Talkeetna Cafe, Alaska Landscape Oil Painting on Canvas Panel by Carmen Beecher

                                 

This is an out-of-the-way spot in Alaska, Talkeetna, a little town at the base of North America's tallest peak, Denali. This cafe was rustic, beautiful, and served delicious food. 

Carmen

As the year winds down and I prepare for my sorta-annual bonfire of canvases that don’t make the cut of hanging around, I always feel a need to dream up some new challenges for a new year.  I can’t really articulate those yet but as I was studio cleaning I found a stack of unused canvases and some leftover interior wall paints that were way past their “use by” dates (kidding of course).  So I pulled them all out and tried to leave my comfort zone.

If you know my “work” then you know how far afield this is for me.  Colors, drips, splats and splotches.  Actually both pieces began with a “thing” in mind (that’s just me) but the more I got into it the more I began to have definitive ideas about where the next chunk of color should go, and whether it must be light or dark. I lost all concept of the “thing.”  And I began experimenting with tools: credit cards, sponges, chop sticks and gravity.  I even got out my spray bottle of water.

A friend stopped in and spent some time studying this one at an earlier stage.  She was trying hard not to insult me and yet still ask me where it was going.  “I’m not sure,” I answered honestly.  “Does it go vertical?” she ventured.  Same answer.  “But?” I explained that right now I was playing with color and shape and motion...not very well I might add.  In all likelihood I would end up sketching a large figure on it and then painting out the background.

She looked distressed and said “Do you mean you would then cover up all your hard work?”

 

I paused.  Not once had what I was doing felt like work.  Never mind, “hard work.” More like  child’s play, experimental efforts and exploration. But not work.  Which is not to say that some days painting something (like a nose or a hand or a flower) is and feels like very hard work.  But not this.

Why are we afraid to experiment? Why must everything we do have an expected, acceptable outcome? Folks are horrified that I burn old paintings.  Is everything you do perfect? How boring!  How will you know if you like a new spice if you don’t cook with it? Fabulous or failure, to me it is worth the effort.

So I’m not sure where these will end up.  They could be my artistic break through and earn me thousands of dollars. Or they could be numbers 1 and 2 in next years burn.  Right now it does not matter.  Perfection is the enemy of a lot of things.

Let’s all vow for a bit more play and a little less work in 2020.

Cindy Michaud

www.cindymichaud.com

Questions: Art@cindymichaud.com

Oil on Canvas, Euphorbia Francoisii Caudiform Rare Succulent Plant Painting 11x14

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Euphorbia francoisii, a small caudiciform succulent from Madagascar, has the most variable leaves in the plant kingdom. No two plants have the exact same leaf shape or color, even if they are clones. The new leaves emerge as new shapes and colors, completely unpredictable! Some plants will have several different leaf shapes, sizes and colors all on one plant! So weird. This plant is on the critically endangered list.

I will be painting more from the exotic world of succulents. They are some of the most interesting plants on Earth. For the real thing, check out Paradise Found Nursery.

Carmen

Cardinal, Original Oil on Panel, Bird Painting

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I don't have a thing to say about this painting, except that I squeezed this in while busy with a lot of other exciting things. I finished a huge illustration job, then published my children's book, Dibble the Dragon. Now I am working on illustrations for someone else's children's book. I'm also spending time traveling, gardening and studying Italian. Life is good. La Dolce Vita!

Carmen

Storm Watch, 6x8 Original Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Seascape

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I've always loved the dramatic look of a dark and threatening sky in the background and a blissfully sunny foreground. That happens a lot these days in Florida, since it's the rainy season. I think it's time for that sailboat to head to port.

Carmen

Daily Landscape Painting, "A Little Bit Country" 6x8 Oil SOLD

I have had this image in my files for several years.  Each time I tried to paint it, I failed.But, I kept the image on my memory stick, always nagging me, like waving a red flag at a bull.

This time I was happy with the results.  It's is not a particularly difficult scene.  I don't know what caused me so much trouble.  All I know is that every nine or 10 months or so, I would give it a try and then wipe it off.

SOLD

The attraction was the strong light in the mid-ground and the back lighting on the fence.  I am happy to finally delete this from my "things to paint" list.

Have you ever had this experience with a specific scene?  If so, how did you overcome the challenge?

Funky Bar Stools by Carmen

These bar stools are old and the fabric was faded and stained. Since I long ago lost interest in the torture that is called Upholstering, I got out my acrylic paints and painted them to strategically hide every blemish. I did use some tape to mask the lines so they would be straight, but I added a lot of wiggles and dots. Look around your house: see anything you would not normally think of painting? Try it, it's fun!

Carmen

Rooftop Flowers, 8x10 Floral Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

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This is the finished product from Monday's group session. I can't seem to stop painting San Miguel--it is like being there again, but without the Margaritas. 

I watched Jesus, the yard man, training bougainvillea up the wall, and the one in front of our villa had a trunk the size of a large tree. In the courtyard Jesus kept them tamed by nailing fishing line between two nails and weaving them in and out. I once asked a gardener how to best grow bougainvillea and he said, "With neglect." It's true. Put one in a vacant lot and see what happens.

In the Courtyard

Sunglow, 8x6 OIl Painting on Canvas

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Some sunrises are "quieter" than others. This one was very soft, but that's because I just didn't get there in time for the bright reds of early morning. I like the softer side of sunrise too.

"If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise."

That quotation is from Jeanette Walls, who wrote Glass Castles. Every whiny, demanding child should be made to read Glass Castles, about Ms Walls' childhood, to make them see how good they have it. It's a terrific book and one of those that sticks in my memory. With my memory lately, it takes a really good book to to linger in there for long.