Bloom Your Heart Out!

12"x12" oil on archival panel

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This little orchid has been the most encouraging little plant...and one incredible orchid.  It has re-bloomed so many times for me, I've lost count! Seems like one bloom shoot is over, and it's putting out another one, bringing beauty to my winter world! Which does wonders for my happiness! 

Keep a smile blooming on your beautiful face - you'll bring happiness to everyone you meet today (wonderful person that you are!).   

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Dandy Daisies by Atlantic Coast Painter Roxanne Steed

12"x12" oil on gessobord

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This was actually finished right before Christmas. I'm taking some of those small florals ever larger. I'm really loving working on the gessobord, but I know when I go to the super large paintings, I find it better to work on canvas. The panels get extremely heavy at that size. So I do go back and forth with surfaces, I have several that I like to work on for a few different reasons.   I'm finding a greater comfort zone combining brushes with my palette knife work....at ALL sizes that I work in, from tiny to enormous. 

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Zinnia Pop! by Atlantic Coast Painter Roxanne Steed

 

12"x12" oil on gessobord

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Painted on New Years Day...but I'm only now getting time to write a bit about it! Flowers are certainly my "antidote to winter"!  This one pairs up nicely with the same sized "Dandy Daisies", and they are framed in matching frames. 

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Hopeville Pond Reflections & packing for France! by Roxanne Steed

8"x10" oil on linen mounted on panel

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A fine plein air morning two whole weeks ago! It's been a busy few weeks, so I've been painting, but not blogging! 

I'm currently working on a commission....while packing for the trip of a lifetime....and painting some small works in-between.

I'm heading out to France soon, to go paint with Dreama Tolle Perry - and really looking forward to this workshop! We'll be staying at Le Vieux Couvent, in Frayssinet.  I've been planning this since last summer, and now it's finally here! I do hope you'll follow along on the journey!

Coral Begonias by Roxanne Steed

 

5"x5" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

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Last summer I started collecting begonias of various types. This is a new one, a gift from a friend when I was in the hospital for surgery back in April.  And.....it's still alive and blooming! It hasn't stopped blooming at all, and looks like it will keep on going all summer! I'm not actually sure how long they are able to keep going, as I've never had one last that long - until last summer.  Could it be, that after all these years, I've finally got the knack for growing them? I hope so! 

 

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Sunny Plummy Kind of Day-Sunflowers and Plums Step by Step by Roxanne Steed

 

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on panel

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It seems I've fallen into a pattern this summer, paint on sunny weekdays, work in the garden on the weekends, and blog on rainy days or evenings.  This is from one of those sunny days last week! 

I did take the time to photograph some steps along the way. For those that have been following this blog for a long while now, realize that I continue to integrate technique as it suits me.  Sometimes putting together things I've done in the past in new or different ways. For the last several years I had been painting with only a knife, no under-paintings,  just straight working onto the support (whether canvas or panel).  Prior to that I had usually made an under-painting of some sort before proceeding.  Of late some fellow artists work has caught my eye that has a wonderful 'thin transparency to  thick opacity' type of quality to it.    I'm enjoying this - altering my painting surface,  in a way that I'd call 'additive & subtractive' - disrupting edges as I go, still in love with the textural quality of the paint.  C.W. Mundy,  Julie Ford Oliver, and Jon Redmond are some of these recent influences. 

So, for starters, I laid in a transparent red on the linen surface, wiped back a little, then added some darker transparent areas.  

Then proceeded to draw in general shapes - for placement - and continue laying in the large dark shapes, then scrape back in some areas to keep transparency. 

And no, that is not black paint as it appears in this photo. For this dark I'll use alizarin & ultramarine & usually viridian. I use a warm & cool of each primary on my palette, sometimes I'll include either a sap green or viridian. 

 I start blocking in mid-tones and lights....again breaking up those edges, or scraping back some of the paint in places altogether...not allowing anything to get "too precious". 

Continue on, adjusting/maintaining the values that you intended for your composition. 

It DOES feel like a juggling/balancing act! I am working under a large patio umbrella to shade my canvas and palette.  If you don't have access to a bit of shade, at least turn your canvas away from the sun. Working with that brilliant sun on your work surface (canvas and palette) can be blinding..and make your final work appear very dark once you bring it inside. 

Bring in the knives to make your final adjustments! Palette knife that is, unless you are terribly disheartened by what you've done so far....and if you are.....either scrape it back & re-adjust, OR turn it aside for another day. If it's a total scrapper, it's experience under your belt. Usually coming back to it with a fresh eye reveals what you 'might have' done better. If your paint surface is still wet/open, go for it. Food for thought!

 ***

 

Over the years methods that stick with us are the ones that really speak to us. I know when I look at any painting, I like to see PAINT used liberally.  Perhaps it is from one of my instructors from almost two decades ago who encouraged me to lay out much more paint on my palette, "stingy paint, stingy painting" (thank you John Bannon).  I knew then I wanted a lush palette,  and the boldness to use that paint. Not all of our intentions come to us exactly when we wish it. I've found it's a lifetime commitment, a continual effort to  show up at the easel and just paint!

 

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Tulip Bouquet by Roxanne Steed

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel, $160

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These are the last of these blossoms, they have since faded with all the rain showers we've had lately.  The sunny days that we have been lucky enough to have lately, I've spent painting on my back porch! Nothing like painting from life, outside on a beautiful day! 

 

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Sunny Spring Seat by Roxanne Steed

9"x12" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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Oh how I love this little section of our garden! It's like a little room surrounded by a picket fence and a lush growth of flowering plants from Spring through Autumn, right by our front door. In the morning the sun warms the back of this curvy bench, casting shadows on the slate stones below. They are brightened by the warm light.  

As I've painted this space over the last five years, it's been so fun seeing this area grow and mature. The peonies in the upper left corner have yet to bloom, but this year there are so many buds on them. This particular one is white and fragrant!!!! ooh, I can hardly wait for this one to bloom.  The canes of the rose behind this bench now arch across several spans of fencing. When I first bought this plant via mail order five years ago, it was so puny and tiny, I could hardly imagine that it would ever spread this far! The 'creeping phlox' at this edge of the slate circle mounded up with gorgeous wild color again this year.....so exciting to see after the bareness of winter! Ahh- life is sweet once winter is far behind!

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Spring Froth by Roxanne Steed

10"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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One of my friends described this time of year (up here in New England when Spring finally bursts forth) as 'frothy'. Yes, it is sort of like that- trees stay a lavender bare limbed tangle, until sap rises and gives them a reddish pinky blush at their uppermost heights...then the bright fresh yellow green leaves begin to emerge- slowly but surely.....before you know it another week has gone by and the whole canopy of woods is filled from top to bottom!

Here at home, the tulips have come up, the crab-apple trees have bloomed...and now as I type this, they are fading, and other things are following right on their heels to take their turn in this symphony of color and texture----fluff and froth!

Oh what a delight after winter! Spring is just never disappointing!

As you can see, we are across the street from another building lot (hence the large dirt pile), so I can be selective - choosing rather interpretive and expressive in my painting rather than a literal rendering. 

Spring does go by so quickly, I'm amazed at how quickly I paint one scene .....and those blossoms are gone! But the act of painting them seals those garden memories into my very being.  A wonderful comparison from year to year....showing me how far this portion of Eden has come! 

 

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Early Morning Spring Color - SOLD! - by Roxanne Steed

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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This Spring the garden has been so incredible. The thousand tulip bulbs we planted last fall have come up in colors of "Peach and raspberry sorbet"!  And the purple-blue blooms of ajuga (or bugleweed) luckily timed out just right to come into full bloom with the tulips!

Summer Dreams by Roxanne Steed

8"x10" oil on stretched canvas, gallery wrapped with sides painted (design continued around sides)

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Yesterday a couple neighbors and I went up to Boston for the annual Spring Flower & Garden show. It is spectacular- and quite amazing how they bring in all these huge flowering trees and shrubs, granite slabs, stone fountains, etc.  to set up those wonderful exhibits!  We come away feeling like we've been on a great vacation far away.  It is definitely the turning point that makes things feel like Spring is really officially here. I know it's been on my mind non-stop - warm weather, sitting out under the shade trees, with cut peonies from my garden in a big jug on the table.  

The garden is beginning to show signs of life! Tulips, daffodils and Spanish Bluebells are poking through the soil, working hard to grow, waiting for those warm days when mankind and plant-kind feel great turning our faces to the sun! 

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Bright Spot In Your Day Sunflowers by Roxanne Steed

5"x7" oil on gessobord
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Sunflowers hang in there for such a long time! They're so cheerful! Still trying some of these techniques with layering & using brushes AND knives.  We're having glimpses of Spring-like weather now & then. Maybe it won't be too much longer before I'm back outside painting again!

Please visit my website at www.roxannesteed.com

"How Thoughtful Of You" Floral Lilies Gerbera Daisies by Roxanne Steed

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite panel

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My dear daughters sent me a lovely bouquet the other day. Wonderfully fragrant with Stargazer Lilies, Gerbera Daisies, and other little blossoms, of course I couldn't resist painting it.  It's always so nice to be thought of ....and wonderful to have fresh flowers! (especially for a painter!). Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

 

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Sunny Delight Floral and Painting Tips and Supplies by Roxane Steed

5"x7" oil on gessoed masonite panel

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Wow, some days, life interupts your plans, and it's so difficult to get on with what your original intentions were. Like painting. Fortunately I finally got a bit of studio time before these flowers began to bite the dust. The blue fluffy things (can't remember the name of these blossoms) were starting to drop their petals, so everything will get cut and put into new arrangements tomorrow for a different painting!

Just a quick view of how some areas of my studio get at those times when 'life' keeps interupting and the mess never gets cleared away. So all the 'fun stuff' starts piling up...and becomes not so fun any more. Judging by this tabletop work space, this studio is ready for the next episode of 'Hoarders' (ACK!!). Seriously, I like to work in a clean, calm space. I'm over due for a major clean-out. When we were still in the Navy, and would move every three years, it acted as sort of a forced clean out. In getting ready for the move, we would end up tossing or giving away, or selling things we weren't taking with us, and would really pare down the load. Time to have a 'field day' and (pretend) I'm getting ready for a move (?). 

If you've been following this blog for a while you notice that I'm tweaking my working style just a bit. Sort of blending some techniques of old ways, and some new ways. Our learning is a cumulative thing, always taking in new ideas, blending them with things we already know, (or have known). After the last several years of working only with a rather wide, round tipped palette knife, I've been wanting to mix things up and layer things a bit differently. I still am in love with texture and color, but I do like having underlayers, and deep dark transparent colors showing through under increasingly opaque lighter color.  And even though I love the thick textural work of a wide knife, I do want a bit more detail in some areas. I also want to pay more attention to edges, which can be cumbersome at times with large knives. 

Now, as I've said before, I never throw out a good tool, even if I'm not using it. I know it will eventually come in handy for something, and get re-purposed! So here are some of the tools I've been using - some for a long time, and others, I've dug out of former stashes tucked away, and found new jobs for old tools that were in great shape.  So above, you'll see my two favorite painting knives, one pointy and one rounded, and a new thingy I've re-purposed from a bull-dog clip and one of those rubber slabs you carve into to make stamps or prints. I now use it as an 'interuptor' or an edge breaker. Got the idea for this technique from Julie Ford Oliver's 'fracturing' technique. Which was really quite interesting. It involves a good bit of 'adding & taking away' - until you really have an interesting surface quality, and if you pay attention to edges, a maintain a strong focal point (ONE item gets to be the star...not everything all over the place).

Artist friends, tell me you've done this before....walked into an art supply store and thought "Wow, that is one fine looking brush, I think I should get that...not that I need it right now, but I think I might- and this one is just made so beautifully, I have to have it because it's just so well made"...etc. etc. yeah. I did that. Bought this Rosemary brush at Plein Air Convention last April, and have finally brought it out of the 'tool box' and wow, I do love it! It IS indeed one fine brush! next below that is a Winsor Newton Monarch, I've had forever, don't use it often, but when I do, it responds just the way I need it to. Next down from the top is an 'Egbert' brush made by Robert Simmons (no, not Richard Simmons, haha). It's like a super long flat & filbert got together & had a gangly long legged teenager. Not good for much, but every now & then totally redeems itself by making the place look good! It actually is nice to softly flick an edge without overdoing the whole 'soften that edge thing' into an oblivion of mush. 

A couple other bristle flats that I've had forever round out the crew, but I've also put an old angled water-color brush to good use. (After all, it was taking up valuable real-estate space, and it's earning its keep now!) And then the lonely rigger, that I hadn't used for AGES, now getting some use as a drawing tool (for soupy paint in the early stages). 

Oh yeah, I've been asked before, what do you have your paint in? It's the paint box part from 'Art Box & Panel' that James Coulter makes. I love it as a plein air set-up! It's a little bigger than my older Open Box M (which yes, I still do love) but this allows me to go a good bit bigger without adding too much more weight. I also like to use the box in my studio, too. I just set it on my rolling taboret when I'm working at my larger easel. 

Hope that's helpful! - I'd love to answer any questions you might have about plein air set-ups or studio gear!  

Please visit my web-site at www.roxannesteed.com 

Iris Garden by Roxanne Steed

8"x10" oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas with edges painted

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Ahh, can you tell, I'm dreaming of spring? And tomorrow we have another snow storm on its way in here. Fickle weather! I was out walking this morning, and it definitely felt like spring. I was sure that snow was over for good. Oh well, I've been mixing in some older brush and layering techniques along with some of the things I've learned over the last several years working with just a palette knife. I think it's good to continually tweak what we do as artists. 

I used to collect and trade iris with friends and neighbors each time we would move (which was about every three years with the Navy). During one Navy move we finally had to leave them where they grew. But during that time while I was trading & growing, it was always fun to trade for a new color, and my iris garden began to look a bit like this! Now I haven't grown iris in many years, and I find I do miss them. Perhaps it's something I might find a spot for in this garden I'm tending now!

 

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Yellow Bucket of Flowers(sold!) & Don't Worry, Be Happy Flops by Roxanne Steed

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite panel

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Yay, it feels great to be back in the studio PAINTING! It's been a busy winter, who woulda thunk it?

I recently got back from a short trip to Hawaii! Now, before you get all excited, it....was...very....short! In fact, I spent as much time in airplanes and airports as I did on the ground there. But it was productive three days, none-the-less.  I took a sketchbook....and a swim-suit....and that's about it! Oh yeah, some flip-flops (umm, they are called 'rubber sandals' over there in Oahu) don't make the mistake to call them the wrong thing! 

You definitely need a pair like this! Yes, even in a freezing winter (like I'm having here in CT). I can just slip these babies on and feel like summer is really going to get here! (hey, it worked for Dorothy, even if those were ruby slippers, not rubber slippers). 

and yes, those things really do make GREAT prints in the sand! (or wet tracks on sidewalks!) Woohoo!  Where did I get those? Subscribe to my Cheer Factor newsletter, and I'll tell you all in the next issue!

ALSO***** "a save the date notice" for Saturday, June 1st- this summer. I'll be releasing some very exciting news....think gardens, blooms, summer fragrances...sigh! More about that in my upcoming news- letter, too!

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Abstract View of Woods, study, by Roxanne Steed

6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival board

Bidding starts at just $1

Sometimes, I do studies, just from things I've seen...places I've been to many times, like this spot in the woods where I've hiked many times. This one, I wanted to keep the shapes quite simple and strong, rather abstract, and leave all detail to the 'part between your eyes and brain' that tells you exactly what that is! Quite a fun exercise in paint!

Flowers For Vincent by Roxanne Steed

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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Winter frequently brings me square head-on into a big artist block! I'm not sure if it's a mental rebellion to cold weather or what. So, I have been toying with some fresh ideas in my studio. One that I've been noticing is a method Julie Ford Oliver calls "fracturing".  It's sort of like 'lines interrupted, with subtractive & additive painting going on'. (I'm sure that clears things up!).  Visit her blog here to see more of this idea.

It's quite different from the painting method I'd comfortably morphed into over the last few years.  I had been using very thick knife work and Henry Hensche colorist theory I had learned from Leif Nilsson and Camille Przwodek, painting directly.  For the last couple years I had really focused on shapes and values.  Julie's method is more of a building up of layers. I'm enjoying this in the studio (hey, I've only tried this twice). But I'm trying to imagine how I'd use it outdoors, when the weather is decent enough to paint plein air. 

I'm a firm believer in all that we learn is cumulative. Building on things we've taken in over the years.  Always tweaking, finding new things that pique our interest.  In visiting museums over the years, I recall two separate retrospectives, one of Monet, and another retrospective of Renoir. Seeing how their work changed over their life-times was quite illuminating to me! It's okay to change...to morph into that next stage.  The thought of it is a bit terrifying ...and yet, quite exciting.  Will I make a drastic change? (I doubt it, yet I never rule out what exploration might bring). 

As an artist, how does change in your artwork make you feel? Excited? nervous? exploratory?

As an art lover or collector, how does change in an artist's work make you feel? Interested, worried, curious, happy?

I wonder if it's my longing for Spring, that always puts me on edge at this time of year? Yearning for new growth, outdoors as well as in my 'art spirit'.  Well, I'm going to keep exploring some of these ideas. Hold on tight! 

 

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Flowers and Fechin by Roxanne Steed

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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By the time mid-winter sets in, I am snow weary.  I'm getting antsy to be outside, but either it's too cold, or as in yesterday's case, it was possibly warm enough, but there was no place for me to park in my usual painting spots without risk of getting my little car hung up on an ice berm. (and doing some permanent damage!).  By the time I got to the 4th place of looking yesterday, I did find a place to park in a safe place, where I could actually walk out to a safe place to paint, without falling into a deep drift of snow....I was tired, hungry, and seeking 'facilities'. Yes, I shot the whole morning looking for a 'place' outside to paint. By the time I got home, my husband had delivered flowers for Valentine's day! - Yay!!! Some wonderful painting material and beautiful colors to cheer up a dreary winter case of 'ice-blues'.  

Painting ...and learning to paint, is all cumulative. You spend years learning, experimenting, combining some techinques, eliminating others.  All of it eventually comes into play at any given time to make up you 'the artist'.  I have been toying with combining several different techniques that I have employed over the years, using both brush and knife, laying some thick & thin areas with transparent oils in the darkest areas, topped with ever lighter layers.  Thanks to my hubby for the wonderful flowers. I usually never stack things on my art books in my studio, but I had placed this bouquet on top of my Nicolai Fechin book (that was on top of the large Edgar Payne book).  So of course I decided to paint them this way as well!  I hope these flowers last, I think I might spend the next several days painting more bouquets!

Orchid Blooms and a Blizzard by Roxanne Steed

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

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This is the third year in a row that I've been able to get this little orchid to bloom! I've found just the right window for it, and have figured out how to feed it to keep it happy! The rest is up to nature.  I originally bought it to paint, and each year it blooms I paint it again! Each time I try to give a different 'twist' to my efforts, even though it is the same plant and not a whole lot biger than when I bought it. This year I used both brushes and palette knives in my painting technique. Even when I've become very comfortable with a particular technique, as I have with using just palette knives, I always enjoy the challenge of trying something just a bit different now and then - to manipulate the edges as well as the surface texture of the paint.

What a crazy few weeks it has been - since I've last posted.  I've survived a tornado in Atlanta with my mother-in-law. (Seriously - we were ready to hunker down in the basement of her southwest Atlanta home, just as a tornado was touching down in the northwest Atlanta area- VERY frightening!).  Just the day before this tornado, we had a lovely stroll through the  Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  Filling our senses with the visual color and textural beauty of camelias, the fragrance of paper bush blossoms, the quiet zen of a Japanese garden. All the while I'm dreaming of summer, filling my creative well with  ideas I can hardly wait to work into my own garden (and paintings).  Don't you just LOVE this gecko-gate??!!

Then I left Atlanta to go visit my mom in Winter Park, FL. We took her down to Clearwater Beach for a nice little vacation.  I got a text message from Southwest Airlines that my flight home on Friday would likely be canceled due to the incoming BLIZZARD. Oh my, so I switched my flight to last Thursday so I could get home, buy groceries (since I had already been gone so long) and help my husband dig our way out of this expected mess!

How DEEP did it get at our house?? Stayed tuned for tomorrow's blog post and I'll take you from 'Beach to Blizzard' in no time flat! We have finally dug ourselves out - just in time for the next snow-fall!