‘My Work Here is Done’ • oil on panel • 10in x 8in (click to enlarge)
Showing this Friday at Artisan Gallery’s Painting Invitational….
(Opening this Friday, March 1, 5-9pm, Artisan Gallery in Paoli, WI)
If this big white dog–the Great Pyrenees–looks at all familiar, it’s because she’s Betty, our neighbor dog who guards her herd of alpacas. I photographed her in action helping with the birth of that baby alpaca (cria). You can see the photo sequence of ‘Alpaca gives birth’ here. The Mama alpaca is Maggie, and the cria is T-cup. This scene is from Galpaca farm, the place just down the road, to the southeast of us.
‘Getting Close’ • oil on paper • 4in x 6in
Yep, I finally picked up the brushes and started painting with oils again, after a 4-year hiatus, while I went to grad school and learned how to do relief printmaking, then spent last year perfecting the print extravaganza that was the Tunnel of Mortality.
Last month I was invited to take part in Artisan’s Painting invitational, and just figured it’s time to get back to it. It was a little slow going at first, but sort of a relief–just color, you know? And not having to think too much about it–just mixing up hues and values that work immediately. No planning out layers of colors for print.
‘Constant Companion’ • oil on panel • 5in x 7in
Roughed out 4 paintings to work on simultaneously, so I could keep working without stopping and waiting for something to dry…. I started out really small with 3 little oils (before finishing Betty and the gang, at top). Here are 2 of them… above, one of our hogs from last year, ‘getting close’ to that time. And a portrait of Oreo, this great, faithful companion of a farmer on hwy 78. Oreo could often be seen patiently waiting beside the driveway entrance whenever his master went away. And here, in this shot, he lay with a very watchful eye, in the closest spot of shade, while his master worked on one of the farm vehicles.
