This pathway

Lincoln Marsh Pathway,  12x9" Oil on linen panel

©2016 Helen Read

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Not too far from where I live is a natural wetlands that is quite lovely, particularly in the springtime as the leaves and grasses just start to return from their long winter slumber.   This painting captures one of those first warm days as green is beginning to dress the bare branches.  The shadows that are cast are thinner, less full than they will soon be.  There's a sense of anticipation about the environment - you can hear it in the birds' songs, in the occasional rustle of the grasses as a small animal scurries through.  The air is warm, but the ground is still rather cool... spring is just beginning with the promise of so much more! 

Spring Awakens!

 

Spring Awakens, 12 x 9" oil on linen panel

©2016 Helen Read

ready to frame 

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Oh Springtime!  So long awaited during the cold winter months. Those first few days are a wonderful lush growth of green, as the birds sing and the earth warms.
This was painted of a location at Lincoln Marsh, a local area that fosters beautiful growth of plants and is the home of much wildlife.  On this sunny day, in early spring, its beauty was cast in lovely tones of green and blue.

 

Working on 2 new paintings

It's a cold, overcast, windy day - so a good day to bring these 2 paintings along.  Both are 12x9" .  The underpainting was done a few days ago -  the values have been categorized, and now layers of color are going down.  

More coming soon! 

2 New landscapes - underpaintings

Both of these are underpaintings - a monochromatic "rough draft" you could say - which just lays out the general idea in lights and darks.  Both of these measure 12x9" So, now that the underpaintings are done, I'll begin to devise and lay in color while keeping the values (lights and darks) about where they are.   I hope to begin this next step in the next couple days!  

Its been a week! Student Art Show

Every year around the first week in May, our high school puts on the student art exhibit.  As an art teacher, it is a lot of work!   Its a wonderful thing to do, and many of our students participate - but it is a demanding and exhausting week!   So, this was the week...   I tried to start counting the pieces we hung and/or displayed - and it just wasn't possible.  The small section I counted was 300 - and I estimate that was possibly 1/5 of the total - but that may be quite conservative...  I think its safe to say, over 1500 pieces were hung.  Monday morning, it all comes down again - till next May.    There won't really be much rest until graduation and finals are finished... in a few more weeks, but hopefully it won't be as exhausting as this week has been!