Head In Orange And Purple; Woman Reading At Mozart's

From life.

Head In Orange And Purple was drawn this morning, indoors.  Water-soluble marker and ink on 11"x14" Bristol paper.

Woman Reading At Mozart's was painted Monday morning, outdoors by the water at Mozart's, a local coffee place.  Oil on 20"x24" canvas.

Monday Morning Woman

 Drawn from life, yesterday morning, at Ruta Maya.

Tombow marker and ink, with water and brush, on Bristol.

The smaller sketch can serve as a thumbnail, with sufficient light and dark information, if I decide to paint this.

It was very dark inside the cafe yesterday morning.  And it was crowded with holiday get-togethers, including one revolving around a doula and her clients and their small children.  Several of the children came by to watch me paint the portrait and ask questions.

Woman Among Marigolds At The Eastside Cafe

Painted outdoors, from life, yesterday morning.

Oil and oil pastel, 20"x24" canvas.


About this:

We were outdoors, in the middle of the most marvelous organic garden, with chickens, at the Eastside Cafe. (Check out the Eastside story portion of the Eastside website for more about the garden.)

The day was kind of cool and windy and threatening rain at first, then it warmed up and got sunny and windy. This was a three-hour long session, with breaks.

I painted the dark and threatening part of the morning.

The model, also an artist, was shivering at first, then closed her eyes and kind of sunbathed, fully clothed, once the sun came out. And we enjoyed our cold drinks--our model had root beer-- and painted some more.

Woman In A Fur Coat

This morning's painting, en plein air.

Oil pastel and oil paint on linen canvas, 11"x14".

About this painting:

The model, a jewelery artist, was huddled in her coat, reading a book and trying to stay warm with a hot drink on this chilly, overcast morning.  She really does have amazing red hair.

We were painting on a sheltered outdoor patio, and we needed the shelter.  It was raining a bit and it was in the 50s (Fahrenheit).

Awaiting Results

Drawn from life, yesterday morning.

On 12"x16" pastel paper.


Below is an oil sketch I made this morning, from life and out-of-doors ( en plein air) .  Motivation to get a painting space set up, unpack my painting stuff completely and start painting again.  I'll get back to working on this particular painting when I can.  Reminiscent of this painting.