91 Monster (SOLD)

92 "Monster" 8x8 oil on board, copyright Laura Gable (SOLD)

It seems fitting to do a monster painting today, on Halloween. It's loosely based on a studio shot of William Henry Pratt, more commonly known as Boris Karloff, from his heyday as Frankenstein's monster. Onto a sea of red and yellow oil paint blended loosely together with medium, The face developed with additional strokes of transparent color. I was happy that the finished portrait looks like it is bathed in firelight.

May all your little ghosts and goblins have a fun evening getting dressed up and sugared up. I'm sure we will have a few scary faces to share our treats with tonight.

90 Moody Blues

90 "Moody Blues" 8x8 oil painting on board, copyright Laura Gable

Soft whispers of color on this lovely blue Hubbard squash, affects the neighboring forms with these subtle tones. Another exercise in looseness and seeing these slight variations in color and their impact on other forms. The orange form reflects onto the blue form and that bounces back onto the orange form.

I titled it Moody Blues since that's how these greyer days in our wet Mid-Columbia region have been feeling recently.

89 Somber Vineyard

89 "Somber Vineyard" - 7"x3" oil on canvas, copyright Laura Gable

Saturday's drive up the Columbia Gorge to the Canoe Ridge Estates vineyard, garnered a few moody images that are begging to become paintings. The rains were starting to clear on this area of high slopes that overlook the Columbia River on the Washington side. The ridge resembles an upside down canoe, aptly named by explorers Lewis and Clark many years ago. Though the ridge isn't visible in this painting, it shows the southern slope. Nestled high on top is their lovely gallery style tasting room, and red wine production facility for all of Chateau Ste. Michelle. I was part of an art show that ran all summer. Now they close for the season, though the wine making is just beginning. On this visit, I met the vineyard manager, Mimi. She has a deep love of the soil and thriving vines that grow there. She is featured in a video on their website--her love of the vineyards is evident: http://www.ste-michelle.com/terroir/vineyards/canoeRidgeEstate

Plan a visit next season to enjoy these vineyards, their finely crafted wines and look for new art displays to be showcased then.

coming up ... Open Studio Tour

Mark you calendars for the upcoming Open Studio Tour, which I will participate in again this year. It is Saturday and Sunday, November 10th and 11th from 11a.m. to 4p.m. each day. In it's 9th year, this tour has been a fantastic way to start off the holiday season. Step into the creative world of these fine artists and craftspeople. This year we will feature 16 artists in 15 different studios located in the Tri-City region, plus Benton City and West Richland.
http://www.artistostour.org/HOME.html

87 Escape to Lavender Valley

87 "Escape to Lavender Valley" 8x8 oil on board, copyright Laura Gable

A few days ago I did a miniature study for this larger painting (check out entry #77). Though 8x8 is not significantly larger, it was still an interesting exercise to show a bit more information from this visit to the Blue Mountain Lavender farm outside Lowden last summer. Late in the season, the visitors are allowed to cut handfuls of these wonderfully fragrant blossoms. They filled the car with a soft scent for the ride home. Here's a link to their website. http://bluemountainlavender.com/

When I was moving the boards around for my new studio shelves, I accidentally scraped across the top of this wet painting. Silly me for leaving it on the floor. And so the figures bending over on the right side of the painting were obliterated. Funny, since I was considering removing them anyway since I thought they resembled sheep. Perhaps if I do an even larger painting, I'll finally add them in.

86 Fire and Ice Goddess

85 "Fire and Ice Goddess", 12x12 oil on clayboard, copyright Laura Gable

Using a nice wide palette knife, I spread some gesso thickly in the center of this clayboard, forming the shape of a figure. So it has a bas-relief sort of feel. After it dried overnight, it made for some enjoyable effects when the thinned oil paint was skimmed over the top. I wanted to depict the goddess standing between sun and moon, but the more I started to develop the painting, the more I realized that most of the elements were emerging. Can you see them all??

She has already survived a lot, as she landed face first on my hardwood floor here at home. Fortunately she had a light coating of paint, unlike some of the prior juicy painted surfaces I've done recently. So not much was disturbed in the "butter side down" debacle. I just added a few tiny stones and dust from my messy floor (which have been removed.)

She has such wonderful movement and flow. This one was truly inspired and I feel I really got "out of the way" and just let it happen.

81 & 82 Revised

81 "Crayon Box Jungle" 12x12 oil on board, copyright Laura Gable

82 "Technicolor Hills and Dales" 12x12 oil on board, copyright Laura Gable

If you scroll back to the prior entries of 81 and 82, you can see where these paintings started. I was enjoying using the oil crayons, yet the colors weren't feeling too cohesive, the design was off, and it just didn't feel representative of my style. A friend came in yesterday, and confirmed this speculation "those just don't feel like your art, Laura" she kindly said. Once in a while it's good to trust the wise guidance of a friend. Especially one who collects a great amount of art.

So more paint was applied today, with a stronger design in mind. Parts of the original painting can be seen peeking through. I love the color expression here, and think they are much stronger paintings. They even pair nicely together. The titles were also changed to be more representative of the paintings: "Crayon Box Jungle" and "Technicolor Hills and Dales".

85 Oak Wreath

This is a painting I did with my watercolor students. We traced actual oak leaves from the trees outside the center. Their colors are so fabulous right now--greens shot full of red and russet, golden and deep eggplant colors... a joy to paint. And just like the leaves we painted, and the people who painted them, each one was uniquely different.

85 "Oak Wreath" watercolor on paper, copyright Laura Gable

84 Winter Squash 2 (SOLD)

84 "Winter Squash 2" oil on board - 2.5x2.5 inches, copyright Laura Gable

My friends at the You and I Framing and Gallery are cutting these tiny little fillet frames for my miniature paintings. And then if I find the right pin backers, I'm planning to make them into a broach. One of my friends bought 4 of them (the little apples and leaves paintings). I'm on the hunt now for the pin backers. I'm not sure the traditional ones will work. If I could locate some of the high powered magnet backers, those would probably be best. Any leads out there?

This little acorn squash is choosing to keep this larger blue pumpkin-squash company. I'm loving the pale lavender tones in the background, leftover from a lavender fields painting I did recently.

83 Winter Squash (SOLD)

83 "Winter Squash" 2.5" x 2.5" oil on board, copyright Laura Gable

A sweet little painting of a lovely blue pumpkin or squash. I'm not sure what variety they are, as I tossed the label. The greenish heathery color is so unique, and their little twisted up stems, full of character. I've about exhausted these little boards. They complete a bit quicker since they don't hold much detail, yet my eyes tire more quickly while working on them.

The other day, a young man in an effort to describe me and my art, said he thought I was "that detailed painter". And then he made a scrunched up writing motion, pulling his shoulder in and putting his hand up next to his face. Interesting though, I don't really think of myself as a detailed painter, as I've been known to omit a great deal of detail. But then when you consider that I am painting these very small canvases, I suppose I am.

82 Monkey Mind (this has been revised - no longer for sale)

82 "Monkey Mind" 12x12 oil on clayboard, copyright Laura Gable

Like a monkey, my mind jumps about and I'm often comparing myself to the dog named Doug, on the animated feature "UP!"  Do you remember how he was talking and all of a sudden he'd shift his head and say "squirrel!" Well that's how my mind seems to be lately. This painting was started earlier and then after a bit of a break pursuing other creative activities with my neighbor's printing press, I thought I'd resume the process. It's as though the thoughts shifted and completing the conversation took more effort. I wanted the darkest color to play across the page in a T design, with the lighter more subdued colors playing in the background. I've got a hankering to paint a few autumn squash I've picked up, and so this is the closest things I've come up with yet.

81 Bubbles (this has been revised - no longer for sale)

81 "Bubbles" 12x12 oil painting on board, Copyright Laura Gable

One of the artist's I follow online gave me some insight as to how she works on clayboard. She uses paint sticks or oil pastels. I have a few old Shiva paint sticks - the kind that grow a heavy film over their surface, so you have to carve it off. I don't have many colors, so have to supplement the rest of the colors with oil paints. It's amazing how quickly they dry on this clay surface, the oil just wicks into the surface. I didn't use much medium this time - but it would be interesting to prepare the board first with linseed oil, as one of the websites suggested. Perhaps I'll try that another time.

80 Birds Eye View

80 "Birds Eye View" 5x5 oil on canvas, copyright Laura Gable

The little bird looks outward expectantly, as with each passing day the earth sheds it's mantle of summer, while days of harvest and melancholy are before us. Last week's brightly lit skies of early Autumn, gave way to cooler winds and brisker temperatures yesterday. Mentally I can't quite grasp this transition, yet I'm finding that last month's light khaki clothing isn't quite warm enough. I'm digging deep into the closets to bring forth those cozy sweaters and today wore a neck scarf with my jacket for the first time. I really wish Autumn wasn't so fleeting. The foliage colors are so glorious and the light quality is so pure. But alas, these days of transition and change will happen no matter how much I pine, whine and rumble.

79 Discovery (SOLD)

79 "Discovery" 8x8 oil on board, copyright Laura Gable (SOLD)

She is reborn.

She rises from tragedy and years of tears.

With these small steps,

she launches and releases herself

to explore a life she had ignored,

in order to give herself to another.

Through this exploration,

she discovers that deep inside

lives a beautiful woman and soul

she barely knows.

She is slowly releasing this bondage of the past

and allowing this beauty to shine forth.

She is "Discovery".