Buffalo

It's been way too long since I posted in this blog!  It seems I lost my way <grin>.  

Custer State Park, in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, is known for the  buffalos that live there.  When we were there (fall 2012), it seemed like miles before we saw any animals at all - and the first ones we spotted were the Begging Burros. (see blog post).  Finally, after an unsuccessful trip to the buffalo pens (we heard they were being rounded up that day), we finally found a herd and got to snap some photos.

Custer State Park Buffalo - 6" x 8" - oil on paper

This painting is a study for what just might be a larger painting done in the studio.  It is 6" x 8", painted with water-mixable oils on gessoed watercolor paper.

And just in case you didn't see my "normal" blog yesterday - I'm running a contest this week.  It's a chance to win a print and all you need to do is sign up for my Occasional Artzine.  Check it out....  click here to read more...

Thanks for stopping by!  
susan

www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com

Still painting!!

Now that the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge is over, it is time to settle back into a "normal" schedule.  At this point, I still have no idea just what "normal" is.  I did no painting at all the first day after challenge, choosing instead to sift through the pile of "stuff" that had accumulated in January.  The second day, I painted several canvases with gesso in preparation for paintings.  Then, I spent the day re-photographing all the paintings from the 30 in 30 Challenge, getting them ready for the web and re-uploading several of them.  That was a much longer project than I had anticipated.  Come Sunday morning, I was really feeling like a fish out of water.  It was so strange not to have to have a painting finished by the end of each day!

Sunday, I worked on a larger canvas - 16" x 20".  I'll be posting "in-progress" photos of that beginning tomorrow on my animal portrait blog.  

And today - I painted a small study for what I hope will be a 24" x 36" painting.  This study is done on a 4" x 6" sheet of gessoed watercolor paper.  This is a scene from our visit to Zion National Park.  There is a wonderful pathway along the river and while walking the dogs early one morning came across this scene.  It would have been a great place to return to with my paints, but we were planning on leaving early, so I returned with my camera for several photos.  

Since this was a study - rather than meant to be a "finished" piece, I tried to keep it a little looser and to do it in a shorter amount of time than any of the pieces I painted in the daily paintings challenge.  Those two goals were met, but I'm not sure I captured the feeling of the place.  And I believe that is an issue with values.  Before I try this on that 24" x 36" lcanvas, I think I will do a few more studies.  

Thanks for stopping by!

susan
www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com

29th Day - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today is the next to the last day in the 30 in 30 Challenge.  I've been enjoying myself so much that I found myself dragging today's progress out.  I took my time with the initial sketch and then spent about part of both the afternoon and the evening working on the painting.  

These donkeys are part of a group known as the Begging Burros at Custer State Park.  They came right up to the van and stuck their noses in looking for food.  There are so many of them, they block the road and wait for food handouts.

I painted these two Begging Burros on a 6" x 8" Raymar art panel with water mixable oils. 

I'm afraid that none of my photos of the paintings in this series do the paintings justice.  At some point, I'll have to re-take photos of them all.  It's best to take photos of artwork on a sunny day with the art in the shade.  Those kind of conditions in the mountains of Western North Carolina in the winter just don't occur very often. But the next sunny day that comes along I'll find a shady spot and photograph them all and get them re-posted.

Thank for stopping by.  I hope I'll see you again tomorrow.


susan
www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com

Day 22 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

After several days in a row of successful animal portraits, I decided to tackle another landscape. And I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

I came across this scene when we were camped in Marin, California.  There was a protected marsh area behind the campground with paths for walking - including dog walking.  We'd been away from any kind of nature for what seemed like weeks (and was only a few days), so the marsh was very soothing to my soul.  Like putting moisturizer on dry skin.  The mailbox in this painting was actually a place to pick up a bag for dog waste. There was a bucket next to it to place filled bags in, which I left out of the painting.  We found lots of "doggy waste pots" along our travels and this one was the most unique by far.

This was painted on a 5" x 7" Raymar art panel using water mixable oils.  I really like using these Raymar art panels.  They are made with MDF board that has canvas on one side and a gray melamine on the back that keeps it from warping.  They are 1/8" thick and are perfect when I go plein air painting (painting outside).  I picked this 5" x 7" panel today with a particular frame in mind.  It's a pretty little frame that I picked up a maybe a year ago and still haven't found the perfect painting to put in.  Maybe this will be the one.

Thanks for reading - I'll probably be doing an animal again tomorrow, so I'll see you at www.suzun.blogspot.com then!

susan
www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com

Day 16, 30 Paintings in 30 Days

I really surprised myself by choosing this scene to paint for today's painting, the 16th in the Challenge.  First, yesterday's painting wore me out (click here for that post).  Second, last night was the first night I went to bed with no painting planned for the next day.  Third, landscapes, as I've mentioned before, are definitely out of my comfort zone.  As I painted today, I think my problem with landscapes is TREES.  They are very difficult paint - at least for me.  

With that in mind, I'm pleased with the way this little painting turned out.  It is 4" x 6" and on gessoed watercolor paper and painted with water mixable oils.  The last morning we were camped at Yellowstone, we woke up to dense fog and temperatures about 26 degrees.  We took the dogs for a walk down by the lake.  The little bridge leads back to a section of the campground.

It's been raining here since Monday and that rain has kept me painting at my drafting table so that I have better light.  I'm missing my studio and standing up to paint.  Maybe next week.

Oops.  The rain just turned to snow.  The dogs will be so much happier with snow than all the rain.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope to see you again tomorrow.

susan
www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com

Day 12 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Montana

For some unknown and obviously crazy reason, I decided to paint a landscape today.  Totally out of the comfort zone on this one.  

This scene is a river in Montana, somewhere on the western side of Yellowstone National Park. I remember being amazed by the colors of the grasses along the river.  Browns, yellows, oranges and greens.  Some of the prettiest landscape we saw on our travels.

This one, again, is painting on a 6" x 8" sheet of gessoed watercolor paper. 

If you've seen this blog before, you know I've been working on a series of paintings from our trip.  I have some more finished paintings to post, but I've been a bit too busy painting to do much more posting than the daily painting.  I'll get them up here soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

susan
www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com

Hoodoos

Until our trip out west, I had never heard of a "Hoodoo".  Hoodoos are geological formations caused by erosion over the ages.  Some of them are as tall as 150 feet.  They are quite amazing.  The hoodoos in my painting were in Bryce Canyon in Utah.  As I was admiring them, the sun was shining on the dun colored rock "threesome" causing them to stand out considerably.  I think of them as the Hoodoo Sisters and have named this little painting just that.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Susan

www.susangarriques.com
susan@susangarriques.com
suzun.blogspot.com