Italian Girl With Flowers, 11x14 Oil on Canvas, after Sorolla

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I've had no time for painting this week, so I am posting a throwback to 2008, when our painting group, Pieces of Eight, decided to copy Impressionist masters as a learning exercise. I love Sorolla, so I copied one of my favorites, with the above result. Below is the original by Sorolla.

I also copied John Singer Sargent, the master portrait artist. The best thing I've ever done is team up with seven women with the same passion for painting that I have. It has been such an enriching experience in so many ways, and I have learned so much.

Carmen

White Hydrangeas, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel, Floral Painting

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I had painted this in a different color scheme, and it never appealed to me. Every time I looked at it, something went ick in my head. This was the previous version:

I didn't like the rusty color. I'm just not a rusty person. Creaky, maybe, but not rusty. I decided to give the painting a makeover. I barely touched the flowers themselves, but look how different they appear by changing the colors around them. 

Carmen

Alaska!, 20x16 Oil on Canvas, Landscape Painting

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This is a much-photographed scene in Alaska, and since it was July, I got to see Fireweed everywhere. They are the spiky blooms in the foreground. My cousins took us all over Alaska in an RV one summer, and I can only say it is an astonishing place. It's a good thing I took a sleep mask, because it was daylight at midnight. It's so weird to go to bed when it's still daytime outside. In spite of that and the rough winters, there is a lot to love about Alaska.

Carmen

Pacific Northwest, 5x8 Watercolor Journal

We've been in the Seattle area visiting relatives and friends, and I recorded various events in my sketch journal. What a handy dandy thing that is. When I can't remember what year or month I did something, I find it in my journal, along with happy memories. First we were in Sequim (pronounced "Squim"), where lavender farms are everywhere, with my cousins, Bill and Louise.

Hap and I in the Big Chair at a lavender farm. 

Opera music plays in the Sequim rest rooms. They appropriately played a selection from "Carmen" when I walked in. What a wonderful small town with a great community spirit and an appreciation for every shade of purple.

Carmen

Texas Bluebonnets, 8x10 Oil on Canvas

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Van Gogh would have liked these flowers. They are pretty ornate, with little white dots all over them, so the big decision is: how much detail? I may go back and put a bit of blue in the sky, even though there wasn't any, just so the painting doesn't seem quite so divided into three parts. 

Carmen

Red Glass with Roses, 8x10 Oil Painting on Canvas

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Carol Schiff recently posted on her blog about her two paintings that got the most page views. This made me curious, so I looked up which post got the most page views for my blog. To my astonishment, it was one called "Oh, My Aching Back, My Whiny Post" showing the below cartoon and talking about my back going out. I have been analyzing this and have come to the conclusion that there are more painful backs than there are art collectors. Perhaps I should call my blog "The Art of the Aching Back" to attract more visitors? 

Bouquet, 7x5 Oil on Canvas

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If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? Even though I live in Florida, my yard is so bedraggled right now. A tree is dying of a mysterious disease, my huge frangipani tree has not a leaf on it, but a little cluster of pink blossoms sits at the end of one branch, embarrassed at arriving early to the party. Oh, how I want that TV guy who comes home with you and redoes your whole back yard! I'll be watching for him when I'm at Lowe's! Until then, I'll just paint cheerful flowers and be happy I live in Florida, where the winters are beautiful.

The Lonely Little Frangipani

Rose Bowl, 7x5 Oil Painting

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This was a painting of red bowls. I let it sit on my easel and hated it more each day, though I liked the colors. I finally painted over it completely and used the same color scheme. That's the nice thing about oil paints, they are fixable.

Art restorers frequently find that the old masters had other paintings underneath their masterpieces. There's one thing for sure: the painting underneath is not a masterpiece, or they would not have painted over it. Just let that thing stay hidden under there, complying with the artist's wishes. You would not want to embarrass him by revealing his red bowls or whatever...

White Hydrangeas, 6x8 Oil on Canvas

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These flowers always remind me of my grandmother, who could grow anything. She was completely in sync with nature, unbothered by the snake in the garden. She was surrounded by flowers, birds and butterflies. She was like a heroine in a Disney movie, with beautiful things fluttering around her. I really miss being able to get her advice about how to grow a certain plant. I quoted her so often that when I lived in Bermuda, one of my neighbors asked me, "What does your grandmother say about planting this tree?" I replied, "Don't put a ten-dollar plant in a five-dollar hole."

My friend Qiang Huang had a quotable line on his blog the other day: "There is no shortcut in art. You just have to paint more." To all you Daily Painters: Rock On!

A Rest in the Park, oil on linen, 11x14

In this park by the famous Pike Place Market in Seattle, one can escape the crowds and loll on the grass. With the fresh air and the view, it's just a wonderful place to be.

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Rainier and Flowers, 6x6 Oil on Canvas

Big news: Contemporary Fine Arts International just posted an interview with me on their site, at http://www.cfai.co/colors-on-my-palette/carmen-beecher/. Also, I was awarded third place in their Tropical Days art challenge.

My husband and I just visited the Pacific Northwest, along with my Pieces of 8 buddy Denette and her husband. What a wonderful time we had! I visited my family there and we went to Crystal Mountain, where the above picture was taken. A gondola took us up the mountain, where we saw five volcanoes from our vantage point. It was amazing. I have never seen anything so spectacular.

Those are not wildflowers; they were cultivated, but there were plenty of wildflowers, too, including masses of lupine.

The Happy Group

Creek Flowers, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Board

Robert Genn wrote in his blog PainterKeys.com about challenging students to paint a landscape in either 37 minutes or 37 strokes. I tried both, and above is the one I painted in 37 minutes. This was a fantastic exercise for loosening up, thinking more simply, and as the master Qiang Huang says, painting mindfully. I am pleased with the result.  

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Below is the one I first painted in 37 strokes, and that just didn't work. That is very few strokes; the trees used up 14 strokes. When I finished it looked like a first-grader did it, so I went on and noodled around with it a bit until it resembled something. It is the same scene I painted in my previous post dated June 19, with a lot more strokes. Next time I try this I'll make it a simpler landscape. I'm not thrilled with this one, but I'm not giving up. It's also good practice for painting greens, and who doesn't need that?

Venice, 8x10 Print

What is so intriguing as a doorway in Venice? Don't you wonder what it's like inside? The whole city is so unique and so beautiful, I hope I go back someday. This is a print of a watercolor I did a while back. I don't usually post prints, but unavoidable circumstances have taken my time, so this is what I have available to post. See my other 134 items for sale in my Etsy shop. Just so you don't think I'm unproductive.

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Bucket of Sunflowers, 7x5 Oil on Canvas

This happy bucket of sunflowers greeted us at the entrance to the Robert Is Here Fruit Stand. Robert is here every day, greeting a multitude of customers and dispensing exotic milkshakes, honey, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and flowers. He's come a long way from starting at age six selling cucumbers on this corner. If you go to the south part of the Everglades, you can't miss the place.

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Elaine's Flowers, 10x8 Oil on Canvas

Some people in New Jersey and New York probably had gardens like this, and now they have destruction. It is so sad. We worry about hurricanes all the time in Florida, but who would expect this in the Northeast? To be hit by a snowstorm afterward is just unbelievable. My prayers go out to all the suffering people, and especially those who have lost everything.

NFS

Perky Poppies, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Board

I have so many wonderful things to paint, I guess I will soon get off the poppy kick. I haven't tried them as collages yet, though. Hm. That might be interesting.

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Yellow Poppy, 6x8 Oil

Oh, how I love painting poppies. I am used to tropical flowers, so poppies are a novelty for me. Their shapes, their colors, their curvy stems--I love them!

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Poppies at Brookgreen, 10x10 Oil on Canvas

 I love poppies, and these were abundant at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. They surrounded a long reflecting pool and were so beautiful against the dark background of the water. This is painted on a deep stretched canvas. Look at the photo below to see why I love my iPad. It's wonderful to paint from.

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Denette, Cindy, Me on Surfside Beach

Shadow Dancers, 8x6 Oil on Canvas Board

This was my entry into the Daily Paintworks Shadow Challenge. I had already planned to paint this from a photo I took at Brookgreen Gardens, SC. Sometimes it's just about the shadows and the design they make.

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Beautiful young people are accidents of  nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.

 - Eleanor Roosevelt

Cosmos, 16x12 Watercolor

I don't do many watercolors, but I take them with me when traveling. When I saw resident artist Judith Kinsman painting in the garden at Hidden Pond Resort in Maine, I hurried there with my watercolors to paint the beautiful Cosmos flowers. People told me I would see fall colors in Maine, but instead I saw sunbathers and lush flowers. It was a joy to meet Judith and paint with her. Artists are really nice people. They aren't all like Picasso.

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$62