Last Painting of the Summer

8" x 10" on gessoed panel
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This is the last one for the summer. I go back to work tomorrow. I did this quick little painting of one of my favorite chairs. It is worn out from many years of sitting, reading, napping, having conversations with my family,having long conversations with God, and from watching many pool games when it sat in the game room. It, and it's companion chair, need to be reupholstered. It is a much loved chair that still feels good when it wraps its "wings" around you.

Painting Again, finally

Spring House

8" x 10" Oil on panel

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It has been three months since I posted anything on this blog. I have been working on some commissioned pieces and took a break to paint this fun little piece. I took a photo of this house ten years ago when I first moved back to Memphis from San Antonio. I had forgotten how beautiful springtime is in Memphis, and I went all over town snapping pictures of azaleas and dogwoods. I love the way the sunlight sparkles on this little cottage.

I took a painting class in May with Camille Przewodek, a fabulous plein air painter from California. I am thrilled that I was able to study under someone as artistically brilliant as Camille. Her workshop was called "Color Bootcamp", and I heard her voice in my head as I painted the sunlight.

This is a little painting I did for a friend who is fascinated with the water towers in New York City. She and I have traveled there together several times, and she always comments on how many there are. I had never really noticed, but every building, no matter how old or how modern has a plain old water tower. (I guess everyone needs water pressure.) So, I tried to create something interesting out of something that I thought was very drab.

I should have been working in the yard this morning, but I painted instead. This wee little painting (7" x 5") is a house that I passed everyday when I worked at Millington Middle School. I loved my drive to work because I passed fields and ponds and farms and wooded areas. I enjoyed the colors and the textures of every season. This farmhouse was almost hidden when the trees had leaves, but it was at its best in early spring. It seemed to glow orange in the sunshine before the trees created an umbrella of shade. It also had random spreads of buttercups smeared across the lawn as well as blooming forsythia and spirea. I took a picture of it before the dead winter grass in the unkept area next to the road turned green.

Paintings from Italy

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I visited the Cinque Terre area of Italy twice because I loved it so much. This is a rugged area on the northern coast of Italy noted for its beauty and its isolation. The only way to reach these 5 villages is by train, boat, or trails. You cannot drive a car into these towns. Vineyards cascade down the jagged cliffs to the sea. The wine there is the best that I have ever had. You can actually walk the trails from the first village to the last, a distance of 10 mile. We walked from the first (Romaggiorre) to the third (Corniglia). The trail after that got pretty primitive and rugged so we turned back and caught the rickey old train to the last two villages. The villages are beautiful and colorful with stucco buildings stacked haphazardly on top of each other, winding alleys, balconies and beautiful flowers. The fragrance in this area is unworldly - a combination of figs, olives, flowers, and sea. The narrow streets are lined with colorful fishing boats. These are some of the paintings that I have created from my photos and those of my son. It is my dream to go and stay in one of those small stucco homes and paint in the Italian sunshine.

Snow day Paintings

Watercolor

12" x 16"

Framed $175

Oil on panel

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Oil on Panel

11" x 14"

Framed $125

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Oil on Panel

8" x 10"

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I promised myself that I would paint on any snow day when school was cancelled. Here are the paintings I have done. Our two snow days wrapped around some weekends, so I got a lot accomplished. Bring on more snow days.

These are the original paintings by Janis McCarty. To inquire about purchasing a painting please email janngogh@bellsouth.net.