Winter Hills

Winter Hills, 6"x8", oil on canvas panel
©Cindy Greene 2014

It's still a New Year, right? So what happened to January?

I had a traveling October 2013, a full November, an art-filled December that also included a beautiful Christmas and three family birthdays, and then slid directly into January 2014. The first few weeks of the month were all about putting the finishing touches on, and then enjoying, our daughter's wedding in Camarillo. I can't even describe how blessed we were to spend a week with family and friends celebrating the marriage of two amazing young people.

clowning around with the bride before....

On their way to the ceremony

And the new siblings

Painting has taken a back seat to family life, but I did manage to paint this landscape last week. The resource photo (again thanks to my brother) was taken in Southern Arizona. I grew up in Arizona, and miss the red hills. 

Thanks for hanging around with me — let's hope there are a lot more paintings coming soon.

Winter Afternoon at Demetria

Winter Afternoon at Demetria, 6"x6", oil on panel
©2013 Cindy Greene

We spent a wonderful afternoon last January at Demetria Estate in the Santa Rita Hills. The wine was delicious, we were with good friends and the views around the winery are beautiful. It was warm ("all you need is a light jacket"), and we sat on the beautiful patio along with a lot of other happy people. I can see why it's a favorite (although expensive) event venue. At the time, I was in the middle of a "30-in-30 challenge" but didn't have my oils with me. So I pulled out my sketchbook and watercolors and painted a quick study on the patio.

As we were leaving, the light was hitting the olive trees and hills at a sharp angle, and it was really a beautiful sight. Cameras and iPhones were whipped out — how do you capture such a moment? 

I painted this from an iPhone photo and my memory of the light and colors. I think I'm going to see if I can plan a plein air session next time we are in the area.

30 in 30, #19 – Up the Road

Up the Road, 6"x6", oil on panel

Well, it is a challenge to get a painting done when you are on vacation, especially when you are staying in a condo with friends and doing lots of other things. After sightseeing all day yesterday, we stayed close to home today. The guys wanted to watch football this afternoon, so I took the chance to paint a scene from our drive yesterday. Yes, the grass was really that shade of green; our winter rains and this week's warm weather turned the world chartreuse. IPhone photo did something weird to the sky color though.

I talked Leslie into painting with me, and she painted her first oil painting, using a size 4 filbert brush and a rigger. We improvised: her palette was a couple of paper plates, and her canvas was taped to a cardboard.

Leslie did a great job! Here is her painting; it is of the same corner of the Demetria Estate Winery patio that I did a sketch of yesterday.

Demetria Corner by Leslie Fagan, 5"x5", oil on canvas