Revisiting "Break with Color" 16x12

Break with Color 16x12 Pastel ©Brenda Boylan

Here is a piece I did back in 2009 at Shore Acres State Park on the Oregon Coast.  I think I may have posted this back in '09, but thought it was worth the re-post.  It's been a super busy summer with the kids at home and to be clearly honest, I haven't had any time to paint, and so there is nothing new from the easel. I think I'm going crazy from not painting! Especially since the weather has been supremely beautiful here in Oregon. Although not soon enough, I do have a couple of fun painting events I look forward to that have kept me focused.  The Oregon Invitational (see side bar---->) hosted next week by the Portland Art Museum on August 4~5th in the Park Blocks of downtown Portland.  And then there is the annual Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2012 event coming the end of August.  This event is always a favorite of mine because of all my neighboring artists usually join in the fun. Even if they are not juried, they are still welcome to paint together en plein air.  This year I am staying in an apartment complex with 7+ other artists.  Now that sounds like a vacation at best!  If you live in the Portland area or are interested in plein air painting the Hood River area, let me encourage you to join along and make it a holiday. Painting locations should be posted on their website here.

Californian Impressionists Visit the PAM

"Boats Returning Home" by William Frederick Ritschel

Last week I took a visit to the Portland Art Museum to see the current show that is on loan from the Irvine Museum's fine collection of Californian Impressionists.  Visiting the Museum is always like a breath of fresh air for an artist. This show teases the eyes, in a pleasant way of course!  I'm sharing my favorites from the exhibit and unfortunately I didn't record the titles and artist's names.  So if you know, then please share your comment.  The piece above gave me and my accompaniment much to discuss.  We had been warned a few times from the guard that we were just "too close" to the work for Museum comfort.  Awe, I just want to drink them in!

"Inner Harbor" by Paul Starrett Sample 

"Flowers Under the Oaks" by Granville Redmond 

"Verdugo Canyon" by Hanson Duvall Puthuff 

Monet

To help celebrate the PAM's summer special exhibition of the California Impressionists, I will be participating along with fifty selected artists in the Oregon Invitational Plein Air Event. On Saturday, August 4th, the Museum will turn it's front yard ~ the South Park Blocks ~ into one long outdoor studio. On Sunday the 5th, the artists will return to the Museum's courtyard to exhibit and sell selected works.  If you are in the area, stop by and see the exhibit firsthand in the Museum and then drop by and say hello to some current day plein air artists!

Beowulf & Lavender, 6x6

"Beowulf & Lavender" 6x6" oil

This past week the weather was spectacular here in Oregon and the Lavender Festival Plein Air event was well underway. I had gone out 4 different times to paint with oils and produced 3 presentable ones that I entered into the show.  I felt like I painted so much lavender that I began to suffer from purple-eye-diss. Ack! There is only so much you can paint with rows and rows of purple, but hey, it's so blissfully fragrant.  So, in order to mix things up a bit and paint something different, I asked my daughter to pose for a few artists and I for a live model session with some more...ugh,  lavender.  It was really fun to paint a live model plein air, but I do see some needed adjustments to the piece that I may change later.  After turning in of the work at the show, I immediately went out an painted something urban to help wash any purple-eye-diss. 

After painting my daughter Nikki in the lavender field

Unfortunately, I was unable to make the reception to the show due to a prior engagement, but found out at the conclusion of the show that my work "Mountainside Lavender" won a 2nd place and "A Direct Relative" earned an Honorable Mention.  Woo Hoo!

Surprised and encouraged with my oil paintings "Mountainside Lavender" 

and "A Direct Relative"

These two pieces will be hanging in Currents Gallery in McMinnville for the month of August. Info to your right--->

With all this great weather we are having, I am finding it a challenge to be in the studio to work on the business side of my art.  I have much work to do for a commission as well as preparation for another Pastel Punch! workshop and the Oregon Plein Air Invitational.  So I may not post for a few weeks. Until then, enjoy something summery and wonderfully fun!

A Direct Relative, 8x10

"A Direct Relative" 8x10" Oil

Getting a lot painted in oils these past few days and again I went out to paint more fragrant lavender.  Oh, how beautiful it has been here in Oregon. Out in the country there are so many paintings everywhere in every direction.  Barns, glowing fields of canola, whispy wheat, and of course lavender.  We've had a thick yellowish haze in the sky from the warm summer sun, adding some great atmospheric opportunities for artists.  Today was an especially fun day painting with a few other artists (Don Bishop, Michael Orwick, Jackie McCartin) out at Mountainside Lavender.  I wouldn't call a fallen easel much fun, it does test one's humor and resistance to let the little things get in our way.  I just had to laugh this one off because I've had this happen so many times from a top heavy set-up.  When will I learn to weigh it down????  

Off to a great start!

After my calamity at Mountainside, I headed out towards Yamhill to paint a vineyard view in the evening light at Woodland Lavender with artists Michael Orwick, Ramona Youngquist, Jackie McCartin and Sandy (name?) The scenery was incredible but my painting was a total flop! Here's a beautiful view of a vineyard in the early evening haze. Nope, it's not Italy!  

Tonight I'm off to more painting adventures painting (with pastels) for a private party in the community of Dunthorpe. 

Mountainside Lavender, 8x10

"Mountainside Lavender" 8x12" Oil ©Brenda Boylan

Since my return from Los Gatos, I've been taking much needed time with my family and also enjoying the 4th of July events around town. This coming week I will be painting for the Yamhill Lavender Festival's Plein Air show.  It's a small venue and out in the countryside, but it's so worth the hike out there for something off the beaten path. Some lavender farms are more picturesque than others, much like Mountainside Lavender that has a couple of fields full of a variety of lavender.  I love the sun on my skin, the fragrant air, and the sound of bees buzzing.  Many people come out to cut their own lavender for whatever they use it for and while they pick away, I just hope for a moment that they would just hold still enough for me to paint them into my work.  Perhaps I'll challenge myself on the next piece with this idea, eh?  It's funny, I heard someone talking about cooking with lavender while I was painting away, thinking how that would taste. Oh, the thoughts we think as we paint away in pure heaven.  Ahhhh

Here is my painting and the subject.