Staying True

Footprints ©T Grillo Laird - oil 18x24 -sold

Here is a painting I completed a few weeks ago. It's popularity since I posted it, has surprised me. The first surprise was when it sold the morning after I posted it. I then posted it on an artist's site and was taken by surprise again by how well it has been received. 

I tried to analyze it. Is it the title? The colors? The mood? The paint? Then it occurred to me that in painting it, I held true to the working method that for me seems to produce results closest to what I was aiming for. Ignoring all conventional wisdom and restrictive rules about how outdoor painting is practiced, I just painted in the way I've done outdoor paintings for the past 20 years. I took my 18x24 canvas out to the dunes near my house and looked and painted. When the light changed, I packed up and took it out again the next day. And the day after that. One day I didn't like the results and scraped it all down just to begin again on my next session in the dunes. When I was finished I took it home and studied it. I made a few adjustments where a line was too strong or a spot in the background wasn't receding enough. I studied it some more then called it done. Of course no painting is ever done. It's just brought to a point where it can be left alone.

I do enjoy painting those loose sketchy paintings that I start and finish in one two hour session on site. The results are often fresh and unexpected, but most of the time I'm left wishing I had developed an idea a bit further.

I think that when I manage to shut out all the clamorous voices telling me how I must paint, and I listen to my own inner voice, I am again the happy serene painter I started out as when I was a young child.

From the Back Burner -Day 2 0f 30 paintings in 30 days

Life can take you on unexpected journeys. My life has landed me unexpectedly up north away from my home and husband in Florida. Every two months I go home for a visit. Last October, I was just in time on my visit to catch the very last of the swimming weather. While exploring the dunes near Pensacola Beach, I came upon a patch of beach scrub topped with bright yellow flowers. Against the dark green of the holly and oaks that covered the dunes, the bright yellow made an intriguing patchwork of light and dark shapes. It's funny how something will trigger long dormant memories, but the colors and shapes reminded me of a favorite set of wooden blocks I had as a young child that were exactly those same colors. Happy colors, happy sunlight and the pleasure of strolling though a beautiful place on an autumn day!

Sundrenched Dunes - oil on canvas - 11x14
click here to purchase

Getting Ready for 2013

 My holiday travel is over and I'm getting ready to get back to work.  Earlier in the month I traveled home to Florida where I finished a teaching contract, delivered artwork to a gallery, finished consolidating the contents of two houses, rehearsed and sang a duet at my church, and spent some holiday time with my husband and family. It was  a busy two weeks! Now I'm ready to get the paints out again and get to work.

Usually, I work fairly large like this 30x40 of a spot close to my house. These larger paintings tend to take a while to execute especially if they're done entirely in the studio rather than plein air.

Sand Dunes and Fences -30x40 -oil on canvas
to purchase, contact Patina Art Gallery- 251 928 2718

 Lately I've been feeling the need to search for more in the process of painting. I can sense exactly what I'm looking for even if I can't quite articulate it. In addition to the larger pieces, I've started making smaller pieces so that the start to finish process happens faster and my eyes stay fresher.  More paintings means more freedom to try new palettes, different working methods and new ways of translating what I see and feel, into paint on the canvas.
To start the new year off, I'll be participating in a 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Watch this space every day in January for the results. It's going to be fun and for the perfectionist I am, it's going to be a challenge to step away from each painting at the end of the day. For any artists wanting to join in, here's the information. Happy painting!
 http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/2012/12/thirty-paintings-in-thirty-days.html?m=1