Plant Sale at the Garden

Purchase Award Winner

I love painting in the community garden at the Anita Gorman Conservation Center - especially with artist friends. I started and finished this one in the sun, but painted in between from the shade.  It was 96 degrees as I headed home, such is super hot for this time of year.  The zinnias were glorious, and I've never seen the native plant sale wrap around the parking lot before today - so, of course, I had to paint it!  Today is the second Quick Paint for Brush Creek Art Walk  - and I'm so honored that my painting was chosen for the Purchase Award!  This painting will hang by a bronze plaque with my name on it!  So exciting!  Painting number 4638 in 4638 days. 

Path through the Garden

What a beautiful morning for painting at the Anita Gorman Conservation Center in Kansas City.  This path leads right through the wildflower garden, a perfect place for many different paintings!  Meeting together with artist friends - the Monday Morning Watercolorists, this is our weekly painting location.  So happy to get out and paint with friends in such a lovely, peaceful place. Painting number 3102 in 3102 days. 

Morning by the Creek

 The water called to me as I scouted the area.  Looking for a remote spot, I found a flat rock crossing of the creek that I could set my easel on. Standing on another rock, I painted the scene, unable to step back - as that would land me in the water!  It was a very pleasant morning spent with frogs, turtles and bees to keep me company!  Crowded in with marsh, I'm just happy no snakes joined this painting party!  So fun to join my artist friends at such a location, the Anita Gorman Conservation Center is a gem in Kansas City!  Painting number 3101 in 3101 days. 

Wild Sunflowers

What a glorious morning for a quick paint at the Anita Gorman Conservation Center for the Brush Creek Art Walk!  This community garden houses all kinds of gems for the artist - but these sunflowers grabbed me right away!  Without even scouting the grounds, I set up my easel here, waiting for the start.  Taking a quick spin around this 8 acre spread, I returned to indeed paint these beauties in the sun!  With the hazy skies from those western wildfires, it was very pleasant even out in the full sun.  I let the composition unfold organically, as I marked flower heads and stems in the wild abandon that they grew.  I love the complication of it all, and thoroughly enjoyed myself through the whole process.  It was fun to chat with the visitors to the garden as I painted.  Time flew by!  So honored to have this painting selected for the Purchase Award!  What a great day!  Painting number 2812 in 2812 days. 

Anitas Wildflower Meadow

I love the reckless abandon of a wildflower garden!  So many textures, colors and values make this meadow a fabulous paint!  I begin with an ink drawing in early morning light.  The colors are vibrant and shadows deep.  I mark those masses early, which keeps me from straying too far from my intention.  As the sun rises in the sky, the colors change drastically and I must hurry to finish.  In two hours, this is already a different scene, and I can only hope to react honestly with my paint.  Today's paint was during Monarch Mania at the Anita Gorman Conservancy in Kansas City, for the Brush Creek Art Walk.  Painting number 2063 in 2063 days.

Goldenrod in the Garden

What a beautiful morning for plein air painting!  Arriving on site, I walked right to this colorful wildflower bed - full of goldenrod run amuck!  I love the reckless abandon of an overflowing wildflower bed!  I tucked myself into a spot of shade to start this painting, after a quick ink drawing.  This drawing is an important step that helps me really sink my teeth into the process.  In this case, I altered my composition slightly after the sketch.  If I had jumped in with paint, it would have been difficult to make those changes without scraping back some of that paint.  This was national butterfly day and monarchs were released as children with nets ran after them.  Just a little extra magic on this beautiful summer day!  Painting number 1716 in 1716 days.

oil on panel, 12x9
honored to be in the top five of the Anita Gorman Center Quick Paint
purchase here

Goldenrod and Sunflowers

Oh my!  What a day!  This morning seems so long ago!  This was a warm and muggy day for painting - but did I ever make the most of it!  Three paintings, two ink drawings, and a Missouri Valley Impressionist Society Signature show opening at the Albrecht Kemper Museum, followed by a nocturne paint out!  A great day to get experimental - and I did with two of them.  I was painting at my leisure for this prairie scene, and the peace and calm nearly oozes from it.  Funny how much of my personal experience of the moment seeps into each painting!  Painting number 1711 in 1711 days.

Oil on panel, 12x9
purchase here

Wild Hydrangea Inked

After a drawing as a painting, I was headed to meet the rest of the Art Mob when I saw this.  I could not resist,  and HAD to pull out pen and paper for a quick sketch!  My water brushpen tip was a little tacky from the sizing on one of my journals, so, the water did not flow as it should. Squeezing out a little on my hand, I was able to make it work!  (A good washing returns the tip to new.)  One of my favorite flowers, I did not know they grow wild in Missouri!  What a fun day this has been - now on to the next event!  Painting number 1626 in 1626 days.

Wildflower Path

Today's Art Mob plein air at the Anita Gorman conservation center was a lesson in "rolling with the punches"!  A lovely place, I quickly found my subject matter.  Drawing it portrait format in my journal, I decided to sketch it landscape. I was out of unpainted 4x6 papers.  That's okay, is just start in with the paint.  I open my pochade to find two wet paintings - I forgot to remove them and reload!  I walked back to my car, because I have a carrier with two fresh panels, only to find one of them already painted. I still had one!  I grabbed my OFF clip on,  because I already had a bite and the clip on fell off my easel in the trunk. I got back to my set up, and finally started painting!  I took off my sunglasses, and one side fell off, the tiny screw lost in the grass.  I walked away with a painting I really like, and two ink stretches.  I couldn't pass a hydrangea on the way out without sketching it!  A crazy mixed up plein air day - and my 1625th painting in 1625 days...... or is it 1626?