Tag: #oilpainting

Posted on by

Introductory Pricing Ends August 31, 2019

Introductory Pricing Ends Soon

Introductory Pricing on all oil paintings will end on August 31, 2019.  If you would like to purchase a painting at the introductory pricing rates, you still have a few weeks left! After the price change, the only way to purchase at a discount will be if you are a Tamarack Mountain Studio member. You can become a member by clicking HERE.  Being a member of Tamarack Mountain Studio grants you insider purchasing power during secret sales and allows you to be entered in the yearend giveaway of one of my miniature paintings.

Creating an oil painting takes many steps and a lot of editing before it is ready for the market. Each layer must be fully dry before a new layer is added, otherwise cracking of the painting can occur. Once a painting is finished, it takes several months to dry before the varnish is added. After the varnish is fully dry, a painting is framed unless it has been painted on a gallery wrapped box canvas. Gallery wrapped box canvas paintings are meant to be displayed without a frame. You can see why the purchase of an oil painting is an investment.

You can shop for my original oil paintings by clicking the Paintings tab in the header. I look forward to having you as one of my many collectors!

~Rhonda

 

Posted on by

Plein Air oil painting of a White Lily Flower.

My Plein Air oil painting of a White Lily Flower is just about completed. I began this painting a few weeks ago when I decided to paint one of my Lily flowers in Plein air. You can read about the painting experience here. Despite the weather issues I had to endure,  I’m very happy with the final outcome of the White Lily Flower oil painting! The painting size is 6″x6″ and was painted on a gesso panel. It may be small in size but the composition and the vibrant colors make an exciting statement.

 

White Lily oil painting
“White Lily” 6″x6″ oil painting on panel

 

The painting looks better in person because it is hard to capture light colors with a camera. The yellow hues of the petals are a vibrant lemon color and the cool greens pop against the yellow hues. The orange highlights on the anthers define their volume while the muted purple of the flower’s stigma portrays its shiny surface. Dark jewel tones of Viridian, Cerulean blue and a bit of Burnt Sienna were used in the background, in order to showcase the Lily. One can almost imagine the intoxicating lovely smell of this beautiful flower.

 

Thank you for stopping by. Until next time, much love! ~ Rhonda

Posted on by

White Lily Plein Air

This week I began a painting of one of the White Lily flowers from my flower garden. The weather was cool with the threat of rain, so I thought it would be very nice to sit outside at the picnic table, under the canopy and paint Plein air. As a kid I used to love sitting in the backyard at the patio table with my crayons and coloring books and color during a rainstorm, so this brought back pleasant memories.

I set up all my gear and across the lake I noticed the clouds growing heavy and dark. The wind was starting to blow, but ever so slightly, and I wondered if this was going to be a bad idea. I hesitated a couple of times thinking maybe I should just paint inside, but then decided to go for it anyway. Here’s my subject, a White Lily in a small vase:

White Lily

I put the flower in a small vase because the stem is very short, which makes it top heavy, but creates a grand presentation. I chose to paint just the flower and not the vase. After setting out my palette and mixing colors I set to work laying in the base colors.

Palette colors

Things were going very well and it started to rain which was so nice. I was really enjoying the painting session even though it was a bit cool, but I’d rather be a little cool than so hot you can’t think! Then the winds arrived. Seriously? I’ll tell you, it hasn’t been the greatest of plein air sessions so far this year!

Twice the wind knocked over my vase, but luckily the flower wasn’t harmed. The tablecloth on the picnic table kept flying up and covering my work area, and I had to rearrange things and batten down the hatches, so to speak, cause I was determined to not let the weather deter my painting time!

Painting set up

This was my set up. I used the “baby” paint box and a 6″x6″ gessoed panel. I’ve taken this box with me several times on recent outings with the hope of getting a painting done, but it hasn’t worked out. I’ve been wanting to try a different technique as an experiment with this gesso panel so that’s how I came to paint this White Lily. My experiment using a different medium worked, and I’m really pleased with the results.

I used a small light to help me see my painting because for some reason, being outside makes it hard to see what I’m painting! It’s the strangest thing. You’d think being outside there’d be plenty of light to see, but it’s actually too much light. It’s as if the painting soaks up all the light, but really it’s just too much glare. Then, if I use an umbrella, it gets too dark. Plus, I was under a canopy and it was cloudy, making the lighting rather muted. This little light was just the right thing to use.

I was able to accomplish my goal of laying in all the base colors before I called it on account of the wind. Now I will let it dry and then go in with highlights and the back ground. Here’s a peek at the Lilies in the flower garden:

White Lilies

See the Bumble Bee on the upper left side of the top flower? I’m wondering if I should put a bee on the petal? What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

I’ll share the finished piece when it’s done. Until then, much love! ~Rhonda

Posted on by

2 Primo Days of Sales!

Art Sale at Tamarack Mountain Studio

Select Original Oil Paintings on sale for 2 days only!

July 15 & 16th

FREE shipping to US collectors!

Posted on by

Camping and Plein Air Painting in the Forest

A couple of weekends ago we did a camp out and had a great time. It was a spur of the moment, “let’s do this!” kind of deal, and our destination was up in the mountains at an out of the way campground. We arrived late on Friday and never thought to make a reservation at the campground. To our dismay, the camp was full and without a reservation, things didn’t look good for us. So we asked the camp host if he knew of a spot to camp down the road, and as we were talking, the owner overheard our conversation and came over to us with a wonderful idea! He said they had one spot in the overflow section and if we didn’t mind not having a campfire ring, we were welcome to use it. He cut the rate since it wasn’t a full on campsite, and we were over joyed.

We ended up in a secluded part of the campground near a multi event area which wasn’t being used and the whole situation turned out perfect. We set up camp, made dinner and settled in for the night. The next morning we rode out in the UTV, with the goal of finding a spot for me to paint, and my husband to fish. We rode all over the mountains looking for a place called Mirror lake, and never found it, but did however find a spectacular spot at the top of the mountain and the view was awesome! At 4200 ft. elevation it was a bit cool, and there was still snow on the higher peaks, so I was glad I brought a coat.

The wildflowers were abundant and beautiful and had just begun to bloom. The hillsides were covered in patches of daisies and poking up through them were these beautiful vibrant red flowers.

After, driving around all morning, and not finding the lake, we settled on a spot for lunch next to a creek in the dark and scary forest.

This is Latour Creek and you can see where some folks had camped and left their trash behind. This is just so annoying to me. “Pack it in, Pack it out” is written for a reason! The forest is not the city dump people! Geez.

Anyway, after lunch I brought out the gear and my plan was to fill the panel with a complete underpainting before I lost the light. The dappled light highlighting the stream was absolutely beautiful.

 

 

It was very cool and quiet, with only the sounds of the running creek and an occasional ATV driving by. The creek was too shallow for any fishing so my husband did a bit of hiking while I painted. All was going great, and then the inevitable happened… no, not rain… Mosquitoes. Seriously? For some reason bugs love to eat me and when the mosquitoes discovered I was tasty, my painting session ended, as I was rudely bitten on the chin. I took reference photos and made some sketches, then packed up the gear.

 

We arrived back at camp in time for dinner, and on the menu was campfire pizza and a nice glass of wine. So yummy. I made the dough at home and cut up the veggies at camp and didn’t even know if this would work, but it did.

I don’t know what it is, but camp food just tastes so delish. This pizza had onions, mushrooms, red pepper, tomatoes and Canadian bacon. After we ate, we sat around our little camp stove and gazed upon the fire, sipping our wine and having chocolate for dessert. The clouds moved in to give us a spectacular sunset and it sprinkled during the night which was so nice to listen to.

 

I’m having to paint from my reference photos since I wasn’t able to complete my under painting, and made some adjustments to the composition:

Composition changes

Don’t worry, I didn’t mark up the painting. This is an acetate overlay I use to make sure elements aren’t “dead center”.  I use a dry erase marker to make notes for the changes. This piece will take me longer since there are so many rocks in the scene, and I want to get the dappled light just right.

I will be taking some time away from the easel and blog posts, as I work freelance for an architect and he has sent me some new plans to work on. If you want to stay in the know about when I put up a new blog post, you can sign up for weekly emails, which are delivered on Friday mornings whenever I write a new post. Click HERE to sign up.

See you next time!

Much Love,

Rhonda

Posted on by — 2 Comments

New Work

New WOrk

Last month I shared with you some plein air paintings I was working on, that were started  while out on a few adventures; one a camping trip and another a day trip riding the trails in our UTV. This first one I recently completed is from our camping trip in May. You can read the post HERE.

I’m loving how this painting turned out, and how it conveys the rich forest greens and the cool greys in the river. This piece is 8″x10″, painted in oils on linen panel.

The St. Joe River “Raging Waters of the St. Joe.”

The day was cool and overcast with the threat of thunderstorms, so the lighting was very flat to non-existent, and almost backlit at times. The river was swollen and raging with snow melt, and every once in awhile, birds would fly low over the river looking for a meal. At times the clouds would part and blue sky peeked through, allowing for that wonderful cool blue reflection in the water which I love so much.

I enjoy bringing my paintings to a certain level of refinement and always start in the field and finish in studio, so it takes awhile to bring a piece to completion. The layers must dry between sessions, and this allows me to build up the paint and create lovely textures that capture light. As soon as the piece is dry, it will be varnished, framed and available.

 

Here is the second painting I recently completed:

The Coeur d'Alene River

“The Lovely Coeur d’Alene River”

This one is also an 8″x10″ oil on linen panel and was begun in the field on a day trip with my husband exploring the back country in our UTV. You can read about that day HERE.

On this day, we again had the threat of rain, and after a BBQ lunch I set out to capture the scene and was almost finished laying in the under painting, when the sky opened up and it began to pour. Rain hit my freshly painted panel as I hurried to pack my gear and I was more than a bit bummed about the situation because I was really enjoying the session.  I brought the painting to completion in the studio and was able to paint over the rain streaks, and am happy with the success of this piece. Since I live in the northwest, my subjects contain forests and rivers, and the main colors are green and green! Rarely the river looks blue since it reflects the surrounding forests, and every once in awhile if one stands in the right spot and it is a cloudless day, you can see the beautiful cerulean blue of the sky, reflecting in the water. I just love that blue and have to make it a signature color in my pieces.

These two paintings are now sitting side by side in my studio, drying, and look very much like a set. They will look fabulous displayed together on the studio gallery wall, and when ready, will be available for purchase.

Next post, I will share my latest plein air work in progress!

Much Love!

~Rhonda

If you would like to receive my quarterly newsletter filled with super secret sales and be entered into my year end giveaway, click HERE to become a TMS member!

Posted on by

Decorating with Fine Art

Studio Wall

Decorating with Fine Art adds a level of sophistication to your space, whether it be in your home or office. One of a kind, original paintings as part of your decor, says something about who you are. Are you playful, romantic, high energy or calm in demeanor? Art can help express these qualities and enhance your life. If you are the playful kind, you might enjoy abstract, colorful fine art. If you are romantic, then perhaps floral genres, make you happy. If high energy is your style, then landscapes are for you. And the calm of spirit would enjoy still life paintings.

Whether you purchase a piece that is grand in size to display on a focal wall or a small piece to add as part of an overall collection, you can create an interesting design that commands attention. Here are a few examples of good ways to use Fine Art as part of your interior decor ~

 

Ocean Wave oil painting
“Ocean Wave”

 

Somebody put some fresh flowers in the vase oil painting
“Somebody Put Some Fresh Flowers in the Vase!”

 

 

Clouds and Moon oil painting
“Clouds and Moon”

 

The above three mini paintings sold to my collector, can be seen on her wall as part of the overall design. They add a pop of color to the  neutral tones of the collection, leading the eye around and through the other pieces. Her clever placement of the beach scene at the bottom of the wall provides a final landing space in which to gaze upon.

 

 

Small works of art can easily be changed from room to room or with the seasons. Large installations are rather permanent and can become stagnant after time. This is why I love painting in smaller sizes, to give you the benefit of creating collections that can be part of a larger statement.

 

Here are some ideas for decorating a baby’s room with fine art. All four pieces, are my original 16″x16″ oil paintings:

Baby Room Wall

This collector installed a wooden letter L on the abstract painting, representing the family’s last name.

Baby room decor

The Teddy Bear painting is my favorite! And the playful whale is super cute!

 

Baby Bear Oil Painting
“Baby Bear”

 

Whale oil painting
“Playful Whale”

 

And as a final example, if you are a pet lover, then you too can enjoy a collection of pet themed fine art! The possibilities are endless.

 

Art Wall 3

 

This collector placed her cat collection on the wall above the staircase, making an eye catching focal point. She used her small works of art to make a pleasing composition as an overall statement, combining prints, photographs and two of my oil  paintings, (of her cat that passed.)

 

Shota
“Shota”

 

The Cat is Really Bad at Selfies
“The Cat is Really Bad at Selfies”

 

I hope this post has given you some great ideas for personalizing your space with Fine Art and making a statement with your art collection. Perhaps you will find something in my gallery that will delight and inspire you to grow your collection.

(As a side note, the Tamarack Mountain Studio watermark is not on the original paintings. This is done for online purposes only.)

If you like my work and would like to be notified of super secret sales, and personal behind the scenes stories, you can join the Tamarack Mountain Studio community and receive quarterly updates, and weekly blog updates by clicking HERE. As a member you will be entered into the year end giveaway of an original small works oil painting! You can unsubscribe at any time!

Posted on by

Plein air painting, trail riding and a public service message ~

This last weekend my husband and I spent the day out in nature, riding the trails in the back country on the wheeler. It was a beautiful day with threats of rain, but we decided to pack a picnic lunch and my painting gear and go for it anyway. I made a little video to share my day with you:

___________________________________________________________________

Yes we ate junk food for lunch, but it was delicious! We typically follow a healthy diet, but splurge on outings like this cause it’s fun to cook hot dogs on an open fire. We did buy the non chemical laden dogs, and the chips are the healthier version of the chip world, so it was a less guilty meal.

After lunch, I set up my painting gear and wondered if I should even do so, because the sky was growing ever darker.  I said to my husband who was fishing on the bank, “Time me for one hour and I’ll see how fast I can lay in my base colors”. Wouldn’t you know it, just as I hit the 45 min. mark, it started to rain. First a few sprinkles, as I loudly voiced my disdain, “It’s starting to rain!”, then harder and harder until it was full on pouring. My husband held a trash bag over me as I quickly put away the gear trying to shield my painting from the rain. We got it all packed up in the nick of time and decided to call it a day. I did manage to lay in all the base colors and took reference photos in order to finish in the studio. We had a great time in spite of the weather.

_________________

On the way back, we came upon the second of an unattended camp fire! It was Memorial Day and all the campers were in a hurry to head home. At the beginning of our ride we came across the first smoking camp fire and stopped to put it out. The river was right next to their camp too! Not cool!

The second unattended camp fire was smoking even more than the first one!

And there go the campers!

And of course there was water not more than 100 ft. away!

They could have easily walked over to the stream, filled a bucket, or like we did, our empty water bottles, and put the fire out before they left. And look how close it is to the trees! This kind of stuff really makes me mad! I love camping, and spending time in nature, but this kind of carelessness ruins things for those of us who use the trail systems, campgrounds, and actually live in the forest! We almost lost our home a few years ago to careless campers who left their fire smoking when the winds came up. Here’s what that looked like:

Fire

 

____________________

 

Cape Horn Fire

Within one hour, the fire, which had started on the other side of the mountain, came across the top and was headed straight for our neighborhood, out on the point. We had twenty minutes to evacuate! It was awful! Thankfully, by the Grace of God, and the quick actions of eleven neighbors who disobeyed the evacuation orders, and stayed to fight the fire, our neighborhood was spared. But we lost six other homes and cabins in the area and the entire top of the beautiful forested mountain.  So I say to anyone reading this post today who goes camping, PLEASE PUT OUT YOUR CAMPFIRES! That means dead out, with water and dirt until you can hold your hand over the fire and not feel heat!

Just because it’s cool outside, not windy and looks like rain, doesn’t mean the weather can’t change! The clouds can go away instantly, and the wind can blow hard, fanning your left behind smoking campfire into a full on fire, and bring devastation to everyone – not only in burnt down homes, and our forests, but the air is filled with toxic smoke lasting for days and weeks on end! It puts all emergency responders in harms way as well; when all you had to do was spend ten extra minutes, and dowse your fire. PLEASE PEOPLE! Have some consideration!

Well, that’s my soapbox and public announcement.

I will share this latest painting when it’s finished.

If you want to stay in the know when I post, you can sign up HERE for my weekly updates,

delivered to your inbox on Friday mornings.

Your inbox will never be crammed with tons of email, cause I don’t like that myself.

Your information is NEVER shared, and you can unsubscribe anytime!

 

 

Posted on by

What I’ve Been up To ~

I’ve kind of been awol for the past few weeks, since spring has begun. I had cabin fever really bad and was looking forward to getting outside, and was so eager to plant my garden that I started my seeds indoors a month too early! Had to re-pot my seedlings to larger pots twice before it was time to plant outdoors. But all is good and the veggie garden and greenhouse plants are all thriving. I’ve been spending a lot of time working in the garden and my husband built me a very cool potting table. It was painted with my favorite colors, cerulean blue and lime green. Here’s a little video:

Last week I was able to finally paint plein air whilst on a three day camping trip with my husband. We had a great time but had to cut the trip short due to a change in the weather.

We had the campground to ourselves, since tourist season and camping season doesn’t get into full swing until Memorial Day weekend. We go every year to this beautiful spot on the St. Joe River in Northern Idaho; in the spring and then again in the fall after Labor Day.

The river was running so fast it was class 4 rapids due to all the snow melt, so fishing didn’t happen this time around. But we rode the trails in the UTV and a great time. We found a nice spot where the river was a little slower and I decided to paint after our picnic lunch. It was cloudy, so no lovely contrasts in lighting. I’ll have to use artistic license in the studio.

I was able to block in all of the under-painting before the dark clouds rolled in and threatened rain. I took reference photos and a video in order to finish in the studio. I’m pretty happy with the initial results:

“The River” oil on 8″x10″ panel

After we arrived back at camp, we bbq’d dinner and finished just as the rain started. The first two nights, it only sprinkled at night, which was lovely. But by the third day a huge thunderstorm rolled in right at dinner time! My husband had to bbq dinner over the fire, in the pouring rain and we ate inside the easy up tent. By the time we finished dinner, the easy up was leaking rain, and the water from the down pour was creating a huge mess! Luckily, there wasn’t cloud to ground lightning, just rolling thunder and no huge winds, which I was really grateful for. We were sleeping in the truck camper, so there weren’t any worries about lightening or getting soaked in a tent. As my husband says, “This builds character”! Indeed it does. 🙂

It rained all night and the next morning we awoke at 5 am to pouring rain and decided to pack up. So, we dawned our rain gear and got the job done and were on the road by 7 a.m. It’s been windy and cold ever since, with more rain on the way for the next three days, so I’m really happy we at least got one camping trip in this spring. I’ll share this painting when it’s finished, and another I started a month ago of my daffodils, which are now gone.

Thanks for stopping by. If you want to keep in the loop as to when I publish a new blog post you can sign up for weekly updates. I’m not a daily blogger and only publish when I have news to share, so if you become a TMS member, you’ll be in the know! ~Rhonda

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with Tamarack Mountain Studio to receive updates. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time. Your email remains forever private and will not be shared with anyone! Your inbox will never be crammed with emails either, cause I hate that myself!

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on by

Gift Basket Sale!

Mother’s Day is around the corner and just in time, two of my Gift Baskets are on sale! Does your mom like to garden? Then she’ll adore this sweet Garden Gift Basket! Add any painting to the basket for a special, one of a kind gift. (Paintings are not included in the gift basket, and are sold separately.)

Garden Gift Basket
Garden Gift Basket with Pink Rose Bud Oil Painting
Continue reading Gift Basket Sale!