A painting to ponder on

Hello once again painting friends!  I have been revisiting this quiet oil painting once again. I have brought it out into the light of the studio and can see that it needs more light and more contrasts. So I have much to keep me busy.

I was going to post the large seascape I have been working on, but decided to wait a little bit longer and see if I can put in a little bit more detail into the sea. More on that later!

Not so much time for painting! My cold is much better and we have been down to the sea to breathe in the sea air and to feel more energized!  

It is a nice quiet time of the year, to sit in a cosy warm room and read a book or catch up on some correspondence.  I do know that the time will fly by! So we are making the most of it!

Wishing you and your family a peaceful and happy Festive Season. Best wishes Caroline

'Stormy sky'

Oil painting depicting a summer storm.  Painted on canvas 12 x 16 inches.

As the days move at a fast rate towards Christmas I have managed to find a little time in my studio to paint.  I am painting a large seascape painting, however I am being challenged by my use of colour! The sky is coming along just fine, yet I found myself putting too much purple into the sea! I thought it would be fine, yet the following day it just looked very wrong.  I then used Hansa Yellow to try and tone it all down, but that has been far too strong a colour.  So for now I have to let that dry and then try and work some more on the painting hopefully on Monday. 

The oil painting posted here is of a storm coming in, I wasn't going to use the yellow for the land area yet finally I found it was what was needed so I went and used it.  The painting reminds me of summer storms they have such strength and strong contrasts in the lighting too.  

We have had so many days here of late that are very damp and cold.  No freezing weather at the moment for which I am pleased about.  However I do think that cold and dry weather is much better for my health!  I hope the beginnings of my cold doesn't get much worse!

Best wishes to you all and hope we will all have some nice sunny weather real soon!

Happy Painting, Caroline

Two traditional paintings

Two of my traditional oil paintings of my area. The first painting with the autumn colours is local and is 18 x 24 inches oil on canvas.  The second painting is small only 10 x 8 inches oil on board, that sky took me ages!! But I love painting the different kind of skies we have here and at different times of the year!

Wishing you a peaceful and happy early December! keep warm!  Best wishes Caroline

Winter

A wild and blustery snow painting in oils that depicts the weather up on the mountains of Glenshee, painted earlier. Low temperatures this weekend and thoughts are now of the festive season that approaches so very soon!

I have been in my studio in the afternoons quietly working on a couple of new paintings. I decided to paint quite small and try out some new colours and also to vary my brush and palette knife paintings to combine the techniques to create a softer painting.  I think they are almost finished! I have until the 14th December to have that quiet time in the afternoon to paint and then it will be the start of the holidays and there will be much to do and walks to go on as Richard will be soon on holiday. I do hope the weather will stay fine!

Wishing you a quiet time too before the festive holidays begin, Happy Painting! Caroline

Autumn news

I had a very happy and productive summer and early autumn!  Two opportunities to exhibit my paintings.  The first in a popular Art Venue set in the heart of Deeside and was delighted to sell three of my paintings there. I was a steward for two mornings and actually got to meet the buyers of my work, a lovely family from that area! They had reserved the paintings and heard I was in on the morning they came to purchase the works. It was really fine to meet them and have a nice chat about my paintings and to hear how much they enjoyed the works.

The second exhibition was set in my local library in Elgin that has a lovely very large exhibition space with nice lighting.  I shared the space with a fellow artist.  I was delighted to read the comment book and read the feedback on how peaceful and beautiful they felt my exhibition to be. I was focusing on mostly moorland and seascapes that were simple atmospheric subjects to create a feeling of silence and peace. I was very pleased to have sold two paintings there.

I am now busy tutoring my art classes and catching up on my paperwork. 

The season is turning once again. The golden days of autumn are now looking drab and cold in the mists and rains. Some cold frosty mornings too. A quiet and reflective time of the year and soon it will be time to write Christmas cards!

Wishing you my painting friends a peaceful autumn that finds you painting the days away!
Caroline

Back to the palette knife paintings.

Greetings to you all!  It is a very wet and quite cold summer here so far.  As I write the rain is still falling and will do so until the end of the week.  I haven't minded too much, have got on with things and am kept busy with my art classes and also returning to palette knife painting.

I am having a big studio and general clear out, lots of reorganizing and time to throw out things that are not used!  It will take a good long time to do as I also found I have too much stuff in general all over the house that simply are not used.  Also old paperwork that has to go too! Why do I hoard so much!!

I finally accepted that the way forward now is with the palette knife work and am managing to do one once a week at the moment. Lots to keep me busy with new canvases to work on and some exhibitions due this year too.

I got a frame for one of the paintings I did in May which is a coastal scene.  I am very pleased with it and it is reasonably priced too.

It is very quiet here in blogging land these days but I do hope to hear from some of my old friends if they are still around.

Wishing you lots of happy painting days.

Caroline

Easter Weekend

It has been a very busy month and finally things are a bit quieter.  I can now think about my paintings that I am getting ready for my joint art exhibition in October this year.  I did have a few ideas a while ago about the paintings I wanted to add to my original art exhibition that was held almost three years ago!  I had a bit of a break away from painting in my original style due to having a painful shoulder.  However I once again find myself able to return to my smoother painting style by working for small periods of time.  I had an Indian Head massage from my physio lady yesterday! it really is amazing as it is quite healing and it does help me to relax more.  So I am hoping my improved shoulder will remain well especially with this new treatment!

The oil painting you see here is titled' The dark hour' and it is a peaceful painting about evening starting to fall. I wanted to create a more meditative piece than my more usual stormy seascapes. I had discovered that by using a transparent blue on the shale dark foreground that it created a shimmer which is nice.  However even though I thought I had finished the painting, I discovered a couple of marks in the sky that now need to be addressed!!

It was a very warm day today and I had a lovely walk by the lake and saw two frogs sitting on the path! I was a bit surprised to see them out of the water as it was a warm afternoon!

I don't quite understand why blogger decided to ask me to update my details and my photo, so now you see me looking very blurry! however many photos I try to put in, they each look blurry, so I have to accept this situation! A bit frustrating really as I can't understand why blogger couldn't keep the original photo!

I hope you all have a peaceful Easter and that you find some time to get out your paints and enjoy time in the sunshine!

Best wishes to you all
Caroline in Scotland!