I don't have grandchildren, but I have 2 grand-dogs. Ojib and Kitty. And they are both grand dogs. I finally got a chance to paint in my studio in VT over the Thanksgiving holiday. Yes, these are gifts, and I'm counting on the fact that I don't think the kids check my blog, so I'm not linking these to Facebook. Very fun to paint the dogs. I'll do more. . . 
Another summer reverie, my niece Kendall kayaking this summer. Yes, there's a theme here. Hanging inside on a winter-like October day. Make the most of it by painting!!! Sweet memories, and feeling very productive. Nice!
Revisiting a favorite image from the summer. I guess this snowy (yikes!) October day has me longing for other times. Aahh, Summer in VT. You are a long way off. A fun little photo to paint. More accurate drawing makes her look more her age - amazing the difference small changes make, especially when painting children. Also, different painting size, different cropping.
Apples are a sign of Fall. So is rain, and wind and a very dark day. How do you get a good photo of your painting when you're stuck inside with lights? Any help is much appreciated. But I'm having fun with my apples. And learning a lot about turning the form. Sharon is right. Sharon is always right.
Apple season. My favorite -- Honeycrisp, fresh from the orchard. But that's not why I painted this. Sharon gave me an assignment, "paint fruit". Yes, class at the Academy is back in session. I spent one week, painted a portrait of a beautiful model, Leslie. And promptly forgot to photograph it. (It wasn't as beautiful as the model, unfortunately.) 
Revisiting an image I painted once before. This one is larger (12x12) but it still worked. We pass the moorings at Point Bay Marina when we sail. But this was a particularly lovely evening. Not sure I'm finished with this. Maybe a few more tweaks, but I wanted to get a post up today. It feels like summer is coming to a close. Lovely Fall-ish weather, but I'm not ready to say good bye to summer.
A perfect day for tubing, boating, anything outside. Aahh, Summer in VT. . . way too short!
Our kayaks waiting on the beach. Reflections. Reflection. Reverie. Aaahh, summer in VT.
Photo troubles. The reference photo wasn't great as it was a dull gray day, but the joy of the little boy made it hard to resist. The photo of the painting is bad, doesn't capture the subtleties. Oh well, no more excuses. At least I got to paint!
Another good day in the studio. These guys just wanted to be painted. The photo doesn't capture a lot of the color. I'm never quite sure why. But I'm grateful to be back to my little daily paintings.
So happy to be back to painting! I tried another subject (our sail boat), but ended up wiping it out. This one worked a little better. It's all about the light. 
Yesterday was "No excuses. . .just paint" day.
Also from Karin Jurick's workshop, these two are mug shots from Karin. She did a series of 100 mug shots, which are brilliant. It's a really fun exercise to keep it loose and colorful. Some very intense and exciting things seem to happen. The mug shots are available on the internet, and I intend to do more this summer.
Last week I had the privilege of attending a workshop with Karin Jurick, who in my opinion is one of the best "daily painters" out there. She is also a fantastic teacher, and a delight of a person to spend the best part of a week with. These are the first two paintings I did at the workshop. It's kind of hard to get back into this fast, painterly approach working from photos after about 9 months of working realistically from life/models. But I love the loose, quick method, and working from photos is very helpful for summer in VT. 
I have been working on another large painting in my class and am making good progress, however, got to class today and once again the model didn't show. Initially I was really bummed. I wanted to work on the one I had planned on working on. Boo! 
I'm working on a large painting (24x36) in my class, but the model was out sick on Friday so there was an opportunity to do a "daily painting" from life/the other model in the room. Unfortunately this is a really bad photo, but it was fun to just paint quickly, loosely, on panel with no pressure or expectations. I think that's the magic of daily paintings. This one is a little bigger than usual, but 16x20 was the only panel I had in my locker. It was a fun day. Sorry the picture is so bad...
