Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

Three Turnips and a Purple Saucer     oil on claybord   5×7″  $100

Still life painters seem to need to paint pears and turnips.  I’ve painted lots of pears but never turnips so I felt it was just time.   Setting up arrangements for the kitchen series is fun because it forces me to think of different possibilities for presenting foodstuff.  Fruits and vegetables sort of take on personalities while I’m observing them so closely.      I was tickled when I realized that the saucer under an African violet would be a nice purple to go with the color of the turnips.      Fortunately they lasted long enough to roast along with parsnips, carrots and onions.

Red Onions   oil on birch panel 8×10″  Unframed but ready to hang   $250

Here’s a little painting I did recently.  I hadn’t planned to paint these onions but they looked so good sitting on the counter I had to set them up in a still life.  I might have worked  longer except I wanted to make a carrot salad!  Now they’ll get hung in the kitchen with all the other paintings of fruits and vegetables.   I was intrigued by the play of light on the rounded forms and the variation of colors, from red purple to a spot of bright red reflected under a piece of skin.

Lillekat  oil on masonite   16×20″    NFS

My granddaughter is crazy about cats.  For some girls her age it’s horses but not for Emma.  Unfortunately she has asthma and can’t have a cat in the house.  But when she visits us I take her to see a neighbor’s cat with whom she seems to have developed a special relationship.    I thought a good Christmas gift would be a  painting of  Lillekat and Emma did seem pleased.   Since we’re in Utica and couldn’t photograph in my studio, the glare is worse than usual.  Anyway, I liked the composition of the cat on the windowsill with the pink flowers in the garden behind echoed in the cat’s nose.

Roses and an Empire   oil on masonite  18×24″  gold frame  $650

I started this still life while the Knockout roses were still blooming and finished it when  apples got ripe.   I finally had to buy a fresh rose and cut up more than one apple before I was done.  I’m pleased with the results though, particularly the drapery.  This one is a bit looser than usual and I think more painterly.  But I did add several glazes to deepen the shadows.  I do a lot of still life paintings in the dark with little lamps on the palette and on the painting as well as on the subject.  It’s tricky because I don’t have very good vision in dim light but I really like the contrast.  I also was pleased to arrange a set up that used the complements red and green since this is the other painting that will go in the Christmas show–not that it’s really a “Christmasy” painting.  The photo cuts off some of the gold frame unfortunately but I didn’t have time to redo it.

Twisted   Oil on masonite  18×24″  $650 framed in black frame

For some reason I haven’t gotten around to putting the finishing touches on this painting.  Anyway,  it was the first one I did when we went to Maine in Sept.  The mosquitos nearly ate me alive but I still enjoyed painting these twisted trees–thought they had real presence.  And I really liked the way the light struck the big pine.

I’ve been getting ready for a group show that Strafford Artworks is opening next weekend and then that will be the last one for a while.  The show of my little paintings in the Strafford post office is going well; I’ve sold several–not big prices but it’s always a thrill when somebody wants to own one of  mine.

I’ve really gotten behind again with posting!  After I moved my big show from the Hanover Library to the Lyme, NH library I decided I’d hang an “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” show in the Strafford Post Office.  I had a couple of boxes full of small paintings I’d never shown–sketches, experiments, etc.  So I pinned up 25 of those and have sold several.  Getting it all organized took some time so I guess that’s my excuse for not blogging lately.

A few weeks ago I went with friends to a beautiful site in Strafford, with a pond and lovely gardens.  I liked the greenhouse as well as the fall foliage in the background.  The early light was beautiful but I was painting in the shade and nearly froze.

Tomato Heaven   oil on masonite  12×16″   $350  unframed

Cox’s Head  oil on birch panel  18×24″   $700

After two very pleasant sessions at the beach in Maine I was ready to paint  rocks.  While we were eating lunch at a quaint little mini-farm I asked the only other diner where we could find some.  He gave us complicated directions to places I think we never found, but on the way we discovered a lovely bluff, Cox’s Head.  It was very windy but so isolated I thought nobody would come by to kibitz; I can’t stand to be interrupted when I’m in the zone painting.  Anyhow, I thought it was a beautiful place, with the beginning of fall color, water and yes–lots of rocks.   Two carloads of people actually did come by but nobody bothered me.

Connected Now   oil on birch panel 18×24″     $700

Last month we made a quick trip to Maine, returning to Popham beach which we’d seen earlier in the summer when we were in Sebasco for a famiy gathering.  This painting is of Fox Island.  It was underwater when we first arrived but  resurfaced the next morning at low tide.  I had a wonderful time painting on the beach even though the wind was fierce and the sun was in my eyes.

Early in August we went to visit friends who’d rented a house on Star Lake in New York State, not far from Lake Placid.  Our hosts were a composer and a violinist who had also invited a pianist and an art historian.  Ed was in heaven playing and I was in heaven painting.  I took casein– a big mistake since it dried way too fast outside.  I stood out on the dock and painted one of the lake houses; it wound up too finicky and I didn’t like it.    But forunately I also took oils and found a beautiful pond with some dead trees for punctuation.  This time I used a larger support than I ordinarily use for plein air and the size forced me to slap down paint fast and furiously.  I got most of it done while I was there and only added a few touches after I got it home.  It’s looser than my usual style and I’m pretty pleased with it.    All in all, we had a fabulous time, produced great collaborative meals and just fell into wonderful conversations in between music, kayaking and hiking.  The art historian to our delight turned out to be a colleague of our son-in-law who teaches at Hamilton College.  Altogether a terrific group of people and a memorable few days.

Tranquil Turns  oil on birch panel  18×24″  $600 framed