Inlet to Cleveland Lake

purchase here

Grabbing a fountain pen at random, I laid my hand on my very first pen, the TWSBI Eco in clear.  Months have passed since I've used it, and it lays down a line at the very first touch.  No cleaning, no coaxing, just ink flowing effortlessly, as if I've used it every day.  And to top that off, it is filled with J.Herbin Anniversary Ink in Caroube de Chypre, a rich brown ink loaded with gold flecks (known to be clogging to any fountain pen).  I really love tools like this workhorse, that can keep up with my every need, at the drop of a hat.  Painting number 2210 in 2210 days.

Dusk at Winter's Creek

purchase here

Each snowy day, the landscape shares with me another secret.  Perhaps a way to turn an edge, a color shift within the depths of a bank, or maybe the stillness required to REALLY feel the surroundings.  These snowy days have been still indeed, with hardly any birdsong.  The robins clustering in the wooded areas, they follow me when my phone "calls" to them, my text sound a robin chirp!  With only a few days of concentrated study, I am SO very comfortable with the colors of snow now.  I'm looking forward to the many snow days ahead near Lake Erie!  Painting number 2209 in 2209 days.

Late Autumn at Cleveland Lake

With the gym closed this morning, I got a painting in early.  I love the morning light, and I am exploring my new Richeson oils again today.  The late autumn colors have me reaching for King's Blue and Golden Ochre as key players.  I ordered 4 different browns (which is crazy town) and I used each one here.  Asphaltum pushes toward warm red, Van Dyle brown is very like burnt umber, the burnt umber cool is true, and raw umber is deep greenish.....at least these are my first impressions in the morning landscape.  I received a round Gray Matters brush as a gift from Richeson, and I find myself going to it again and again.  I NEVER use rounds with my oils, almost always flats, angled or brights, and yet I like this round.  It is firm enough to keep a point, and lays down a good mark with straight paint. I use no solvent or mediums, so my brushes must be able to work that paint.  I'm going to have fun settling in with these new supplies!  Painting number 2126 in  2126 days.

Looking Across Cleveland Lake

At 86 degrees, it felt so much cooler than the last three days of painting!  Humidity still high, at 93% when I left the house, there was a good breeze blowing across the lake.  I set up in a clearing of a wooded area, looking in all directions for my painting view.  Woods on one side, a dirt trail through the woods on another, meadow behind and lake ahead.  Today, I chose the lake with the drifts of wildflowers.  The colors have ever so slightly shifted forwards autumn in the last 4 days.  Walnut trees are showing a little yellow, the grasses are blushing with that late season ochre and pinkish and a few ivy and sumac leaves are turning to red.  Goldenrod blooms yellow across the prairie to heighten the color.  I try a new Princeton Aspen brush today, and I find it's best use on blending the water and reflections.  The edge is a little too sharp for me, and the marks too hard.  It may have it's place in architecture, though.  I finish this one quickly as I demo for a plein air class today.  So therapeutic to spend a little time painting, surrounded by nature.  Painting number 2065 in 2065 days. 

purchase here

Winding Inlets

The warm day really cooled off as those clouds rolled in.  A few sprinkles in that increasing wind gave me the nudge I needed to start packing up.  This location is rather far from the car, and I've been caught in the rain here twice now!  Rather than doing a pre sketch in ink before this painting, I did a small ATC size gouache pre-painting. It was fun!!  And I really like having the mini painting as a guide through my process.  Will I keep it up?  Who knows?  I just started with gouache yesterday - and this is definitely the honeymoon phase!  Painting number 1890 in 1890 days.

Creekside on Cleveland Trail

The Cleveland Trail and Lake is such a wonderful place to surround yourself with nature!  With an asphalt walking trail, you can get close to the water in multiple locations, without even getting into the tall grass.  A real plus for me, since today I came directly from a gallery meeting in my "good" clothes complete with heals I would not normally paint in!  I picked up the boys from school first, and told them that I just needed to get a small painting done before we could go to the cookie shop!  They had fun - finding an ant hill, having sword fights with long blades of grass, and picking clover blooms and putting them in my paint box!  They had plenty of space to run, which is just what they needed after a day at school!  I will be coming back here often to paint.  I love the very natural setting of this park, more natural than manicured by far.  This painting is the 1339th painting in 1339 days.