In the life of a Painter

Bordeaux Evening, 30x40" o/c 2013-2014

I started this painting last year that was inspired by Siesta Lake along the Tioga Pass Road in Yosemite National Park.  As time went on I changed the painting and wanted a very warm sky behind the burgundy hues of the painting.  So it looks nothing like Siesta Lake now which sits in a bowl of short surrounding mountains.  However, the painting came to have an interesting tonal feeling as time went on that I enjoyed.  I was happy with a simplified composition.  I showed this piece in my solo show at The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley last year, but with the National Park Service mandatory shutdown of all National Park areas, the public really never saw the painting, so it's back home.  

Recently I decided to push the sky more and change the light on the water, so have been working on this piece a little every day in the studio.  It's one of my slow paintings and I'm having fun with it.  Now I've "fallen in love" . . .which is dangerous.  I am losing my critical self.  So, I need to put it facing the wall and not look (love) at it anymore for a while and bring it back and have a cold, hard look at what it is and what it isn't.  Sometimes I fall in love with a piece, but the red flags go up when this happens.  "Penny, you are not looking clearly, etc."  So it's set aside again, waiting, stewing in the pot on the back burner.  Maybe another month.  Maybe I'll fall in love with something else.  I'm such a fickle painter....  

Loving my new easel - The Strada - and painting outdoors in Yosemite Valley and Lundy Canyon the last few weeks.  When the heat sets in, I'll paint larger pieces from the plein air studies in the cool of the studio.  Hooray!  The Ansel Adams Gallery sold two large pieces of mine this week.  The fact that folks enjoy the work means so much to me!  Have a great week as summer comes on!  

Best, Penny 

Spring in the Aspen Grove  8x6"  o/panel  $475, nice wood frame

Thursday this past week brought my first trip over the Sierra to Lundy Canyon where the aspen groves are leafing out in a myriad of greens.  There is still plenty of snow up high but the bird song and spring conditions prevail on the floor of the Canyon.  I painted with a friend at the Beaver Pond looking east up the Canyon, and it was fun having a painting pal along.  The birds were very active but I was focussed on my work.  Completed this and two other small paintings in the field and then drove back home to Mariposa.  

I opted for a new easel for working these small panels - Strada is the name of it.  It was not cheap, but held up pretty well under my knife and brush.  I'm an active, assertive painter, and need a sturdy rig.  I purchased a heavy duty tri-pod to hold the paint box which is metal and with the additional sides, is heavy.  So far so good.  

The season on the Eastside is early but they are getting ready for a flood of people in summer.  This is a perfect time to go while it's calm.

Have a great week -- thanks for reading my blog.  New work on my website   at     www.pennyotwell.com