Sunday is FunDay

Fry spent all day yesterday at home, and we figured it was the least we could do to take him for a run today. So we hit the mountain bike trail with him, and he had a blast! He was running faster than I've seen him go in a long time, chasing squirrels, leaping into the creeks and just having a big time. But since we took our time on the ride to let Fry play to his heart's content, I didn't get back home in time to go paint outside this evening at the Six Sundays Concert, so painted in the studio today. This time, I decided to practice painting some manmade structures, working from a reference photo we had taken at Joyner Park the other week that really appealed to me.

©2014 Tammy Kaufman - Joyner Farm - soft pastels on Uart 500 sanded paper 12" x 18"

With, of course, all work being done under the watchful eye of Miss Venus, my arty-cat painting supervisor,

studio kitty

I first sketched out the composition I wanted with a charcoal pencil.

Charcoal thumbnail sketch ©2014 Tammy Kaufman

From this reference photo:

reference photo

I don't normally paint buildings and other such structures, but I want to grow as an artist, so what better time to try new things than now, right? And it was surprisingly more fun than I thought it would be. :-)

On Location

Steve participated in the Super D mountain bike race at Uwharrie National Forest today, and I joined him for a road trip to do some plein aire painting. I walked along several of the bike trails and forest service roads this morning when we arrived to scout for a painting location, and finally chose an empty camp site along Wood Run Road. This gave me an out of the way place to set up my easel, but still with a nice view of the access trail the riders were using to get to the start line. I just love those little yellow flowers that seem to dot every grassy area and roadside this time of year. I have no idea what they are - probably some kind of weed! - but they sure do catch my eye.

©2014 Tammy Kaufman - Wood Run Peek-a-Boo - soft pastels on Uart 500 sanded paper 9" x 12"

The weather was perfect for our trip so I was able to enjoy a pleasant morning of painting while Steve did his prerace practice, and this afternoon he wound up taking fifth place in his class! After the race, we went for a short bike ride along a portion of the Keyauwee trail which had some gorgeous views. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me on the bike, but I may try to paint some of the scenes from memory. It was a great day all in all - we saw a lot of old friends, made some new ones, and even got a good chuckle when "Macro-Me" met "Mini-Me". These dogs were so cute and seemed to make instant friends as soon as they met.

Moonlight Madness

Tonight I elected to paint a scene based on a photo I took last week. We were on our way back from the mountain bike trail as the full moon was just rising. When we stopped at a traffic light, I grabbed my phone and snapped a quick photo which simply begged to be painted. And since I had one last Ampersand Pastelbord left, I decided to use that with an alcohol underpainting for this little pastel.

© 2014 Tammy Kaufman - Moonlight Madness - soft pastels on Uart 500 sanded paper 5" x 7"

While I have certainly enjoyed stretching myself as an artist and working with acrylics using only palette knives, it sure was nice to get back to my pastels this evening. Lifting the cover off the tray and seeing all those glorious colors was like being in pure heaven, and using the pastels again felt like sliding into a favorite pair of comfy fuzzy slippers.

Love!

The Supervisor

For some reason, I haven't been sleeping very well for the past couple of nights so was a bit mentally - and physically - exhausted today, and I didn't really feel up to mountain biking this evening. But I did want to try and do some painting, so I headed to the studio with Venus, my resident studio "arty-cat" and best painting buddy, right on my heels as always. My little Muse used to be content just to lie under my easel and observe me while I paint, but she has apparently now decided she prefers to curl up in my chair and "supervise" my work. So I guess I need to get busy. I mean really, how could I say no to that sweet face?

© 2014 Tammy Kaufman - Muse - soft pastels on Uart 500 sanded paper 9" x 12"

First Public Critique

Tonight I had my first public art critique, and despite my initial fear and nervousness about it, I ended up feeling much better about my painting overall and even more enthusiastic about continuing to learn and progress. Everett Adelman was kind enough to offer us his critiquing expertise at the monthly meeting of the Wake Forest Guild of Artists, and provided incredibly helpful advice while entertaining us all thoroughly with his extensive knowledge of art and artists, and associated stories. I'm so glad I garnered the courage to take in a couple of my works - pastel and palette knife acrylic - for Mr. Adelman's critique - it was a true privilege to have him view my paintings and to have someone of his artistic caliber tell me what is working with them and offer suggestions on making the next ones even better!

Simple Cheer

After yesterday's brilliant sunshine, this morning dawned grey, cool and cloudy, with an almost damp feeling in the air. There has been no rain as of yet but a chance of showers is forecast for this afternoon and evening. Maybe it was the grey cloudiness or the "Sunday-end-of-the-weekend blues", but today I felt the need for a bit of quiet simplicity to brighten my day, so went with a minimalistic palette knife painting on canvas board that honors today's greyness but adds just a touch of color to cheer it up.

© 2014 Tammy Kaufman - Bliss - acrylics on canvas board using palette knives 11" x 14"

I had considered heading out to Joyner Park to paint today, but with the damp, impending-precipitation feel to the air outside, I think I'd rather risk getting rained on while mountain biking than try to scramble putting away art supplies in the event of an afternoon thundershower.

Springing to Life

On a gloriously sunny perfect spring day like today with temperatures in the mid 70s and a soft breeze, it's almost impossible not to be inspired by the natural world all around me. As such, I decided to continue on with the palette knife acrylic painting series and created another smallish work this morning.

© 2014 Tammy Kaufman - Across the Way - acrylics on canvas board using palette knives 11" x 14"

The weather today was too beautiful not to spend a good bit of time outside as well though, so this afternoon Steve and I took Fry for a hike while we worked to clear some of the storm debris from the local mountain bike trail. And then tonight it was back to the studio to put in more practice time with the knives and acrylics.