May Paintings 5/13/11

Well, I have been having fun painting this month. The weather has been great for painting on the deck where I can spread out on the patio table. Some of them turned out better than others, but it is fun to try new techniques and color combinations. The sideways one is of the Free Beach at sunset in Los Barriles. The one of the kayaks and sailboat is of Santispac, and Pelican Island. We loved it there. Calelb's Cafe is one of Roger's favorite places in Los Barriles. It has such a view of the Sea of Cortez. The two florals are two different styles, one almost abstract and the other with an inner 'frame'. The last one is my attempt at cliff dwellings we've seen in Arizona. I am taking a workshop in Bend, OR in Aug and have been inspired to 'get to work' so I wont feel like such a beginner in class. Course my photography is not so hot, but if you click on a photo, it should enlarge so you can get the idea...lol I still don't know if you can 'rotate'a photo in Blogger either.. at least I haven't been able to do it. Today is Friday 13th, and it's going to be about 100 deg. here today. Think we will be staying in for the rest of the day. Roger's coffee machine arrived but he is not happy with it so plans to return it. Guess we will be heading back to Starbucks again! We will be in California for Memorial Day weekend, visiting with my sister and her hubby at Lake Minden, a Thousand Trails park. We hope to get some kayaking in there. Meanwhile, I hope to keep my brushes wet... hope you are having a good time too.... Happy trails.....

People paintings 5/3/11

It's been very quiet here in Casa Grande. Most of the 'winter visitors' have gone home. I have had sometime to do some painting and think about some paintings I would like to do. The first painting is my most recent. It is of the flower vendors at the Puyallup outdooor market. I took photos last summer at the market. The flowers were spectacular. I have been trying to put 'people' in my paintings recently. Faces are much harder than trees or water etc. The second painting is of a different market. This one is an outdoor market in Los Barriles, Baja where we spent this last winter. The farmer and his wife would pull up every Saturday noon in their SUV and trailer and then unload the most wonderful fresh, organic food. Everyone is our RV park would gather round, pick out their treasures, and line up to pay. We would have discussions about what we were going to make with the fresh veggies, share recipes and catch up on what was happening in town. This big tree gave us shade when it was warm and even gave us a little protection the one! time we had sprinkles. The third photo is from my sketch book. This young man is hauling back a surf kite to the starting grounds after his 'flyer' has landed. This happened during the big Lord of the Winds contest on the beaches of Los Barriles. I think this would make a good painting. At least I think I will give it a try. The last painting was done while we were still in Baja. I found the flowers at another kind of market. We were in La Conner last summer and stopped at several local farms for fresh fruit. The "Schuh" farm had wonderful berries for sale as well as a coffee stand and a beautiful side flower garden. Since we have friends by the name of Schuh in Fiesta Grande in AZ and have visited their farm in Ill. we had to stop! We really enjoyed the berries, the clever Schuh mailbox, and we got some nice photos to boot. Other news for us; the coach is now in the hands of the repair shop for the awning (finally), our new floor is installed, and Roger is STILL waiting on his new coffee machine. We will be leaving Casa Grande in another couple of weeks. We have plans for stops in California and Oregon on the way back to Washington state. So time to pull out my brushes again and see if I can bring the young man and his kite to the paper! Happy trails....