Flats 12" x 12" oil

This was painted for the Daily Paintworks Challenge. 

Koi Pond 8" x 8"

Another painting from HIlton Head workshop.

Look! 8" x 10" oil

These two little ones were looking for something... maybe a sea creature crawling around on the rocks at low tide.

Redhead 8" x 8" oil

  The photo for this painting was taken in Maine on a very rocky beach at low tide. I just loved this little girls hair and her fist clenched in concentration s she dug for buried treasure

Karin Jurick workshop

Well, this is the shot of the infamous HIlton Head Gang - what a fun group of women - and yes what would we have done without Vince to print out all our photos? Karin runs a really wonderful workshop. She is very giving of her time and knowledge and her enthusiasm for painting is very evident when she talks about her paintings and life. We learned how to take pictures without drawing too much attention to ourselves and used those photos to create paintings.

After watching Karin demonstrate we used the same photo which Karin supplied. 

Lady on the Beach 8" x 10" oil

Wanted: Karin Quickdraw Jurick

I attended a workshop on Hilton Head Island, SC with Karin Jurick. One of our challenges was to paint a mug shot from a photo Karin gave on a 4 " x 4 " panel. Everyone liked it so much that it was decided we would paint mug shots of each other. Our fearless leader is first up on the wanted list!

On 30 October, 2011 disaster struck the tiny island of Hilton Head South Carolina. 21 Notorious characters descended upon Hilton Head and went wild shooting everything in sight.

The purpose of this challenge is to reveal the identities of the Hilton Head Gang by painting their portraits. The first mug to be painted will be the leader of this notorious gang - Karin “Quickdraw” Jurick. Karin can visit a beach and shoot everyone in sight before they even know she is there. Her covert activity is known worldwide.

Different Strokes 8" x 8" oil

This painting was done at low tide on a rocky Maine beach during a session with Liz Wiltzen. Liz came all the way to Maine to do a three day plein air class. We focused on the basics which meant we did a lot of exercises that make you want to pull your hair out while you are doing them, but afterwards, when it starts to sink in you think, "Wow! That was awesome!"

So I don't want to give away her whole class, you'll just have to sign up yourselves to get all the nuggets, but this one was my favorite. We were asked to do a painting in one hour using only 20 strokes. Yep that's right. So you really had to think about what color you wanted to mix and scoop up a big bunch so you could cover the space in just one stroke. So for example the sky is one stroke - as long as you don't lift your brush off the canvas it's one stroke.

Try it some time. Very fun.

A Slice of Vermont 9" x 12" oil

This was done on our last day of painting at Comstock Farm B&B. We had painted her earlier in the week and we all wanted to return. It was pretty overcast but I just loved the early morning light on the mountains.

Then in the afternoon we return to our first painting site and I painted from inside this huge, empty barn, looking out towards the garden. I loved this workshop with Susan Abbot. I think I left a big piece of my heart behind in Vermont.

Shack 8" x 10" oil

This was done on the grounds of a beautiful home in Vermont. There were so many things to paint it was hard to decide. I was really struck by the angles in the shack up against the beautiful view of the field in the background. Again we had an amazing blue sky with incredibly large , fluffy white clouds drifting by. Plein air painting paradise.