A compilation of paintings in the chunkier style

Here's a quick sampling of some of my brighter florals and a landscape of Red Mountain.

Devotion, 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable
This painting is available for sale on dailypaintworks
CLICK TO BUY

Dalliance, 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable (SOLD)

The Lookouts, 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable, SOLD

Red Mountain, 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable, SOLD

Siblings, 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable, SOLD

Recently I took a workshop from Dreama Tolle Perry. Actually it was a year ago. I loved the concept she uses of doing a loose underpainting in transparent oil mixed with medium. Then while the paint is still wet, float saturated thick color over top with loose painterly brushstrokes. Some of the underpainting comes through, and it's quite luminous. These are all painted in that style, using the brighter color palette I picked up from her class.




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

Forward Motion

"Forward Motion" 12x12 oil pastel and oil paint on board, ©Laura Gable

Today I wasn't able to connect with the studio, so I painted a bit at home with the materials I have here. Or actually, I felt like I had an opportunity to play at "coloring" with my old friends -- Sennelier metallic super creamy oil pastels. They are so fun to work with--a step up from the crayons I used when I was young.  The surface is an Ampersand aqua board, which I like because it has a lot of tooth. In a few places the color was thinned and spread a bit using mineral spirits; plus I added layers of oil paint and oil glazes in places. I wanted the lines to have a lot of dynamic tension, with pleasing color, and a definite focal point. Also focused and spreading the light, middle, and darkest values around the painting.
title: "Forward Motion"
size: 12" x 12"
medium: oil pastel and oil paint
surface: aquaboard (formerly called clayboard textured)
CLICK TO BUY

In a Crowd (sold)

Ever feel invisible in the midst of a crowd of people, or lost in a world of your own imagination? Gives the mind pause to think how visible or invisible we can seem at times. When I was little I had recurring dreams of being invisible. Wonder if that's normal for shy children? I also dreamed that I could fly a lot. I'd go running and my feet were really springy, and then I'd bound up really high with each step.

"In a Crowd" 6x6 oil on board, ©Laura Gable, available for sale

At the Seashore, revised (SOLD)

This is one of the paintings that I did during my 100 day challenge last fall. I had a few artist friends critique it recently, and they gave me some suggestions to help with the boy's physique, and skyline. He was holding a bag of sand, which I removed because it was confusing. I added a cast shadow, and with that connected the two figures making for a stronger composition (and with that I'm recognizing the difference between a cast shadow and a reflection). His back side was adjusted so his pants had more droop fixing the butt area. I added shadows under his arm, and highlights along the top. The skyline and background colors were softened a bit to let the figures spring forward. I realize that if I were to put them on a different plane the painting would be more powerful, so perhaps I'll do a mini-series of this seashore scene. Here's the original post of this painting.

Revision of "At the Seashore" 8x8 oil on board, ©Laura Gable

Mandarin with Leaves

"Mandarin with Leaves" 5x5 oil on art panel, ©Laura Gable

Paintings are just more fun when you have something to observe. I try the imaginary one, but my mind can't quite recall all the details. As my artist friend says, "I'm just intrigued by realism." Though I do enjoy a good abstract, or a swirl of paint on a page, there is something to be said for doing a true study of an object. These little mandarins are so sweet this time of year, and if they sit still long enough without being eaten, they make nice little subjects.

Commission

I'm working with a client to create a nice long painting to fit in a specific spot in her family room. We're going for stylized garden which will bring the outdoors into the inside living space. She has the nicest garden and yard, so I have a lot to work with for inspiration. The initial sketch focused on the garden in the foreground with the fence-line in the background. As I sketched it in colored pencils, I decided that it needed an entry point to come into the painting, so I placed the walkway in there and an opening in the front for the eye to enter the painting. I'll keep you posted on the painting's progress.

black and white sketch for client

colorized sketch for client

December 12th Challenge with my Book Arts Group

The Tri-City book arts group had a great deal of fun on December 12, 2012 sharing our creations with each other. It was an exchange challenge, where we created 17 pieces for 17 participants, all sized 12x12 inches. Some artists did 17 versions of the same image, while others had variations on a theme, and others created samplers of their work. The results were very fun and amazing. I hope others will post what they created on our book arts blog. I did variations on the same theme, using my pink poinsettia as inspiration. Though the technique was the same, each piece became a unique expression of this single theme. It was done on Velin arches paper, using acrylic inks, waterproof markers, white gel pens and colored pencils.

Laura Gable, 12x12 challenge for our exchange on December 12, 2012

A Cold Night (SOLD)

A cold night with winter moonglow,
soft beams bathe regal pine sentinals,
the shifting breeze stirs whispered messages
not quite audible.

"A Cold Night" 7x11 oil on museum board, copyright Laura Gable (SOLD)

2013 Calendars

My 2013 calendar is here. These are 4"x6" desk-top sized calendars, printed on 14 pt gloss paper, double sided on 7 pages. They are held in a clear plastic case, which the top flips around to create a holder with easel back for displaying. Each page showcases a piece of artwork created this year. I will have them around December 6th.

Price $12.00 (plus tax of $1.00) = $13.00
[For non-locals: shipping cost is $5. You will be notified how to pay online.]

If you would like a calendar, please let me know your name, email address, how many you would like. If you are outside the Tri-City Washington region, please add your mailing address. Please contact me one of 3 ways:

- by commenting here on this blog:  Click comments below.

- on my studio Facebook page:    http://www.facebook.com/lauragablestudio/
- on the contact form of my regular website: http://lauragable.com/contact  (this is now fixed as of Dec 4. If you sent me a note via this modality in the past couple weeks, I may have missed your note so please try again now. Or try one of the other methods).

Here is the cover art and a sampling of months. If you want to peek at last year's to get an idea what we are talking about, click here.

Cover Art, copyright Laura Gable

February, copyright Laura Gable

March, copyright Laura Gable

June, copyright Laura Gable

September, copyright Laura Gable

calendars ready for sale in the studio.

Thank you for following my blog!

November

November
By: Alice Cary

The leaves are fading and falling;
The winds are rough and wild;
The birds have ceased their calling--
But let me tell you, my child,

Though day by day, as it closes,
Doth darker and colder grow,
The roots of the bright red roses
Will keep alive in the snow.

And when the winter is over,
The boughs will get new leaves,
The quail come back to the clover,
And the swallow back to the eaves.

The robin will wear on his bosom
A vest that is bright and new,
And the loveliest wayside blossom
Will shine with the sun and dew.

The leaves today are whirling;
The brooks are all dry and dumb--
But let me tell you, my darling,
The spring will be sure to come.

There must be rough, cold weather,
And winds and rains so wild;
Not all good things together
Come to us here, my child.

So, when some dear joy loses
Its beauteous summer glow,
Think how the roots of the roses
Are kept alive in the snow.

"After the Harvest" oil on canvas, ©Laura Gable (SOLD)

This was my grandmother's favorite poem, and seems fitting for a chilly day in November.

A bit weary but contented

We entertained a lot of visitors in the studio this weekend for our annual Open Studio Tour. The tour has such a nice flavor, with many guests finding themselves interacting more, and lingering a bit longer. One guest commented that she felt our tour was very "civilized" like she was in the big city. I had an opportunity for some quick demos, showing my supplies and workspace, offering tips, and acting as "tour guide" for my 100 day challenge. These paintings all had sequence numbers on the little tags underneath so you could tell in which order each was painted. They were arranged by color, size and content to make it more pleasing on the eye. At one point a large group of 14 people stood in a line, at a respectable distance looking at the art. As a result, I felt a bit out of body--like I had created a "museum" or "art gallery" wall in my own studio. There was even "whispering" at one point.

In my studio space, with iPad and Square ready for sales:
"Stalwart Elm" and two plain air landscapes "McNary Vista" and "Afternoon Respite", ©Laura Gable

So to reiterate and wrap up the challenge, I will summarize some of the earlier posts and musings here.

What was the 100 in 100 Challenge?
It was a self-challenge I adopted on August 2nd to create 100 paintings in 100 days. Most of the painting was done on 8x8 or 12x12 Ampersand gessoboards, or smaller supports (using mostly oil paints and some watercolor). The purpose of this challenge was to create a more definite habit of creating art, pay attention to the process, and to see my evolution as an artist, with a larger goal of joining the online daily painting movements in the near future. The challenge just ended Friday Nov. 9th - the day before our tour.

Lessons Learned:

- the process became a little bit easier each day as it integrated into my daily life
- vision and daily goals help, though often the daily painting informs the next day's piece.
- some days are better suited for doing loose rather than studied paintings (a good fit for the goal-less days)
- daily painting creates it's own momentum
- I do need occasional breaks
- there were days that it was a struggle to create --usually when I made it a task or job like doing the dishes. To alleviate this, I started scheduling "joy moments."
- the studies from life require more concentration and focus, and can be hard work. But like any task when one can see the fruits of the labor, I came away feeling refreshed afterwards. As long as something was learned, the expectation of the quality of the end result could be relaxed a bit.

This all added to the exploration and kept it interesting. Mini goals were established - not only subject matter based, but technique based as well. For instance, I strive to express lost and found edges and not feel so compelled to express every aspect of every object (an ongoing effort).

Shelf display in the studio: newly framed "Sequential" finds a new home;
"Red Mountain" and "Vineyard Revelry" display nicely below; © Laura Gable

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you are equally inspired to do something similar. A potter friend is now on her 4th day of a 100 day challenge. And another inspirational friend is doing something "different" every day -- not necessarily art based, just a unique exploration (like journal writing with the non-dominant hand.) Please share what inspiration you have come away with.

100 "Visionary"

#100 "Visionary" painting, 24"x48" oil on canvas, ©Laura Gable

 I'm pleased to say that my challenge has come to a close. This last few weeks have been equally challenging with getting the messy and cluttered studio in order for the Open Studio Tour. It is in the greater Tri-City, WA area this weekend. Coupled with that was the compassion felt and emotion spent towards the knee replacement surgery of a family member (all is well, and she is healing nicely). So a big sigh of relief "Whew!" for completion. This final painting has been in progress for awhile, so wasn't entirely painted on this final day (though it was finished today). As you can see, I wanted to go out with a flourish. Friends, please meet painting #100.

"Visionary" 24x48 oil on canvas, ©Laura Gable

Here the painting is a little bit closer. She is a lovely brilliant painting and I am quite pleased (above).

David is keeping an eye on things in the studio, especially "Honey Crisp"

 And my studio is nice and organized, finally (thanks to the help of some faithful friends). There's a lot involved with making sure each piece is labeled, tagged, priced, photographed, signed, varnished and hung. I ended up with a few extra pieces beyond my 100, which all fit so nicely on these custom built shelves. I realized today that 2 didn't make the wall, and a few others didn't make the blog. So I actually came out ahead. Here's a nice angled shot of the 100 painting wall (below). At my sister's request, I also made a video of the paintings so I hope to figure out how to get that up on the blog soon.

100 paintings all hung up in a tidy series of rows in my studio.

Another shot of some of my larger paintings on display at the studio is below. These were completed at various times over the past year or two. I'd sure love to see you come by the studio this weekend for my Open Studio Tour. I'm open both Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm. You might even find me there an hour before or after.

Close view of some of my bigger paintings. A collector  is purchasing all three of these paintings.
What a wonderful reward at the end of this 100 day journey

Please share your musings about this blog in person. On Facebook, a potter just shared that she's inspired to do a personal 100 day challenge in clay. I can't wait to see how she does with a similar challenge. I'll post a link. For my other viewers, I'd love to hear your feedback. It's been a bit lonely here on the blog as I wasn't sure how to get viewers to post comments. C'est La Vie ... and so such is life!

99 Anemone

99 "Anemone" 6x8 oil on boxed panel, ©Laura Gable

Today's effort had a direction and a definite plan, yet once it got underway I found it wasn't quite coming together. So this one got scrubbed out! We love scrubbing, right?? The resulting swirly colorful "mess" of color still had a nice brightness and flow, so I embellished it with my rubber-tipped painting tool that actually lifts paint in a fine line like drawing, and added a few staccato touches of color to give it more definition. I'm enjoying the playful sea anemone feel of this one.

98 Swirly Sun also called SUNSPOT (SOLD)

98 "Swirly Sun" 6x6 oil on board, ©Laura Gable

My 100 day challenge is winding down, and I'm aching to complete the challenge. I know I'll keep painting, though my regularity may not be quite as demanding since I also discovered I need a little bit of down time here and there. I read once that to create a new habit, do something repeatedly for 21 days and there you have a new habit - good or bad. I've discovered that sliding into the painting mindset takes less time now. In fact, yesterday's piece was completed on the kitchen table while still in my pjs (I was wearing my surgical gloves though - safe painting practices).

With doing smaller paintings I've let my larger brushes stay clean for awhile. So here's to creating and finishing those larger paintings, getting all the brushes dirty at the same time, and bringing some swirly arm movements into the act. And trust the process first and foremost. Some days call for a light hearted expression of color and movement (like today's); while other days a deeper study is needed when realism becomes so very fascinating.

Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be.