Sheep in a Pasture

A wide variety of greens are showing off at this time of year. For a painter it’s a challenge to differentiate the many greens — unfurling leaves, mature leaves, grass, a variety of plants, all in either sun or shade. How many greens are in this painting? The sheep are just simple shapes.

Mother & Baby, Finals

These are the final two variations I made for the “Painting in Series” class. (Scroll back at www.lynnholbein.com to see the photo and six other paintings.) The top painting was done with just red, blue and yellow, mixed in different ways. The B&W was made tracing the original photo on a lightbox, using pen, pencil and three markers.

Honoring All Our Mothers

“Those of us who are truly lucky have more than one mother. They are the cool aunts, the elderly ladies, the family friends, even the mentors who whip us into shape,” wrote Heather Cox Richardson.

Giving thanks to the mother who gave us life, and to the other women in our lives who have mothered us.

Enigmatic Landscape

Taking a break from my Mother & Baby series, I painted this last week, inspired by Danish artist Lena Gemzoe. She works fast, squeezing watercolors from bottles, tilting and scraping with a credit card, welcoming “happy accidents.” Here is a mesmerizing 7-minute video where she creates an entire painting. I love the mystery of these landscapes.

Mother & Baby #3

This painting for my “Paintings in Series” class might well be subtitled “From Mess to Success.” The assignment was to create texture in your painting. I put salt in the mother’s hair to give it texture, and then glued tissue paper on her shirt, which looked awful. In frustration, I ran the whole painting under the kitchen faucet and scrubbed at it. When it emerged, it started to look better, so I applied ink to the edges (it was damp, so it ran on the baby’s face) and reinforced the paint on the mother’s and baby’s hair. A happy accident.

Mother & Baby, #2

In April I’m sharing some pieces made for a class “Painting in Series,” when we each chose a photo and painted it using a variety of techniques. See my website www.lynnholbein.com for the reference photo of Eva and our granddaughter Maggie.

This assignment was to cut loose from realistic colors. The top uses contiguous colors (a variety of blues), and the bottom uses opposite colors (red/orange and blue/green). Crazy, but it helped us think outside the box.

Mother and Baby, #1

I recently completed an excellent 10-week class called “Painting in Series,” taught by Chetana Keltcher, about painting the same image over and over using different techniques. For my weekly posts in April, each Monday at 5 I will send you one or two paintings I made for this class.

This photo is of our daughter-in-law Eva, holding our granddaughter Maggie when she was six months old; Maggie will be three this week. The painting below is on rice paper, using ink applied with both a pen and a brush.

My New Hip

After several years of low-level pain which has reduced my exercise (walking, yoga), I had my right hip replaced last Tuesday. I’m closer to pain-free every day! Kate and Lila, our daughter and granddaughter, came last weekend and painted my toes. Then it seemed time for a rehab sketch.

We are so incredibly blessed by modern medicine. Do you know the average life expectancy of people in 1900? 49.

Painting Faces

Painting faces is tough. “A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth,” wrote John Singer Sargent. I don’t know this woman — whose photo I found on the internet — so she won’t be offended if it doesn’t look quite like her.

Elephants and Tigers in Thailand

It’s been eleven months since most of us have travelled, so it’s fun to think about past vacations. My most exotic trip ever was to Thailand in 2014 with our son Andrew. We rode elephants in the jungle, and I sketched this at lunch to thank the mahout (elephant trainer). Later we made this astonishing stop at a family-run tiger zoo. The trainers hovered close by as Andrew and I each fed the six-month-old tiger a baby bottle of milk.

Colorful Crow

Crows, chickens and other birds are much smarter than we used to think. Crows can even use tools. Our son Chris loves crows, so I painted this for his birthday.

Yupo does not absorb paint so the effects are unexpected and fun. I am sending you this on Monday at 5, since that was the preferred day of the majority who voted.

Ice Fishing

A few Januarys ago in Vermont, we saw something I had only read about. Ice shacks and pickup trucks were scattered across the frozen lake, and people were sitting in lawn chairs, chatting and monitoring the fishing lines in holes they had drilled in the 22″ thick ice.

Isn’t it funny how a few simple shapes can evoke a scene?

Please vote: would you rather get these weekly posts on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays at 5? If you have a preference, click “reply” to let me know. I’ll go with the majority vote starting next week.

Turning Life’s Page

Last weekend we finalized the sale of our beloved house, 227 Islington Road in Newton, Massachusetts, where we have lived for 43 years and raised all three of our children. We miss our old neighborhood and our wonderful friends of so many years. But we love our new home in North Carolina and being near family. A bittersweet passage!

An original portrait of your house , matted 16″ x 20″, $395. Information here.

Poinsettias & Our News

We have some startling news. After living in the same house in Newton, Massachusetts for 43 years, where we have so many beloved friends, we have moved to North Carolina. All three of our adult children, and their families, now live in the South, and we were lonely for them. So this fall we made the bittersweet decision, quite abruptly, to move near Chapel Hill, where our daughter Kate lives with her family, including our 15-year-old granddaughter Lila — shown here last night blowing out the Advent candles at our new house. We look forward to visiting our dear friends in Massachusetts as soon as traveling is easier.

Crazy!

Yupo paper is made of plastic, so it doesn’t absorb water, making it hard to control. This started as a loose abstract watercolor, but when I added watersoluble crayons it became an ode to the colors of the beautiful leaves that have finally blown off the trees. With Yupo there’s no choice but to “go with the flow.”

Their Faces Shone

As some of you know, our daughter Kate published her second book this summer, Their Faces Shone: A Foster Parent’s Lessons on Loving and Letting Goabout her family’s experience fostering a two-year-old girl. In the book, Kate explores the question of where family begins and ends, and how things change when we invite strangers–with complicated stories and baggage–into our lives. Kate is currently giving away ten signed copies of the book! You can find out more about the book and the giveaway here

PS – I love the colors in the book cover – don’t you?  A good example of making it “pop” by using opposites on the color wheel, in this case the cool colors (blue/green/purple) opposite warm orange.

Vivid Color

When painting, especially abstractly, it’s helpful to think about the color wheel. If you want a vibrant image, a surefire formula is to use opposites, with one side dominant. Here orange, sliding toward red and yellow, is dominant, with a touch of the opposite turquoise.

Watercolor, water-soluble crayon, 5″ x 5 21/2″, $45.

Sketching at a Bakery

It’s really fun to sit and sketch. Since people are usually moving, snapping a photo to freeze them in one position helps. Drawing figures from the back avoids facial features. Once you’re happy with the figure, you can sketch the background with no time pressure.

Blue Ridge Mountains

As we look forward to November, let’s partner together to make sure everyone has the right to vote. For the next six weeks (get a headstart on Christmas!), if you hire me to paint your house or pet or any subject, the price will be $100 less than usual and 100% of the proceeds will go to organizations that help ensure that everyone who is legally able can register, vote, and have their vote counted. Here are two such commissions I have recently completed. Info here.

The Circus

I painted this a couple of years ago after a performance of Circus Smirkus. Obviously this is more abstract than most of my paintings, but it was inspired by the incredible energy and the variety of acts, like the jugglers.

Homegrown Tomatoes

My mother was always in heaven (now, literally) when local tomatoes turned ripe. Every day, she would cut a red, juicy tomato into slices, and put it between bread with mayonnaise, salt and pepper. I add avocado and a little red onion. Happy summer, Mom!

Original watercolor, 6″ x 12″, $100.

Election Art Sale

Order a painting on any subject of your choice, and your money will help ensure that everyone can register, vote in person or by mail, and have their vote counted in November.

Any subject of your choice including pet portrait: matted 11″ x 14″ original painting $195. ($100 off!)

House portrait matted original painting 16″ x 20″ $395. ($100 off!)

Painting is based on your photo. Ordering information here.

Two-Year-Old Picasso

In this time of cancelled vacations, we have been so blessed to meet our three kids and their families in Vermont. Our two-year-old granddaughter Maggie is showing great promise as a painter, don’t you think?

Heaven Can Wait

Our 14-year-old granddaughter Lila is visiting from North Carolina. Yesterday we went kayaking on the Charles River, both taking sketchbooks and a little paintbox. We didn’t need take water, because we just dipped our brushes in the river. We floated next to each other and painted for awhile. Heaven!

Generous neighbors across the river, the Ryans, put out bottled waters for boaters.

Lake, Trees, Rocks

This summer I’m going to take a partial break and only post once a week. Instead of Monday and Friday, you’ll receive one painting Friday at 5.

Please remember that at least 50% of my art sales (for paintings or commissions) in the next four months will be donated to the election, to increase voter turnout in swing states. Info here.

Watercolor & water-soluble pastels on cold-pressed paper, 12″ x 16″, $195, click here.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth is the celebration of the end of slavery. 155 years ago, on June 19, 1865, Union troops led by General Granger reached Galveston, Texas and announced that the war was over and the enslaved were now free. Although Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation 2 1/2 years before, this was the last place in the country to hear this news.