Oil Painters of America Show, Becky Joy

Hi everyone from not so sunny Coeur d'Alene, ID. Well, sometimes sunny. The weather here is typical of the northwest at this time of year. It didn't rain today, but it has been cloudy, sunny, a little rain, then cloudy again. It doesn't make it easy for plein air painting, but I'm tryin'. Actually, it has been a lot of fun.

I'm at the OPA show right now. Yesterday was my first day out painting. I went to a couple of sites, the bridge is the first one. The painting in the afternoon is still in the car. I forgot to take a photo of it. I met some of the other artists that were out painting, but today I went my own way. I went out to the old mission and beyond. I painted the top painting of the mountains, water and trees (another cloudy painting).

While I was out there, I saw a moose with her newborn calf. The calf was hidden most of the time, but every once in a while I got a glimpse of the baby as it followed the mother, coming out of the bushes. I think it was absolutely the smallest one that I have seen. It is amazing what you see as you are out painting. After painting for a while, you are so quiet and concentrated on painting that animals will start to come out into the open. I think they must think I'm a fixture and non-threatening, so out they come. Pretty neat!

This afternoon I went to the informal welcome reception where I met a few friends I've met at other shows and a couple of online painters. I also introduced myself to some artists that I have admired, exciting. Tomorrow I have signed up for the Scott Christensen demo, as have a lot of other artists. I had better get there early for a good seat.

I'm also going to the lecture "How to Get Published" with Collin Fry. Tomorrow night will be the show opening at the gallery and awards. In between will be the vendors with their products, that was fun last year.

Saturday is full in the morning, but I may have time to paint some in the afternoon. I saw an old flatbed truck close to the hotel. That might be an easy one without driving around too much.

I'll post again before the weekend is over to let you know what is going on and how the lectures and demos go. Talk to you all later.

Becky

http://beckyjoy.com/

http://beckyjoyartist.blogspot.com/

beckyjoy@beckyjoy.com

oil landscapes, water and trees by BECKY JOY

I didn't post much this last week, but honest I was busy. There are several shows with deadlines in Jan. I had to finish some pieces to submit to the shows.  I don't want to post those that I submitted. Some of the shows require that the pieces have never been shown anywhere. Now I don't know if that means my website, the internet or FB, but I'll play it safe, just in case someone is out there checking on  postings.

I've been working really hard lately and have been taking an online workshop from Camille Przewodek. The prerequisite to taking the online workshop is that you had to be in a previous color bootcamp workshop. Anyway, I did that last spring. Each week, I would go out and do at least two plein airs, then email the starts to the paintings, the end results and a photo of the site. Camille said she was trying to get me to a new level. I really felt good about the workshop. Not everything was successful, but then I tried things that I had trouble with and knew I would learn from.  I felt like I really learned a lot, but need to take a break and get back to business for a while. I am definitely going to take another workshop from her. Her approach to painting really resonated with me.

This painting is an 18x24 studio painting that I worked on yesterday and today. I was happy with the results. I'll live with it for a while and see what I think.

This was my last plein air that I painted in the workshop. After talking to Camille, I lightened the hill in the background and grayed the greens of the background trees and simplified. I have a tendency to start picking at the colors in the background, breaking up the large shapes. Overall, I was pleased with this one. The other two are in the garbage. I wasn't excited about what I was painting and it showed. She told me to stick to painting what I was "jazzed" about. I know that, what was I thinking? Or was I?

Just a couple of more days with big paintings, then I'll paint some small ones.

Talk to you all later.

Becky Joy

beckyjoy@beckyjoy.com
www.beckyjoy.com
www.beckyjoy.com/blog

Take The Long Way Home by Roxanne Steed

5"x7" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
- Herm Albright


Finally home from my travels, there were still colorful leaves on the trees. They have hastened their fall and are almost gone. I wanted to get a couple fall scenes painted before the rest of the leaves were down.

Get off the interstate....pass by those wonderful Cape style homes painted that "New England" red...somewhere a long a curvy winding road...."Take The Long Way Home" comes to mind on long road trips. Yep, I've had a few of those lately! This painting is 5"x7" and is painted in oils on gessoed masonite artboard. I'm offering my 'while it is wet' price of $125 plus $10 for shipping/insurance. Contact me at roxannesteed@gmail.com for more information.