Name that Painting!

Avera project  16x20, up for auction on August 20th!

This weekend I completed a painting that I had been asked to do for the Avera Gregory Hospital Beefsteak Banquet live auction on August 20th.   It was to be 'hills, scenery, something from around Gregory county."   So this piece was stitched together from 3-4 places very close to my home.   
Here is the beginning....a 16x20 piece of uart600, and an underwash.

I had already added some pastel in the sky by this time, the blue, but the rest is just the underpainting.   That helps get rid of the white 'holes' and gets things moving much quicker.

Part of the fun is the winner gets to name the painting!  I wish I had someone help me name them all, that can be hard!   

And don't forget my Dog Days Special, where some of the proceeds of each dog portrait thru the month of August will go to the Rescues Unlimited shelter for vet bills.   Help a dog out!  

A sucker for raspberry!

Raspberry is a favorite flavor, and my daughter brought a couple of these tootsie-pops home for me.   On a whim I put one in an old baby food jar I had sitting on the window ledge.   The sun came thru and highlighted this set up and I knew it had to be painted!

This however was months (a year?) ago!   Another bonus of working small--I can get to all those 'someday' ideas!   I'm burning thru ideas daily!   Some might be done up as a larger work, but mostly I think I'm happy just letting them be what they are. 

Another side effect of this small painting, daily painting in general I suppose, is that I think about art sooo much more!   I've got art on my mind all day long!   How I'll paint that idea I have, how I'd chose for a color I see in the grasses, how that line merges with the background.....I am noticing so much more when I am riding, hiking, just doing chores.  

And it is feeling so fluid!   Often I let too much time go before I get some art time in.  Then I feel stiff and rusty.  Not today!    Altho I will be honest, doing it daily is tough!   Really hard!   I am busy like everyone else, but knowing I want to do this project has been a terrific push.   I am highly recommending it, as so many have to me!   They were right.

5x7 on black colorfix paper    "Raspberry Sucker"

ITS 2015!!!

Are you all sleeping in?  with critters, that is something that doesn't happen.   Kind of a trade off, you get to have the milk, ride the horse, gather the eggs, but you have to do so timely, daily, no matter what.  I think its a pretty fair trade tho.!

I did not party as I did days past, I didn't even have anyone over.   In fact, my midnight kiss wasn't even offered with much enthusiasm as he was chewing on a rawhide.   Some date.

My New Year's Eve date.

I did do what has become my normal Eve event--clean and oil my easel, then paint.   Somehow this is a very soothing thing for me, like a promise to myself to honor my art spirit.   I love the smells of the murphy's soap and the lemon oil, and the fresh start on day one of the new year.

For my last piece of 2014, I chose a scene I've had stored on my camera card a few months now, and it wasn't so much about painting the place, but about the color.   I was riding my horse Copper, heading home and it was getting cold and some weather was setting in.   I only use a smaller point-n-shoot camera as its easy to tote, and the photos aren't so perfect, leaving me room to add my own voice. 

Lucas Farm House, 10x15 pastel, copyright CM Cernetisch   $165.

This is 10x15 on a piece of Wallis Belgium Mist I found last week when repainting the frame room.    the warm grey color felt right for this idea.   I also worked quite a bit without the photo at all, once I had the block in done.  Then I returned the the photo, on my laptop, for finishing details.  That is a really fun way to work.  

So that concludes this year of art, horses and farmlife.  Stay tuned for scenes from the upcoming year!