I love walking in the woods on a winter morning, especially just as the sun is coming through the trees. The sky is all kinds of peach colored and the light looks like stained glass to me. Beautiful!
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I really like how this turned out. I tried to keep it simple. Wasn’t sure about adding the dogs on the first day but then walked in this morning and thought, “Why not?” So that’s what I did. I like all the gestural lines around the dogs. I love the dark tunnel ahead of them and the light filtering down through the tree canopy. Enjoy!
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This is number 7 in the Pastel Skies challenge by Karen Margulis.
I still think about this place. I rented a cottage on Half Moon Lake two years ago for my sister and me to stay in while we were in Michigan visiting family. It was a real small lake, but deep in the middle, drawing fishermen early in the day. Later in the afternoon, there’d be water skiers and tubers and jet skis out there. Mary and I would sit on the deck in our straw hats and applaud all the hijinks. We hosted the after party for the reunion and the little kids played in the sand by the water while the grownups had a cherry spitting contest on the dirt road behind the house. I remember floating on a dollar store air mattress, feeling the sun on my back, trailing my hands in the cool water. It was quite wonderful. This painting is based on a picture I took the morning that I left to go back to Florida.
Good Morning, Half Moon Lake, 5×8″ pastel on Canson mi tientes paper by Marie Marfia. $75, unframed. Contact me to purchase.
In this painting, the pine that stands sentinel along the path is straight and tall. Its lower branches undulate toward the light and it seems to point my way forward. I love the strata in the background, a low cloud bank creeping upward, blue, then pink, then blue again. A mist rises in front of a dark band of pines, silhouetted against the brightening sky.
Walk This Way, 9×6″ pastel on gessoed mat board by Marie Marfia.
Walk This Way, detail, 9×6″ pastel on gessoed mat board by Marie Marfia.
Walk This Way, detail, 9×6″ pastel on gessoed mat board by Marie Marfia.
Walk This Way, detail, 9×6″ pastel on gessoed mat board by Marie Marfia.
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My favorite time of day is coffee time at my brother’s house. Well before dawn I make my way to the kitchen, choose a mug, fill it with coffee, milk and sugar, and whisper, “Anyone need a warm up?”
The room next to the kitchen has a large, stuffed ottoman, wicker chairs covered with afghans, and floor pillows snug against the walls. The cats loll on the little table next to the window, purring. Low voices murmuring, we talk about everything and anything, a susurrus of ideas, laughter, and impractical dreams shared while waiting for the sun to make a decision about whether it’s going to get up or not. I always want to be the first one out there in the morning. My brother and his wife make the best coffee.
Coffee Time, 5×7″ pastel painting on UArt 600 sanded paper by Marie Marfia.
This painting started with a warm red, orange, and yellow underpainting. Then I layered blues and pink for the morning sky and browns and rusts and pinks for morning coffee with a little dark green thrown in to get that dark, dark earthy color.
Here is the process for today’s painting:
Here is an excerpt from my painting journal:
“Coffee, early morning, talking in low voices, cats lounging on the table, darkness before dawn, bare feet resting on the ottoman, the popping noise signaling a fresh pot ready…”
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