Grand Canyon painting....

As promised, here's one of the Grand Canyon paintings from this year.  Time's been flying by and I'm so grateful to all of my collectors and my painting students!  What a wonderful year we've had!  

This is one of the overlooks off off Hermit Road on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction this week, just click on the link at the above right.  

Working large and small....

I've been posting some work in progress of my larger works.  Here's an example of a 9 x 12 inch plein air painting and I've posted the photo to go along with it to show how I tend to "romanticize" my Kentucky!  I'm always intrigued with natural settings, but sometimes a building can be fun as well.  

This one was just done a week or so ago.  The landscape has already changed to reflect the fall weather.  

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click on the link at the above right. 

I'm baaaaccckk...!!!

So, do you think there will be a Grand Canyon painting in my future!!???  I wish I had the time and money to stay onsite and paint right there.  The colors there are just amazing.  We hiked down to the Colorado river, then the next day back up.  7 miles down, 10 miles up.  The trails were beautiful even though at times we ran into some rain. 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction ebay, just click on the link at the above right.  

Summer's end....

I don't know where the time has gone this year.  What a busy and fun summer!  We're prepping to do some more traveling out west and I can't wait!  I've got a very large painting of the Rocky Mountains in the works, but no photos yet.  Here's a few updates on a couple of paintings I've been working on.  The first is a work in progress of one of our horses that is no longer with us.  I don't have many photos of him and the one I have is not very good.  I'm enjoying the painting though.  I've also included an update of the Hollyhock painting as well.  I'm farther along now and need to take an updated photo. 

I've got a lot more work to do on him, but he's blocked in.  My camera did some adjusting after I darkened the background.  Also, below is another shot of the Hollyhock.  I've been doing more work on the leaves and I've made a few changes.  I'll try to post them next time. 

For the below painting...or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay this week, just click the link at the above right. 

Changing your mind....

One thing I've really allowed myself to do more this year is to change my mind in my work.  By that I mean, sometimes I'll start a painting...get pretty far and realize it's not working.  I used to try to force it, re-work it, cry & pray over it....well....no more.  Now don't get me wrong, I still cry, re-work, and re-do.  :-)  However, once I decide, it's not working, I put it away for a while.  If when I get it back out, I'm not re-energized to work on it, I let it go.  Just had one the other day.  Some foliage from one of my rambles about the farm.  36 x 36 inch canvas and  I just painted over it.  I'm doing more of this because I felt like I was wasting time on paintings, that weren't   "working" so to speak. 

I've ordered stretchers for the Hollyhock from my last post and can't wait to dive in on that one.  I've got a couple more large ones started as well.  I'll share them later.  

For this or other little paintings that I have up for auction on ebay, just click on the link at the above right. 

Hollyhock painting started....

As I mentioned last post, I planned on doing a hollyhock painting....here's the block in.  When I start a block in from a photo, I tend to stick pretty close to the photo.  Once I have the block in...I start taking my "artistic liberties" as I call them.  As you can see from the foliage, I'll be doing that with some of the leaves, but I LOVE the big leaf on the left, so it will be staying.  Not sure about the cloud positions and the foliage on the right yet.  Stay tuned!!!  

For my little ebay paintings, including the little painting below, just click on the link at the above right.  

Summer paintings...

I love the growing season here in Kentucky.  I can remember as a young girl walking thru my grandparents fields and appreciating the beauty of the tobacco as it grew in rows on their farm.  We did get a surprise in one of our fields behind the new construction on the house.  We aren't and have never grown hollyhocks.  Yet, three sprang up in the middle of the hay. 



I took a bunch of photos for future paintings.  Such a sweet surprise!  

 For this or other little paintings I have up for auction this week, just click on the link at the above right.

Rocky Mountain High....

Our trip to the Rocky Mountains was just beautiful.  I've already done several studies onsite and can't wait to start my larger works.  Here's a few photos. 

 

Tom is standing just above Emerald Lake and I'm heading up the trail to Alberta Falls.  This was truly an inspiring place.  My camera just couldn't capture it's beauty. 

 





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Well, I was trying to post a current painting, but I've got blogger problems and it won't let me this post.  For this weeks ebay paintings I have up for auction, just click on the link at the above right.  

Little Blaze....

She's about a week old now, but was only two days old when I took these photos.  She was still very clumsy..it was so cute.  Needless to say, she's gotten much more agile and is a little cutie.  I would love to have gotten some better photos of her, but she was too curious about my phone. 

 

I love seeing these cool rushing waterfalls we have here in KY and this one in Tennessee. 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click the link at the above right. 





Missy...

One of my horses, Missy, is soon to deliver.  I've got a photo of her here, and you can see she's pretty round in the middle.  We pulled her from the rest of the herd down in Ky, but she's doing well up here on her own.  Once she saw that I was taking photos, my phone became of quite an interest to her, so they were blurred and too close up!  She's a sweet horse.  I've also posted a photo of the pond right next to where I was standing.  If it looks familiar, that's because it's one of my favorite subjects in my paintings. 

 

I took these on the same morning on my morning walk with Missy.  I love being an artist...I love the gift of freedom it gives me to work on my schedule so I can have these great moments. 

 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click the link on the above right.





Besides Clouds...

Besides clouds, I love trees.  All shapes, sizes, evergreen, deciduous...all of them.  They seem to have personality.  I'm blessed with being able to spend time in many different areas of the country and have exposure to all types of landscape greenery.  These field paintings help me decide what should be turned into larger paintings.  I have to do this because I sometimes get distracted by the beauty of the landscape and forget to focus on the composition of my painting. 

 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction this week on ebay, just click the link at the above right.



Oils and Medium....

I'm often asked what oil paints I prefer to use by some of my students and I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm still using Gamblin.  I think once you trust a product, you really try to stick with it.  I still use Liquin a lot in the field.  The regular "Original Liquin".  I also like using my own mixture of Gamblin linseed oil and Gamsol for an oil painting medium in the studio.  50/50 ratio. 

 

 

Now this little painting was done on stretched canvas, but when I paint outside in smaller formats, I prefer to paint on board.  Mostly because my pochade box moves a bit on my tripod and so does the canvas.  Board is much stiffer and gives me more control outside. 

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For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay this week, just click on the link at the above right. 



My website has launched!

I'm going to consider it a work in progress for a while, but feel free to stop by and check it out. 

 

www.kimberlyvanlandingham.com

 

 

 

Here's my setup onsite in Florida.  I'm happy to be back here in Kentucky, but I do miss all the water and foliage in Florida.  In a few weeks, spring here in Ky will take care of that though. 

 

For the other little paintings I have up for auction this week, just click on the link at the above right. 



Saying goodbye to Florida for the year.....

 

 

Well, here's a few shots of us walking Chassie on a few of our favorite parks and trails here in Florida.  We're heading home to Ky and hope to bring the warm weather with us.  I'm looking forward to doing more paintings out on the farm in Bracken County and I also can't wait to see all of my students and paint with them.  See ya soon!!

 

The below painting is available for sale on ebay by clicking on the link at the above right.  Thanks for your interest in my work!

 





Yum....

Here's another little still life...that didn't last very long!  By the time I was finished painting it, this little danish was hard as a rock.  Thinking ahead...I had bought extra.  Painting food can be fun! 

The below landscape painting along with the other little landscapes I have up for auction on ebay this week can be found by clicking on the link at the above right. 

 



The Highlights have it....

 

 

I'm always forcing myself to push my lights and darks.  This little still life was painted on a gray toned canvas and underpainted with terra rosa.  Once I block in the main colors, I start pushing the highlights and shadow colors. 

 

You can see the difference. 

 

For the little landscape paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click on the link at the above right.  Thanks for your interest in my work!!!

 



Places I love to paint....

We just got back today from Eagle lakes and I can't wait to do some paintings from the area.  It's one of my favorite bird watching spots and it did not disappoint today either.  In addition to the birds, the wetlands have such an array of greens and blues I wish I could just go there everyday and paint, paint, paint.  We all have our favorite subjects and plein air sites I guess.  I'm so inspired right now!!!

 

**I guess blogger got the photo issue resolved...so I'm baaaaccckkk!!!! *** 

For this or other little paintings I have up for auction on ebay, just click on the link at the above right. 

Hello Florida!!!

We made it!  What a crazy and wonderful month December was!  It feels great to be down here breathing the warm air again.  I just got out my paints this past week and I'm loving painting here. 
Sorry, no images.  Blogger is having problems and now I can't upload any photos at this point.  Hopefully this will be fixed soon.