Who Knew?

While Jack Frost hasn't nipped our roses or noses yet, he has been working his yearly magic on the leaves. My saffron crocus is blooming once again. Since these days I don't get home until after dark, I put Herb in charge of harvesting the saffron, but he sometimes misses the flowers opening in the late afternoon, so yesterday when I got home I went out with a flashlight to check them myself. A fingernail-paring moon was rising.

Yes, there were about a dozen blossoms still half-open, stigmas ready for plucking. I reached out to pinch one off and immediately stopped--there was a big bumblebee curled up right in the middle! I inspected the flowers more closely and saw there were two other bumblebees inside the crocuses. I left the ones with bees alone and gathered the rest of the flowers. Of course, I had to get my camera to record this unusual sight.

Who knew this is where bees spend the night? If I were a bee, I would rather sleep in a bower of scented saffron than anywhere else. The slug in the lower photo probably felt the same way.

On Sunny Days

A Sunny Day, oils on canvasboard, 9" x 12." $200 unframed.

Last Friday was one of those beautiful sunny days we get to enjoy in our area in the fall--the crispness of the early morning warmed to Indian summer by mid-morning.

The painting class met again at the horse farm on Joyce Lane, but last week, much to my relief, instead of sketching and painting horses we focused on just the landscape. I'm not too good with the noble beasts; despite the fact that I lived next to a horse farm in Sandy Spring for 17 years I never drew or painted the horses next door. During this eight-week session, our class will be working with them, so eventually I hope to learn how to paint horses credibly, and perhaps other animals too. It doesn't hurt to inject such a subject into a painting.

I am pleased by the soft yellows and oranges of the foliage against the violet shadows in my painting... it gives a sense of the sun and warmth of that day. Such a difference from today, rainy and at least 30 degrees colder! If only we could arrange to have more sunny days on the weekends...

Olney Farmer's Market

Olney Farmer's Market, oils on canvasboard, 12" x 9." Contact artist for price.

Last Sunday was the final day of painting for the Olney Plein Air. I returned to the Olney Farmer's Market to finish the small painting I'd started the previous Sunday. Fortunately, the colorful vegetable stand operated by the two Mexican ladies was there and looked almost the same, with a new addition in the foreground: a nice variety of jalapenos, habaneros and tiny red hot peppers.

The day was sunnier than the previous Sunday, so I corrected the sky to make it bluer and added patches of sun behind the tent. Quite a number of people looked over my shoulder and stopped to chat as I painted. My painting was finished before the market ended, and I was able to shop for veggies too. I bought some luscious baby eggplant, snow peas and sweet peppers for a great price. From now until the market ends in November, I will be shopping here every Sunday--what a treat to buy the freshest produce right off the farm!

All of the paintings from the Olney Plein Air will be on display at various Olney area stores during the week of Oct. 11 -17 and then at the Sandy Spring Museum from Oct. 19-24. They will be auctioned on the evening of Oct. 24 at the Gala Reception and Auction. Please come by to see the paintings and support the artists, the Museum and the Olney Farmer's Market. The auction proceeds will benefit all of the above and you'll have a chance to acquire some wonderful original paintings at very reasonable prices.

Painting the Oakley Cabin

The Oakley Cabin, oils on canvasboard, 11" x 14." $300 framed with traditional style gold frame.

After painting at The French Confection in Sandy Spring in the morning, I went over to the Oakley Cabin on Brookeville Road. Built in the 1820's as a slave cabin, this well-preserved historic site is now operated as a museum by Montgomery County. They are open only two Saturdays a month and this wasn't one of them, so the place was locked up and very quiet.

The weather was glorious; the light and warmth of the afternoon invited one to linger in the rural setting. Alone, I could almost imagine myself back in the 19th Century, seeing the cabin's inhabitants... perhaps an African American woman was hanging out the wash on this fine autumn day, while her husband cut firewood in back and the children played... an illusion interrupted only by the occasional car driving by.

Seeing me there with my "Artist at Work" sign, two cars stopped briefly: a soldier in camouflage uniform commented favorably on my painting, and later a soccer mom chauffeuring two lively girls who were interested in art. By six, the shards of light had left the grass and only the tops of the trees were lit. My painting was finished and I headed home, feeling tired, but well-spent.

The French Confection in Sandy Spring

The French Confection Bakery, oils on canvasboard, 14" x 11." Contact artist for price.

Driving towards Olney for the second weekend of the Olney Plein Air the day was gorgeous: clear blue sky, a warm sun chasing away the morning chill. It was also the date of Highland Days, a festival at a tiny community along the way where Herb and I like to shop at Boarman's, an old-fashioned country grocery that has been there forever. Boarman's was decked out with a great display of pumpkins, mums and scarecrows on an old hay wagon--I wished I could paint it for the Olney Plein Air, but it was not one of our locations, so I stopped briefly to take some photos for future reference.

We lived in Sandy Spring for seventeen years, but in all those years I'd never painted anything of the town (I was not into plein air painting in those days), and I wanted to paint something of our old hometown. Part of the problem is, the place isn't exactly scenic: Sandy Spring consists of a post office and a collection of old storefronts, most of them very plain if not ramshackle.

Elena drawing in Sandy Spring

The French Confection is housed in what used to be the old Sandy Spring fire station. After the fire department moved to newer, larger quarters, the old building stood vacant for some time and then the bakery, originally in the Olney shopping center, moved here. They remodelled, installed an awning and created a small patio area in the front, embellishing it with potted plants, that gives the place a much-needed touch of charm.

The French Confection's creations have been favorites of ours for years. Since we had ordered a chocolate Chambord cake for Herb's birthday from them earlier in the week that we had agreed to pick up in the afternoon, what better location to paint?

The architecture was a challenge--I worked on the drawing for quite a while (Herb stopped by & took the photos of me while I was working). I started to paint, and after a while was so oblivious to everything else except my painting, that I never even noticed Herb walking by when he came back to pick up the cake! Afterwards I ate my lunch at one of the little tables in front and then went on to a different location for my afternoon painting.

The Good Earth in Olney

The Good Earth, oils on canvas, 12" x 16." Contact artist for price.

Last Sunday, the second day of the Olney Plein Air, we were to touch base at the Olney Farmer's Market at the Towne Center. I got a rather late start that morning, and didn't have time to finish my painting of one of the produce stands before the vendors began to take down their stands at one o'clock. By that time the clouds had cleared and a warm, sunny afternoon lay ahead, or so it seemed.

The day before while scounting out locations I had driven by The Good Earth Produce and Garden Center, a long-established Olney business. It looked so attractive with colorful displays of mums and seasonal produce it struck me as a great subject to paint. I drove over and set up my easel by the garden entrance, out of the way of the parking lot traffic. From this angle the two gable ends with the afternoon shadows created an exciting composition.

A young lady from the store came out to look while I was drawing, and a number of shoppers stopped for a peek as the painting progressed. At one point the sky clouded up and it looked as if a deluge would strike. A few drops started to fall; I packed up my gear and drove back to the Towne Center to return my "Artist at Work" sign to Bobbie and Tara, the organizers. By the time I got there, the storm had passed over and sky was clearing, so I returned to The Good Earth to finish my painting.

Olney Plein Air

Silver Pond, oils on canvas board, 11" x 14." Contact artist for price.

On the first day of the Olney Plein Air it was very cloudy. It was supposed to start raining around noon, so I figured I'd have about two hours to paint in the morning. The leaden sky was lighter at the horizon--a view with some distance might present great opportunities for atmosphere. The ponds in back of the Olney Aquatic Center seemed the perfect place to paint on such a day--the light would reflect on the pond surface with beautiful, soft colors.

Setting up at the site, it was unseasonably chilly; I was glad I'd brought my three-season jacket along. Fortunately, the rain held off until about two, giving me a couple more hours to work. I needed the time. It was hard to find the right colors to convey the silvery, filtered light upon the lush vegetation, with the leaves of some trees turning slightly bronzy, but I think I managed to communicate the harmony of this place on this day.

The paintings created during the Olney Plein Air Arts Festival will be on exhibit at various local merchants from Oct 11-17, at the Sandy Spring Museum from Oct. 19-23 and will be auctioned off at the Evening Gala/Auction on the 24th.

Back in the Groove

Cloudy Morning on the Severn, oils on board, 9" x 12"

There was a light drizzle falling as I drove off for the first class of the fall session of Lee Boynton's plein air landscape class. I wondered if we would be able to find a dry spot from which to paint, but Lee knows his way around Annapolis so well, I figured he would have some alternative sites where we could stay dry.

As it turned out, by the time the class had convened at Maryland Hall and Lee went over the basics of equipment, palette and painting surfaces, the rain stopped. We caravanned over to Jonas Green Park to set up under the Naval Academy Bridge, where there is a view of the Severn that extends out over the Chesapeake Bay as far as Kent Island on the Eastern shore (the blue strokes at the horizon on the left).

The sky was clearing but there were still some dramatic clouds overhead so I composed my painting to feature the sky and picked one sailboat out of the many lining the shore as a focal point. Simple but elegant-- I am pleased with the result.