Garden of the Lion - with Process Shots!

Garden of the Lion, 18 x 18, oil on canvas, L. Daniel © 2020

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Revisiting this handsome lion with bigger brushes and larger canvas was so much fun. I love this guardian of the flowers. This one is fresh off the easel and available now at the Anderson Fine Art Gallery in St. Simons Island, Georgia! 

Here are process shots to show how it came together...

BLOCK IN - SKETCH

I began with an underdrawing (ultramarine and burnt siena). This allows me to check placement and scale of all the elements, and its a good place to make adjustments to the basic design before I get too far along.

BLOCK IN - VALUES

I established a "roadmap" for my values by indicating the shadow areas of the scene. Putting my darks in early and accurately gives me a structure to build on. I also stained the canvas with spots of alizarin crimson as place holders for my geraniums that would be painted last. 

STARTING WITH THE DARKS

Working dark to light allowed me to hold on to values. It is also the best way to build a painting... so much easier to add lighter colors on top of a strong base.  

ADDING THE LIGHTS

The key to keeping clean color is to use a light touch with subsequent layers. With alla prima painting, it can be tricky and "scrubbing" turns everything to mud. Beware.

Final Marks and Highlights

Once all value areas were established, I was able to suggest detail with final marks and highlights using slight value shifts. So important to save these until the very end, when everything else is working. I also painted the geraniums last to keep their marks clean and fresh. 

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Click Here to register for PleinAir LIVE!

(I'm honored to be teaching in the Pre-Event Beginner's workshop! Please look for me there!)

Crane Courtyard and PleinAir Live!

Crane Courtyard, 18 x 18, oil on canvas, L. Daniel © 2020

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This larger work is fashioned after a smaller plein air piece I shared a few weeks ago. Crane's Cottage, at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel in Georgia, is the site of many weddings and special events. This intimate courtyard where lunch is sometimes served, offers a spot to get away, and have a "moment". I enjoyed my moment there immensely and found myself going back to the little scene, wanting to linger at this spot a bit longer. Painting it larger was just the ticket. 

It is newly available at the Anderson Fine Art Gallery in St. Simons Island, Georgia!!

And now for some BIG, BIG NEWS...

I am thrilled to be participating as an instructor in the upcoming PleinAir Live event! I will be presenting in the Pre-Event One-day Beginners Workshop, offering "the basics" to beginners who want to learn to paint outdoors. It will be a lot of fun, hope to see you there!

Click HERE for more info and to register!

Lacecap Hydrangea Blossom

Lace-cap Hydrangea Blossom, 6 x 8, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2012

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I do love hydrangeas and the Lace-cap is one of my favorite varieties. When I see them growing in a garden (or anywhere for that matter) I am captivated by their magical, delicate forms. Nature is a constant wonder, don't you think?

White Picket Fence and Happily Ever After

White Picket Fence, 6 x 8, Oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2012,  SOLD

What is it about white picket fences that make me feel settled and peaceful? At home? Maybe that is just my state of mind right now... this past weekend my son and his beautiful bride were married in Long Island. They are absolutely perfect for each other and the whole weekend was full of joy. My heart is overflowing. 

Here are some special moments from the day...

Mr. and Mrs. Rawson Daniel 

Happily ever after...

Garden Color - Door County Plein Air

Garden Color (Quick Draw), 9 x 12, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2012, SOLD

The Door County Plein Air Festival ends with a "Quick Draw" event. This is where all the artists paint for two hours in one public, advertised location (about a 6 block radius). It starts and ends with a blow horn (imagine brushes poised in hands at the beginning and a mad dash to frame wet paintings in the back of cars at the end). A live auction of all the work immediately follows, right there, on the spot. Nerve-racking? Yes! But quite a finale it is! And most importantly, this auction and the whole festival raises funding for the Peninsula School of Art which offers fabulous art classes all year round. It's a very worthy cause. 

My week in Door County was wonderful... I was so, so honored to meet and paint with each of the incredible artists who participated. It was truly inspiring. Many thanks to everyone at the school who made it all come together!

Here I am, concentrating during the quick paint...

Bidders and Auctioneer getting ready for the live auction.

My amazingly supportive husband, Bill, came for the final weekend festivities

and our high school friends, Terri and Steve, joined us on Saturday.

Thanks for your support, guys! :)

Waiting

Waiting, 8 x 6, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2012, SOLD

This sculpture of a young woman graces the corner of a lovely Georgia garden I was privileged to teach in. The girl is pausing, like she is waiting for someone or something. As the sun shone down from behind her, it seemed to be lighting the path of her gaze. Quite stunning. 


I did have a great time in those gardens!!! 


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Garden Sparkle

Garden Sparkle, 8 x 6, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2012

Gift to workshop garden host.

I would like to report that southern hospitality is a real and wonderful thing! This is another private garden that I was more than welcomed into for my workshop at St. Simons Island. When it rained at the end of our painting time, our kind hostess invited us to gather up on her porch for our critique. She not only tolerated the wet paintings sitting all around, she also came out and joined us for the discussion! Many thanks to each of our generous garden owners!

BTW - this is not the painting I am demonstrating below. Didn't love that one. :) This one is the result of a collaboration of ideas with Karen Rose. Our discussion had to do with creative editing and taking the liberty to reorganize elements. I ended up with so many good sketches, I just had to paint it! Thanks Karen! 

Another demo underway. 

Critique on the porch.

Thanks to Pat McCormick for photos!

Garden Gifts

Entryway Blessing, 8 x 6, oil on panel, L. Daniel © 2012

Gift to workshop garden host.

I am finally back from my work/play vacation in St. Simons Island, Georgia. The "work/play" idea is an oxymoron, unless you love your work! :) I had a wonderful time but it was impossible to stay current with my technology tasks. The play part of every day prevented me from cataloguing and blogging. BUT... I'm back home now and will finally photograph and post the plein air work I did while I was there. Please stay tuned.

For now, here are a few more demo shots from my workshop...

Line and Mass Block-in for "Entryway Blessing" demo.

Thanks to Pat McCormick for photo.

Workshop participants watching demo in garden entryway.

 What a great group I had!! Thanks to Karen Rose for photo.

Hidden Corridor - Demo

Hidden Corridor, 7 x 10 workshop demo, L. Daniel © 2012

My workshop on St. Simons Island was called "Garden Vignettes En Plein Air", and it involved painting in various private gardens around the island. A garden is such a personal space and it's always a pleasure to be invited "in". This is the demo I did on the first day. One of my participants and fabulous painter, Claudia Hammer, took the following pictures that show my process. Thank you Claudia!

I began by blocking in my composition using a mix of French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna.

Once my composition was established, I focused on all the darkest darks in the upright planes (everything vertical: bushes, trees, pottery, etc). Since there is no sky in this piece, the ground plane had the lightest lights which I saved until last (the actual ground, the tops of the hedges, everything parallel to the sky). 

The day began with an overcast sky, but the sun popped out just in time. It lit everything up and cast some great shadows through the garden that I was able to include in the painting. (I love it when that happens!)

After all the areas were massed in I painted back into them, breaking them up with subtle value and temperature shifts. At the very end I added the highest highlights. Btw - the marks below the painting are just little side demos that happened while I was painting and explaining my process. :)

Hidden Corridor, the final demo piece, 7 x 10, L. Daniel 

Workshop Announcement - come paint with me!

Back Gate, L. Daniel, 6 x 8 with 3" gold frame, SOLD

More work available at Anderson Gallery

This spring, I am offering a plein air workshop on St. Simons Island, GA. 

If you are interested in joining in, here is the information:

Garden Vignettes En Plein Air

May 17-19, 2012

Thursday-Saturday, from 9am-4pm 

Anderson Fine Art Gallery

St. Simon's Island, GA

$375

Workshop Description: Develop oil painting skills through painting en plein air at a variety of private and public gardens. Emphasis will be on catching light and shadows, seeing color, achieving depth with perspective, editing and simplifying forms and capturing a sense of place. Each session will include a demo and a critique.   

To sign up:

Please contact Mary Anderson

 Anderson Fine Art Gallery

912-634-8414

Garden Embrace

Garden Embrace, L. Daniel, 6 x 8, SOLD

I am quite drawn to the intimacy of private gardens, so today's paintout with Plein Air Austin was a perfect location for me. We met up at the Barr Mansion, which is a beautiful Victorian home from the 1800's that is now a popular wedding venue outside of Austin. It is surrounded by well-tended gardens from which this statue greets the morning each day. The unabashed praise of this young gardener is simply contagious. 


I can't help but think of these words from "Morning Has Broken", the old gaelic melody sung by Cat Stevens...

"...Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's recreation of the new day..."

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Lily Dance

Lily Dance, L. Daniel, 6 x 8, SOLD

This group of dancing lilies absolutely sparkled in the morning sunlight. They were a little parade-like, I thought, all decked out as they were. This would be another in a series that I could entitle, "Other People's Gardens"...  a favorite subject of mine. :)


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