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Backyard Beauty, 12 x 16, painted this week

My last post was on painting from travel photos, but I realized the other day that I could probably fill an entire gallery with paintings I have done quite literally in my own backyard. It's not that my backyard is so spectacular, although I do enjoy the woods behind my house. What matters is that I'm always on the lookout. 

Spring Fireworks, 6 x 12 painted plein air in my driveway.

To artists, the world is a potential painting.  So it makes sense that we find some of our richest material in the familiar. 

New students often come to my classes without many photo references.  It's not that they have no interests, they just don't know where to begin. They haven't yet begun to develop their artist's eye: for design, composition, drama, light, color, shape. 

Glory Days, 10 x 8, Powers Gallery

Julie Friedman, my first landscape painting teacher, gave me this piece of valuable advice: even when you're not painting, you're painting.  When you're driving, notice the shape of the hills in the distance. When it's too cold to paint outside, notice the warm light bouncing off the snow.  Think about how you would capture the soft edges of the trees against the sky. There are paintings all around us all the time. 

New Greens, 12 x 12, painted from my kitchen window for Copley Society Fresh Paint event, spring 2015

As we develop this sight sense, this artist’s eye, we strengthen those design and composition muscles even without painting.  We begin to notice the beauty all around us and become inspired by the unexpected.  A favorite, and frequent, comment among new painters is, "I feel like I'm seeing everything with new eyes!"  This to me is the magic of art and this is why I love doing what I do. 

There really IS beauty all around us, even in the backyard.

Frosty 8 x 6 (sold) Delicate 9 x 12 (available) Frosted, 8 x 8 (available)

Lit (sold)       January Afternoon (sold)