Then the darn cloud storms moved in ...

Here's the Unicorn floating on by

Some watercolor sketches of wildflowers that I did over the July 4th weekend

Indian paintbrush at North Supply Trailhead in Grand County

Just working on design for this - obviously not accuracy