NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: COLORS (and color mixing)

New Hampshire Scenes:  Colors

Daybreak with a Dusting   oil   9X12    $250

Bleak November is not so bleak in New Hampshire. 

Color is there for those who choose to look. 

Putting the Sun to Bed  oil 9X12   $250

Wake in time for the sunrise on a clear day, ( not difficult now that we're on standard time), chase sunsets, search out  the occasional blueberry bush that still has it's scarlet leaves, look closely at a tree trunk, at the mist, into the distance. 

At this time of year I look for the burgundy leaves left on the oaks, the lighter and bleaching out leaves of the beeches, and the occasional fern at the edge of the forest that has decided to "try again" and adds its touch of bright spring green. 

Color is every where, one of the joys of life.
Colors are FUN…
lively, brash, outspoken, 
subtle, seductive, 
calm, shy, secretive.

Color… Find it outdoors, and, for an extra dose, visit an artist's studio. 

Pastelist have hundreds of sticks.
I won't count mine, but my friend  Beth teased me years ago about how many sets I had, and I have more now.)

The color miracle, though, is seasoned plein air painter using oil paints. This is the painter who goes out with white and the primaries…Blue, Red and Yellow (perhaps with both a "cool" and  "warm" of each primary.)

BLUE BLU BLEU!  oil abstract   9x12

Think of it…

ALL WE SEE, the colors of the rainbow, are variations of those three primaries!  

All of nature!    EVERYTHING!

And to "switch to oils," or merely add them to my repertoire, I had to learn to mix those colors?  Not that I hadn't done charts to search out subtleties, or even had to mix and layer colors in my pastel work, but a systematic development of charts was on order…part of what I worked on during my "hiatus." 

The above paintings were two of the earliest when I was finished working on my "charts,"

RED ROSSO ROUGE!   oil abstract   9X 12

But I had great fun with each of the primary colors as I went…

For collectors, art lovers, nature lovers,

Red, Yellow and Blue are the base,

but consider the myriad possibilities!

Think of the subtleties! The shades!

The variety! 

The differences!

And, 

Maybe,

(not to wax philosophic, 

but I can't help it)

in a disagreement 

or argument with someone,

remember that it is often the great variety,

of possibilities (and opinions)

that create the amazing world we have...

YELLOW GIALLO JAUNE!  oil abstract   9X12

There is definitely room 

for more than one shade of anything! 

SO, 

If November is bleak, 

and December through March…

find an artist's studio to visit… 

Guaranteed color! 

OR, 

In MY neighborhood?  (Freedom, NH)

Visit my studio

Or, for a very quick dose of color, 
visit my   website ,

 Contact me  at    barbaramcevoy@me.com with questions and/or comments.

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Painting (more) Trees with Oils

Windblown on Kearsage  oil    24x36  $700

Painting with Oils: More Trees

Since my "hiatus from blogging," what has changed? 

One major event is that I have switched into oils! Not exclusively. I have dabbled off and on in oils and had painted over "Windblown on Kearsage,"  never getting it the way I wanted. 

Remember my dream, to paint big trees? A 24 x 36 inch oil was bigger than I'd been working on in pastels, but I clearly needed to learn techniques that I was only guessing at. 

The fun of painting IS that there is always more to learn, more to experiment with, and, as important for an outdoor person, more ways to see what lies before us, 
metaphorically, 
historically (yes, art history covers more than written history! Think about it!), spiritually !

imaginatively ! 
and of course, 
physically!

Somwhere between layer three and four of Kearsarge, each layer being almost a complete paint over, I did decide to get really serious about learning and improving my oil techniques, concentrating on various "areas," such as brushwork, color mixing, values, atmosphere.
Brushwork (see below practice examples) and color mixing (a future post) improved Kearsarge considerably, but I expect, in fact I know, I have more to learn. 

Brushwork was the first area calling for practice. Shapes of trees are as varied as people, especially noticeable where trees edge a field or stand sentinel style along a ridge. Being almost winter when I took the photos for my two silhouette studies, leaves were gone from the deciduous trees and the "undercover" was definitely under cover, retired for the season. This line of pines had caught my attention one evening as the dusky sky accented their trunks and branches and a faint breeze caused them to bend and whisper at the hush of approaching dark. The perfect subject for tree study and brush strokes.

Whispering Pines  oil  26 x 18   sold

Most of "Whispering Pines" trees were painted separately for practice, or in smaller clumps and the painting became a labor of love which sold to a hiker who loved seeing the pines on the NH mountainsides, particularly Mount Washington, as much as I enjoyed seeing and painting them.

The second companion piece had to be different but still reflect New Hampshire Scenes. 

Ethnic Neighborhood oil 24X20   $250

Scouting for a different type of tree line, I realized my own yard had a tree line silhouette that reflected the types of trees found in the foothills and pond areas of the Whites, so my own "Lily," the great red pine I mention in "First Friends," became the star and matriarch of 
"Ethnic Neighborhood." 

 For other paintings of Lily and Friends, and NH woodlands go to my website barbaramcevoyartist.com. 

Contact me at barbaramcevoy@me.com with questions and comments.

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: Trees again and still

Trees….Again and Still

Into the Woodland Hush
24X36   Oil on Canvas   $700

Returning, returning after over a year's hiatus.

Reviewing my blog and website 
after such a long absence begs the question, 
Where to start again? In the now?
What has changed? A Lot!  
What hasn't changed? A Lot! 
Mentally, I have composed many blogs, partially, 
with nothing to show for the thoughts.
Physically, I've been painting, painting, painting
and adventuring In the US and abroad!
My theme song of "I love it here (in New Hampshire) 
still holds true. New Hampshire, 
particularly "the Whites,"
is a wonderful base for landscape artists, me!
But when it comes to writing blogs, 
as I struggle with what to say and how to say it, 
my heart is saying, "I'd rather be painting." 
In fact, much of last year and prior have been spent 
painting, drawing, reading about painting and drawing, 
and woking on simplifying my life 
to make more time for painting

Simplify, Simplify…quote from a New Englander, of course. 
(Henry David Thoreau) who also said, 

Hikers Delight
9X12 Pastel   $150.

"Follow your dreams."  And so I have been.

Even before I moved to NH,
one of my dreams, 
that took a bit of time and education to accomplish, 
was to "Paint Big Trees."
And so, my trees on canvas have grown, 
but may still grow more.
What has changed? I've added oils to my repertoire.
What hasn't changed? My first six blogs, pre-NH, 
were about trees I painted. And I'm still painting them.

A hiker's delight is both the trail to the ledge and the respite 
at the top, or the ledge, when the view is panoramic.



Check out my website at BarbaraMcEvoy Artist.Com
for more 

and/or e-mail me at BarbaraMcEvoyArtist@me.com with questions and comments.

It feels good to be back on line!