More August paintings

On Saturday, August 20, Brenda Hughes and I went to the intersection of Dickinson and Greenville Blvd and painted the old church/antique store site, which has fallen into great disrepair, and even been condemned.  The set of buildings has intrigued me for several years, but on this day, with rain threatening, and no other painters having expressed interest, it seemed like a good time to paint.  We got a late start and finished early due to raindrops. 

At the url below (please copy and paste into your browser), you will find my plein air painting of the Dickinson church, as well as a plein air painting of a heat-hazy day on the Pamlico, and an in-studio painting of The Old State House in Boston.

When you arrive at the url destination, be sure to select "Slideshow" option -- it's more fun!

https://picasaweb.google.com/109557727230088604362/20110822?authkey=Gv1sRgCJObkbbAqKrXFA#

Incidentally, the last post included a Country Matter painting of some slaughtered chickens in a farmhouse outbuilding window.  The image may strike folks as raw, but it is simply country.  Some wife cared enough about the pot of flowers to place it on the window sill to catch the sun.  That seems to me to be emblematic of the human condition, where bright shafts of color lighten the grim necessities of life.

If you lose, don't lose the lesson

So, a funny thing happened on my way to my blog: My email was hacked.  The hacker told many of the people on my contact list that I was in Spain and needed money.  He then destroyed my contact list.

Nice guy.  I won't bore you with the details of the hours and days and weeks spent re-establishing contacts (actually, three weeks out and I'm still working on it).  Let me just say that Yahoo was totally unresponsive and even counter-productive in my efforts to right my digital ship.  My new email address therefore is: peterh43038@suddenlink.net.

And the lesson?  The lesson if you lose?  Never place trust in anyone or anything named YAHOO!

The summer heat, I don't have to tell anyone, has made plein air painting difficult and sparse.  However, painting has happened.  So for now, please follow this url, and see the August paintings:

https://picasaweb.google.com/109557727230088604362/August2011Paintings?authkey=Gv1sRgCN38ubL9kK2y6QE#slideshow/5642724120207145714

Will be back soon with more lessons, and more paintings, and more news of Painting Purple (and other colors).

Nostalgia

I can't predict when these things will happen, but every so often I get a recollection and a yearning for Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park--not of course as they are today, but as they were sixty years ago.  So this happened to me this week, the day after our mid-summer 'critique' at Painting Purple & Other Colors in the Food Lion/Sheetz shopping center, corner of Portertown Rd and Route 33.

The 'critique' began almost promptly at 7:00 with about 20 people present, mostly Brushstrokes people, but we were delighted to see Bob Carr and his wife (and the next day, Art Tyndall and his wife dropped in to see the studio/gallery and to chat for awhile).  It was good to see all the old friends, and we plan to hold another session in Mid-August.  For any of this blog's readers who missed the first session, please try to make the next one.  We'll send out the date via this blog and via Louise Sharpless' Brushstroke newsletter.

It was especially nice to see what folks had been painting this summer.  As always we were delighted to see the places that Louise had visited in her artistic journey as expressed in her "peaceable kingdom" painting.

Although the participants were primarily Brushstrokes members, the 'critique session' is open to all artists, and we encourage all to attend.

After all that, I became hungry for Maine.  Hence picture one, a painting of Ocean Drive on Mt. Desert Island, from a reference photo taken a decade ago on a trip back to Maine:

The second was painted the next day, largely while with our Wednesday night group, and results from a video on the LL Bean site in appreciation of the Maine Coast Islands Trails Guide.

Hope you enjoyed this trip into the past as much as I did!!

The weekend activity

On Friday, Art Tyndall wisely elected to paint in the shade and led us to Washington Park, where there was not only shade but a lovely breeze off the water.  John Groesser, Bob Carr, Art and I were the fearless foursome who painted.  When I arrived at 9:30, Art was pretty well along with his first (of two) oil paintings, depicting a view of the riverside road, looking back toward Washington.  Before long, John appeared, and he and I painted a pickup that was catching the morning sun:

Bob Carr  arrived late and left early, having some tenant problems to deal with, but he did share the previous week's finished, careful rendition of some industrial buildings near the river.  A very detailed painting which had required a lot of patience and drawing skill. 

On Saturday, Donna Davis and I painted at the Farmers' Market on County Home Road, a nice outing that finished around noon when our watercolors were rained on!  Into every life . . .

The resulting picture is titled "Wild Caught Shrimp"

Wild Caught Shrimp

As you can see, we were intrigued by the clouds, which were perfectly alluring for Miss Donna, the "cloud lady."

Estuarium Ducks II

Painted in studio, July 4, 2012

July 2, 2011

On Friday, July 1, 2011, I painted with Bob Carr and Art Tyndall near the Pamlico in Washington.  It was hot, but there was a breeze off the water.  Bob looked in one direction, and I looked in the other, and we had a good time.  The painting took about 2 hours.  I call it (what else?) "Edward Jones"!

June 25, 2011

So on Saturday, June 25, I rode to Beaufort with Susan (Simply Susan) Jones to Beaufort to participate in the Brushstrokes plein air portion of the Old Homes & Garden Tour.  It was hot, but on Moore St in Beaufort, we found a lovely shaded spot to paint.  Jerri Sutton -- a gracious hostess if ever there was one-- had everything planned, including a terrific lunch, which Susan and I ate on the porch of the Out-building at 108 Moore St.  We arrived at about 10:30 and painted until about 3:30, and got back to Greenville at about 5:30.  Dodi Groesser (whom you will see in the photos included with this post) sold a couple of paintings.  Brenda Hughes also painted, but she was at the Fish House, some mile or so distant.

Here is the link to photos taken during the Tour, which seemed to be very well attended. When you arrive at the Web Site, be sure to select SLIDESHOW, so you'll get full screen images.

https://picasaweb.google.com/109557727230088604362/BeaufortNCOldHomesGardensTour?authkey=Gv1sRgCLCvtOS5_-eP5AE#

On Monday, June 19, 2011, I joined Lou Everett's Beginning Watercolor class at the charming, Farmville home of Bill and and Laura Powell--a lovely place for plein air painting, with many vistas.  I sat on the pation and painted this watercolor of the entrance to their home.  It was a hot day but there was plenty of shade on the patio.  I think Lou's collaborative nature gave all of us a good learning experience.

Today, I received a link to the Wayne, PA plein air show, and there found this link to a YouTube video that testifies to the necessity of painting plein air.  I think you'll all enjoy it, and especially the plein air enthusiasts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbmarUWuVPQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbmarUWuVPQ

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=109557727230088604362&target=ALBUM&id=5619610961779740977&authkey=Gv1sRgCL3aqJntybpI&feat=email

On Saturday, 6-18-2011, the Brushstrokes plein air painters visited the shore at
Moss Landing in Washington, NC--especially to paint the water lilies.  John and Dodi Groesser,
Susan Jones, and Pete Hickey battled the heat and the sun for three hours. 
We had a great time, thanks to the permissions granted to Art Tyndall, and
extended to us.  You should be able to get an idea of the area and
the day from the next post.

Ducks near Estuarium

Painted the ducks after a lovely day in Washington, some of which was spent with Art Tyndall. 

Art Tyndall

Went to the first Washington yesterday morning, and was just about to settle in to Festival Park when I spotted Art Tyndall's shop.  I hadn't known until that moment where it was.  The proprietor was in, and we settled down to talk a bit when he offered to give me tour of some of his favorite painting venues.  It was an educational tour, and I certainly enjoyed it and profited from it.  A big thanks to Art, who --as usual--is a genial host to his city.

As I was sketching some of the new structures leading to the Estuarium, Jeff Jakub cruised by, and brought me up to date on some of his ventures.  He has withdrawn from Riverview and has sent out feelers to various galleries around North Carolina and Florida.

Needless to say, I didn't wet a brush!

But it was a day full of painting . . .

News from the Wednesday night Painters

Catherine Spruill has nearly finished her series of full sheet Hydrangea blossoms.  They are magnificent. Brenda Hughes has returned from her workshop with Birgit in Boon, where she bought the biggest round brush we've ever seen.  It has gone a long way toward making her brush collection complete.  So glad for her . . .  We're delighted to see Sumi again after her winter peregrinations.  Donna had to work :-(  Susan and Pete just soldiered on.

So we went to Southside Farms in Chocowinity Saturday morning--Dodi, Donna, Ray and I.  It was beastly hot, even at 10:00.  There was a lot to paint--fields of crops, vegetable stand, tractors and other farm equipment, and customers.  After getting accustomed to the venue, we all settled down to paint.  There wasn't a lot of shade, and Ray wilted after about an hour.  Dodi found some sunflowers in an open field, Donna painted behind the vegetable stand.  I found these geraniums hanging on a display rack.  We three painted until about noon.   Tracey Harding, the owner, was most cordial and basically gave us free run to set up and paint as we wished.  Thanks to Dodi for finding us another lovely site!

To see a slideshow of Pete's May 2011 paintings, click on the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46358104@N07/

then: click on the SLIDESHOW icon, and sit back.

To see a slideshow of Pete's May 2011 paintings, click on the link below:

To see a slideshow of Pete's May 2011 paintings, click on the link below:
To see a slideshow of Pete's May 2011 paintings, click on the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46358104@N07/

then: click on the SLIDESHOW icon, and sit back.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46358104@N07/

then: click on the SLIDESHOW icon, and sit back.

There were six of us painting Saturday morning at Lakewood Subdivision: Dana Eddings, Brenda Hughes, Richard McLawhorn, Betsy Leach, Ray Sobol, and I.  It stormed but I managed to paint Richard painting the impenetrable forest  (See above) without being struck by lightening!

To see a slideshow of Pete's May 2011 paintings, click on the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46358104@N07/

then: click on  the SLIDESHOW icon, and sit back.

What was that?

That was what happened after I spent four hours trying to embed a slide show into this blog!  Actually, it's code for what's in the slideshow.  Below is a link to the actual slideshow--which shows paintings done in May of 2011.  Just paste the link into your browser and hit enter.  When you arrive at the site, choose the "slideshow" icon, then sit back!   

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46358104@N07/

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Blogger: Painting Purple - Configure Slideshow

Blogger: Painting Purple - Configure Slideshow

Tuesday 5/23/2011

Visited Sue Ellen Biel at Greenville Montessori.  She gave me her email address.  She wants to know when we will be open at Painting Purple and Other Colors.  She wants to buy a picture or two, and may want to commission a painting.

In the evening I attended Lou's Introduction to Watercolor Painting, and gave the new students a tour of the gallery paintings, with particular attention to varying styles, design elements, and intent of the artists in the paintings exhibited.

Sunday 5/22/2011

Well, Donna was indeed at Strawberries on 903 when I arrived there at about 9:15, and had a well-developed painting under way.  Also there and painting when I arrived were Janet, Ray (!), and Brenda.  Before long, Betsy arrived.  Counting myself, there were six plein air painters from Brushstrokes, and of course a whole bunch of strawberry pickers.  It was busy, but not as busy as two weekends earlier.  The picking season is about over.

I was not happy with my efforts, neither were Brenda and Ray.  Janet was pleased with hers.  I still liked my earlier attempt:

First post: Saturday 5/21/2011
8:45 AM

Going out the door to plein air paint at Strawberries on 903.  Donna is already there!  Can you believe that???

Later.