Linda's Horses

8 x 10" acrylic

Autumn Sketches

I stayed home again today.  Still not feeling 100% great.  Seems I caught what everyone else seems to be "enjoying" - some kind of head crud that has made me dizzy with a swimming head.

I was a bit restless, though, and felt inspired so decided to paint.  When I finally got my rear in gear and got into my studio, I just stared at the paper.  So much for inspiration!  I looked out the window to daydream and saw the sun streaming through the trees .... and the inspiration returned.  This is the autumn I love.  60's and sunny!  

I'm attaching a link to my FB artist page and two more sketches I did today.  If it's unavailable to non-facebook users, I'll return and add the pics:  Click here to view all three Autumn Sketches

to see my whole page:  Cheryl Louise Johnson's Facebook Artist Page  If you're on FaceBook, become a Fan of my page to get all updates!

Bridges to get you there

Bridge to the Other Side
18 x 24" Oil

I posted this painting when I first started my blog over a year ago, declared it unfinished, and said I would get back to it one day. It is an oil palette knife painting on canvas.

 After looking at it again after much time, I have decided "it is finished"! ... and I didn't add another drop of paint.

Funny how that happens. I can work on a painting, like how it looks, think it is done and come back months later and realize I don't like it at all.... yet then this happens. I agonize and agonize over it, put it aside, and realize later it is exactly as I want it.

In this painting, the trees are ghostlike, without form. The only thing really alive is the flowing brook and the evergreens. There is a glimpse of light in the distance and a bridge to get to the other side.


Roger's Race Car

18 x 24" Acrylic
(Click to enlarge)

We went to LymeRock Park in Lakeville, CT (where Paul Newman used to race) last month to see Terry's brother, Roger, race one of his Porsches. Supposedly he is retiring after a race in Daytona in November, where all of his brothers and sisters (a family of eight kids) will get together all at once for the first time ever seeing him race. So the race at LymeRock was significant in that it was the last race we'd see, visiting him alone.

Over the past few years, we have seen Roger race several times, and he would always get us passes to drive down into the paddocks and park with the race car drivers. Of course, we would putt in with our little Miata and park behind the big rigs but then we would go off wandering around and no place was off limits to us. We felt special, somewhat important, even though all we did was hang out. In Louden we got to meet Carl Edwards at a Silver Crown race, Roger was partners with him. Now that more people know who Carl Edwards is, that's kinda cool 'cuz he's a really nice guy.

So, we have enjoyed the time we spent with Roger, enjoying his hobby, and we wanted to do something to commemorate the last race we went to alone and let him know how much we enjoyed and appreciate all he did for us. He is a very generous soul and this is so small and insignificant in comparison.

I painted this picture of Roger passing another car (Ronnie Randall, another driver and former business acquaintance of ours) from a combination of pictures taken at Lime Rock in a part of the track called the "Esses". This was the vantage point we had though we were a bit higher up and further away in the infield spectator area. The countryside in the Berkshires is beautiful. The weather that weekend was perfect. The colors on Roger's car are so much fun (his is the blue and green one). I truly enjoyed painting this and I hope he enjoys it for many years.

Thank you, Roger.

OK. I am waiting for inspiration.

Waiting for Inspiration
8 x 10" Gouache
(Click to enlarge)

Last night I came home, threw on my pjs and cuddly soft robe, grabbed my gouache, brushes and paper and plopped into my favorite chair. I don't usually paint sitting in front of the tv, with no good lighting, but I decided since I don't do needlepoint or knit like some do to be "productive", I would sketch with paint. And so I did. And this was my view. My feet. Occasionally Cleo would jump in there, drape herself across my legs trying to block my view, but with enough nudging and wiggling and bouncing my knees she eventually moves. Later, on another painting, it became a game for her to bat at the brush, so that's when I decided to put it away and go to bed.

Have you ever waited around for inspiration to hit? Then one day realized hours, days, months, years have past?

We recently visited Norman Rockwell's museum in Stockbridge, MA. (whoa, I just now realized I have been abbreviating Maine lately as MA... and not ME... argh...) Anyway, down in Massachusetts. It had been several years since we were there last, and things were moved around a bit and some things changed... but there still was a LOT to look at. His work amazes me. He was not considered a "real" artist in his time, but his following has been (and still is if the crazy amount of people visiting the museum was any indication!) tremendous. Kinda like Thomas Kincade, he has a lot of followers though I and a few others I know don't consider him a real artist, but instead a great marketing person. I'm not saying his stuff is not pretty, but it all looks alike and to me is tedious to look at. In fact it bugs me to look at it. Maybe this is how it was for Norman Rockwell in his day. Maybe someday I shall appreciate Thomas Kincade.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about Rockwell: "dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life - this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch." Yep, like Kincade of today.

Anyway, I walked through the museum in amazement, looking at every brush stroke, ever detail, every nuance. It half inspired me to strive to do better as an artist and return to the detail I once did in my work... and yet it half discouraged me by my realizing how much of an artist I really am not and can never seem to achieve.

(Click to enlarge)

(If you've ever seen his work in person, you know that each of Rockwell's paintings are HUGE. Most are over 3' tall ... and then reduced to the size of a magazine cover. Also, it appears he had no trouble with inspiration. In his career he produced over 4000 paintings. That really IS inspiritus - Spirit breathed - INSPIRED.)

So here I sit. I've painted a few other paintings since my last posting, but have not posted them. Maybe I will soon. Right now I will sit, decide what I want to do, and await inspiration.

The earth is singing!

Science has found that the earth is humming! It was in the news last year, but I just found this interesting article today:
Earth's Hum Sounds More Mysterious Than Ever

peinture en miniature

8" x 14" Serenity on Sunapee

I tried painting in miniature today, in hopes of scanning the artwork instead of taking a photo. In my planning, I didn't measure my scanner and the painting was a bit too wide. As a result, I had to take two scans and piece them together. Here is a painting of Lake Sunapee in Burkhaven. It is where our boat is docked, a very peaceful, serene setting. I found painting on small scale is quite difficult without the painting becoming a muddled mess of brush strokes. After my first attempt, I had to go back and meticulously lay in smooth brush strokes to keep the image calm and "simple".

NOTE - I sometimes sign my smaller paintings with CLJ711 on the front, my whole signature and copyright on the back.

My Life

A combination of abstract with realism and symbolism ... a mesh of growing, learning to fly, sometimes a muddled mess, this is my life (click on image to enlarge).

"My Life"
36 x 24" Acrylic
"They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40:31


(I was listening to the beautiful music of my cousin Sunia and her husband Paul while I painted this. Click here to hear some of their music: paulandsunia.com )

back at it!

Its been a bit since I last painted. I've been back in the office pretty much full time. By the time I get home I don't want to do anything... I did take today off, though, since it appeared it was going to be slow. I decided to paint a rose...

This rose is from one of the photos I took in Portland, OR, the City of Roses. I was also inspired visiting the Currier Art Gallery in Manchester yesterday. Not by the Picasso, but countless others I saw there. I found more than ever, the paintings just "popped" at me and I wanted to go home and try to reproduce that feeling myself. Something to draw the eye in and say something to the viewer. Nothing esoteric, no hidden meanings, but yet something that speaks to the soul... I hope I will be able to accomplish this with my rose.

This is the beginning. I am doing this one in glazes like I did my turtles. Here is the first monochromatic layer.

More to come as I progress!

(24 x 36" acrylic on canvas)

OK, a few hours later, here it is with a yellow glaze (with a bit of glare in the photo... oh well). The red and the blue may have to wait until tomorrow, I'm running out of daylight...

It's Friday, I did the red layer of glaze on my rose. Keep in mind, this painting is huge - the main rose is about 1 1/2 feet in diameter.

It's looking almost done... but missing that extra depth of blue....





OK... I added blue realized a big mistake... it my enthusiasm to lay in the red and yellow, I forgot the blue should actually go first. No problem. just added to the time I had to work on this! Got out the blow dryer to dry between layers and added a bit more of red and yellow glazes. I also then added highlights... other than signing, I think I am done!

24 x 36" acrylic

Let me know what this piece says to you!

Waking Up Spring

18 x 24"
Waking Up Spring

Spring has hit full force. Leaves have popped, the grass is growing, the deer have emerged for their regular feeding in our backyard. Most times these amazingly agile animals, bound off into the woods if they see us, even when they know we won't hurt them. The other night we almost ran into one in our driveway coming home. He ran across the driveway, we stopped, and then he stopped off to the side, about 100 feet from us. He was camouflaged with his surroundings, but we could still see him in the dim light and we talked. Facing us as still as can be, he listened. Our car was running, we rolled the windows down and we said hello and told him how beautiful he was. He stood there for what seemed an unusually long time, seeming appreciative of our compliments, then turned and slowly walked away. AWESOME.

Recycle vs. Dump - what to do with all this trash

(Maybe you can think of more? Join in and add to this list!)

dump negative thoughts, love for things, anxieties and worries

bury the dead past but don't lose its memory and the lessons learned

incinerate / burn any hatred you feel, proud looks, lustful thoughts, angry words, hurtful gestures

recycle hugs, smiles, handshakes, nods or waves of hello as well as the common courtesies and politeness your momma taught you

this may not save the earth, but it will make it a much more pleasant place to be while we are here

This 10 x 10" painting that I did today is for all moms in memory of beautiful marigold bouquets. Happy Mother's Day!

New York City

New York City, 24 x 36"

As I did with "Eye Over London", in this painting I tried to create the illusion of a lot of detail without really using much. I wanted the design to be a bit more on the abstract side and simple so I used a larger brush for the majority of the painting, blocking in color and generally capturing the essence of New York City. New York is a bustling city, but I wanted to create a sense of calm as well as excitement. There is no sign of life in this picture, yet so many lives went into creating this great city. The difference in architecture shows the many years of life it has spanned.

I will come back to it in a couple days and decide then if it is finished. One fault that I have is not knowing for sure when I am done with a painting. I have ruined many a painting by overworking and reworking and eventually starting over. Now, as I am learning to do, I'm walking away....

Painting the Town and then Waiting for Paint to Dry

OK... so New York wasn't built in a day....

Here is the progress of my painting of NYC for Kevin & Jayne. So far I have spent two days on it, though several weeks in between. It is a 24 x 36" acrylic on canvas. Jayne didn't specify what size she wanted.... so hopefully this is not too big for her! It's what I wanted to work with, though, considering the detail.

With no one else in the house but the cats, I have time right now to paint this weekend... (as always, click images to enlarge).

First I sketched in the layout.

Next, I added in blocks of color.

MAYBE tomorrow I can finish it up... right now I have to feed the cats.

I Saw Myself Today

I saw myself today. Three little-ones in tow, one on each hand, one in a front carrier, all under the age of four. I smiled at myself as I allowed myself to pass by, across the busy parking lot, and smiled with a nod of "you understand" and a nod back of "I've been there". I watched myself with a lilt in my step as I headed inside for another adventure in grocery shopping with my babies, beaming that they were mine. I wondered to myself, "where was that lilt today?" as I had watched my youngest baby drive away, on an adventure of her own, to a new home far across the country. I looked in the rear-view mirror and I saw a single tear trying to find its way across the smile lines, worry lines, lines of every emotion all etched upon my face. I looked. I really looked... and I saw myself.

London to New York

Eye over London
30 x 48"

I've included this painting of mine from a few years ago because I have a similar painting that I am about to get started on for a family member. This painting (Eye Over London) was done from a photo I took while high above London (443 ft)in the "London Eye", the biggest Ferris wheel in Europe.

My brother and sister-in-law visited NYC recently and took pictures from the Empire State Building, high above and looking down on The City. The picture that my sister-in-law sent me is beautiful. Jayne is an artist herself doing beautiful scrapbooks, decorating, etc. and I fear doing her photo justice.

I will be working on this painting next, they did not specify a size so I will first have to determine this. I'm not sure I want to post the progress on it, though, so it may be a while before I next post new art on here. Maybe I will post old artwork, those on my website, with explanations / descriptions.

Until then, STAY TUNED! :-)

Traffic Jam on the Bridge

18 x 24" acrylic
("Why is it I always seem to choose the wrong road?!")
----------------

I did this painting in a series of glazes. Below is the progression.

I started with a monochrome underpainting using Paynes grey, black and white.

Then I added a blue glaze where appropriate...

a yellow glaze...

and a red glaze...

Lastly I added detail and a touch of green to the turtles as seen in the top image.

Mt Hood Painting

24 x 36" acrylic

Today I worked on Mt Hood which I showed in a previous post (November 14). I changed the tar road into a dirt road and added a bunch of random color here and there as the painting was getting boring to me.

This was done from a photo given to me by a friend (thanks Jeff). Not sure I asked his permission to paint it ...hmmmm. Oh well, I took the same picture at the same time (but his turned out nicer). This was from our late fall trip to Oregon, our friends were with us on the adventure. Right about here on this road to Mt Hood was a wine tasting stand that we stopped at. The wine was from "Naked Winery": ( NakedWinery.com), it was pretty good... though I am not a wine snob so what do I know? If its red, I usually like it.

The scene in person is MUCH more awesome. Hard to believe it all could happen by chance (?)... I cannot even begin to paint something this beautiful and give it justice. It took a much better artist than me to design this beautiful mountain! SO here is my copy of the real thing: "Mt Hood".

Alphonse Mooocha is finished!

I just have to check for any flaws that need touch up another day, and coat it with a UV varnish and Alphonse Moocha is done. Here are the final pics (click on them to enlarge):

Le style Moocha

About the Artist that inspired the work, Alphonse Mucha:
Alphonse Mucha is most often remembered for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the century. As a struggling artist of Czech origin living in Paris, Mucha achieved immediate fame when, in December 1894, he accepted a commission to create a poster for one of the greatest actresses of the time, Sarah Bernhardt. Though the printer was apprehensive about submitting Mucha´s final design because of its new unconventional style, Bernhardt loved it and so did the public. ´Le style Mucha´, as Art Nouveau was known in its earliest days, was born.
I think I may have mentioned before, my orginal design was supposed to be "Art Gnouveau" but someone else beat me to the name. I created the artwork with several elements from various artists from the time period that art nouveau was popular. One was Alphonse Mucha, who featured womens' faces, flowers, symbolism and use of negative space. As it turns out, Mucha was the one who started the movement and didn't like the expression "Art Nouveau" as he felt art was timeless. Now I am working hard to make this gnucha in le style Mucha.
Today I got quite a bit done on Moocha. (Nice to have a vacation day to play!) I am continually studying a book of Mucha's artwork for ideas to add elements of his to this work, but obviously there is going to be a lot of it in "le style Johnson" ... ! I wonder if Mucha would have ever painted on a cow... well, he did strive to bring fine art to everyday people in advertisements and posters... so why not?!

Still a work in progress, here is MOOcha today (click to enlarge)!

THE END

GNUUUU Update

SO! I spent quite a bit of today working on Alphonse. The paints arrived yesterday and to my delight they are the right color tones I wanted. Choosing paints in colors to coordinate with a sketch/ design was a process I haven't done before, as I usually just mix colors from a more limited pallet until I arrive at what I want. This time, though, I had to make sure the colors were lightfast and weather proof, so I was particular on which to choose. Now though there is mixing, it is much more simplified than usual.

In this picture I blocked in the main background color, a whitened tint of yellow oxide. ("OX"ide - how appropriate!)

Here I added the blue background of the horns, hooves and bottom of legs.

This is where I finished for today. I have much more detailing to do overall, but it's getting there! The picture below shows a close-up of the lady's face. (You can click on it for a larger view.)

Update #1

Today I blocked in the design a bit by sketching it in with Payne's gray. Maybe tomorrow I will add a bit more detail, but it seems a bit unnecessary until my paints arrive. I tracked my order and for some reason they are (still?) in New Berlin, WI. Obviously, they didn't ship when they said they did... now arrival time is slated for Feb 14.... but FedEx is usually faster than that, so I am hoping they are wrong. ANyway, here is Alphonse Mooocha today.

XXX GNEW!! GNUDE!!! GNAKED!!! GNU!!! XXX

Cleo checks out our new house guest while I take a snap shot.

A few Gnu things.

Well, I am back!   I have been working 24/7 on KNS' website, because our server died and I had to move it. It is now at Godaddy and hopefully they keep their servers up and running well. I'm not going to sweat it, though. At least computer hardware is not my concern any more! That is - other than this thing sitting on my lap right now.

I have also been updating my gallery site: www.sunnypea.com. I have more to add on it, but its looking more like I want it to look now so I can start promoting it. Check it out!

Big news! I am finally going to get to starting painting my GNU! After several months of waiting, the gnus for the town of Gnu (New) London are finished and are to be delivered tomorrow, Feb 3. I can hardly wait to see them drive that fiberglass cow up our luge of a driveway (yes, we have had tons of snow again this year!!) and deposit it in my front entryway. These were to be delivered last fall, and I had looked forward to working on it over the winter, but now will have to do a quick job of it to be done before May. I will also have to paint it in my front entry, hopefully it fits through the front door! It will be interesting if we put our house on the market in March/ April... a cow in the front entry should go over well.... :-D

Below are a couple pictures of the design I am doing. It is called "Alphonse Moooocha", the design in the style of Alphonse Mucha the Art Nouveau artist of the early 1900s. He is one of my daughter's favorite artists and I thought his style would work well for decorating the wildebeest. Yes, I had thought of "Art Gnuveau" as my gnu's name, but someone else beat me to the punch and there was already a design with that name ...

Late this afternoon is an artist's/ sponsors get-together. I will get to meet the representative from Sugar River Savings Bank, who is my sponsor (**correction The New London Inn was my sponsor **). Their location is on a very main drag, right at a "round-about" in New London so many people will see my work. I hope it turns out well! This is my first time doing something like this. These gnus will be scattered all over New London, the next town over from Sunapee, for the summer of 2009. Here is a website about it: gnusofgnulondon.org. It is to raise funds for a new community center. It will be fun to see everyone's work.

Just a thought - wonder if they have ever heard of "cow tipping" in this part of the country?