Mt Hood at twilight

Mt Hood was all ablaze this evening. Showing her strength and fortitude, she danced in the setting sun and sent me a wink as the last reflections of the setting sun bounced upon her still deep coat of snow that covers her sloping shoulders. Fun times in the neighborhood!

7x5 Oil     'Embrace Your Path'      MVS

 

Art in the Garden

This past week I attended a five day painting retreat. We painted with models posing rain and shine, for five days. It was an excellent and much needed experience for me, and although I have so much to learn, it gave me a boost toward one of my painting goals of including the figure into my plein air paintings. Learning to trust my instincts in color mixing as I follow the light AND find values that are both visually readable and strengthening to the overall composition, ended up making for a full dance card.

The above paining painting carries a loose quality that I am happy with and feel that it does show both perspective and form even in the simplicity of the piece. I am excited to have begun working on this personal goal and hope one day it will become second nature in my plein air artwork, as a response to Man and Nature, rather than Man verses Nature. A big thank-you to Henk Pander, for the creative energy he gave to the day as our guest artist/teacher. And I do want to see what he does with that action photo he snapped of me with my umbrella handle tucked into my coat pocket as I painted in the rain!
 Finally, I worked on a portrait. It became really confusing to me and although I wanted to abandon it, I made myself work on the large canvas size till I at the least could find closure with it. Lights, darks, composition, color harmony & color tension, the stylized calligraphy, and brush stroke were areas of awareness in the piece. I started 8 pieces during the week, two of which will be on exhibit in a group show sometime in August.

What a fun and exhausting week. Really it was actually a dream come true for me. Yea for dreams! :)

Currents Gallery, now hosting Lavender Festival Plein Air Artwork!

532 NE Third Street

McMinnville, OR  97128

503-435-1316

currentsgallery@gmail.com

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM 

Monday - Saturday 

 A continuing Exhibit of Plein Air Paintings from the Yamhill Lavender Festival in now on display at Currents Galley in McMinnville, Oregon. My oil painting, 'Lavender Lullaby' was one selected by the gallery for this show. It is exciting for me to see my work in the gallery window, there with many other artworks painted by folks I admire!

Closed on Sundays                     

City of Hillsboro, Oregon: 2011 Plein Air Event

This weekend I participated in a annual Plein Air Event hosted by the City of Hillsboro. The weather was unseasonably rainy, but we managed to get out and paint between the sprinkles on Saturday!
This was my second year attending, and I was honored to be awarded an Honorable Mention Award for my Cityscape oil painting 'Summer Abundance'.
The three categories offered to enter were:  Cityscape, Landscape, and Figurative. This was the first year the Jackson Bottom Wetlands had been included, a perfect addition to the event, I felt!

Above is a photo of Myself and nationally recognized artist, Kitty Wallis. Kitty was the judge for the event big event.  The reception and award ceremony at the Walters Cultural Arts Center was a first class affair with live music, wine tasting, and a delicious catered mid-afternoon lunch set out on The Green.

More Practice!

Practiced painting a scene with a covered bridge in it today, what do ya think? After I decided to let it sit, and had begun putting my tools away,  shadows appeared. As the clouds drifted above, the trees shadows danced across the ground, which revealed just so much more that could be added!
This painting was done with only one size of brush, as I am trying to learn to control the paint I am working with.  Anyway, I was happy the afternoon was so pleasant outdoors today.

    5x7 oil          untitled           M.Vander Shaaf

Lavender Festival Art Show in Yamhill, Oregon

The Yamhill Lavender Art Show this weekend has so much promise, I am lucky to have decided to participate a second year! 

Lavender & Clouds

Heading out to do a final plein air painting for the Lavender Festival, I braced myself for what I wondered might be a rainy day.  My worries were all for not. By the time I made it to my destination, the overhead cloud cover became increasingly light and airy. So the sky had my attention, even tho the purpose was to capture the lavender. Well, I did have fun with this, and just let the painting be 'about' the clouds.
 I intended to stay to see how the evening color looked, and had planned to set it into the painting for highlights and to add volume, but the wind became swift and then, well, to capture that I would have ended up with a totally different painting. I like what I captured, and decided to keep it calm!

5x7 Oil        'Afternoon Splendor'        MVS

Sanding Time!

Inspired by Celeste and all her moxie, I have decided to try and recycle an old acrylic painting canvas. This might have been a task wrought with nerves and unfamiliarity for some, but for me, it was as though a natural instinct had been awakened. They say 'art is life',  and today I see past lesson from life in my art.

A Time to Visit

I went to Schoolhouse Lavender Farm today, and below is the composition I came home with. It is a challenge, to decide how to visually represent a place. All I could 'see' were these two very tall trees growing at the edge of the lavender field, with a garden shed sitting in between. So I accepted the visual challenge.

7x5 Oil      'A Time to Visit'     MVS

Northwest Summer

July is here, and I find tremendous joy in just being along the riverbanks, soaking up the sensation of life.

6 x 6 Oil           'Oregon Summer'        by Marcia Vander Schaaf