Painting the Chattahoochee

A friend and I met to paint at the Jones Bridge Park in Norcross, GA. a week ago. I bravely took my oil pastels to the site since the weather had turned a bit cooler. While painting I took pics of each step so that I could create a demo from the painting. Of course one never knows when one begins if the painting will be worthy of a demo or not....but no matter. The light was clear, the sky cloudy, the wind breezy but not too strong, and winter geese flew in an around us as we painted. Wonderful autumn weather! Here is the finished painting that better tells the story....

My Goodness!

Another six months has passed and here I am again blogging! Keeping up with my blog is much like keeping up with all the passwords that one accumulates on the web! Since my last post, much has happened....I moved home after three years in the Tannery Row Artist Colony. My studio now takes up "all" of my double garage! However, the move has some advantages...no more driving an hour to work! sleeping later in the mornings...haha! Like that ever happens! and being able to keep my granddaughter, Sophie, on occasion. She, however, is not much help in the studio, but she does some really mean scribbles with her crayons! And of course, I can paint in my pj's! Drop by any day to visit!!

The highlight of this month was a workshop with Ann Templeton, internationally known pastellist and oil painter. She has two books out that I recommend to every artist who wants to break out of the realist approach to painting and learn more about how to abstract the landscape. And if you can take one of her workshops, even better! Every day began with a lecture (more like a conversation time) and a demonstration. She showed how working from a photo is only a stepping off point to creating a painting. Her technique focused on keeping the darker values transparent and working as long as possible with the darks before going to more opaque lights. When I told her that I had a problem with knowing when to go more opaque, she said, "then keep working the darks until you have nothing left to do but add the lights". I'm trying to remember that!

I have a new website which focuses on paintings only. http://carlyhardy.com
and if you want to email me, it's carly@carlyhardy.com. Let me know if you visit.

Until next time (I'll get some of my workshop paintings scanned for you) keep your brushes wet and pastels dry!

Hotlanta Summer!

Yep, you guessed it. The weather is steamy and hot this summer in Atlanta and I'm missing painting outdoors!! The past couple of days have seen cooler temps (in the low 90's) but I'm still dreaming of those cool fall nights that won't appear again until some time in October! But enough about the weather!

Our summer show, "SunnySide UP!", is now up and running at the Tannery. If you'd like to view some of the newest art by the Tannery artists and our guests from Southern Colours Art Association, drop by, Tuesday thru Saturday, noon to 5 pm. We're located at 554 West Main Street in Historic Buford, Georgia.

My painting in this show is called "Decisions". It's rather abstract but if you look closely, you'll find figures turned in several directions, appearing to revolve around a broken urn...perhaps searching for the answer to a life question. Ever find yourself in that type of situation or mood? As an artist, my life questions are often answered thru my paintings, sometimes without my realizing it. Let me know if you have ever experienced this!

The painting below is Gully Tracks  painted during the Buford Plein Air Event. One of the first that sold!

Birthdays

I'm sure the title of today's blog tells the story. Today is my birthday! which is one of those days that I usually just quietly live thru since it falls in a wintry month of the year. Cold temperatures and gray days blended with less sunlight tend to make me a bit depressed. So each year during this time, I forgo the birthday party for a quieter evening. However, today was an exception. Upon leaving the studio, I mentioned to a fellow artist if she knew of a place to get a good bowl of soup (that sounded like a nice quiet thing to do) and she said maybe....and that she was free for dinner if I wanted company. I thought how nice that would be to share my quiet dinner with her, so I told her that it was my birthday but that she was not to tell anyone else. Well then we decided to ask another artist friend if she would also like to join us...and the party was on!

Over a great meal the three of us laughed, they sang the happy birthday song, and told the waitress it was my birthday, who brought out a very large piece of cheesecake topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce, which we all shared.

I've decided that from this day forward my birthday will be spent with a couple of friends, sharing conversation and great cheesecake, and laughing my way past another year. Sure beats the heck out of a quiet bowl of soup for one!

Birthdays are not really about getting older, you know. They are about taking stock of your life and deciding how you want to spend the next year.....looking back or moving forward toward new adventures. I think my friends would tell me to "move on"!

Thanks "ladies" for a great birthday gift!
carly

Beware The Ides of April!

Hello everyone! April is not only the month for "showers" but for all those living in the US of A, it's "time to file tax claims". Mine have been mailed...thus, I have the time and energy to post to my blog today! I'm ahead of schedule this year since usually I mail the returns promptly on the day of the 15th. Instead of Beware the Ides of March...I think we should all quote "Beware the Ides of April!" And along with millions of other Americans, I'll be paying more in taxes this year. At least I'm in good company!

On the painting scene, I've been working in the studio on a rather large oil - 3 x 4 feet in size. Here's a photo of the painting. It's not signed yet but I feel it's completed...unless it whispers to me in the night and let's me know that something is still amiss. Paintings often do that - you know.

In my last blog post, I shared one of the irises that I had worked on during the winter months. Well, my series is short one painting this month. The white iris sold!! Here's an image of the next in the series...Yellow Iris!

Our next show at the Tannery is coming up in June! Check back for all the details....and

"have a great painting day everyone!"
carly

Spring is Here!

Well, at least I hope that today's weather was an indication that spring is officially here. A friend and I walked three and a half miles in our local park where families were outside playing frisbee, walking dogs and children, tossing baseballs around, and picnicking on quilts or cooking over the grills. Was a warm 70 degrees with a beautiful clear blue sky...made both of us think about how great it felt to be outside again "exercising"!

Here's a painting that I've been working on during the cold winter months. It's the last of three iris paintings. All three are oils, 30 x 30, on canvas. If you don't have sunny weather yet, maybe this will warm you up instead!!

The Ides of March

Hopefully will not be an "eventful" day for most of you since it's supposed to be a day to watch out for! The tornados of last night and today across Georgia have been enough as March roared in like a lion....and as April approaches, we hope goes out like a lamb!

Some may have wondered what I've been up to lately...a couple of trips to the coast have kept me busy along with a couple of shows that needed paintings framed and delivered. Last weekend was spent at Contentment Bluff on the Georgia Coast, ten miles north of Darien. I had delivered paintings to the Old Jail Gallery in Darien the weekend before and returned for a few days of painting, visiting with other artist friends, and the show reception.

Contentment Bluff is one of my favorite places to visit...it's so peaceful to sit in the mornings with a cup of coffee watching the river rise or fall with the tide. It's a place where you can hear the birds singing all day, the woodpeckers working away, and fish jumping in the river. It's the oldest existing fishing camp on the east coast and the cabins built in the early 1930's are still rented by families who spend their summers and weekends at the camp.

Here's one of the pastel paintings from an early morning outing with a few other artists. Enjoy the view!



A wonderful artist friend of mine, Marsha Savage, has begun blogging! Check out her blog at http://marshasavage.blogspot.com

See ya!!