ON BEING TAGGED

Two different artists have tagged me in recent weeks and I haven't had time to respond until recently...so I'll take a stab at it over the next few days. I'm in Texas with my best boy, Jay, and that is priority for me. But in essence, if you are tagged, tell seven things interesting, preferably unknown about yourself and tag seven people you think deserve recognition.

1. I am pretty much a loner and can exist for long periods without leaving the grounds or studios. I can survive on netflix, cream of wheat, organic veg. broth, chocolate, some fruit, no phone, no visitors, music.
2. Fortunately for me my husband is a musician -keyboards, piano, jazz, funk, soul, any kind of rock ,every genre -so there is always a good soundtrack behind everything at my house.
3. We have a family conference every night in the livingroom, always at the same time with our animals....they insist. Everyone gets a loving and a kissing, and fluffing and petting and the dogs compete to see who can pick up more dog toys in their mouth.
4. Silly Girl is a terrier/australian shepherd; Puppy is a border collie/australian shepherd; Mother's Baby is a main coon with six toes and a puff ball tail; Sweetie-sweet-sweet is a black and tortise maincoon/mix. I saved all of them from the "end" at the pound.
5. I honestly get along best with babies, small children, dogs and cats. The first thing I ever teach new babies of any race or breed is to give a kiss, always gotta get the puppy kisses. On babies, neck meat and chubby cheeks are the best, then toes.
6. I am married to a guy from highschool who would never go with me anywhere I tried to get him to go. I grew up on the south shore of Long Island in the 50's and 60's and was a wild surf girl with a volkswagen and a long board and he always had to rake the lawn or practice piano. We married in our livingroom 35 years later.
7. I have always lived in very old spaces with ghosts who have made themselves known to me. I always took the message very seriously and stepped back from the brink of despaireach time. jb

Now for the tagging part....have to work on that a bit...stay tuned.jb

KARIN JURICK'S BEST BOOTS

I have been painting, working, healing, working, painting. Blogging went by the wayside. I'm leaving for Texas tomorrow until after the new year. I shipped my paints so I can at least keep up with Karin Jurick's Different Strokes blog challenge. This close up of one of her boots was this week's challenge. I gave my self four hours over two days and still I over-painted. There are, again, at least three great paintings under this final. I love the colors though.

Special thanks to those folks who have tagged me in the last few weeks. This is indeed a special honor and I hope to carry on the game as soon as I get to Texas. I have to get three to four weeks of legal work out before I can ever take off. So I couldn't get a blog entry in even though I'm working on six small paintings.
Take care, my friends, and enjoy this winter solstice season. jb

BLEAK COVE

The last few days have started out marvelously brilliant. By late afternoon you definitely knew it was fall. I caught the cove just as the brilliant light faded back. Standing at the edge of the cove, one could feel the rising damp coolness of the beach below. Said a prayer for a dying friend.
I'm lost...I can't seen to put it all together. jb

LOW TIDE

This is the first painting I'v completed from my first "walk" after knee surgery; Just down to the dog beach around the point in Baywood. This is my first view in the morning and the last view at night..never tire of the scene...so fortunate this is my home. My goal was to work fast and lose yet still catch the wonderful quality of light and atmosphere of early morning tidal flats. jb

GOLDEN EVENING

This is one of the last paintings I did before the October show and one of the first to sell. It never fails....whenever I do something just for myself, no real purpose...it's the first work to go. jb

UPSIDE DOWN

Well, finally back in the saddle.The last four months have been a joyride of sorts. The first of October was dedicated to getting ready for our county Open Studio Tour which goes on through October. In November daughter and grandchild moved from EastCoast to West Coast and stayed with us during the transition. Pure Joy! even though I had fallen in August and now had surgery for knee tear etc. Bad News falling when you are older.
However this is a painting on Karin Jurick's Different Strokes Blog I participate in. Ceck it out. the link is also to the right. You had to paint the piece upside down. Just focus on the shape.
After not painting for two months it was tough to get back to work. jb

BLUE WAVE

High surf warnings and monster breaking wave...that's all the entertainment we need this weekend. "What did you do this weekend?" "Watched waves break." and paint. jb

WHITE PUMPKINS

White Pumpkins, Second Try. I got so wound up painting this week, I decided to do my own portrait just for kicks, which is a real stretch for me. I started it as I was finishing this one, so I had to walk away so I'd get the pumpkin colours out of my head.
Getting out to the studio every day, especially early,what a difference. Every day I understand my oils a little better...what does what when. I've been consciously putting together all the little tips I'm reading and observing and It's starting to come together. jb

CHALLANGE NUMBER 4

This work in in response to Karin Juric's Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. I loved this subject matter so much I painted it twice from different perspectives. jb

SEPTEMBER LATE AFTERNOON

I painted this pochade just as the afternoon warmth began to fade. The water was so still; I was mesmerized by the light and my elevated perspective. Lovely afternoon daydreaming.

In response to a comment on the prior post: I have been watching Karin Juric's videos so I was most definitely influenced by her beautiful work...but really, I went back to basics and broke it all down piece by piece into shapes and values which I took also from Carol Marine's workshop. My muse is "The Jas de Bouffon" by Cezanne, at the very begining of this blog; the brushstrokes!

I just focused on what info was given me, Karin's mandate. Thank you so much for noticing. jb

MOVIE MAN

Here is my second go at Karin Juric's Challange on her blog DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS.
I'm totally pleased with this figurative work and I actually had so much fun painting this piece. The thing is, I think I'm getting it, working in oil. I love that someone so talented and admired by so many shares so much. Thanks Karin. I'm ready for lesson four. jb

MESA

SETTING SUN

LATE AFTERNOON

CRACKER JACK

I follow several artist blogs whose work I never tire of: Karin Jurick has started a challenge blog, a call for enteries-Different Strokes For Different Folks- to post your painted version of one of her photographs. Her painting is the first on the blog and all contributions are posted thereafter. I love it. I jumped right in. I had a direction, a mandate.
This work is Cracker Jack, Karin's dearest dog, now passed. As I was painting I was thinking about all the dogs I'd lost and how. I'd get weepy and take a mis-brushstroke and mess the thing up, repaint until it was mud, painted a new version, made mud...Ten layers! Three days!
Ckeck her work out. You won't be disappointed. jb

ANOTHER SUNNY DAY

One can tell the California Weather on the central coast by my blog...Sunny days the paintings come out all orange, yellow, pink...Fog bank rolls in, all paintings turn out grey and purple. jb

LONELY WALK

I have fun playing with textures and techniques. I like to use glazing and drybrush strokes when I work in acrylics. I'm so struggling with oil paints. I'm wating for that magic moment Karin Jurick talks about when she "got it" working in oil. jb

GLORIOUS DAY 2

A pochade captured on the same beach path we walk every day. The day was so clear and bright, I had the darkest of glasses and a deep-brimmed hat on, and still everything turned to golden sunlight. jb

ALMOST ABSTRACT POCHADE

I'm posting in reverse today. I have painted every day since 8/15 however family and eldercare responsibilities, plus a wrecked knee had done me in as far as posting. But here it all is, the last ten or so daily paintings. I had that many unfinished acrylics I'm preparing for my Open Studio Tour, 10/11 and 10/12 in Los Osos, CA.
This painting is a fast pochade just to capture color and shape of this wall of rocks on a canyon walk.

BLUE WATER

POCHADE! I love that word. I am really enjoying painting fast and small. I was working in acrylics because small children are around and always want to get into the studio with me, so I'm working but playing it safe, avoiding a mess. At leasst with acrylics you can hose them down afterwards..the kids, I mean. jb

TIDAL MARSH 2

just messing around with watercolors. jb

MOON OVER DUNES 2

GLORIOUS DAY

What a day! All sun and wind and glorious. jb

TIDAL POCHADE

I had my acrylics on the trail and captured a fast Pochade of the tidal marshes along the road out to Morro Bay. One thing I learned about orange: once it's down it's hard to get around it! jb

EVENING MARSH

I am truly taken away standing in the golden evening glow walking the tidal marshes, just twilight. Pochade! jb

MOON OVER DUNES

I never tire of capturing the moon; Sometimes I freeze waiting on the dunes for just the right moment in moontime. I switched over to working with acrylics and oil pastels this week, just for fun. jb

WHALE WATCHING

Whale watching in Big Sur. Staring out to sea for several hours, this is my binocular view. jb.

OPEN SPACES 2

I'm posting this painting a second time because I want to offer it up for auction on eBay.
I'm teaching myself to do all this and it's tough. Where is a tech kid??? jb

TIDAL BEACH

I reworked an earlier painting and I'm happier with it. What a learning process working in oil has been for the last two months. I picked up some unfinished acrylic paintings and drawing work and I'm struggling to get the feel of the brush strokes back. jb

EARLY DAWN BAYWOOD

I paint this view ..well, a lot. It's the place we meditate coming around Baywood Point walking the dogs. I can't answer why I focus so much upon it. The view is never the same, morning after morning. jb

HOLLISTER PEAK

I am so wanting to hike the trail to the top of Hollister Peak above to open spaces above town. It's not open to the public yet. One of my favorite views driving home. jb

LOOKING UP

A fast Pochade captured at the bottom of the falls, looking up one wall of stone and vegetation. jb

Cooked Pear

First I dropped the pear, then Puppy got it, now the hot lamp lighting the scene is cooking it. Aromatherapy. jb

Off the Trail

Sitting just off the trail up above Salmon Falls almost to the first camp, one can start to survey the Big Sur coastline. jb

Cove by the Point

My second pochade! I completed this painting on the trail in one hour and fifteen minutes. The last fifteen minutes were overkill. Too much detail. I overpainted the nice loose strokes I had, however, I used a new panel ...Ampersand smooth gesso board. Beautiful finish. jb

Prefumo Canyon Road

My first pochade! Painted this in an hour's time driving this road over the coastal range down into Los Osos Valley. Beautiful views every twist and turn. This was almost to the top of the grade. jb

Rough Water

Sometimes you just have to go a little crazy. jb

Open Spaces

Path leads to oak groves in the open space, full of ticks, rattlesnakes and mountain lions. We climb to a rock outcrop called Tiki God. Sitting up there on the upper ridge we watch an eagle and hawks soaring on updrafts. Spend hours up there as I have a pochade box now. jb

Moon Setting

Love to catch full moons, Where they rise and they fall. jb

Volcanic Activity

The central coast of California is formed from volcanic or earthquake activity. These moros are volcano plugs once under the now-eroded land at ancient sea level.

White Cliffs

Climbing the chalky cliffs in Montano de Oro State Park, down by the tide pools. I destroyed my knee/right leg in my office tripping over the dog's bed a week gone and really couldn't get very much further. I like the cropped version. jb

Four Trees

The last small glint of light before the fog enveloped the shoreline shone through a pause in the overhead dank. That one small ray of hope is what I chase. jb

Beach Pods

Love the colors and shapes of the pods of seaweed and kelp washed up on the beach. Painted these sitting on the beach just as they lay in the sand.
I have a Pochade box on order; I can paint efficiently on site. jb

Be Bold

No painting for days lately. Family visiting. Back in the studio, I forced myself to loosen up; get back to a basic set-up; practice some of the lessons from the Carol Marine seminar. This came together very easily this afternoon...I was thinking of that class all day. jb

Locked Up

Unable to paint and yet drawn outside to the studio...so I cut up a painting and a scanned second and wove them together. Just passing time listening to some music.

Watercolor Canyon

I took a thumbnail sketch and a fast impression of walls of stone, blooming sedum, cactus, wild sage at the bottom of the canyon. Natural aroma therapy. I needed it. jb

Bottom of the Falls

Cool, dark, serene. jb

Haze

There is only smoke in the air allowing no difference between fog and haze. Everything is colorless and flat, diffused. jb

The Hedgerow

It's a dry hot hike up in the open space above town; the oak groves are cool and sweet. jb