Just A Gaggle Of Silly Geese

WHAT GROWS DOWN WHEN IT GROWS UP?-  A goose of course!  

I also learned something new today....a GAGGLE is equal to or greater than 5 geese so technically this painting is 3/5th's of a gaggle but saying a Gaggle of Geese is just too much fun not to have it as part of this post title.

The Neighborhood Watch Committee- REDO

This is my first completed painting of 2017 and it is actually a resurrected piece that I painted in 2011 when I didn't know much better. There was just so much about my treatment of the background and foreground that I didn't like.  I've been ITCHING to take a paint brush to it for quite some time now and last week decided to go for it.

There is always an element of anxiety when trying to repaint a large portion of a painting.  I pretty much painting out every part except for 2 of the 3 geese.  The goose on the left had to have his neck straightened to allow for the fence post and morning glories to be added.

The original 2011 painting of "The Neighborhood Watch Committee"

I think my redo makes my trio of trouble here a much more solid composition and goes perfectly with the rest of my "Down Country Roads" series that all feature country scenes with a wooden fence post covered in blue morning glories.  Since I have an upcoming solo library show in March of this year I have a goal of adding at least 5 additional pieces to the series. One down and at least 4 more to go.   I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Original Reference Photo taken in 2011 in Marysvale, Utah

Can you tell that I'm just a little bit excited about this show?  I want you to be excited too so I will be planning some fun give-away prizes as the time grows closer. 
If you are at all able to come see my show I promise you won't be disappointed.  Take note of the dates and times and I hope to see you there.

Gardens, Galoshes and Gravy

"Fence Post Rendezvous"

I am FINISHED!!!! And I finished this piece just in time to enter it in the Elks Helldorado Art Show today.  It was close, down to the wire actually, but I made it and am very pleased with the final results.

  I can say that with each painting I do, I learn so much.  This piece contained several difficult elements in the composition.  The children for one and the horse for two. This is the 5th painting in a series of pieces that I have titled "Down Country Roads".  Painting these pieces has provided such therapy to me as I recall little moments in my childhood growing up in the Ozarks of Central Missouri.

It has been my desire, with each piece I paint, to capture your imagination, strike a sweet chord with your own childhood memories or tell an interesting visual story that grabs your attention.

My mother always had a large garden plot that she put out vegetables in each spring and then we would reap the benefits come summer as we would start the harvesting the best tasting produce you can imagine.  The memory of the taste of fresh snapped green beans and tiny new potatoes cooked up with a piece of ham in mom's old cast iron skillet still makes my mouth water today.  I've made that comfort dish numerous times for my family but it has just never been the same.  Mom would tell us kids to go out to the garden and pick green beans, radishes, cucumbers, squash or tomatoes to add to our dinner that most often consisted of a fried meat of some kind, mashed potatoes and gravy.

I can also remember that I always had a pair of rubber boots to wear to protect my shoes from the snow, slush and deep mud.  For the area to be so green there must be lots of rain.  Way more rain that we have here in Las Vegas.  Most of us can barely justify owning an umbrella let alone buying full on rain gear for our children.  We also called those rubber boots "galoshes" and I remember having red ones that matched a red raincoat and hat with little yellow daisies printed on it.  I was quite stylish as I made my way to school in the rain.

In keeping with my other pieces in the series, I added the blue morning glories and tall grass along with several hidden creatures.  See if you can find two tiny baby cotton tail rabbits, a fat toad and a nest of quail eggs.  They are there, I promise.

On a personal note this piece is really special for me because I used my own grandson as model for the toddler reach in the basket to get a second carrot for the interested palomino.

I hope you enjoyed this little labor of my love and I invite you to check out the "Down Country Roads" series on my website and leave me a comment letting me know what you think.

Heading Home

Heading Home- 12 x 24 Original Acrylic

Every year at this time I turn my focus to my entries into the annual Helldorado Art Show and Rodeo that is put on by the Elks Club here in Las Vegas.  It is about the best art show I have participated in and again this year I am looking forward to adding my entries to the assortment of great Western art that I know will be there. It is a great afternoon.

In this piece that I just finished,  I am trying to capture the excitement and strong emotion felt by both horse and rider as home comes into sight.  The curious cow paused from her grazing to stare as they quickly pass by.  

Even before urging from the rider, the horse has picked up his ears and quickened his pace.  His long black mane flows outward as it begins catching the breeze as he trots down that familiar road.  There is cool water, oats and sweet alfalfa waiting inside the doors of the big red barn.  The rider knows that very soon the aroma of his dinner cooking should soon begin filling the afternoon breeze.  It was a good run  and both horse and rider have enjoyed the freedom of their time together, but now it is time to be heading home.  

To see more about this and my other work, check out my gallery on my website at  Julie Townsend Studio Gallery

Something Has Gone AFOWL in the Studio

I thought you might enjoy seeing my progression on a piece that I am almost finished with.  It's been about a 3 week process because I don't paint very steady.  A little bit here and a few minutes there is my normal studio habit.  I want to work on that this year but I find I get pretty restless and need to get up after only 20-30 minutes of painting.  I've yet to find that "zone" that other artists speak of where they paint for hours on end and late into the night.  

  

Photo 1- Initial Rendering

This is my first rendering that I did in colored pencil.  It is certainly not a fine piece of artwork but here I'm not really looking for detail as much as a feel and mapping out some of the composition.  I knew I wanted it to be about a crowing rooster on a wooden rail fence with an old wagon wheel.  The piece also had to have the signature morning glories that I have painted into the three other pieces in this "Down Country Roads" series. (Photo 1)

Photo 2-Rough Blocking in of the composition

This next photo is now of me blocking in the main elements of the composition.  I had to repaint that fence at some point because I realized I had made the classic mistake of letting it drift upward and I needed it to be straight.  I pulled out the trusty straight edge and got it back on track.  The background took me sometime to work out.  I finally decided on a the distant ruins of a barn and I think that was a good choice here.  Because I'm working with the canvas in a vertical position, I have a lot of depth to fill in the background. (Photo 2)

Photo 3- Adding Focal elements

With this photo you can see I've straighten the fence line and now begun focusing on the wagon wheel.  This proves to be a really challenge because I want it to have the illusion of leaning against the fence and so my perspective isn't straight on.  I'm not a draftsman or architect so getting the wheel to appear correct and balanced is an issue.  I choose to let it go off the page because it really needed to be that large in comparison to the fence post to look realistic.  I still think it may be too small but that is the difficulty I often face when painting a number of random items from reference photos that are not in the same setting.  (Photo 3)

Photo 4- Adding flowers, grasses and foreground hens

Now we are getting into the final elements of the composition.  I have decided the best thing to do to handle my lack of skill at painting circular wheel and spokes is to have an old board also leaning up against the fence with a healthy growth of beautiful morning glories.  All in all I'm pretty sure I made the right decision there.  I have also begun blocking in the two hens in the foreground. (Photo 4)

Photo 5- Rendering of details to add

This is a little rendering I did of what I had in mind of adding to my painting.  I wanted a couple of chicks fighting over a juicy worm for breakfast.  The sketch has also been added to my greeting card designs and I've matted and framed the original.  The resourceful artist and accountant in me will not let a good sketch go to waste lying in a forgotten portfolio but rather try to turn it into a future revenue source. (Photo 5)

Photo 6-Still blocking in the composition and adding depth

In this photo you can see I have blocked in the chicks and added more layers to the hens and depth to the morning glories and foliage.  (Photo 6)

Photo 7- And this is what it looks like today

 So here we are today and I'm entering into the final stages of this painting.  Did I mention that this canvas is 24 x 36"?  That is a rather large piece and so it does take sometime to work your way to the bottom.  Now I'm obligated to focus on all the details that still need to be added to make this piece really pop.  With a little effort I'm hopeful that this piece will be finished by the weekend and soon be available on my website.  I've taken you from "What the heck were you thinking" to "This might just work after all" to finally "I'm Lov'in it" all in 7 photos.  That is the normal progression for me as an artist.  It progresses from Awful-to Awkward-to Amazing!  Well at least we hope for the AMAZING part.

If you enjoyed my little assemblage of progression photos, leave me a comment below and take a minute to check out my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com.   

Fence Posts

Most of my childhood memories involve growing up near the small town of  Eldon, Missouri.  We lived in a very small mobile home positioned 1/2 mile down a country gravel road off Hwy 52 on 20 acres of wooded property.  20 acres is a goodly amount of land for any child to explore and have plenty of childhood adventures.  Our house was tiny, cramped and stuffy so I recall that I spent as much time as I could outside. I had my own clubhouse at the edge of the clearing that we call our backyard.  I loved spending time there.

Our property was fenced very much like shown here in my painting.  Old fence posts strung with 3 strands of barbed wire.  The line of fence posts that bordered the gravel road that accessed our property were always painted white because my mother liked everything in the front yard, including 3 feet of the base portion of many of the trees, recycled rubber tire planters, well house, porch and our swing set all shining under many layers of white paint.  I think she would have had me paint all the rocks in the driveway if she had thought about it. 

The rest of the fence posts that separated our property from Old Man Shulte's pasture were left to succumb to the elements and slowly decay giving way to the character of the wood.  Knots and flaws in the wood probably go unnoticed by most but in this piece I wanted to show how this post still is standing strong enough to be home to many growing things.  Strong enough to still create that a barrier between the field and their grassy home.

This new painting I've just completed reminds me of home.  In the summer everything about Missouri is dominated with the color green.  There is just so much vegetation there and living in that vegetation is vast number of small creatures living their lives out in the search of food and trying not to become food themselves.  I call this piece, "Life at the Fence Post" and it is 36x24 inches and painted in acrylic.

If you like my work then please click on the link above called gallery or visit my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

Slaying Dragons

This week I decided to paint a piece inspired by an adorable photo of my grandson taken by his dad while out on what he called "An Adventure".  It brings me back to the time when I had 3 little boys of my own and I can say emphatically that I loved being the mother of little boys.  Their energy and their adventure loving spirit would often land them into some sort of trouble.  There were moments that stand out in my memory and are not easily forgotten.  Like the time I came to work to discover that the jar of escaped slugs had all taken residence in my purse or when I found my best cooking pans being used as shovels to haul dirt from their diggings in the empty lot.

Yes, little boys want nothing more than to have a warm sunny day to explore the nature around them.  The protector, hunter and brave warrior characteristics that God instilled in their very DNA comes out in full view just like it did this day with my grandson when presented with only a field of grass and a stick.  

The action in the reference photo was fascinating and I knew I had to try to capture it.  My grandson out with his dad traipsing through a field of tall grass and you can see the spirit of adventure all over his face.   I added the stick into the composition but I'm pretty sure he would pick up one on his own very soon after this photo was snapped.  Its a natural action for 4 year old boys to pick up a stick and turn it into a gun or sword.  

I called this piece "Slaying Dragons" because I could imagine that his look of intent is the result of his mission to seek out some hidden enemy or foe as he carefully parts the grass in advance of his path.  Intently looking for movement or a spark of color that will alert him to the illusive dragon that most likely lies in wait just a few steps further up the path. Sword or dagger in hand ready to battle to prove his braveness, this little boy will grow up to someday be the strong protector of his own family.   

"Slaying Dragons"- 10x10 Original Acrylic on wide gallery wrapped canvas

Watch Grass Grow

I have blogged a number of times about my painting lessons that I am taking with a very talented local artist by the name of Lily Adamczyk.  If you have followed any of my former blog posts you know that I have been painting only for the past 2 years and have been using acrylics up to this point.  Taking lessons from an accomplished artist and learning a new medium like oils can open one up to a new level of critiquing that facebook friends or family dare not provide.  In their defense 1. they probably don't want to hurt my feelings and 2. even with all my bad habits I demonstrate a level of skill they may not have themselves.  

I chose for the subject of my first solo oil painting a field with three longhorns.  Well, actually two longhorns and a calf.  We took this photo somewhere along the road while traveling in Nebraska.  I loved the look these bovine gave us as we forced my 14 year old niece to stand in a field of corn so that we could take her picture. You don't come across too many fields of corn in the Nevada desert so we made her pose all across the countries bread basket states.  Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't seen too many longhorns in Las Vegas either.  Regardless of what crazy things we were doing to make them stare at us like this, I loved this photo and knew immediately that I wanted to try and paint it.

So as I began painting out my scene on the blank canvas, I couldn't really get around the fact that my subject was surrounded by a great deal of green grass.  I decided to split that up with a small stream running across and to have a distant barn on the horizon.  As I posted this painting on facebook, I received a number of compliments about the way I painted my grass.  So, I proudly carried my partially completed work to my most recent painting lesson so that Lily could get a close up look at my masterpiece.  I was sure the she would like the way I handled the long grass in this composition because I tried to follow her instructions on the painting I had done previously that I call "Memories of the Road Home".  Boy was I WRONG!!! 

Lily's first comment to me was that she see me making this mistake all the time and she is going to break me of my bad habits, especially when it comes to painting grass and having things springing up from the edges of my canvas.  I guess that meant that she didn't like the tree I added in the corner.

The first correction she had me do was to add more contrast to the grass areas by adding brown squiggly lines in different directions. After these are completed, I'm going to come back in with a light ochre to simulate the grass that has gone to seed in my photo.

 
With this close up, you can see that I have started adding the contrast to the grass and have worked to DEFINE the BOVINE by darkening the shadows and highlighting the areas that are being impacted by the sunlight.  I can honestly say that this action has resulted in a marked improvement.  Lily is always right.

This is close up of an area that I have not yet added the contrast and I can see what a difference this makes in the overall feeling of the grass.  

I was thinking about the fact that for so many year I have not viewed nature with "ARTIST EYES" and now I am trying to interrupt what my memory remembers it to look like.  The randomness and imprefections that exists in nature is missing from my pieces because I'm trying to interrupt it and not really obeserve it.  What I really need to do to improve my paintings, is get outside and literally "WATCH GRASS GROW".

Nosey Girls- 18 x 24 (Oil)