Peek

"Peek", oil painting on 6x6 short cradled panel, ©Laura Gable

Who lurks behind the mask,

the visage glowing beyond

the bright ember of ones existence.

Inquisitive and pondering, 

our essence lives on.

A recent portrait study didn't go so well. The mini-portrait, though containing all the elements of the photographed face, just didn't hold a likeness. That can be a challenge when working commissions... certainly. I admit I've not had many portrait commissions and did I mention they are challenging. The family I worked with was very delightful though, and they were the best of clients. I'll post the finished pieces later.

Rather than waste a painting that went "bad" I slapped a few more strokes of color on and around, saving the favorite part of the original design ... this one good eye. And now, quite accidentally I see a face-like image grow out of these abstract strokes. The lower right resembles a grotesque nose, perhaps? H-m-m maybe this is how Picasso arrived at his fractured face series of paintings ???

UPDATE 2013: This painting has been modified and I will post an updated image soon.

Grape Fest

This sweet oil painting, sized 12x12 square on a cradled Masonite board, is currently on display at the newly opened Canoe Ridge Tasting Room. I have 6 paintings on display there. A couple of my artist friends also have art on display.

Perched high upon a ridge overlooking the Columbia River Gorge the tasting room feels a bit more like an art gallery with a wine service inside. Floor to ceiling windows grace one side of the room, casting glorious light onto the artwork hung on an interesting metal wave wall inside. Their official opening is July 1st, so won't you come out and see this lovely location? I hear the wine is quite good, also. They are a subsidiary of Chateau St Michelle winery.

"Grape Fest", 12"x12" oil painting on cradled masonite board, ©Laura Gable, .

Per Wine Press Northwest:
"For the first time since the 1990s, Washington's oldest winery will have a tasting room in Eastern Washington.

Chateau Ste. Michelle will open a tasting room at its Canoe Ridge Estate facility west of Paterson beginning Sunday. The facility - where all of Ste. Michelle's red wines are made - was built nearly 20 years ago but has never been open to the public. Beginning Sunday and going through Oct. 15, it will be opened from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

The tasting room is on Highway 14, just east of Crow Butte Park, about 15 minutes west of Columbia Crest.

Ste. Michelle used to have a tasting room in Grandview, but it closed in 1990.

This gives the state's largest wine producer six tasting rooms east of the Cascades. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates owns Columbia Crest (Paterson), Snoqualmie Vineyards (Prosser), Northstar (Walla Walla) and Spring Valley Vineyards (Walla Walla), and it co-owns Col Solare (Red Mountain) with Marchese Antinori of Italy."

Metamorphosis

She emerges eternal from the cocoon of the past, not knowing that she was fully bound by these constraints. Her glorious wings unfurl and a new found joy bursts forth as she rises above the turmoil of her past. The updrafts of wisdom and insight carry her to new and glorious heights she never knew were possible. Truth and clarity are her new companions.

"Metamorphosis" 12x24, oil on canvas

These insightful paintings are so much fun. Enjoying the painting process, and play of colors across the canvas - no rules, no firm preconceived direction. Just a focus on flow and movement. What experiences have you had with these sorts of "liminal" pieces of artwork you have created?

Artist in Repose

"Artist in Repose" a pastel drawing on black paper, 8x10

We have several opportunities here locally to draw figures. There are 2 artist groups that get together frequently, and the local gallery hosts nude figure sessions year-round, except summers. My favorite sessions are the rare opportunity to take the figure outside under the shade of the trees. The skin tones change dramatically. I've just sketched them, but am looking forward to an opportunity to paint these figures in oils soon.

This sketch was done inside, however, awhile back. Our model didn't show up, so one of the artists said she would pose for us. She had a migrane, so it actually was a bit of a respite for her. I know the nose isn't quite rendered correctly, but I do love the glow I got on her shadow side cheek and the reflected green on her chin. It has sort of a Degas quality.

One of my earliest teachers, Jan Kunz, taught me that the skin tones are cooler on the forehead and chin since there is less flesh over the bone. And so that would make the cheeks and nose warmer since they are more fleshy. Jan was an amazing teacher. She taught a group of 30 students here and juried one of the last exhibitions of the Eastern Washington Watercolor Society. I was recently contacted by her daughter who owns Creative Catalyst Productions, an art teaching video company. She shared that Jan is now celebrating her 90th birthday. What an amazing accomplishment for such an accomplished artist.

Backlit Lollipop Trees

"Backlit Lollipop Trees" ©Laura Gable, oil on 11x14 stretched linen

It's all experimenting, really. Isn't it? My friend who owns the antique store on the corner gave me this sweet little stretched linen "canvas" ... so again I did a bit of experimenting with the hazy subtle forest in the background and the glowing trunks with just that skiff of light on their edges. The foliage on the foreground trees ended up looking a bit Dr-Seussian and reminds me of those Lollipop trees we all painted in grade school.

The plein air artists who write these insightful art books ask us to return to painting these sorts of trees, or a version thereof. In an effort to get the eye back to seeing it as a mass of varying tones rather than just a bunch of leaves. If we were to paint all those little leaves, it would surely make the eyes cross. Though I admit in the past, I've been known to do so. Though I may have been a lot younger. ;-)

Spiritual Series

"Though I Walk in Fear"   -   "I am Led to the Still Waters"   -   "My Soul is Restored"
a triptycht for client on 8"x24" cradled gessobord, painted in oils. ©Laura Gable

I've just recently completed this series of paintings for a client. She wanted me to use the influences of Van Gogh and Monet in the art, and base themes and titles from the 23rd Psalm. The paintings are a progression of her life's path, and her spiritual devotion.

The first, is a fearful and troublesome painting. "Though I Walk in Fear" represents a time of being lost and alone, stumbling through the moonlight with foreboding shapes and deep valleys all around.

Realizing that we are never alone and finding some solace in life and seeing peace return, is the theme of the second painting, "I am Led to the Still Waters. We are led to this beautiful oasis where our soul can become nourished.

In the final piece, the peace and love we all seek has been found... at this point we realize, "My Soul is at Restored."  A restful and serene place, where one can see the beautiful sunset again.

It was a fun journey, and creating these pieces was a process in itself. When the final painting was completed, this sense of peace and restoration came to me as well. Knowing the "feeling" she wanted in each painting was a wonderful guiding force and allowed me to interject this into the brush strokes and then into the finished piece. So hopefully this comes across in the finished pieces of artwork.

Red Mountain

"Red Mountain Revelry" 6x6 oil on gessobord. ©Laura Gable

If you were to drive out Sunset Road on the far west end of the small village of West Richland, Washington, you would find a lovely array of angular fields filled with multiple rows of vines. Vines of all variety of grapes, who's distinction is difficult to see with the subtle green shades of the spring and summer. As cooler weather approaches, and the various leaves turn their lovely autumn shades, you can see vast fields of reds next to patches of varying shades of gold and ochre. It's quite a sight to behold. With the gently sloping protection of Red Mountain, this nestled area of vineyards and tasting rooms really is quite a magical and serene at any time of year.

An progression of brush strokes

I have a stack of these little 4x4 Ampersand Gessoboards. They are fun to play with when there's that little bit of paint left over and it's hardly worth saving. It becomes a perfect time for experimentation. I also have a new rubber tipped tool that can remove paint from this hard surface, so I was having a little bit of fun there lifting paint, in the first one on the left. The second was a series of loose strokes that I then totally blended out because I didn't like the direction it was going. Oil paint is so wonderful for this blending out ... you just need the right clean brush—not too soft, yet not too bristly. A few strokes were added back in after the blending. The final was a bit of a repeat of 2, but the brush strokes were applied in this musical syncopated way. Does anyone else paint fast when a quicker paced song comes on? I like the movement and flow of these 3 pieces, and think I will have them framed with little fillets around each of them, then arranged together on one panel. Have fun playing with your leftover paints!

"Atmosphere" triptycht of 4x4 gessobords painted in oil. ©Laura Gable

"Flavors of Red" and "53"

"Flavors of Red" and "53" oil on 4x4 gessobord. ©Laura Gable

These tiny little easels are the perfect size for the 4x4 Ampersand Gessobords. Sometimes it's good to have these little boards lying about, as they are a quick way to get quickly into right brain mode for a longer painting session. A loosening up exercise in abstraction and movement using similar values and tones ... and then integrating the "53" in honor of a friend's year of birth. If their keepers, I usually frame them either separately or together, but there's really an infinite number of possibilities for their final use. People often pick them up and are surprised by the lightness, since they look like ceramic tiles.

My friend from Florida sent me an article a few years back of an artshow that was made up of these miniature boards. Each was designed by a different artist using any or all mediums, from paint, to clay, to fiber art, to collage. They were then hung together on one wall. The combined art that was created by all these individual pieces was truly amazing.

"Siblings" finds a new home. Like a child departing the nest, this sweet little painting has attached itself to the heart strings of a new collector. "I'm almost 90" she quipped "with little room for more art in my home, so I will just admire." But you know, the more time she stood before it, listened to its message, and absorbed it's soft song, she "allowed" it's presence into her life. Quietly she said, "I'm going to buy it ... An early mothers day gift for myself". Her daughters acknowledged this fitting gift, and chuckled at the title - "siblings". A joyful moment -- a fine gift shared. (which has especially touched this artist. Thank you MJL.)

Location:"Siblings" find a new home...

"The Look Outs"

"The Look Outs" ©Laura Gable, 8x8 oil painting on board.

These echinacea flowers have beautiful large showy heads of composite "purple coneflowers" and they bloom from early to late summer.


They rise above the lavender bushes in this Louwden Lavendar farm in late summer, where they appear as though they are the look outs at the command post. Maybe they are looking for the invasive sunflower, trying to separate the chaff from the grain in this utopian farm society. Or perhaps it's a wandering dog they will sound the alarms for. I'm sure you can make up your own story.


Wikipedia states that they are endemic to eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist and dry prairies and open wooded areas. I spied these in Walla Walla, plus we have some growing in our front yard. The name derives from the Greek word echino, meaning "sea urchin" due to the spiny central disk. Some species are used in herbal medicines and some are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. A few species are of conservation concern.

Siblings

"Siblings" ©Laura Gable, 6x6 oil painting on canvas board. (SOLD)

Like a family these fluffy petaled heads, vie for attention from the viewer.
Can you almost hear their sibling cries... "Mommy-Daddy, look at me??"
Growing up in a large family, I remember a few times when we had to jostle for attention. Or at least it seemed that way in my fluffy tow-haired head.

One often resorted to a bit of "showing off" especially if there was company visiting. We'd do cartwheels in the living room, practice juggling (well maybe not), tell jokes, show off our gardens (we each had our own). I recall another occasion when my siblings and I performed a makeshift concert for my visiting grandparents. Through the "Squeek, and squack" from 2 clarinets, a flute and one coronet -- they still seemed to enjoy it. Isn't that what grandparents do? (... see the "blackmail" photo below)

Loving the horn rim glasses, and the clarinet that I played from 6th grade to Senior year.

What is it about sunflowers that draws us in? Why are so many of us enamored by the these vibrant abundant fields filled with bobbing heads that rotate as the sun moves across the sky. There were a few of those lively fields in Nebraska where I grew up. The local farmers found new crops that needed raising and grooming ... these were most likely for bird seed or sunflower oil.

Sunflowers are rich in color, they elicit a joyful presence. They are all knowing, as though there is wisdom implanted in these beautiful heads.

Windows of the soul,

eyes of the sun,

grown from mother earth...

Why do I return to sunflowers so often in my paintings?
I guess it's a bit of a touch stone, especially if I've been away from the paints for a period of time. It's familiar territory which I feel I can navigate. Perhaps I see my progress as an artist to return to this recurrent subject in order to see how I can best express concepts, especially after learning new things. Like this newest painting, the goal was to express the color and "mass-tone" while moving away from an exact representation of each petal. I'm getting there, I believe.

Yes, it's also a JOY thing. I just love them and so why not paint what makes you happy.

Plain and simply, paint what you love -- enjoy the process. And the frosting on top, is if you, dear viewer, enjoys it as well. Here's a little 6x6 oil painting that I did yesterday. Share your experiences and connections to the sunflower too, if you'd like.

Visit my website: http://LauraGable.com

Miss Kitty

The studio where I used to rent space, has a "shop kitty" who made the place her home.
She is quite comfortable there and very well taken care of. The owner artists' diligently take care of her daily needs with morning tuna, treats midday and offer her long play sessions in the afternoons or evening.
In the summers she roams the enclosed area out the back door, but mostly she just lays in the sun and roll in the dirt. In the winters she has a heating pad in her bed atop one of the artists bookshelves. She is often a fixture in their display window, her tawny Bengal colors match so beautifully with the owners' turned wood art pieces.

"Katarah" ©Laura Gable, 6x6 oil painting, SOLD

Though I must admit she has no blue in her coloring, it was fun to experiment with the tones and reflections from her surroundings and the multi colored rug on which she sat.
Her expectant look says it all. "I love you", mixed with "please feed me". This was a common pose I saw from her as she sat patiently in front of my desk drawer where I kept her treats. The owners felt I might bond a little bit more with her if I had a private stash of the treats. I admit that when the treats ran out, I substituted treats with her daily food but assumed it took on the same favors of the crinkly crunchy pouch. She still gobbled up the pieces.
Do you have any sweet "gato" stories to share as well?

Visit my website: http://LauraGable.com

Visit my website: http://LauraGable.com

A bit more about "Faith"

This seems fitting to post today. It's a poem by America's beloved poet, Emily Dickinson. The last painting I posted, also shares the same title.

"Faith" is a fine invention
by Emily Dickinson

"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
------------


- visit my website: http://LauraGable.com