Hi! I am in midst of working on my tree reflections. I thought it might be interesting to see how it gets from general colors to looking like reflections in the water. The photo I am referring to has quite still water so there won't be a lot of motion or waves but getting it to look like water will pose its own challenges! I'd better get back to it - my paints are getting impatient!

Until next time...

More Trees

Hi! Last night I finished the trees on what I have been calling my river scene. Either I am going to have to bend that river or I'm going to have to start calling it a lake!! It looks more like a lake or pond right now. In any case, here comes the changing part sometimes, the reflections.

Until next time...

Happy Snow Day! Today was a good day to get a lot of computer work finished and a little painting as well. Here is a progress shot of my river scene. I have added more trees but there are more left to paint. More to see later.

Until next time...

Get ready, get set...

Hello! I thought I would share the steps toward my under paintings for my runner gal and runner guy on a wooded trail. I believe both of these scenes are inspired by pictures I took at Blendon Woods last fall. It turns beautiful shades of yellow during the fall. I textured each canvas board first, gave each board a burnt orange wash, laid out my trees and runners and then added the oil under painting. Both of my runners look like they are about to run right off the canvas! I hope they have a good time but I hope they come back when I want to paint the details!

Until next time...

Good Day! I had some paint left over from painting my trees in the Conkles Hollow series so I decided I could put it to good use. I had started a river scene a while back. It looked as though it might need some color so I started adding trees to the river bank. Check back later as I should also have some progress on my new runner paintings by the end of the day.

Until next time...

Final Four!

Hello! I did it! All four Conkles Hollow paintings are signed and drying. They turned out really fun. I enjoyed using the fall colors because it really brightened things up around here! Enjoy!

Until next time...

Good Morning! Welcome back! I have been working very hard - I actually have a couple things I can share this morning. Last night turned out to be a late night of painting. I had a couple things I wanted to get accomplished before I went to bed! I finally finished all my trees on all four Conkles Hollow paintings. They now just need rock detail and I will have four paintings finished!

I also prepared two canvas boards for a two more Paint Running pieces. We have be following the painting with the two ladies running a wooded path. I started a single lady running a wooded path as well as a single guy. The paths are actually different but the color scheme will be similar. I am going to get some under paint and color on those today. I'll keep you posting progress shots!

Until next time...

Good Afternoon! Here is the latest progress shot of the trees I have been painting for the Conkles Hollow series. Now the only thing remaining on the larger two paintings are the rocks. I have to remix my tree colors for the smaller two paintings. My last batch of paint has been well used and is starting to gel into a nice pudding consistency. Not good! Between that and starting a couple more Paint Running paintings, I should keep myself quite busy on this snowy afternoon inside!

Until next time...

Hello! I was able to get all of my trees on this piece. It was mid-fall when we took the trip to Conkles Hollow so there was a good smattering of color throughout. Now I just have rock and roots left to do on this one. The second big painting is well on it's way also. All it's trees should be on soon!

Until next time...

Good Afternoon!

I'm finally back in the studio. Here is an update on my tree covered hills. I was able to get another layer on two of the paintings. With it getting warmer, the paints are drying faster so I'd better get back to it before I have to mix them all again! More later...

Until next time...

Howdy! Well, I knew it would happen - I got distracted from my original goal of finishing all the Conkles Hollow trees. It is still fairly early in the day though - I won't write the goal off completely! However, I did finish my silhouette runners. Here are the shiny, paint fresh from the pallet pictures of them. NOW, I will go work on trees!

Until next time...

Good Morning! Yesterday, I was able to bring some of the hills alive in my Conkles Hollow series. I was focusing on the hills furthest back but now I can really add some strong colors and details to the trees closer to us. That is my goal today - to finish all of the trees on these four paintings - as long as I don't get too distracted! It is up to 25 degrees and sunny out so a run is definitely in order. Wow... I can't believe that is a heat wave to get excited over! Also, my blue, red and gold are dry enough for me to put shadow colors on my runner silhouettes. Busy day - better go!

Until next time...

Color!

I mentioned I had left over paint from painting the backgrounds of my silhouette runners. Well, here are the backgrounds. Once they dry, I can paint the runners in a complementary dark color and it will look really sleek and simply delightful! With the background colors, I imitated the action lines I added to the texture of the people in the backgrounds.

Meanwhile I have been working on the furthest hills on my Conkles Hollow paintings. The trick is to make them look far away but still hint at the colors in the hills. I should have some progress photos in the morning on those.

Until next time...

One more

Hi. Here is the last of the under painted Conkles Hollow pieces. Now all four are ready for some major color. I mixed some reds and yellows last night for the runner silhouettes that I can use for some of the trees in these scenes. Typically, I'll use the same colors in a series of paintings but paint the pieces one at a time. Because the colors in these pieces are so similar (basically from the same huge hill), I may try working on these four paintings simultaneously. We shall see how that goes! Aside from a run today, I should be free to paint most of the day - YES!

Until next time...

Hello! Here is one of the under paintings I was chatting about earlier. This is another scene inspired by Conkles Hollow. I capitalized on some old exposed roots in foreground of this piece. Enjoy!

Until next time...

Painting Update

Good Morning!

I have a couple of things to share today as far as painting progress. Yesterday was very successful in the studio. Since we just finished seeing the textures on my running people, I thought I'd share them with their first layers of color. Right now they have two layers of under color. The first layer was the dark purple to ensure the people were covered in all crevasses, especially the edges. The second layer was the color for the background. I am experimenting with three color themes right now. Later I will also be able to share the under paintings on my Conkles Hollow pieces. They turned out really nice as well. Can't wait to put color on those. Perhaps today may be a color day!

Until next time...

I'm back!

I'm back in the studio again... when I was writing that, I was singing it in my head to the tune of "Back in the saddle again!" Just so we are on the same wave length! Anyway, I've got some exciting endeavors happening all at the same time today. I have started some more paintings for paint running that include some pretty fun texture. These pieces will be runner silhouettes with bright colored backgrounds/skies. This time instead of making the entire canvas textured, I decided to focus the texturing on just the runner. The diagonal lines simulate movement. We can imagine they are going places fast but not lose the their bodies in the blur!! I'm going to experiment with different colored backgrounds on each piece (I think).

While those are drying, I am working on the foreground shadows for the Conkles Hollow pair I shared with you last. Updates on those soon!

Until next time...

More clouds

Hello! Last night I was able to use the rest of my sky colors to finish 3 more skies. The two tall, thin pieces will be sister scenes to my Conkles Hollow paintings. At the moment the smaller piece is planned as a covered bridge scene. I kept the clouds low key because they will be mostly covered up. I will pick up from here on Monday. My weekend has just filled up and the studio will be lonely again for a couple days.

Until next time...

Skies

Good Morning!

The battery in my camera died yesterday so I did not get the chance to post the sky progress I made. Now it is re-charged and ready to go so here is the latest. I finished the cloud details on my two Conkles Hollow paintings. However, I now have extra sky paint left over and you know what that means... I need to start more paintings to use up the rest of the mixed paint!! It's never a bad thing to have extra paintings started but it does delay getting to see new colors!! I guess that means I need to get back to work then. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Another layer

Good afternoon! I am thrilled to share that I get to spend an entire day in the studio today! There is a delightful little snow storm happening outside so I feel somewhat cozy in here with my brushes and paint! I have added another layer to my running ladies. I've added some hints to a sky behind the trees and given some more color and clarity to the trees. The texture has been great for guiding my branches and leaves. It's as if the trees are already there, I just have to find them and point them out to you! Using the nice oranges has inspired me to work on the Conkles Hollows I have started - but I must finish their skies first. See you again soon!

Until next time...

Happy Monday!

It is a snow covered one for us this morning. It puts me in the mood to work on my snowy creek painting. However, I must be a very good business woman and spend just one more day at the computer and mail box. Tonight or tomorrow I plan to start a painting marathon. It is long overdue and I can't wait to get started. The studio is waiting and ready as you can tell by the photo above! I will update here often so check back in when you can. Meanwhile, the new website is complete and you can see the new look at www.amykayetaylor.com.

It hasn't come quite as far yet, but I have also launched www.paintrunning.com. The prototype for my runner girl is displayed on the home page. Thanks for stopping by and I'll have photos of painting progress soon!

Until next time...

Good Afternoon! Here is an image that may keep you nice and cool! I was able to get some snow on my rocks yesterday. I can't wait until I have a large chunk of time to work on this piece. It is going to be really neat. I am planning some soft waves in the creek that mill around the banks and rocks. Right now however, I am being extremely techie and I am remodeling my website. It seems that there is quite a lot of work involved in building this and I am attempting to get it all finished so I can paint again!! Wish me luck on that! I will let you know when the beautiful new website is launched.

Until next time...

Hello. It is a bit of a brisk, not so lovely day. I do have some art to share though. Perhaps that will brighten the day a bit. Here is the textured board with some color on it. It also has a new idea that I've had for quite some time but have never quite put into action. I am starting to run again and train for either a marathon or half-marathon. I always get inspiration for my paintings on my runs. Why not get inspiration from my paintings to go run? That is the thought for this piece. I combined an image from a trail I run with an image of a couple lady runners. I am also working on my other snow piece also. I should have a couple rocks finished soon.

Until next time...

Good Monday!

Here is a nice photo of Snowy Path. Today was a good day for taking pictures. It was also a good day for a run- a bit chilly but you get warmed up after the first mile or so. The sun was out and as a change for a winter day, the sky was so very blue this morning. I got a couple new ideas for winter paintings that don't have to look so sad! I didn't bring my camera though so I may have to rely on my memory - we shall see how that goes! Today is a "get things done around the house" day but I am planning on heading into the studio this evening while the game is on. Wish me luck on that!

Until next time...

Hello!

The camera came out to say hello today while I was putting finishing touches on my winter path. It is too wet to get a good solo shot of it and I'm not exactly convinced it is finished. I may need to step away for a few minutes and tweak a little later. Meanwhile, I am redesigning my web site and drawing for a new painting concept to go on the textured board I showed you yesterday. I will share more as I go along.

Until next time...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone and guess who's finally back in her studio?! I am very excited about that. Before the holiday festivities and traveling began I started several pieces. I can't wait to get some color on those. And, of course, the beginning of the year brings about new evaluations on what will be happening as 2009 progresses. I have some great ideas I would like to put in place this year and hopefully you can follow me as I go along.

Last night I was cleaning pallets and mixing new colors and saw a bucket of gesso in the corner. The wheels started turning and I got the urge to experiment a little. I had some left over boards from a past project and this gesso (which is a thick paint that basically primes any surface you want to oil paint on). I decided to play with some texture. I found an old metal spoon and used it as my spreading and texturing tool. The picture you see above is my best experiment of texture I had last night. I will sand it a little to rid of the sharp peaks and then attempt to paint on top. I shall keep you updated!

Meanwhile, I promise not to quit my day job, as they say, and I've also mixed some colors for a nice snow scene I have started! Hopefully, I can get some trees painted in on my snowy path today. Wow, I was wordy today!

Until next time...