en plein air with no touch ups!

I had not done very much outdoor (plein air) painting before January of this year and it was such a struggle at first. I would do the best job I could of capturing the colors and shapes, then go home and look at the photos and often repaint the whole painting. I am so proud of todays piece because I am not touching it up, just leaving it fresh and spontaneous. This was painted at Sunset Point in Mandeville, Louisiana

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Coffee Stop

My husband and I rode our bikes 25 miles yesterday on the St. Tammany Trace rails to trails bike path. I wanted to see what the access and views are like at a new ranger station/rest stop on bayou Lacombe. On the way home we needed some caffeine and a little break. I took a photo of Paul resting

and painted this painting from it later in the afternoon.

Out of Painters Block

Getting out with other artists and painting last Friday really helped me get out of the art slump I was in. Summer in the deep south is a challenge for plein aire painting but it is not impossible. I painted this little yearling from a photo I took in my New Mexico neighborhood last month. I have gone horse crazy lately. I am looking forward to moving full time to where the wild horses roam.

Return to the Shiver Shack

Painting this Snowball/BBQ/Bike rental  stand was so much fun last week that three of us painted there again today. I used oil paint this time and chose a different view.

My schedule all Winter and Spring was to get up, eat breakfast, start painting. Now with the heat I am exercising first and by the time I'm cleaned up and ready to paint it is 10 o'clock already and the creative juices are gone. I painted this little 8 x 8 pastel to just get something going. I have some great photos I took this Spring at a little farm in Bush, Louisiana. Twice I've painted one big rooster that looks like a saddle shoe, white on top with a black tail and belly. This time I thought I would try a speckled chicken. I had seen Jodi Armstrong's lovely pastel of 3 or more chicken painted on a dark paper so I wanted to try painting on dark too. I just toned mine with Indian Red acrylic.  Jodi's is much much better but I can't improve without picking up the pastel stick. Chickens sure have humorous crabby expressions!

Torn Paper

I learned to make colorful papers and then tear and paste them into artwork at a workshop last month taught by Carol Nelson.  Who knew that could be such fun! This little bunny was photographed by me at a Bed and Breakfast in Albuquerque. The sun was rising behind him lighting up his ear in glowing orange.

Carol Ordogne's New Blog

I have never done this but it is a step along the way to being a Daily Painter. I started painting almost every day in December 2012 after reading so many other artists' blogs. So here it goes. This is a painting I finished yesterday. I started painting it last week en plein aire at the old railroad station in Mandeville Louisiana. The heat and humidity are high this time of year so my painting friend and I had brought fans and started at 8 AM. In the South Snowball stands are one way of coping with the intense heat. This one will be doing a booming business in the afternoon.