Day 138

Wonder Dog, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

NFS

Cloud the Wonder Dog, that is. This was painted from one of my favorite photos of him, taken three years ago. He has a few more grey hairs now, but will always be my muse and joy, and best little bud. 

I'm going to be gone all next week at Karin Jurick's workshop. I will be painting every day, and we'll catch up here when I get back. Have a wonderful week, and thanks for following.

Day 137

Buckets, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

I know I'll be painting subjects that are new to me at the workshop I'm taking next week, so I decided to continue my warm up with another beach scene, this time outside of my comfort zone (no dogs!) Like yesterday, this too was painted from a Wet Canvas reference image library photo, since I don't have any photos like this of my own yet. I was drawn to the primary colors of the buckets and blue suit, and the action of the girls. I think the water looks a little better in this one than in yesterdays.

Day 136

Orange Toy, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Next week I'm traveling to Hilton Head Island to take a workshop from one of my art heros - Karin Jurick. I decided to warm up with a beach scene - something that I'm not familiar painting at all. In fact, you're looking at my first ever seascape. (Of course there would be a dog in it!) I found this image on Wet Canvas .com, in their reference image library. 

Day 135

Polar Musings, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Click for purchase information.

I took the reference photo for this painting at the Omaha zoo, but I like to think of this bear as living free in the arctic somewhere, surrounded by snow and ice, thinking about dinner, or philosophy, or some other pleasant thoughts. This painting may be one of my new favorites. 

Day 134

Westie Walk, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

I wanted to do a color version of day 129 to see how close I could get to matching the values in the study. I turned the finished painting black and white to compare:

The original value study: 

I'd say I came pretty close with the dog, but the shadows and the road are darker. All in all, not too shabby. I like the stronger values better, they really set off the white dog.

Day 133

Cloud Run Value Study, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

And here we have my dog Cloud doing his best greyhound impression. Once again, this piece was great practice on judging values of white fur in shadow. And this ends Value Study Week. It was really fun for me, hope you enjoyed it, too. 

Day 132

Goat Itch Value Study, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

The reference photo for this painting was taken by my friend Pat VanOutry. We visited a dairy goat farm a year and a half ago and both got great photos, however, I really loved this one of hers, and she was nice enough to let me paint it. So it sat on my "to paint" list for all this time. I decided there was no time like the present, as it would make a great candidate for Value Study Week. White fur in shadow can be tricky - I have the tendency to want to paint it lighter than it is. 

I really enjoyed this study, and look forward to painting a color version. Thanks again, Pat!

Day 131

Sunset Value Study, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Because some days you just need to do something quick...

Day 130

Boomer Value Study, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

I'd like to introduce you to my 19 year old cat, Boomer AKA The Queen of the Universe. Boomy is the longest I've ever had a pet, and we've been through a lot together. Through it all, she constantly reminds us how lucky we are that she allows us to live with her Royal Self. I don't think I've ever met a cat with more of an attitude. In case you were wondering, she is named after Boomer Esiason, back when he was playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, which will give you an idea of how old she really is!

I approached this painting a little differently - instead of trying to get the details down from the get-go, I blocked in the painting using only four values, then went back in and refined it, adding the details and pulling out the darkest darks and lightest lights. Much less fussy, much more loose, and a really fun way of working. 

Day 129

Westie Value Study, 6 x 6 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

One of the things I wanted to work on with this daily painting challenge is strengthening my values. No, not those kind of values. Those ones are all right (depending on who you ask, of course.) I'm talking about lightness and darkness - the whole range of tones from black to white. 

What better way to practice value than to forget about color for a while and paint some studies in black and white? I had so much fun with this one, that I hereby declare (in my best Mayor Quimby voice) this week to be Value Study Week.

Day 128

Steve Reclining, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

40 minute pose at the figure drawing group. Not as inspiring a pose as the first time I painted Steve (or as my friend calls him, "Socrates"), but he is just plain fun to draw or paint regardless. 

Day 127

Shepherd Study, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

German Shepherds are such gorgeous dogs. I got a photo of this guy last weekend, and wanted to do a quick study. Another thing I wanted to do was to play around with the background and see how these colors and strong shapes worked with a head study like this. I kind of like it. 

Day 126

Ice, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

Click for purchase information.

This is what I wanted to paint most during the Malvern Plein Air festival. Sure, there were a lot of neat buildings and gorgeous landscapes around, but this ice cooler on main street kept calling to me. I just loved the way the red lettering looked with the turquoise wall. However, the only way to have this view was to set up across the street. I got all ready to paint, when car after car parked in the space in front of the ice cooler, completely blocking my view. As busy as main street was that day, I knew it would be an exercise in frustration to even try to start painting, so I snapped a quick photo when the parking spot was clear, so I could paint it at home. 

Just in case my painting didn't put this song in your head, I'll put it there now. **evil laugh**

Day 125

Platte River Bridge, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

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This was my view when I faced the other direction during our plein air trip along the Platte River. (See yesterday's post if you missed it.) Every time I've been across this bridge over the years, I look at the houses along the riverbank, and it was so cool to turn the tables and be at one of those houses looking at the bridge. I painted this one in the studio the next day from a photo I took, and all the feelings I had the day before of being burnt out vanished. This piece was so much fun to paint! Of course the red truck was my favorite part, and I enjoyed pushing the colors of the water a little to make them brighter. Very happy with this piece.

Day 124

Platte River Moods, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

The plein air group met at a cabin along the banks of the Platte River last week. The Platte River is a strange beast - it's very shallow, with many little sandbar "islands." It was a beautiful day, but this was the fourth day out of the last eight that I had been plein air painting (two days at the Malvern festival, and two days with the local group), and to be honest, I was feeling pretty burnt out. Plein air is something I like to do once in a while for fun, but it's not my main focus at all. I contemplated staying home, but like I said, it was a beautiful day and I had been looking forward to painting here. 

So I painted long enough to get this study done, went for a hike in the woods, and called it a day. I was just trying to capture the light, and the shapes of the water, and some of the colors I saw. 

Day 123

Dry Spell, 8 x 10 inch oil on linen

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

SOLD

This is the second painting I did at the Corning Plein Air festival in July (2012). If you missed yesterdays post, I explain why I'm posting it now. There are picturesque scenes like this one everywhere in the countryside around Corning, Iowa, which is one of the reasons I really like this event. 

Day 122

Bell Tower, 9 x 12 inch oil on linen

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

This was painted on location in Corning, Iowa, at their plein air festival in July of this year, and was awarded 2nd place in the competition. I loved the way the afternoon light was hitting this church. The reason I'm posting it now instead of then are twofold - I needed the first 90 days to be a uniform size to fit the display I had for the 90 Days exhibit, and now I need a weeks worth of paintings in reserve for something very special coming up. So I'm posting it now. It was painted in a day, within the year, and it counts. I really love this painting, it's one of my favorite plein air pieces.

Day 121

Hillside Sumac, 6 x 8 inch oil on linen

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

This was painted during the Malvern Plein Air festival over the weekend. The evening light was gorgeous, and the sumac is coloring up beautifully right now. This painting was awarded an honorable mention.

Day 120

Check-R-Mix, 9 x 12 inch oil on linen

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

350.00 framed.

Another one painted at the plein air festival in Malvern last weekend. This is the old Botna Valley Grain Company's office building, next to their iconic grain elevator, neither of them in use anymore. I loved the old, rusted metal sign on the wall. 

Day 119

Green Dump Truck, 5 x 7 inch oil on panel

© 2012 Kathleen Coy

SOLD

I spent the weekend at a plein air festival in Malvern, Iowa. The weather was gorgeous, the scenery was beautiful, and I got to spend time with good friends. What more can you ask for? I did this little painting the last day - I was driving around and screeched to a halt when I saw this green truck in a quarry.