We hiked through the moors to this stone circle last summer in Dartmoor National Park, England. While this stone circle only includes fairly small stones (3-4 feet high), we were completely alone in this vast open field. I sat on a tuft of grass to sketch the circle while Kerry wandered off to explore a creek.
While on a trip around Europe last year, I hiked along this eastern coast of Ireland. Scrambling down the cliff to reach sea level, I did this little pen sketch of the rocky coast and lighthouse. A couple of ladies came down to the same cove and preceded to skinny dip in the space in front of me while I drew. Oh the adventures!
While landscape painting is my focus, inevitably I take on other creative projects. Recently, I completed the design for my niece’s wedding album. I used Photoshop CS2 for the page layouts and then uploaded the pages to Blurb’s Booksmart program. The book can be ordered through Blurb.com; I have used this publisher before for personal photos books and am pleased with their quality. I also like the ability to have complete control over the entire page design.
Credits: Samanthat Willis, SWPhotography, photographer
Last fall we visited some friends on the West Coast and took a day to relax at the beach. I did a small sketch on location, reveling in the geometric forms of the rocks. This spring I painted this little blue painting from photographs I took that day. I really enjoyed getting to paint the huge expanse of sky. Where I live is all hills and trees, and I do not often get to see the colors of the sky as it meets the horizon.
In 2009, I took a family trip with my husband, mom, sister, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and two close family friends, Collin and Kathy Staley to Glacier National Park. It was a bittersweet trip-the last one we were able to take with Collin, who was undergoing chemo at the time, but the first of many we were able to take with my father-in-law who was recovering from colon cancer. Taking an Amtrak train along the northern US, we arrived in Glacier National Park and spent our first few nights in Many Glacier Lodge. The first morning we awoke to a fresh couple of inches of snow–in June! It was magical and breathtaking and cemented my love of the national parks. I dug into some of my old photographs of that first morning at sunrise and did this little oil painting.
I created this painting as a gift for my mom in memory of my late father. Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings were favorites of his. Dad, also a landscape artist, put the first paint brush in my hands as a baby, took me to my first museum when I was five, and continues to be an inspiration to me.
The title, “Generous Solace”, originated with help from my aunt and uncle. Nicole Sholly, better at expressing with words than me, suggested words associated with meaning of Dad’s Germanic name, Frank, including “free”, “open-hearted”, and “generous”, all of which were apt descriptions of Dad’s personality. Solace was the word I chose to symbolize the passing or at least lightening of the sorrow and grief of his passing.
The idea for this painting has been in my thoughts for years. I wanted to use my own photos for reference and so did not get an opportunity to photograph and sketch a sunflower field for awhile. Then last summer, my neighbor serendipitously planted his garden with sunflowers. While jogging past one evening after a storm, I noticed the field, went home to get my camera, and was able to start my painting. The mood of the storm passing and the flowers lifting their faces once again to the light expresses the hope and strength in our recovery from sorrow. Mom’s strength, loyalty, and exquisiteness are reflected in the raw beauty of the sunflowers who faithfully lift their heads to the sun each morning–which is likely the reason Dad loved Mom so dearly.
The corn field in front of our house has a lone cedar tree on its edge, and when the winter sun sets in the valley, one strip of sunlight illuminates it and the golden field right before dusk. I started this painting at a workshop I taught at the French Lick Artisan Gallery this past winter. I really happy with the final result of muted blues and yellows. It is a good to branch out from the very green paintings of summer. When teaching the workshop, we started with the traditional monochromatic underpainting-this one in burnt sienna. Then, I blocked in the large areas of color (bottom image) and continued to add detail on top. When composing the painting, I was intrigued and played around with the overlapping diagonal curves.
While in Yosemite National Park, we watched the sun set from Glacier Point overlooking Half Dome. As the light faded and the darkness became absolute, more and more stars appeared. I had my camera set up and photographed the emerging stars. To make this painting, I wanted to try the thick layers of transparent medium again like I did in my painting Winter Cliffs. The multiple layers of acrylic end at the horizon line where I then used oil paint to capture the subtle shades in the mountains. The painting was then given a wax varnish. I think the textures and depth created by this technique is interesting. I especially like the brilliant star above the crown of Half Dome-makes me imagine a plumb line making a link between the two.
This is another painting from Yosemite National Park. I tried a violet underpainting this time. In an effort to become more efficient at starting paintings, I used a larger brush to block in colors within a couple of hours. Details and reworking took considerable time after that though.
Snow Creek, 2014, oil, 36 x 48 in
During an evening walk, my husband and I wandered up this small creek with exposed bedrock. The setting sun warmed the snow with an orange glow, and the remaining beech leaves shone as if fragments of stained glass hung in the air.
