I am so excited that I am able to attend a workshop given by the great Derek Penix.  Derek recently won the gold medal for associate signature artists at the prestigious Oil Painters of America national exhibition.  His painting style is so loose...so impressionistic.  My goal is to loosen up my painting, to get a more painterly feel and texture to my artwork.  My painting pictured above was painted with a lot of help from Derek.  When I started getting too tight, he picked up my palette knife and scraped my painting, up and down, left and right.  Then he had me start layering paint on top of the scraped paint.  This really creates a variety of brushstrokes, and interesting texture.  He put the final touches on the painting, which really made it pop.  So, though I can't take full credit for painting it, I sure learned a lot!

Here is Derek doing his demo, and below, I have a progression of my painting as it took shape.

Any painter wanting to loosen up....I can highly recommend taking a workshop from Derek Penix.  He is so generous with sharing his knowledge and insights.  Today I learned that it's OK not to be perfect.

Dawn on Lady Bird Lake - 6" x 6" - Oil on Archival Panel - Available here
​Day 31 - The last day of making 31 paintings (from life) in 31 days in the #stradaeasel challenge.  The difficulty with painting a sunrise is that it changes by the second.  I started before the actual sunrise, and within 45 minutes, the sun was in my eyes, and the brilliant colors had all but disappeared.  But it is such a very special time of day, it is always tempting to try it again.  Thank you again to the strada easel team for the opportunity, once again to participate in the challenge.

Sunrise on the Trail - 6" x 6" - Oil on Archival Panel - Available here
Day 30 of 31 paintings in 31 days... Painted this morning on the Butler hike and bike trail on Lady Bird Lake in Austin, TX.  Sunrise is one of my favorite times to be out on the trail.  This morning, it was cool, but not too cold...perfect for a brisk walk.  I felt like I wanted to keep working on this one, but I ran out of time.  The light changes so fast at the beginning and end of the day!  

Lady Bird's Jewels 2 - 6" x 6" - Oil on Linen Canvas - SOLD
​Day 29 of 31 days of painting a painting a day... My thanks go out to Brian Mark Taylor and the #stradaeasel Crew and to Leslie Saeta for providing incentive for me to complete 31 days of making a painting every single day.  There is no better way to get better at anything that daily contemplative practice.  This scene is just a few feet away from yesterday's painting.  The  lovely lime greens backlit against the turquoise water get me everytime.  I posted a picture of the setup with the scene in the background, so that you can see the water really is this color!

Lady Bird's Jewels - 6" x 6" - Oil on Archival Panel - SOLD
Day 28 of the Strada Easel 31 day painting challenge. Whenever I walk the hike and bike trail around Lady Bird Lake, I am always struck by the beauty of the sapphire and emerald tones of the water near the Barton Springs pool.

Zilker on a Silver Day - 6" x 6" - Oil on Linen Panel - Available here
​Day 27 of the Strada Easel 31 day painting challenge.  I didn't get out of the house in time to paint this morning, when it was sunny, & by the time I went out at noon, the sun was filtering through the clouds, shedding a silvery light on the land.  I went to Zilker park. adjacent to our office complex, and, even though it is usually more fun to try to capture sunlight, I went ahead and started painting to keep up the practice.  There is always something happening at Zilker.  People walking dogs, people walking people, friendly games of Frisbee golf, etc.   

Sunflowers and Cobalt - 6" x 6" - Oil on Linen Panel - SOLD
Day 26 of the Strada Easel 31 paintings in 31 days challenge.  Sunflowers in a little cobalt vase for today's painting.  I always thought still life paintings would be easier, since, once you set them up, nothing much changes (as opposed to plein air with constantly moving light, clouds moving in and out, wind, rain, bugs, wild animals, etc).  But, it took me quite a while to set this little sucker up...at first the big sunflower in the left background was too well lit, drawing the eye too much, the back right one drooped too much, and made the eye go completely off on the right hand side.  There is quite a bit of composition planning in even a small simple still life.  I have a new found admiration for the still life painters out there.  

Primrose  - 6" x 6" - Oil on Linen Panel - Available here
Day 24 of the Strada Easel 31 day painting challenge.  I left work too late to paint outside today.  I'm in Waco, in a hotel room, and improvising.  I found this little primrose at HEB, and it said "paint me"...so, here it is.