October almost over

 The past many months seem to have flown by. After a year and a half of Covid restrictions we have started to emerge out into the world again (carefully and masked). After going through the trauma of losing our beloved cabin, we were able to get ourselves another cabin and started to settle in there. A lot of work but worth it. It has been very healing.

I started doing an online course with Australian artist Colley Whisson. It’s a year long course and even though it’s all online, he’s done a great job of connecting with each student. I’ve also gained knowledge and direction with his wonderful critiques. The beauty of this is that he doesn’t know me or my work personally so he can look at my work with a completely objective eye.

I also did a weekend online workshop with Claudia Rilling - a fantastic painter whose work is more abstract than mine and that I had much to learn from.

In the meantime I have been consistently going out and painting every week - plein air - which has also kept my sanity and my work intact. Also painting every week in a garden with 3 friends: flowers! Mostly roses. Such good practice.

Also been in a few online shows and sold work through my Instagram account (#nwarner13). 

Now to catch up with work from the last many months:

The Santa Barbara Mission invited a group of local artists to paint the Mission from various aspects and to display them for the summer in the 'Grand Sala'. This was part of a fundraiser for the Mission which suffered a decline in revenue due to covid restrictions and less tourists visiting this beautiful place.

Misson gate from the cemetery, 11”x14” oil on panel

Mission jailhouse, 11”x14" oil on panel

Another favorite spot to paint was the San Marcos Preserve. This property was going to be mostly developed but the community came out and donated big bucks in support of purchasing it from the developer and keeping it an open space for the people to enjoy. It was a tremendous effort and we did it! Makes me very proud of the things that this community values - open space, less development and protecting our beautiful environment.

Old oak, san marcos preserve  8"x10" oil on panel sold

dry grass, san marcos preserve, 6"x12" oil on panel

Painting at the Santa Barbara Botancial Gardens during the Spring flower bloom:

Poppy meadow, 8"x8" oil on panel

Upper trail at the Garden, 8"x10" oil on panel

Currently on view at the Architectural Foundation Gallery as part of the "Local Treasures" show

Nojoqui park, tree study  6"x8" oil on panel

Also going to the coast and painting cliffs, water and what have you. SCAPE was having an online show with the Maritime Museum so we also were looking at boats.

at Haskell's 8"x10" oil on panel

Cliffs at Shell beach, 9"x12" oil on panel

Coastal cliff, 8"x10" oil on panel

Blue Morning Sail, 11"x14" oil on panel SOLD

on the mark, Leadbetter cliff, 8"x10" oil on panel

And finally, painting in the Sierras around the new cabin - same general place, but across the lake from our burned one. Lots of new views and things to see.

Mule ears, 8"x10" oil on panel

dam keepers house, 6"x8" oil on panel

cabin next door, 6"x8" oil on panel

low lake, early morning 6"x8"

So that's mostly it - many I didn't include because in the middle of all this time I had to buy both a new computer and new phone, so many of my photos have been hidden away somewhere in the 'cloud' I hope. I have not yet learned how to retrieve them.

Next Post will catch up on all the flower paintings done over summer.

Things starting to open up....

Now starts the usual exhibition season and finally places are willing to open and show work and have "calls for entries" for both virtual shows and actual real shows.

This is a big deal for artists, so we were glad to get out there and do some work for upcoming shows. First up: the Wildling Museum and Trails Council juried show. I had 3 paintings accepted into this, which is fantastic. We hit many of the places that were listed for the 'Art from the Trail' show - it was great to revisit old trails and discover new places.

Carpinteria bluffs, oil on panel, 6"x12" SOLD

Burton Mesa, Lompoc, 10"x20" oil on panel

Barron Ranch, oil on panel, 11"x14"

Barron Ranch, oil on panel, 6"x8"

Sweetwater inlet, oil on panel, 11"x14"

Los Carneros, oil on panel 8"x10"

Los Carneros bird box, oil on panel 6"x8"

Friday Flowers

 This has been a particularly special activity - 4 of us painting in 4 corners of a patio, 6 feet apart with masks (until we all were vaccinated!). It was a time to visit socially as well - catch up on gossip, talk about our work, exchange recipes, whatever....  and paint flowers. The roses are back for Spring, though we had some wonderful substitutes over Winter.

Azaleas, 8"x10" oil on panel

Camellia, 6"x8" oil on panel

Iris, 6"x8" oil on panel

Yellow and orange, 6"x8" oil on panel

just the bougainvillea, 8"x8" oil on panel

first rose, oil on panel, 6"x8"

White roses, oil on panel, 6"x8"

This one was painted in the garden - first Freesias of spring, didn't want to pick them

Freesia, oil on panel, 9"x12"

Architecture challenge

 Painting at the Music Academy of the West has been fun - the beautiful buildings and grounds have so much to look at and it feels like being in a European town.

It's a beautiful estate with the challenge of architectural elements.

morning sunlight, Music Academy, 8"x10" oil on panel

Edge of a fountain,Music Academy, 6"x8" oil on panel

Late afternoon shadows,Music Academy, 8"x10" oil on panel

And from a friends house that has the same feel:

Dorene's patio, 6"x8" oil on panel

Marpril experiments

 The months are still blending together sadly, though good news is: I have had both my Covid vaccination shots! Feels good to be doing something positive toward hopefully eradicating or at least putting a dent in the pandemic that has gripped us for too long.

Meantime - painting is source of solace, of comradeship, challenge and relief.

Last months of painting have a mishmash of projects and side trips as well as the usual Monday plein air and Friday flower painting.

Experimenting with composition: This seemed to busy with a big 'X' at the bottom that might keep you from looking further up in the painting. So I had a friend mess with it on Procreate and I made the following changes below. I think it could work either way, but worth working it over to see.

first version

Devereux Slough, 12"x16" oil on panel

second version

This one had a tree right in the middle that didn't seem to belong there (even though it was there!) It just cut the space and wasn't here nor there.

first version

Carpinteria Bluffs, 6"x12" oil on panel

second version

Much better, I think. Less spatial confusion

Experimenting with value - I painted this using a black and white photo of the color image, trying to match the values as closely as I could. I was also trying to simplify the values to basically 3 and almost got there. Interesting and challenging problem.

color study

Gate at Burton Mesa, 10"x20" oil on panel

translated into black and white values. 

Janubrary

 Well time has always been a conceptual idea and no more so than this past year.

One year of Covid-19 life as we now know it. At least all the artists I know have been grateful for the the sudden dearth of acceptable activities which has translated into time to paint. That's a good thing.

Landscape and flower painting have kept me challenged and busy. Now with a Zoom figure painting class, that too gets a lot of attention.

So to catch up here are the last many weeks (and then some) of Friday flower paintings:

last of the roses, January, oil on panel, 8"x10"

last of the naked lady lilies, oil on panel 11"x14"

Then the only flowers that were miraculously blooming were on a large shrub:

Japanese Magnolias.

1. oil on panel, 6"x6"

2. oil on panel, 6"x6"

3. oil on panel, 8"x8"

4. oil on panel, 8"10"

5. oil on Yupo, 9"x12"

6. oil on panel, 6"x8"

7. oil on panel,10"x10"

8. oil on panel, 8"x8"

9. oil on panel, 10"x10"

10. oil on birch panel, 8"x8"

11. oil on cartòn, 8"x8"

So guess which are my favorites? Which are yours?

Instagram:  nwarner13

most work is available, please contact me through email or DM on Instagram