what we're growing

*warning: picture heavy post**

Each year since we have lived in Rhode Island we have nurtured a garden. Before moving here, we lived in Utah. We rented a basement of a house and had access to some pots in the backyard for whatever we could grow in them. I tried to grow some tomato plants, but they withered away instead of thriving. Looking back I'm certain it was poor soil with a lack of nutrients....that and a lack of really consistent watering. I just didn't have the same time back then, working a lot (I did work at a nursery in the greenhouses! haha!) and being a fairly new newlywed. But still, I had an itch to dig in the soil, get my hands dirty, and watch things grow. When we moved to Rhode Island we still rented an apartment, but this time we were so lucky to have access to an actual plot of land in the back. It was roughly 20 ft x 15 ft., just enough space for a healthy amount of vegetables! I got really excited. that first year I only did some tomatoes and peppers, but each year following we transformed that small plot of land into a magical oasis of homegrown food. I started preserving lots of our harvest! I was making tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, squash pickles, strawberry jam, applesauce (we didn't grow them apples), and drying all sorts of herbs for storage. It was awesome!

When we moved into our new home we immediately located the spot for our next garden. It was the first thing I made Peter do to get the tiller out and carve out the garden plot, even before any housework... I mean, we moved in toward the end of April, there wasn't much time before planting!! Even still our garden didn't get planted out until June, a bit late. But it still yielded a great little bounty for our family. We went back to our old garden and dug up all the strawberry plants to bring over here. I'm hopeful that next year, after two years of moving them around here, they will produce enough strawberries to make a year supply of jam and give away to all the neighbors!! We have so many strawberry plants and more to come next year with all those runners shooting out!

This year our garden is not being as well tended and loved. I have a few children to tend to and water and fertilize :) They are growing like weeds, so that's good! However, even with only half the garden planted and with much fewer plants than normal, I feel our garden is looking well and producing some wonderful food! Here is a little tour!

Lemon Balm and Sage

View of the Garden (only half planted this year!)

We got our first real harvest year of raspberries this year, too! We transplanted all the raspberry plants we could find scattered along our back fence into one large plot next to the compost. After two years of growing and producing meager harvests we finally had a golden year!! Big, beautiful berries!

Tomato plants. I think there are 20 this year?? It's my number one most favorite thing to grow. I just wish I could actually eat enough tomato sandwiches to use them all up! Oh wait, I can... Well, what I don't put on a sandwich we turn into sauce, so it's all used one way or another.

Some lettuce and squash and the herbs just behind.

View of the back patio area from the garden.

Next year we need to grow more cucumbers! I wish I had a whole garden just for these creeping vines. The boys always want to grow pumpkins, cucumbers, and watermelons. With the squash and zucchini on top of that we definitely have enough to fill an entire garden! They take up sooo much space!

That pretty lettuce, which I'm afraid is beginning to bolt...bummer. I don't know if I have the energy to keep reseeding and keeping going with the lettuce crop rotation this year!

Some of the first green tomatoes! Soon these'll be in my kitchen!

Some of the strawberries we got this year after transplanting them all to the rock wall hedge we built this spring! Next year this patch is going to explode!

Some of the garden steps in the rock wall. I love the ajuga ground cover my neighbor gave me from her stash in her yard! It's taking very nicely and filling in beautifully!

Our little garden snail...

Part of the strawberry hedge...

Ahh, the garden plot...

The herb corner. I'm thinking of moving my herbs to a more permanent location outside of the garden, perhaps along the rock wall and walkway... They take up much needed real estate in my garden!

Ruth loves the cool grass in her toes...

And the sand from the sandbox...

We play outside whenever we can! I built this wooden baby gym for Ruth and she loves it, I'm happy to say. We take it in and out with us and it keeps her smiling for a long time.

It was one of the simplest things I've ever made. Even though it isn't perfect, it serves its purpose and makes my baby smile, so that sounds about right to me!

Sandbox play. This is Sam's sand snowman.

Our first two cucumbers. And our first two boys! Oh the things we are growing around here. Food and big souls!

in the park

In The Park, oil, 12 x 14

available

This is one of those paintings that, for some reason, has been quite difficult to photograph. There is a lot of texture and nuanced color (perhaps because the colors are quite bright and saturated in real life!), so getting the picture right has been a bit of a challenge. This is as close as I've been able to get and it still feels flat compared to the real painting. Perhaps I'll try again...

As I was starting out in painting I found it very insightful to hear about other artists' processes. I learned a lot from other artists, hearing about their techniques and color theory, etc... So, now and again I like to share something about my own process. I like to begin with a warm base, then I pencil in with charcoal my basic drawing. My drawings are very loose and simple. I don't draw in any small details, rather I focus on the main ideas and work to get the composition just how I want it. This sometimes changes later as I'm working on the piece, but more and more I find I'm able to stick to my initial drawing. I suppose practice creates greater confidence!

I then go over my pencil/charcoal drawing with a thin wash of burnt umber, cobalt blue pure, and yellow ochre. I like it to be fairly dark, to give depth to the different elements, especially to objects closer to the foreground. Often in the finished painting parts of this darker underpainting/outlining will peek through.

 

While I wait for the thin base coat to dry, once the underpainting/outlining is placed on I start to go for it. I love to paint wet in wet, so I like to work fast. This usually means I try to carve out as much time as possible to work on a piece, especially if it is a large painting. Obviously I am not able to complete an entire large painting in one session, but I like to get whole ideas into the painting before pausing.

I begin to lay down color. I often start at the horizon, working my way up and down from there. I work around objects in the foreground, leaving them to detail later on. I think in blocks of color, trying to get the tones right. Then, as I build up different layers of colors I begin to really work on the edges between objects, like the horizon or the space between sky and clouds, or the edges of the trees, the blending from foreground to background in the landscape, etc... this is my favorite part of painting and it feels like it's where the magic happens. Each painting is unique and sometimes there is just one particular brush stroke that creates just the right feeling in a painting. In the end it seems I usually know when it's finished, but sometimes that decision takes a while. If I leave it for the next day I can usually decide by then if it is really completed... This one is finished now!

Finished painting alongside a small color study for it!

 

Detail

utah landscape series

Toward Springville, oil, 6.25 x 9

available

When we were out in Utah to adopt our sweet little Ruth, I tried to fill up my camera's memory with photographs. Now, looking back at them, I see that I did fill up my camera's memory, but mostly with pictures of our children and especially one beautiful little girl in particular! But, I do have a healthy amount of images to work with for a new series of Utah landscape paintings. 

Peter's grandparents have a house in Springville, a small town in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountain Range, where we stayed while there. In there basement was a stack of old wooden plaques, just like the ones I often use for my paintings. I thought, I ought to take these home and do a series of Utah landscapes on them! And, so it begins! I had ample opportunities to snap pictures of the wide open landscape from the car as we drove all over Utah. We took several drives up into the nearby canyons. I have quite a few pictures of rainy and misty weather, as well. Plus, a few pictures of some spectacular white clouds against a backdrop of bright blue sky taken on the day we were able to bring Ruth home with us from the hospital! This is my first painting in the series and I hope to paint up the rest of those panels in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes open for these! I will post them on my website and in my Etsy shop as they become available. Plus, if you want to follow me on Facebook, I always post when I have new work to show. Enjoy!

Detail

hush

Hush, 14 x 22, oil

available

I was looking at a painting hanging in our hallway, one I'd painted earlier this year. I had never been completely satisfied with it, but it hung there for me to walk by and inspect multiple times each day. Yesterday I pulled it off the shelf, removed it from my website, and set it up on my easel again. I didn't change the basic composition, besides painting out a sailboat that had been in the original. I wanted more texture, more mood, greater contrast, more movement. I am happy with this version of the painting and it's back up on my wall awaiting a new home when someone stumbles upon it! I wish a photograph could do this painting justice. Much of my work is becoming increasingly more textured and layered, which makes photographing with any accuracy a true challenge! But, for what you can sense from this piece, I hope you enjoy it!

Detail

floating on the horizon

Floating on the Horizon, 24 x 24.5, oil on masonite

available

There is a bit of a back and forth that I go through in cycles. For a while I feel highly motivated and have loads of energy that I channel into making and preparing my own panels for painting. Sometimes I use birth plywood and sometimes I use masonite. I attach the panels to wood support frames so there is a nice finished side profile for the paintings. That way they can be hung as they are without the need for framing if that isn't desirable or possible for a while! A couple weeks ago I bought up some supplies to make four 24" x 24" masonite panels. After cutting everything down to size I realized that the panels actually measure 24" x 24.5"...oops. I don't have the energy or desire to fix that, so they will stay as they are! Close enough! Good thing I'm not a perfectionist in all things... However, after all that hard work to prep the panels I find myself wondering if it would just be simpler and a more efficient use of time to just buy panels already made. I don't mind prepping, like gessoing and priming, etc... The building part is just so time consuming. So, this week I did a run to Blick in Providence...bought up a few cradled wood panels. The boys begged for some larger canvas panels to do some paintings on, so I accommodated them. Yeesh, it's easy to drop a lot of hard earned cash in that place! After racking up my bill I had to say no to the boys' requests for little wooden figure models and tiny packets of modeling clay...I'm so mean! So, perhaps in another month or so I'll get the bug to build some more panels, but for now I'm going to work through the ones I've got and see where we are...

This painting is the first to be done on one of my own panels. I really don't usually like to praise my own paintings, but I really love this one. It's going to be a hard one to say goodbye to, when the time comes, and I hope it comes! The buttery textures and bold contrast in the waves, the rocks, the foreground, and the wispy clouds in the upper left...it all comes together to form the energy of this piece. I was a bit daunted by this painting initially. The panel felt huge for some reason, even though it is not the largest painting by far that I've ever done. I spent a few days working on it, and the brushes came away for the last time yesterday. I walked by my studio for the rest of the day without ever going in for a peak at it. I was a bit afraid of what I would think of it. So, I finally walked back in to see it in the evening, and it worked its magic on me. It's now available! Please take a look at the link above to see more images of this painting!

Detail

First brushstrokes...just the vague idea of the finished painting!

dusting off some paintings

Bay Coast, 9 x 12, oil on canvas

available

I have had a few paintings tucked away that I never made available on my website until now. Sometimes I complete paintings that I'm unsure of. I don't feel they are ready to be listed for sale. Usually I'm just not satisfied, but I feel like I'm done working on them. That's what happened with the pieces in this post. As I was going through my available paintings, preparing them for a studio visit by a potential new collector, I found these hiding in the closet. As I looked at them again with fresh eyes I saw them differently. A mix between feeling they did indeed meet with my approval and feeling like I ought to just let others decide for themselves got me to photograph them and list them for sale in my shop. The one above sold me simply based on that patch of thick baby blue sky.

Here's another older piece (a few months) that I didn't list. It was a study for a possible larger work that I haven't yet executed. I am going to let this one go, too, in the hopes that someone else can enjoy it!

 Tossed, Diptych, 2- 8 x 10 canvas panels

available

Detail of one panel

boston lds temple commission

Boston Temple Study III, 9 x 12, oil on panel

About a month ago I was approached to paint the Boston LDS Temple (from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) as a commissioned piece to be auctioned at an annual LDS Artists gallery night near Boston. I participated last year, and it was a huge success for me, opening some new doors and giving me lots of encouragement. This year the gallery night will be in November, and I need to have this painting finished by October. There will be prints made of the painting. I'm very happy to do it, but it will prove to be a challenge for me I believe! As you know if you've followed my art for any length of time, I am a landscape artist almost exclusively. Architecture is not my strength. But it has been good to stretch myself a little bit, to sketch more, to study and practice painting the straight lines and abrupt angles of the structure, to figure out a pleasing composition. In the end I feel my painting will most likely be a landscape painting that includes the temple...hopefully conveying the message that the temple is a beautiful and sacred place, a piece of heaven on earth. Also, hopefully my final composition will give the idea to the viewer that we need to keep our hearts steadfastly turned to the temple, as we travel through life. In my faith the temple is a place of peace, a place to make promises with God, a place where I can feel His presence and find clarity. It is a special place to all members of my faith! I feel honored to have the chance to do this painting. All of the images in this post are studies I've done. Perhaps one of these compositions will turn out to be the right one, but I still have some playing around to do before I know for sure. Once I choose one, I may list some of these studies in my shop, so if you are interested stay tuned!

Boston Temple Study I, 5 x 7, oil on panel

Boston Temple Study II, 5 x 7, oil on panel

windswept

Windswept, oil, 4.75 x 6.75

available

Another small painting. I wasn't sure about the more monochromatic vibe of this one, but now as I look at it I love the calm it invokes. I feel like I'm really looking out into the distant horizon. 

Currently there are several studies in progress in my studio. I've been commissioned to do a painting of the Boston LDS Temple. I'll tell more about it as I make some further progress. So far I have three different compositions I'm considering. Now, I just have to choose one and scale it a bit larger. Then, we'll see what the brushes and my hands can do!

a couple little ones

Some Sheep, oil, 4.75 x 6.75

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As I am trying to paint larger paintings these days, I often need to take a little break and whip up a few little pieces. I have always been someone who loves results, sometimes more than the process, so these little paintings are usually nicely rewarding. At the end of a painting session I have something to hold in my hand that I can say is done! These two were completed this week. I love the ability to play with textures and colors in a big way on these small panels. It is easier to work in the wet paint to create a specific image. So often when painting large it's more difficult to convey the mood, simply because it is typically done over the course of several painting sessions. The grip on the brushes, the intensity of the colors, the scope of the imagination. They are all things that can shift from one session to the next, thus leaving me feeling a bit like I'm starting over again each time. Large paintings have many challenges that small ones do not. So, I always have some small panels lying around for me to work with!

Toward Serpentine, oil, 4.75 x 6.75

available

windswept

Windswept  4.75 x 6.75, oil on wood

available

I've been busy in my studio prepping canvases and panels to paint. I spent time yesterday gessoing, and today I primed with a thinned ground of salmon pink... I tend to use a warm color as my ground, but this may be the first time I have used such a pink hue. We'll have to wait and see what the results will be. This is the only finished piece I have to show for today. While Ruth was napping and the boys were keeping busy I escaped into my studio space to paint. Now, as Ruth snoozes on the sofa waiting for us to take her up to bed, I thought I'd get a blog post up about it. I've had a renewed surge and desire to paint paint paint. It feels really good.

With this small piece I debated about the subdued tones and slight lack of contrast, but in the end the overexposed image won out. It reminds me of a view of a northern European beach somewhere in the heat of the day. Or perhaps a washed out farm field... But ultimately I was satisfied with the lines and the way they draw the viewer further and further back into the landscape. like the wind might sweep you in, too. It's a small piece, so I hope it will find its way into just the right little spot.

Now, off to convince my husband to give up on swatting any more flies in our kitchen and coming to bed! Good night!

across first beach

Across First Beach, 9 x 12, oil

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Sometimes painting with a palette knife is the best way to create bold shapes that you otherwise can't form with brushes. The smooth texture and sharp edges are bold and expressive. For this seascape I really wanted to have several blocks of color, broken up by different edges and textures. Really I felt the need to do something different in my studio. I have been working on lots of landscapes filled with fields of yellow and green. I needed some blue, some movement, some texture. So, I let loose a bit with this one and left many rough edges bordered with pockets of contrasting and complementary colors. I love the effect. I wish this one wasn't going up for sale. Perhaps it's time to do a larger one for our home...

Update: This painting just sold! Thanks to my newest collector!

detail of Across First Beach

driving by the farm fields

Autumn Harvest, 12 x 24, oil

available

Something I need to figure out how to do better is photograph my work! Small pieces can be very simple to capture, but as the paintings get larger and larger it becomes much more difficult to keep glare off and get the colors just right. I'm making it work for now, but may have to come up with some new methods.

This piece was a bit of a challenge to photograph, mainly because of the white clouds in the left of the sky. First there was glare, then it was too dark. Finally I think I got it, but the white in the clouds is being a bit washed out in the end. This painting is a rendering of a scene I see just about every week, driving down to Newport on a Sunday morning for church. I pass these fields with the trees lining the distant horizon and the crop rows filing by... Sam aptly named this piece "Autumn Harvest". In the fall as we drive by this farmland it does glow with a golden yellow and the sky is that cornflower blue. I like the contrast in this piece, and the more defined clouds, which seem to be falling by the wayside in my more recent work. We'll see how they fare!

across the street

Across the Street, 9 x 12, oil

available

When we were looking for a home to buy we had a few priorities on our list. A few must haves included a yard big enough for playing in and for having a large garden, space inside to fit us and all our stuff (i.e.: my hobbies), and a great surrounding neighborhood. I feel like we really scored big in that we have all of those things, not to mention a big park and playground exactly across the street from our house. The boys are at an age now when they can venture a little farther from home without us. The park is the perfect testing ground to learn how to be responsible without being completely out of sight. This painting is a rendition of the sometimes marshy conditions of the park. After heavy rain we can slosh through with water just about up to our ankles in some places. It's a theme I visit again and again, water and fields.

I've been having a flurry of productivity of late. Little Lady has been sleeping quite a bit, taking excellent naps a few times each day! The boys fortunately have friends on our street who come to play. The boys are also best friends, so they keep each other happy most of the day. It's really a luxury to paint, and I feel grateful for every chance I get!

narragansett

The Bay at Colt State Park, 9 x 12, oil

available

I completed this painting today. A few months ago I scribbled loads of thumbnail sketches in my 7 year old's sketch book. The other day he pulled it out to draw and started flipping through all my sketches. He looked at me and said, "Heeey! Mom..." Oops! He went on to sketch all the angry birds he could think of, one per page, in pen. Later I snatched the sketch book and looked through some of the thumbnails I'd done. I was reminded of some inspiring ideas I'd had, and I set to work on one today. This is a painting of the Narragansett Bay as seen from Colt State Park. Some of my favorite weather is this foggy, choppy, uncertain haze. I'm closing my eyes and facing the water as the waves lop up onto the shoreline, the sea salt splashing a bit on my face. I can almost smell it...

honors

Sheep at Bodega Bay, 8 x 8, oil

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Late last year I did a series of paintings from our trip to northern California to visit Peter's folks. One beautiful foggy northern California day we took our excursions to the coast and Bodega Bay. I took so many photos to hopefully use as reference photos later in my studio. I was able to produce several small paintings from those photos and from the memory of the backlit foggy atmosphere. I did the painting above of some sheep on a hillside. The painting sold and not two days later I had a request from another collector for a painting just like it. She had been watching the first one, debating on purchasing it, but hesitated too long it seems. So, I got to work on another. Here's the second one.

 Sheep at Bodega Bay II, 8 x 8, oil

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This one differs from the first in color saturation, contrast, and texture. The first is a much rougher rendition, and this one is a bit more polished and bolder. I like both for their own unique qualities, but the collector who commissioned the second never seemed certain of the painting. The intangible and indescribable quality of the first eluded her and she chose not to purchase this piece. Initially that was tough. It was not a big painting, so I wasn't too put out, and I knew I could sell it in my shop. It is a challenge to repaint a certain quality that someone can sense, but can't describe or put their finger on. Sometimes it's just a matter of the brushstrokes being just so or the composition being slightly off. In the end I listed it for sale on my website and in my shop. Then, just last week I included it in my submission of three paintings to the Bristol Art Museum's Library exhibit. I received word today that it won first place in the show and it already sold! That was wonderful news to hear, and I'm so grateful to the Bristol Art Museum Association for presenting the opportunity to show in this library exhibit. It's been a while since I had a painting in a show that won first place. It is incredibly encouraging and makes me want to get back to the easel right away!

It may be a couple days before that can happen, however. I've got a summer track and field meet to take the boys to this evening, a sick baby to love and cuddle, a husband with a couple late night meetings, library summer reading club tomorrow, play dates to referee, and three meals a day to prepare.... Basically life gets in the way of creating regularly, but I'm happy to get the time when I can. It's a good thing I'm a night owl.