Chickadee #156

6"x6" Oil on Panel

I had seriously planned on participating in Leslie Saeta's 30 Day Painting Challenge beginning January 1st.  However, the week after Christmas, I came down with the flu bug & also injured my left shoulder (moving boxes of art books around).  My plan was to complete a small bird painting each day.  Even though I didn't get in on Leslie's challenge, I thought I would go ahead and paint a series of these delightful little creatures.  I will be experimenting with the palette knife and the brush to find a look & style I'm pleased with.

Thanks for viewing my art.

~ Sarah 

Swan Song

20"x24" Oil on Canvas

"Swan Song" is the newest painting drying on my easel.  I don't dare move it for fear of getting phthalo blue all over the rest of the house.  It's one of those colors that just seems to want to reach out and touch you & everything else in the studio.  This a little larger palette knife painting than I usually paint so I painted it in two sessions.  Yesterday I painted the background & today I finished the swans.  It's really a good thing that I painted this one in two sessions as today's paint was beginning to get a little dry before I finished. 

These two swans used to come by our dock every day to visit & I really miss them.  I'm so glad I took lots of photos while they were here.  I enjoyed painting them & preserving this sweet memory.

~Sarah

Swans - Part One

Yesterday I started a new palette knife painting from a photo of two swans that used to live on our lake.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to finish the painting in one session so I painted the background first.  Hopefully, by working in segments like this, it will all work out.  I will post the results as well as additional comments when I am finished.

~ Sarah

How Thick is Too Thick

Acrylic Impasto Palette Knife Painting

Today I decided to paint over a painting of red tulips that I did when I first started painting with thick acrylic paint.  First, I painted over them with a dark pink (this one not shown).  I wasn't too happy with that so I added in some white.  Then I decided the leaves & stems needed to be thicker (2nd photo).  Next, oh my, the jar looks wimpy.  So on & on the thick paint was piled on with the palette knife, really, really, thick (3rd photo)!

Oops, too thick, too messy & playing around in it didn't help.  Knowing when to stop is not always easy. 

~Sarah

Sunny Beach

Acrylic Impasto Painting

Today I had fun helping the kids create beach paintings.  They wanted to see just how thick the paint could be piled on. 

So much fun.  Such great memories.

~ Sarah

Seaside & Sun

Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Today, Jenna wanted to create a special painting for her mom.  It rained almost everyday on their vacation to Seaside, Florida & ruined most of the delightful activities her mom had planned.

Even though it rained, Jenna said she still had lots of fun being with her family.

We came up with little painting as a memento of her vacation.  I think her mom will be very proud of her.

In this painting I loaded the knife for her but she completed the most of the strokes on her own.  She's learning more & more each time we paint.  I'm also learning a few things too.

Before the summer is over, teach a child to paint.  I promise you will learn something.

~ Sarah

Gold Star Sunflowers

6"x6" Acrylic on canvas

This is another project that I helped 7 year old Jenna with.  She quickly caught on to the sunflower stroke & completed this sweet little sunflower painting in no time.

I most definitely think it deserves a gold star.

~Sarah

Jenna's First Tulips

6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas

I have always enjoyed working with my grandchildren on a variety of art projects.  However, when my seven year old granddaughter, Jenna, announced that she wanted to learn how to use the palette knife, I really had to think about a number of issues.  Safety, type of paint, & fun projects that could be completely quickly all had to be considered.

I decided that acrylics might be the best choice.  And since I paint in oils, I had to do some experimenting.  The main thing I had to think about was safety.  I didn't want her wiping the blade of the knife with her fingers between 2 layers of paper towel as I normally do.  I tried a different system of cleaning the blade that seemed to work pretty good with the acrylic paint.  First we tore off a generous supply of paper towels, folded them in half, & stacked them in a neat pile (Nancy Medina taught me to do this & I do this every time I oil paint -Thanks Nancy!)  Then, after each stroke, we wiped the blade on the pile of paper towels to remove the excess paint (without picking up the paper towels).  We then dipped the knife in water & then again wiped off the front & back of the blade on a clean towel (still not picking up the paper towel).  If absolutely necessary, we folded over several layers of paper towel & carefully cleaned the blade.  Yes, we used a lot of paper towels but that's a small price to pay for safety.

And now for the fun project.  Jenna chose to paint pink tulips that would match her room.  She also wanted to include turquoise which is her favorite color.  I happened to have a tube of "Teal" by Golden Acrylics & that seemed to please her.  After practicing palette knife strokes on the back of a foam plate, she painted these perky, little pink tulips that she will proudly display in her room.

If you need a fuzzy, feel-good feeling, just get out there & teach a child some art today!

~Sarah

Playful White Tulips

6"x6" Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Although I almost always paint with oils, lately I have been playing around with thick acrylic paint in preparation to assist my 7 year old granddaughter, Jenna with a series of palette knife paintings.  She is learning to use the palette knife & is anxious to create her own art collection to decorate her newly revamped room.  Can't wait to see what she comes up with

~ Sarah

Casita Sunshine

16x20 Oil on Canvas

"Casita Sunshine" is my latest painting drying on the easel.

Recently I stayed at a charming little casita nestled on a ridge outside of Taos.  It overlooked a large valley scattered with lovely adobe houses.  Each morning I got up early to see the sun rise over Taos Mountain & the spectacular shadows on the colorful gates & doors of the adobe structures.

I couldn't wait to get home & paint one of these colorful doors.

~ Sarah

Summer Glory Hydrangeas

12"x12" Oil on Canvas Panel

This is the last painting I completed before attending the Nancy Medine workshop.  I hope I will be able to show you some progress in the weeks to come.  However, I do intend to get back to my palette knife painting soon.  It's great to have so many choices & so much to paint.  I'm really trying to narrow things down these days to palette knife painting & colorful flowers in oils.  I thought about setting a goal of doing one of each almost every day.  I'm just not sure how well that would work.  That might be too much on switching the old gears up there. 

Anyway, the last of the summer hydrangeas are now but a single vase of dried flowers sitting on my desk in the studio.  I just can't seem to let go of them even though they have lost almost all of their color.  So in memory of all their beautiful summer blooms I decided to paint them the way they were in all of their summer glory.

Enjoy, & thank you for taking a look at my art.

- Sarah

Bath Time

11"x14" Oil on Canvas
Palette Knife Painting

I snapped this photo a number of years ago while having lunch at an outdoor restaurant in rural Mexico.  It was entertaining to watch these young boys bathe their horse.  After all these years, I finally got around to painting from this photo with the palette knife.

Hope you enjoy.

- Sarah