Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

Ginger Man  oil on claybord  5×7″  $100

I’ve wanted to paint ginger for a long time.  I thought this piece was vaguely anthropomorphic and then when I started to paint I realized it had a face!  I may have emphasized the features just a trifle, but basically this is what it looked like.  In my opinion ginger is right up there with garlic as a culinary essential.

Garlic Pot  oil on claybord 5×7″  $100

I’ve been working on huge landscapes but in between while waiting for them to dry I’ve started a new series of still life paintings.  I found a lot of little 5 x 7″ claybord supports I bought for  painting  flora of the forest floor.  So I thought while snow covers everything outside I could use the claybord for still life paintings of edibles.  You’d think that a small painting would be easier to dash off but actually it takes longer than some regular-sized landscapes.  It’s very good practice for noticing all the subtleties of forms.  And the little pieces prop up nicely over the doorway to the kitchen where I already have a lot of paintings of fruits and vegetables on the walls.  A friend gave me this pretty ceramic garlic keeper and this makes the third painting I’ve done of garlic–tells you how I feel about garlic!

As I may have mentioned I’m fairly obsessed with clouds and if we only had a fast connection I’d join the Cloud Appreciation Society (www.cloudappreciationsociety.org) to get pictures people send in.   I’ve read the book–The Cloudspotter’s Guide– but don’t feel very confident about identifying what’s what.  Mainly I love the colors and shapes just for themselves.   The problem with painting clouds on site is that they of course change in seconds.   Occasionally with a small painting I can get something recorded,  other times I try to remember, sometimes I get a photo and sometimes I invent them.  I’m trying something new here–really BIG paintings.  Someday I’ll have a show with space to hang paintings that would be too large for a lot of galleries.  In the meantime a friend has said I could store them in her garage.  This one is not quite as large as the next one in the series but it gave me a feel for slapping down paint with a big brush.

Rejoice!  oil on masonite   27×36″  $850 unframed

Beef:  It’s What’s for Dinner    casein  9×12″  $400

Here’s the third in my whimsical casein series.  I found the little knight lying on the road and thought setting him up in a confrontation with the bull would be amusing.  The title is from an advertisement for beef, although nobody seems to remember it.   Clouds fascinate me so it was fun to tack one up on the blue background.

Here’s another casein painting.  Meerkats crack me up.  These three were sold together and I’ve had fun setting  them up in various scenes.  (Am I in my second childhood?) I constructed the set in a cardboard box, complete with a landscape painting made from a card from one of my shows.  I loved painting the velvet drapery.  Casein is such a time-consuming medium but it’s something I can keep on my drafting table and work on when I have a few minutes, unlike oils where setting up takes more time.

Gossip   casein on birch panel  9×12″  $400 framed

I read recently that 90% of bloggers haven’t posted in 4 months so there you go.  I do have an excuse.  My opening for a solo show of 42 (!) paintings was last weekend and I was frantically finishing up paintings, varnishing, framing, etc.  I was pleased with the way it looked and the turnout for the show so now I can relax and catch up.  One of the paintings that took the longest was “Cat’s Cradle: Mother/Stepmother.”  I thought the cat’s cradle game was a good metaphor for step families–the relationships are complex but the members are tied closely together.  It took me a long time, working from three different photographs; putting them together wasn’t easy.  Of course this is my former daughter-in-law, the two boys and my daughter-in-law.   I gave up getting a good likeness but it’s the idea that counts.

Cat’s Cradle: Mother/Stepmother    oil on masonite 36×36″  NFS

Here’s the next painting I did.  I am crazy about California trees, especially these tall ones.  I spent all day here and was entertained as well by small children who came up to watch while I was painting.  Unfortunately it was April Fool’s day so they had to play lots of silly tricks on me.

Lacey Park Trees acrylic on paper 9 x 12 $100

We just returned from visiting Gavin in Pasadena–a marvelous trip.  There was deep snow on the ground when we left and perfect weather in L.A.  Gavin and Jill fed us handsomely, we bought beautiful local produce at the farmers’ market and just generally felt we were in paradise.  Seeing our tall grandsons was the best.

Because the weather was perfect I got to go to parks where I did seven paintings in 8 days.  I had to use acrylics because you can’t fly with any kind of solvents, including tubes of oil paint.  Working with acrylics feels very different but the good part is that it dries so fast I can keep going.  I may do an oil painting from the acrylic sketch for a few that I liked.  It was so great to be outdoors painting.  I probably won’t be able to do any plein air until the middle of May at home.

This is the first painting I did at a park in Pasadena that Jill discovered.  It’s full of exotic vegetation.  I’m not sure what these plants were–maybe agave?–but they’re not like anything in Vermont.

California Vegetation 9 x 12 acrylic on paper $100