Time for Work after much play

I have to admit, I have been 'playing ' alot these last few months! Touring Jackson Hole, experiencing Montana for the first time, staying at Glacier National Park, exploring Cody, Wyoming, and back at Yellowstone National Park, followed by a week in the Black Hills of SD, in a quaint cabin, while reconnecting with  a dear artist friend...............whew!

Tons of photos and so much new experiences that my head is still spinning; the glorious peaks in Glacier, getting to spend a morning with wild mustangs in SD, close up photos of a bull moose near Jackson....well, so you get to experience it , too, I am posting a few of those photos.

 

...till next time. Hope you follow along and enjoy the journey.....Ruth Ann

Painting #27 ..... The Day is Done

It was a tough time choosing what to paint. Having too many ideas can be a bad thing. Everything I chose for my composition was complicated and would make a great large painting; but not one I could do justice on a small one.

I finally chose my favorite hair clips that I caught out of the corner of my eye, sitting  on my taboret. They needed a little something more and I immediately tucked in the sweet, worn moccassins that we got at the auction last week. I adore the painting for today. Made me in such a good mood...love it when a plan comes together!

The Day is Done   4 x 4"   oil on linen   

And so it is....................until tomorrow!   Thanks for looking.     Ruth Ann

30 Paintings in 30 Days!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!

Meeting interesting people is a big bonus to traveling and enjoying the incredible world we live in! I was blessed with a particular one recently at a painting workshop. Her name is Kristen. We challenged each other to paint 30 paitings in 30 days. In order to make sue we stuck to it, Kristen warned me that if I missed a day, she got a free painting of mine! It is on!

Allowing myself just over an hour, by setting the alarm on my phone, here is what painting #1 looks like. I am such a detail person, this is really going to be a huge challenge. I am hoping it will train my eye to observe better; all the little nuances of change in value and temperature.


I also needed a place for them to dry and to be able to isolate them in my cluttered chaos I call "Studio", so I gathered scrap from the garage and made something along the line of what Carol Marine said her husband, David, made for her new studio in Oregon. Thanks, Carol!

I would rather that it was darker and more nuetral but the price was right so it will do for now. I knew I didn't dare take precious time from painting , like I normally do, and then never seem to have time to paint!

Today was a HUGE success, in the fact that I showed up and did the work. ( a friend told me I have a million excuses, so I am trying to ignore them)

I have so much to learn and so little time left, so I need to focus. I would love hearing how many of you manage your time better to actually do things that bring you pleasure and joy!

It has been awhile since I last blogged so there is quite a bit of catching up to do. This has been a magnificent adventure year of travel for me., from cross country to the Grand Canyon, Sante Fe, Taos, Sedona (which I fell in love with) to the east including Niagara Falls and the Hudson River Valley along with the Catskill Mountains!

Denver is coming right up, so there will be lots to share from there, I am sure.

I have been plein air painting most of this time, so I will add photos of some of those art pieces. Here I am recently doing a painting of downtown St. Mary's to promote a show that I am in there.

If you would like to follow as I catch up on things and add to the blog, select the "FOLLOW " icon above...

Travel & vacations

I sure did enjoy the travel and vacation, but I am ready to leave again, with all this cold in Ohio!

Meyer Real Estate, in Gulf Shores, Alabama has some of the best deals going on rentals in Florida and Alabama, along the coast. I'm really thinking we should rent a beach house for our 40th anniversary that is happening this July. I have stayed at several houses directly on the beach, at the ocean, but never in the really hot time of the year . So usually I am just walking along the shore, getting my feet wet and wiggling my toes in the warm sand. I would love to just be able to walk out to the hot sand and let it massage my feet then cool them off in the water, and be able to leave my window open at night to be lulled to a deep slumber by the rhythmic ocean waves!!!

I remember how much fun it was to lay on a air mattress and ride the waves back in! Relaxation doesn't get any better than that! (Just don't make the mistake of getting water in your mouth and then swallowing!)

The first time I did that at the ocean, I just about choked to death on the salt.Anyway, if you are going to visit that area, or buy, be sure to check out http://www.meyerre.com/ they will treat you right! And their building is so beautiful you will want to take a good look around. There is great art everywhere.......outside there is a wonderful bronze sculpture of a younb boy pushing a girl in a swing. It sets just below the perfect branch of the HUGE oak tree that was saved when they remodeled.....the architect just had to redraw his plans, so as not to diturb it.

Inside you will find one of a kind art glass, scultures, oils on canvas...you name it. Each area and floor has art displayed.........a feast for the eyes. If I get the chance to return, I plan to set my easel up and do a painting or two in the arches of their courtyard.

They have some condos at Orange Beach where I stayed and you could watch the dolphins swim by almost daily. You always know they are out there when you see a lot of birds staying over one small area of the water.

There seems to be a sandbar not far from the beach that the fish get caught behind when the tide is coming in.....the dolphins follow along this sandbar, feeding as they go. Sometimes there were as many as 25-30 at a time.

I thought I would love to go out to paint today since the sun is shining but after being out just briefly, the 10 degree temperature changed my mind pronto! It will have to get closer to 30 for me to try to go out again to paint.Wonder what the temperature is at Gulf Shores today??? I can dream.........