Wet Paint and Eatin' Crow!

Ya ever wake up with a song in your head?  I do every single morning.  I went to bed last night watching a video of John Denver and Cass Elliott singing “Leavin’ on a jet plane . . “ and woke up this morning still humming the tune.  Doug even accused me of singing in my sleep!  I happened to mention it to our gracious hosts, Dan and Gail, and after 10 or 15 minutes, Dan said, “still in my head, but I’m resisting the urge to sing it!” 

Hopefully, like a song in your head, some of the nuggets of painting instruction Doug has given this delightful class, will stick!  He shares all. 

This morning we are here on the corner of Walgreens, Hover Car Wash and Mr. Bean coffee shop!  Seriously, of all the places, he chooses here?  That’s Doug for you . . . painting what no one has painted before.  Roll with it, Jeanette, just roll with it.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to regret those comments!

Yesterday we dodged more rain, I’m certain the rain gods were somewhat afraid of this bunch of tenacious painters so the students painted at Thompson Park in the middle of town.  Trees of green, grass of green, shade of the trees that were even more green.  Doug promised Gail he would share the value of Pthalo Green.  The class kicked out some great studies in the park and visited with several “walkers” who “lapped” the park 4 or 5 times.  Read “Students at Longmont” blog to see them and some of their work!

We grabbed some sub sandwiches and headed back to Gail’s and ate on the front porch as Doug started his demo of the beautiful lake across the street.   Here are some progress paintings from that painting.  It turned out beautiful and completely portrayed the peaceful atmosphere of the day.  Still, no rain, a slight breeze and high seventies.

Back to the corner of 18^th and Hover, we gaze at the beauty of the Walgreens across the street . . . the hustle of people going in and out to get their prescriptions.  Prestine, seriously.  Oh, and those people shaking and trembling as they make their way into Mr. Beans coffee, coming back out feeling energized and nerves completely calmed!  Seriously, I will regret this sarcasm . . .

Did I mention our amazing hosts entertained us with their musical talent?  Dan and Gail are a mean guitar-banjo blue-grass duo with voices that mix as smooth as the paint on Doug’s pallet.  Creamy and soothing! 

So here we are with the first steps of the painting and already, I’m starting to recognize the taste of the crow that I have eaten on many occasions and I’m afraid this morning will be no exception.  Getting out my chocolate and maybe some maple syrup to help it go down easier . . .

We have had a blast getting to know past students better and meeting new friends.  Our circle of friends continues to grow every single day and these fun people are no exception.  Dapo Obitayo came to the workshop traveling 12 hours to arrive from Waterloo, Iowa.  He shared that he had been following this blog for 3 years now and decided Colorado would be as close we would get to his stomping grounds so he and his darling family made the sacrifices to get him out here for the workshop.  He joined us for dinner last night at The Good Bird and we learned even more fun and interesting things about him and laughed a LOT.  

About an hour into the demo now.  Here’s where we are now.  Either Doug’s on uneven ground or the 100 mph winds have done their thing on that stop sign!    

See the pole on the corner?   As I ran across the street to get water at Walgreens, I casually strolled up to the pole and struck a pose, maybe, just maybe I’ll get in the painting  but yeah, I think I missed the canvas by THAT much.  I think he did a stroke on the easel instead!  Haha   Thanks babe.  ‘preciate that!  I mean, I am Miss Garfield County, 1980.  When asked if I still had my crown, Doug replied, “Have it?  She WEARS it every day!  It’s currently at the jeweler now getting polished and having more jewels added!” 

Pizza boy just stopped by to see if it was okay if he put his “PIZZA HERE” sign up.  He takes a peak, “Wow!  Dang, that’s good!”  Yeah, we know, he’s a stud.  I think this is really what people remember about Doug—taking the mundane, who-would-ever-think-to-paint-this kind’ve subject matter and making it amazing!  

Doug wow’s the crowd by adding a car . . . Damn, how does he do that?  And the final painting turned out amazing. 

Once again, Braithwaite knocks another one out of the park park-ING lot of Walgreens, and once again, takes my breath away.  

I think I’ll go get my crown and have me some crow. 

Wet Paint, Urban Workshop & an Unfinished Portrait of Mickey Mouse

Wow, where did 2015 go?  And 2016 is flying by so let me catch you up on our happenings!

Doug continues to wow me after almost 30 years!  Yep, we're approaching the big 3-0.  I know, how is that possible when I'm only 39?  Trust me,  the math works out.

We are thrilled to see the weather cooperating with plein air painting (and golfing) and taking Max for his daily walks.  Speaking of Max, one of Max's fellow four-legged friends was laid to rest and Doug did a great little painting for our friends, Bob and Julie.

Tasha (10 x 8) oil on board

He had so much fun painting this one, he's started one of Max!  

Speaking of four-legged friends, this is a common sight first thing in the morning as Doug catches up with his FB perusal.  Jeffrey is the favored grandchild (I still don't have any "human" grandchildren yet so these are as close as I get!).   He belongs to our daughter Amy and we "share" custody of him!  hahaha  

Notice how Max is tucked back behind Jeff.  Jeff will literally step right over him to get to his place of honor--on Doug's legs.  Max is very happy to just sit "near" Jeff.  Jeff, however, does get a little annoyed but he is tolerant.
Doug also found time to build me an amazing sewing room this winter.  It is the most amazing room ever!  It started like this:

I know, it's quite embarrassing but quite frankly, how can I kick out some quality craft projects and quilts in such a disaster.  Even Oscar the dog is sizing up the place . . . it's a disaster.

So Doug went to work, working on the sewing room in the mornings then out to the studio to paint in the afternoons.  Getting some ski paintings out to the galleries.  Here are a few of my faves:

Fly Like an Eagle
9 x 12

Rocket Man
6 x 8

Man Versus
16 x 48

Doug also painted a little painting for our sweet neighbor Joe, who painted my sewing room for me.  He worked tirelessly to get it painted.  This is a painting done of the driveway between our two houses and a beautiful Sunset sunset!

Sunset Sunset
8 x 10

And here is how the sewing room turned out:

So the sewing side is on the right - the "office" is on the left.  He built literally everything--the desks, the shelves, the shelf that holds all my paints, wrapping paper station, everything.  This guy's a keeper I'm telling you!  I'm absolutely in love with this room and having a ball.  Be jealous, ladies!  I'm pretty proud!  I did find this little cross stitch in my organizing efforts.

"We Interrupt this Cross-Stitch to have children!"

 I seriously started this before I had Ryan, back in 1987 or 1988.  It went unfinished and I think I'll leave it as it is.

My first project was piecing this quilt that my mother started many many years ago.  She passed away about 8 years ago and I now have a place to finish some of her wonderful projects.  They saved literally EVERY piece of fabric (and there's a lot of polyester pants and "leisure suits" pieces here.) Some of the blocks were actually PIECED together to make one square.  Love and miss her every single day.

Doug also competed in the Drigg's Digs Plein Air last year and came away with First Place as well as first place for the quick draw in the park.  From there, he headed to Southern Utah for a month of teaching and painting my home town.  It absolutely killed me that he was spending so much time in Escalante and I couldn't go with him.  That's such a fun competition, bringing in over 100 artists to compete!  This painting took 2nd place.  This is a little lane heading out to the Liston home where I spent lots of time as a young girl.  It's now part of the Craig Heitteman and Jill Jessen collection!  So thrilled - Jill looked at it and squeeled.  She fell in love with it!  

View of the Blues
(Robert & Louise Liston Home)
12 x 16

 Here are a few more from down south that are now in the Torrey Gallery.

Boulder Quakies
8 x 10

2nd & Center
8 x 10

Brewing
11 x 14

 He then did a couple of beautiful pieces for the Sears Dixie Invitational at Dixie State University in St. George.  It was great to be invited among some of the great painters of Utah.  There were 130 artists and this painting took 2nd among the oil painters and sold on the opening night:

"Twinkle Twinkle"
25 x 31

So much has happened and since I've had a new sewing room, I'm not making time to blog!!  Well, now I have a space to do it and I'm sitting here at my sweet desk as we speak so I will keep you updated! In the meantime, look at our website and you can always see new work.  Doug's also doing THREE workshops this summer!!

First one is a 3-day workshop (May 18-20) in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City!!  First time ever!!  "Setting an Urban Beat" and you don't want to miss this.  He may even touch on his technique of getting a plein air study then taking it back to the studio and how to use the study to do larger pieces inside.  Here's a couple from downtown Salt Lake City:

Rhythm of the Saints
20 x 24

Positively Painted
18 x 24

Second one is in Driggs, Idaho on July 23-24 in conjunction with the plein air competition .  I think there are only two spots left there so hurry if you want to go north!!

Third one is going to be in Longmont Colorado!  August 4-7 - this will be a 3 1/2 day workshop with 7 sessions and I'm coming to facilitate the FUN part of the workshop.   To register for any of the workshops, go to our website at www.dougbraithwaite.com and then to "workshops" and there will be links and information on how to register!

Please give me a call if you have questions regarding the workshops or if you want some quilting tips!  I truly do appreciate that you share with me a love of Doug's work.

I also will really appreciate any of you who have more grandchildren than you can handle!  I think my grand-dogs have me well trained so I'm ready to graduate to real babies!!  If you have any to share, let me know!  Otherwise, I will do my best to be patient!

Last note, in case you didn't catch this magazine on news stands, super proud of this guy for getting the cover of Plein Air Magazine in November of 2015 and a wonderful article inside written by Editor-in-Chief Steven Doherty.

November 2015 Cover
Gills Rock Geometry
10 x 10
Click HERE to read the article

There are still more amazing paintings on the website if you want to check that out!  He's been a busy busy guy!!

Thanks for reading!!

All my best,

Jeanette

Bugs in Wet Paint!

So I'm sitting here in the sun on a little deck at our "home" for the next 3 days in St. George, Utah.  It's 65 degrees, with 10-15 mph winds but the sun is beating down on my bare legs (bare also means lack of sun for an entire winter!) and they're soaking it up!  I'm not gonna lie, this is incredibly relaxing!  Let's keep that just 'tween us, if you will!  

Jane Meyers getting the artists situated!

Doug is now showing work at Authentique Gallery here in St. George and so was invited to participate in the Eighth Annual New Visions Art Show at both Authentique and Mission Galleries.  The artists have set up outside around the two galleries with a few of their paintings and have been painting for the mere pleasure and perusing enjoyment of their collectors and art lovers!  

With the gusts of wind, we have seen a few minor "oopsies" and then some major "Oh Sh#!$" paintings falling over, one canvas getting a sharp puncture through its heart!   

Doug working a Southern Utah landscape

So here's where Doug is working this afternoon--similar to my set-up, right?  Sun beating down on your neck same here - I probably should just put on my swimsuit . . . a bit breezy knocking over paintings and knocking over my cold can of fresca . . . gosh . . . Its brutal working out in this Southern Utah sun!  Trust me hun, I feel your pain!  I'm trying to show some empathy here . . . not sure it's going to come across that way tho!    

We set up a few paintings outside.  Here's our little display, with the rest of the paintings hung inside.

Authentique has this great little courtyard

Many of our favorite artists are here this weekend!  Shanna Kunz, George Handrahan, Jeff Pugh, Brad Holt and Rett Ashby to name a few!  Meeting many more and looking forward to showing work next to theirs here in St. George!

Here's the final touches and final painting, complete with the little last-minute photo reference down below . . .  

See how the painting is floating.  Starting to paint the recessed edges . . .

And last side - this is the color of his "under-painting". . .

And a last few strokes that make it pop!

Pop it in a frame of your choice and nice choice it is and VOILA!

Enlarge it and notice the "eagle" in the sky on the far right!  Dat be a bug!  He ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon, I don't s'pose!  

Tomorrow Doug will be out painting "true" plein air!  He's hoping to get in a cool street scene of downtown St. George!  Stay tuned!

working in the sun is exhausting . . . I think I'll call Doug and see if he'd mind coming and "refreshing my beverage . . . "

Cheers!!

Jeanette

Plein Air Trippin' and "Campground Roulette!"

Oh man, what a great adventure this has been for Doug!  Door County treated him very well.  They had some great food, great weather and Doug rubbed shoulders with some amazing artists!  With no mountains to block the morning sun, he would get up and get out at 6ish, come back and have a quick bite before heading out again to a specific location where art lovers and collectors could watch them paint!  Then out again in the evening.  It was killing me all week because the internet was soooo slow that he couldn't send the images!  Ugh . . . The wait was brutal!

So when he finally got some service, here's the beauties that came through!  I was in awe!

"Tug Boat"
11 x 14
SOLD

Next came this one . . . gorgeous.

"Veil"
9 x 21
SOLD

The one I posted last week of the boat dock also sold and then this was the quick paint on Saturday morning.  This was done in 90 minutes.

"Boat Dock" (I don't know the title--I made that up . . . clever, yes?)
8 x 10
SOLD

The Peninsula School of Art, who sponsors the event, did take some pictures of the artists painting so I did get to see him in action!  Thanks, Cathy Hoke and staff, for posting some awesome pics of the artists!

Our dear friend, Scott Shearer, also went up and hung out for a couple of days.  He lives in Milton, WI (Did I get that right, Scott?) and Doug was very excited to see him!!  They had a nice steak back at the trailer one evening and, if I heard Doug right, they talked a little religion!!  haha  A favorite topic around our house!!

The rest of the paintings from the event, well, they really blew my mind.  I mean, I know, this is all called "from my perspective" and I'm a little partial to this guy, but GOOD LORD (yes, I'm going to go ahead and throw in a little religion!) talk about incredible.  He would post them on facebook and the comments that came back were so . . . RIGHT ON!  The guy's got a few fans, and not just with the last name Braithwaite either!!  And then he smiles his "ah-shucks-guys-stop-it-already" smile and we all love him a little more!

Okay - here's what I mean:

"Orange Buoy"
(how DO you spell that?  I know that's wrong but I haven't got time to figure it out!  Someone correct me please!)
8 x 10

Next one . . .

"Tapestry"
8 x 10

I guess there's a pretty cool story behind these quilts or quilt blocks on the barns - it's a very old tradition!  Yeah, true story - look it up!!  http://barnquiltinfo.com/history.html

Last but not least, okay - I think this is the winner of my heart!!  Seriously - I'll stop talking it up - just tell me it's not spectacular!!

"Gill's Rock Geometry"
10 x 10

Yep - I can hear you all now.  It's killer!  Zoom in and look close - the poles under the dock . . . the reflection out of the water - the water itself!  Damn, Braithwaite.  Daaaaay-uummmm!!  These are still at Door County and will be up till about the 16th of August.  I've already had people ask for some small giclee prints of these - we're going to get some and frame them up.  Can't wait!!

The trip back has been exciting!!  Remember my stalker-app "Find My Friends?"  Yeah - well, it's seriously our best friend!!  I map out a route for the day, find and reserve him a place to stay, stalk him on FMF, and then call him just as he's just about there to direct him to the campground.  Seriously, what would he do without me??  haha

I've done pretty well with getting decent campgrounds, but dang, in some of these small places, there's slim pickins!!  First night he stayed just east of Minneapolis in Woodbury.  That was okay.  I think he was able to send a few paintings at that point - here's a few more he did - don't ask me where he painted them - "along the way" is my best guess!  haha

"Wild Flowers"
8 x 10

"Reverence"
10 x 8
I think he probably was thinking just how awesome his wife is as he named this little beauty . . . probably said a little prayer here too . . yeah pretty sure!  

"Last Stop in Wisconsin"
6 x 8

And, as my dear Grandma Griffin would say "fare-thee-well" to Wisconsin.

Back to the rest of the story . . . Wisconsin and Minneapolis campgrounds were A+.  Great job, hun. (I'm referring to me here . . .)  Then he had to drive through Fargo.  I didn't dare let him spend the night in Fargo.  Have you seen the movie??  Have you seen the short mini-series on TV?  Jeepers Creepers people!!  So yeah, we forged onward and got to Jamestown, North Dakota.  That was okay too!!  Okay batting a thousand.  From Fargo west, well, not so many towns to choose from.  So we ended up hitting Glendive, ND.  Eek.  The name should have clued me in.  But, yeah, it didn't.  Didn't fare so well there.   When I called the Green Valley campground, the little guy said "ah, hell, you don't need a reservation.  Just c'mon in and we'll hook ya up!"  Ahh, I'm thinking, this sounds nice n cozy!!    Well, cozy it was - the trailer next to Doug's was no more than 5 feet away and he played the radio all night long.  Doug texted me and said "this place sucks so bad!  There is actually a giant "swooshing" sound like a toilet flushing!"  Oops!  Soooo sorry luvvy!!  I finally found a site that had "reviews" of the campgrounds in the area.  Yeah, my bad.  That one got a 1 out of 10.

Anyway, the only good thing that came out of that state was this awesome painting!!  Doug can find something beautiful, anywhere he goes.  So "farewell" to North Dakota!  Beautiful - BUT didn't really dig the "swoosh!"

"Last Day in North Dakota"
6 x 8

He then headed west and made it over the border of Montana!  Yea!!  That feels more like "home!"  Only bad thing about Montana is that he got off the interstate and headed onto a two-lane highway through the middle of NO where!!  And with no cell phone service!  And very few towns!!  Like 2!!  So I can't find him on FMF, and I'm praying he got gas before he left . . . I followed him all morning on find my friends . . . drained my battery on my phone by 10:00 am refreshing to see if he would show up!!  Finally, a text I sent finally showed "delivered" and I found him in, what was showing as, "Grass Range!"  bahaha!!

One last painting, DAMN IT, you stopped in FARGO???  Defiant little $%*#!!  Well, he did make something pretty stinkin cool out of a damn sign!  Seriously?!!  Uh-Mazing!

"Roadside near Fargo, ND"
6 x 8

 See the distant barn?  Oh yeah, sweet!!  And the sign and the grass and shrubs match!  Nice color coordination, Fargo!

Well, my friends, Doug is heading up to Glacier National Park tomorrow and will be there for 2 or 3 days.  So excited to see what he paints for us there!  Talked to Anne Weiler-Brown this morning and she said to tell Doug "I'm so jealous of your painting venture and so inspired by all the work!"  Thanks Anne!  We need to take one of these road trips together - a whole bunch of us!!  Good time!  Oh the stories we could tell . . . and I would, of course, tell it from my perspective . . .

Good night all!

J