Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

I love being out in the woods.  I do fear deer ticks but slather on the Deet.  This site is not far from our house, near an old cellar hole.  Here and there in  you see piles of dead trees; I guess when one falls it often takes others down with it.  They decompose, get covered with moss and lichen and provide all kinds of benefits to forest fauna in their little microcosm.  The dappled light among so many standing trees is wonderful for a painter.  I used a palette knife on a lot of this.  I’m liking that tool more and more.

Woods Pile   9 x 12  oil on masonite   $150 unframed

Between trying to stay ahead of the weeds and getting ready for a show I’ve been remiss about blogging. I wound up hanging 29 paintings–a few old but mostly new ones– at a very nice gallery in a retirement community here. A 93-year old friend who lives there had been bugging me to have a show so I finally got it done. Here’s a bit of the wall. Unfortunately the people who will mostly see it are not at a point in their lives to be buying much new stuff.

Here’s the last one I finished before the show–a sketch (later worked up more fully). Later I went back to the site to do a larger version. It was a wonderful place. I had to trek back along the stream for a way to get a good view but with my recently-acquired dolly, carrying all my gear wasn’t a problem. I was pleased that a guy who was delivering something to the retirement community called and said he’d fallen in love with the painting. Alas, it was too expensive for him but it’s nice to know that someone likes what you’ve done.

Sketch for Field and Stream 9 x 12 oil on masonite $150 unframed

Field and Stream 18 x 24 oil on masonite $800 framed

I’ve been painting at the alpaca farm near South Strafford, which is about 5 miles from Strafford. It’s a wonderful place with beautiful views and the cutest animals! My method this summer has been to do a small painting, block out a larger one from the sketch and then go back and finish the larger version on site. It’s easier to work on location if I’ve gotten everything correctly placed before I plunge in. This painting is looking down on the studio of another Strafford painter and then across to distant buildings. I started this one before everything had turned so green. When I went back another building in the far background had been completely obscured by new growth!

May Morning oil on masonite 18 x 24 gold frame $700

It has been too long since I’ve posted anything. Once we get a little warm weather I’m out in the yard trying to get ahead of the weeds that are exploding everywhere.   I’ve also started going out with the group to paint the landscape but don’t have anything yet to put up from those outings.  Yesterday I had planned to go somewhere but felt too lazy to load up the car and drive to the site.  So I wandered around here and in the backyard saw a  little group of pine trees–volunteers all–that are starting to fill up the slope behind the house, just at the edge of the woods. They’re bursting with new growth. I love the soft look of pines and thoroughly enjoyed slapping these down on top of an old painting.

Morning Pines  oil on masonite  18 x 12  $350 unframed

I started this painting last summer and then had it sitting in the studio all winter, nagging me to do a few things to finish it. So finally it’s done. The best times for plein air are early in the morning and late in the afternoon. However, I also like to hike in the morning and have a glass of wine at the cocktail hour so too often I talk myself out of getting out when I should! This summer I vow to do better. I really like the early light in this one.

Morning in Vermont oil on masonite 12.5 x 24 $650 framed

I started this piece by painting over an old portrait and I didn’t really have a plan to begin with. Spreading paint around with a palette knife resulted in this picture of a stream or river and mountains with ice and snow receding. When I’m just pulling a painting out of my head it’s interesting to see what winds up on the canvas. I guess since we’ve been in the middle of a thaw that must have been on my mind. (With the record snow we’ve had this past winter we still have ice and snow all around us!) I enjoy working with a palette knife, scraping paint back, painting over, pulling additional layers of color over dried layers for texture. The accumulated patches of paint seen at close range are much less realistic than the overall impression. I think it’s useful to work fairly abstractly from time to time, without having to represent something literally. I’m intrigued by how the style of my knife paintings differs from the usual look of my work.

Thaw oil on canvas on masonite 16 x 20 $750

I thought I’d posted the entry below when we were in California but apparently it didn’t get onto the blog.  Anyway, we’re back now.  Snow is melting and the temps are near sixty but there’s still lots of snow on the ground.  Ahh, Pasadena was such a nice break…..

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The weather has been perfect since our arrival from snowy Vermont. Yesterday I spent the morning at the Cobb Estate–a big park with hiking trails not far from where we’re staying in Pasadena. What a pleasure it is to be able to get out and do the landscape; I’ll have to wait until last April or May before it’s warm enough at home. I couldn’t believe how lush the hills were, with lots of wildflowers. Picking a spot drove me crazy because there was so much material; I finally decided cactus was not something I’d have another chance to paint. It seems the only time I use pastels is when I’m traveling and need the portability. It’s a different feeling from oils but I think it’s good for me to use another medium.

March in Pasadena pastel on paper 9 x 12 $150 matted but not framed

We’re in sunny California this week visiting our son and his family. We left Vermont with deep snow on the ground and the next morning had breakfast outdoors in warm glorious sunshine. The plane trip of course took all day but it did give me a chance to sketch.

At least when people are on their cell phones they don’t move around as much!

Cell phones, computers–what did people do in airports before?

This guy was a study in denim–I think of him as the cowboy.

A diaper change–now that’s something that technology hasn’t improved.

And finally–the perfect model…..

Sometimes I feel like cutting loose and doing some automatic painting–just slop the paint around and see where it goes Here’s one that began with some treelike shapes and drips of very thin oils. Little figures started to emerge along with a few birds. I love doing representational painting; actual forms are so interesting in themselves. But occasionally it’s fun to see what’s inside my head.

Pathetic Fallacy 20 x 24 oil on masonite $500