Lets Visit at Aldridge Gardens

Goody! Aldridge Gardens Plein Air Event starts Wednesday!  Come watch artists paint and find a special painting for yourself.
Aldridge Gardens is located on the corner of Lorna Road and Rocky Ridge Ranch Road in Hoover Alabama.

Aldridge Gardens 2nd Annual Plein Air Art Show, Sale and Quick Draw!

May 16-20

May 16 - Noon-7pm - Artists paint on site at Aldridge Gardens
May 17 – 9am-5pm – Artists paint on site at Aldridge Gardens
May 18 – 9am-5pm - Artists paint at two private gardens
May 19 – 10am-6pm - Artists will paint at Black Jack Equestrian Farms located off Derby Parkway and I-459
May 20 – 1-3 pm – 1-3pm Artists will be painting at Aldridge Gardens ‘Quick-Draw Paint Out’. Public is invited and can buy ‘wet paint’ artwork right off the artists easels.
May 20 – 3-4 pm – Meet the Artists Reception at Aldridge Gardens
May 16-June 29 – 9am-5pm - Participating artists exhibit personal artwork in the Kay and Eddie Aldridge Art and Historical Museum
Free Admission

On the Easel Today

 Marsh painting awaiting final touches 

 second stage

third stage

I was inspired by the Marshes of Glynn on St Simons island recently with the ever changing tides.  I'm attempting to teach myself to hold to simple shapes in painting.

St Simons Plein Air Affair, Day2

 6:30 pm Eastern time...  45 minutes to catch this little view of Marshes of Glynn on Tuesday at sunset.  
Glynn Art Association produced a great event for the artists and the community of St Simons Ga. - great food, volunteers to keep the artists going, great locations and enough breaks in the cloudy weather to make some really nice paintings.  This was my third painting of the day, and the best for me of that day.  St Simons features a "Gallery Crawl" periodically and this was displayed at the beautiful Parker Gallery Friday night.   Visitors get to take the trolley to see 3 galleries and check out the new work.
8x10, framed in gold, $400, shipped free

Just Turn Around

Quick Draw at St Simons Plein Air Event on Saturday - painted a colorful umbrella first, then turned and this palm tree called to me.   It was a hardware store that we found very useful during the event.  
8x10  email me at robinroberts4@gmail.com
$300, free shipping in a gold frame

St Simons Plein Air Event, Day 2, Morning

 "Rescue"  - a good name for this boat moored at the approach to St Simons Island, it's sister ship next to it is "Retrieve".  I painted it about 8am with a cloudy start to the morning.   Just glad not to need its services!
This was Thursday at Glynn Art Association 's Plein Air Affair in St Simons where the Marshes of Glynn and the live oaks embrace everyone. 
8x10,  contact Robin  at  robinroberts4@gmail.com

St Simons Island Plein Air Event, Day 3

 Ruins of Cannons Point Plantation.  These 3ft square tabby pillars are  remains from the antebellum home on St Simons Island.    The property is now part of the Land Trust on St Simons Island and will be open soon.    Glynn Art Association hosted a Plein Air Event and gave the painters a day at this remote location.  What a step back in time.  I couldn't help but think of the family and the staff and the lives they must have lived on the northern end of St Simons.  The live oak and pine forest is dense for miles around.   The craftmanship of these piers and the nearby kitchen chimney that still stands is remarkably enduring.    
16x20 oil on linen panel, this photo is the almost finished stage.
Available from Glynn Art Association, St Simons Island  912-638-8770, $950

this is how the property looks now

St Simons

Next week I'll be headed to St Simons Island Ga to take part in the Glynn Art Associations's  Plein Air Affair.   From Wednesday the 18th through Saturday the 21st, we artists will paint and offer you visions of the island at the Glynn Art association, the local galleries and the Gala party "Meet Me in Paris" Saturday night.
Check out the schedule at Glynn Art Asociation
This painting is from the Charleston area, perhaps there will be something similar at St Simons ..   Come watch if you're in the area.    Parker Gallery will be part of the Gallery Crawl and invited some of artists to display there Friday night.    Hope to see you!

Stubborn

Paris, 16x20   unframed,   email Robin  robinroberts4@gmail.com for purchase before I frame it.
Lately I've been aware of artists speaking of a difficulty with a painting or a phase of  a career- something that causes a pause in the fluid nature of painting that we would like to have all the time.     In this case, even the start of this painting  had a "tight" quality.   I think it still does, even though I have improved several aspects.   Perhaps I should take the advice of some of my teachers who would take a big fat brush and let it fly.     Would you?

Here is the beginning:
Seems colorful, but I was going for a tender time of day.

Cherry Blossoms

what a treat to paint in the Lexington Ky Cemetary this weekend.  Glorious weeping cherries by the hundreds.  Famous markers everywhere among thousands of loved ones.
8x10
Thoroughbred Antique Gallery hosted a get together this weekend and I demonstrated a painting while we talked about Lexington history.  It was a treat to meet everyone and hear their stories.


contact robinroberts4@gmail.com  for information

Let's Visit in Selma, Ala. Daily Photo: Five O'Clock Shadow

check out this blog by Janet Gresham:
Selma, Ala. Daily Photo: Five O'Clock Shadow: Looking east in late afternoon, the Edmund Pettus Bridge turns orange in the sinking sunlight, forming deep shadows upon the Alabama River...

I'll be painting on location this weekend in Selma and surrounding areas - my first visit there.   Some of the Alabama Plein Air Painters will sell what we've painted on Saturday at the Art Guild from 4 to 7.   Look for the painters Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon around Selma and come visit at the Art Guild in downtown Sema Alabama.

magnolias, hanging moss, azaleas, history, home tour - come see!

Tweaking "The Drive"
Evaluating a painting often takes longer than the painting!   Here are close up photos of the texture since the last post.
These should give an idea of how tricky it is to photograph correctly.  The lights often come out colorless, the darks way too dense, and color is tricky to reproduce from blue to orange.  Some are not sharp, some are too pixilated.....

The tree trunk color, the sky, and the overall shape of the tree were changed.

From my old watercolor days I learned the value of cropping to make a better composition, and I'm tempted here to crop this painting from 24x30 to something like 18x24.    Hmmmmmm

this one is closest to the actual painting, and this photo is washed out on the right..  So, just like painting, I'll keep trying to make better photos.

Take A Drive With Me

Before Spring REALLY gets here, lets take a drive early in the morning out in the country.    The trees just have a blush with no leaves yet.   Not far from home......
24x30
email Robin  robinroberts4@gmail for information.


click the  images below for the slideshow progression:

Magic Light

This is a magic place to many who ride and hike.    A place much loved and taken care of. A unique place.  A place honored with memories old and new.  And this view is a tiny fraction of it.

11x14

For Good Cause

The Red Cross sponsored a gaming night "The Big Deal" with a silent auction, all kinds of gaming tables, good food, and artists painting on site who donated their pieces to auction.  
I started painting this 24x30 just before 7pm and this is how it looked at 9:30- so I sent it to auction "to be completed" and it found a new home.    
Everyone near hear remembers April 2011 and was glad to have  Red Cross help with those horrific tornados.  Good cause. Great evening.

It's a larger version of a recent painting of early morning at a marina.

The party was at the new Ingalls Harbor Pavillion in Decatur Al.

the  first stage.....

General consensus among the artists : nerve racking to paint in front of a crowd. All the artists produced fine work, though....

Lesson learned

Lesson learned - keep whites not so white and keep darks not so dark, but more varied.    Never could get this to photograph correctly and it forced me to keep working on the white horse - which was a good thing.   I shouda listened to my teachers!   On the other hand, I'm lucky if it doesn't look picked over!

16x20
contact  robinroberts4@gmail.com  for information

the Girls

From another February day. Got together with other "equestripainters" in Aiken SC recently, so I had good advise putting this one together.     It was an honor that a talented plein air and equestrian painter selected it for her collection.  

click on the image below for the progression

Almost Finished

From a friends' photo when the hounds return after the hunt.  It's the second painting started from the bottom, making the figure headless until the very top of the hat!.    Click on the photo for the progress.

Winter Morning

Winter here in North Alabama has been unusually warm, and very rainy.  Recently stayed at Wheeler State Park and watched the fishermen head out before daylight.  So calm.  So quiet.  Great views.  Plenty of atmosphere.   Had to paint.
Click on the image for slide show. (I hope)
11x14
contact Robin   robinroberts4@gmail.com  for information before it goes to a gallery

Always A Gentleman

A perfect guy - loyal, smart, handsome, fun to play with.     Painted for a friend as a gift.   Did you see Mickey?

11x14 oil on board

Camelias in January

Can you believe the weather? The camelias have been peeping blooms for two weeks - and I see buttercups blooming - it's January 25th!   Brought in a bucketful of blooms to paint.   Feels like kindergarten to play i the paint......
12x24
email  robinroberts4@gmail.com  to add to your collection
$750 unframed