Pub Door and a pastoral...

Pub Door - oil on canvas - 30 x 30"

I've been working my way through different stages of several paintings this weekend so feeling happy about keeping ahead of the eightball(so to speak).  After a wonderful few days hiking and visiting friends in Vermont, on Sunday Dave and I made the most of our quiet weekend. I enjoyed a wonderful painting day listening to some gorgeously inspiring opera music, with the sun streaming in the south window of my studio. Dave went for a motorbike ride, so he was having fun and so was I. 
I was going to take my Pub Door painting to KGSGallery along with 2 other paintings on Saturday for their December exhibition but it wasn't quite dry and I'm glad I didn't rush it.  I had a chance to resolve it a little more, and now it reads to my satisfaction.
My arm is still quite tender, but I'm taking it gently and trying not to squeeze with force on the brushes when I'm rinsing them...that motion is just the worst for aggravating my tennis elbow.

Greener Pastures - 9 x 12 - SOLD

During my classes I illustrate various concepts about painting design through demos, so I start many small paintings for this purpose and then leave them lying around on the shelf unfinished.  Yesterday I thought why not develop some a little further and see where they go.  Here's a pastoral acrylic in progress...(I still want to strengthen the shadow under the white cow).  This lesson focused on 'shapes within the painting'.  I painted the cows upside down to illustrate the brain's ability to read shape more accurately when looking at it as an abstract element and not what it actually is(in this case, a cow).  
I jump started the season yesterday and made my Christmas cakes. I have to do them quite far in advance because they need lots of time to steep in brandy wrapped in cheesecloth (about 4 weeks), then I package them up and include them in my family's Christmas parcels.  Smelling them cooking brought me right back to my mums kitchen in December! xo