Union Station Christmas

 

I truly love this tradition of painting the magic at Union Station during the holiday season!  And today, there were choirs of children singing carols around the Christmas tree!  I gathered with artist friends, and we all chose different painting spots. After a short 2 hours, we lunched together at the Harvey House, sharing our paintings and visiting.  It's a lovely way to celebrate the season, and this very special place. Magical!  Painting number 4731 in 4731 days. 

Town Hall of Red Oak II

The morning light drew me right in to this place,  as did the windbreak for creature comforts!  After battling the wind all day yesterday. I was ready to seek shelter!  I began by laying in my darks,  and then followed with the morning light.  That light soon loses it's warmth,  so it is important to catch it while I can.  The gusting winds hardly phased me as I was protected by the old cafe on my south.  This is a rather complicated composition,  but dramatic in the angles.  Lowell Davis came by to visit twice as we worked.  This has been such a fun painting trip!  This painting makes 1552 in 1552 days :)

Santa with Nutcracker

I painted this Santa while he greeted little darlings at the GotArt Gallery in Lee's Summit a couple weekends ago.   This Santa was so wonderfully dressed right down to his elaborate boots - and I have yet to capture all of him!  I plan to do a few in color, if I can find the time!  I am squeezing in this posting between batches of cookies!!  Painting number 1439 in 1439 days :)

acrylic on panel, 5x7
purchase here

Santa and the Model Plane

My husband loves these model planes, especially ones from his childhood!  He and his dad built these together, just like he has with his boys and now the grandkids. These model planes seem to be reproducing the last few weeks - has Santa been making early deliveries? This vintage Santa is putting a Sopwith Camel under the tree, a nod back to year 1916.  This painting makes 1433 in 1433 days :)

Acrylic on panel, 4x4
purchase here

Santa and Dolly

This year, I am painting a series of vintage Santa scenes on small, gallery wrapped canvases.  Some are sepia, and some are in black and white.  In this one, Santa is looking at Dolly with an expression of wonder, and Dolly is looking right back!  The magic of Christmas is in the air and I'm channeling that feeling into each one of these nostalgic paintings.   Painting number 1432 in 1432 days  :)

sold

Santa and the Nutcracker

sold

I sure wish there were more hours in every day!   I never feel that I have finished all I need to finish at the end of every day.   Why is that?   Too many things to do?  Perhaps, I should give up laundry and house cleaning to make more time for those important things.  I bet Santa doesn't do his laundry and housework.  And look, he's painting a nutcracker right now!  Painting number 1426 in 1426 days. 

Santa and the Train

Tonight, I am working in the sepia. I begin by painting in the darks around my subject.  From this beginning, the shapes emerge.  Depth is achieved by layering the short strokes in a fresh, loose way.  While the acrylic paint is still fresh, it can still be manipulated with a damp paper towel or q-tip, even removed right down to the canvas.  A soft touch is essential, or the results could be too abrupt.  I am really enjoying the nostalgia of these Santas.  This vintage Santa is my 1423rd painting in 1423 days.

acrylic on canvas, 4x4
purchase here

Resting by the Water

Resting by the Water
Oil on wood panel, 14x11
New Melle, Missouri - Augusta Plein Air Art Event
purchase here

This charming barn landscape is downhill from a white farmhouse just west of F Hwy in New Melle. My first time to this little town, it was a joy to explore the streets and countryside!  After scouting almost everything on the map we were given, we decided to return to this old barn - which had captured my attention earlier. The weather could not have been nicer - and the lights and shadows were fabulous!  With hardly a wind to stir the pond, the music of frogs and birdsong serenaded me as I worked.  I can fully submerge myself in a painting when surrounded by such beauty!  This is painting number 867 in 867 days.

Old Barn on St. Charles Street

Old Barn on St. Charles Street
Oil on wood panel, 9x12
New Melle, Augusta Plein Air Art Event
purchase here

My second painting of the Day at New Melle, this wonderful old barn was right across the street from our morning paint.  Teddy, Paige and I had already painted the barns at the pond, and this barn now had fabulous afternoon light shining on it!  With only about an hour to spare, I sketched this out quickly and started slapping that paint on just as fast!  I really painted this one without thinking, just letting the brush and colors find their own way on the wood surface.  I'm SO thankful to have my own primed birch panels to paint on for this event!  Every artist has their favorite substrates - and this is definitely mine!  I can and do paint on other surfaces, but the paint just seems to glide over wood in a way it never could over a woven surface.  The strokes are rather loose - largely because this was such a fast piece, and it also has the fresh look of a specific moment in time.  No time for the light to change and the shadows to shift here!  Painting number 860 in as many days.

on location

Santa Admires the Tree

Santa Admires the Tree
Oil on panel, 6x8

Feeling nostalgic as the freezing rain is falling outside, I am painting Santa as he comes upon the beautiful Christmas tree.  I had so much fun painting  yesterday - my first ever Santa - I wanted to jump in and another!  Choosing instead a vintage mood for this one, I started with the lights.  When going with the glow of the lights, I find it easiest to mark out all the light areas before starting on the darks.  From those two, I then work into the mid tones, keeping the highlights warm and the shadows cool.  A friend suggested I paint Santa the first week of December, and now that I've tried it - I may just paint them every day until Christmas!  Well, I guess it is time to start on the cookies for tomorrow - our first Christmas dinner of the week is at my Aunt Diana's house, and I'm hoping we keep those snow totals down overnight!  Painting number 349 in 349 days - only four days left until Christmas!!

Nostalgic Tree - miniature

Nostalgic Tree - miniature
Acrylic on canvas, 2x3"
GOT Art Gallery Holiday Trunk Show

At Christmas time, I have a tree in every room, even tiny lit ones in the bathrooms.  The season is now upon me, and I am slowly getting the house decorated.  We almost always do this on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but this year we had a family celebration at my Aunt Diana's house, so decorating was delayed a bit.  I have never painted a Christmas tree, and thought the dark of night would let the lights glow.  Today, I am painting miniatures - only 2 inches by 3 inches!  I haven't used acrylic paint for completing a painting in over a year, and when I picked them back up tonight, I had to work at them!  I wanted to lay them on thick, they did not comply.  I wanted to blend one into another, and they only did that when the first layer was still wet.  Since I need them dry by tomorrow, I had to use what would dry in a day.  My large brushes simply would not do when working in this size, so I had to dig around until I found a couple of tiny ones (which was easy, as I am a brush hoarder and will never run out of them).  Painting number 331 in as many days.