SUMMER PAINTING

Yosemite Design

A selection of paintings I have completed over the last few months. We had a wonderful week up in Yosemite and I finally got to paint the little cabin below that sits rather forlornly across from the Wawona elementary school. It has been taken back by the government and now sits and rots sadly. I wonder what tales it could tell???
My other paintings consist of scenes around town and of course England which is always in my dreams....

Abandoned Cabin-Wawona

15th St Sunset

Summer River

Spring

Reflections

Saturday Afternoon Hermosa

Through the Trees

HERMOSA & REDONDO ALLEYS

30th Place @  Hermosa

A few sketches from Hermosa and Redondo Beach -- pretty beach towns south of Manhattan Beach!
Slightly less inclines and less detailed streets - allowing for a more graphic look in these watercolors.

31st Place Hermosa

Hermosa Alley looking West

REDONDO alley looking South

CENTER PLACE Alley

Downtown Alley#1- 3pm light

Center Place alleyway in Manhattan Beach is a favorite of mine to paint.  - It is rather ugly because it has the back of shops and restaurants on one side and an old 1960's parking structure on the other ----But at the end it has a small gleaming jewel of a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean as you look west. In the afternoon- particularly if it is sunny the California light will bounce off the buildings and create fantastic shadows and dark graphic shapes. I think the painting above is the most successful.

Overcast Dull Day 

#3

I have recently collated my watercolors on Flickr - no words/poetry or thoughts - just watercolors if you are interested!   http://www.flickr.com/photos/luisamillicentart/

TREE PATTERNS

Morning Light

Trees Against the Sky

Trees, trees against the sky -

O I have loved them well!
There are pleasures you cannot buy,
Treasurers you cannot sell,
 And not the smallest of these
Is the gift and glory of trees....
So I gaze and I know now why
It is good to live - and to die....
Trees and the Infinite Sky.

By
Robert William Service

Through The Trees

Tree Patterns

SKETCHING AROUND TOWN

Pastel Street

A few sketches exploring the winter light around town.  Shadows and winter light play against the buildings....

6pm Light - Downtown Walkstreet

5pm light -  By the Beach

6pm Light

PECKFORTON HILLS

Peckforton

Beeston

This is a beautiful place to go and walk in Cheshire,  England.   My husband has walked these hills as a young man - with me courting and then as a married couple! - We have enjoyed rambling on the many paths with good friends and family - with one kid and now two! ~ These hills hold many happy memories for us - it is a special wild windblown spot!

 

Woodland Path Beeston Castle

Peckforton Estate Lane

Old Gateway

Looking out over Cheshire plain

ICE CRYSTALS AND LIGHT 

- In Yosemite Valley  

Near Sentinel beach Yosemite valley

We managed to get away for a few days up to Yosemite in the New Year. We decided to travel down to the valley and take a hike. We parked the car by Swinging Bridge and Sentinal Beach. The light was beautiful, blue skies, sunshine and snow with views of Yosemite Falls, Three Brothers, El Capitan and Half Dome. Ice crystals covered naked branches and twinkled in the sunlight - we could see what looked like individual snowflakes lying in the snow. I have never seen this before – not even in Yosemite. It was incredibly beautiful – we were in a complete ‘Winter Wonderland’.
 

January Stillness

Yosemite Falls from Swinging Bridge

All those who love Nature she loves in return, and will richly reward, not perhaps with the good things, as they are commonly called, but with the best things,  of this world - not with money and titles, horses and carriages, but with bright and happy thoughts, contentment and peace of mind.

~John Lubbock~

COUNTRY ROAD

- Take me home to the place I belong...

Winter Light 14x10cm 

The BeeGees 

Beatrix Potter Lane 14 x10 cm

Oak Tree Lane 15 x 10 cm

Down In the Dell 13 x 10 cm

Peckforton Cheshire

JANUARY LIGHT

Manhattan Avenue Dusk- Palos Verdes in the distance

January has been very cold this year - in the morning we have seen temperatures in the low 30's with ice on the ground by the ocean! - This past week by mid day we have been experiencing 80 degrees - and it really is messing with my mind again - I keep forgetting it is still winter and there is snow on the ground in the UK! - I have gone through my whole wardrobe from ski jackets to shorts all in the space of a week.

The light has been tremendous at dusk - and I have tried in these 4 paintings to capture it. It can be very elusive and like fairy dust - but I think I have gone some way to show the magical few hours between dusk and darkness here on the coast.

Happy New Year to all who view this blog - I am really excited to carry on with my creative journey - thanks for checking in. I am working on the next set of small paintings to be blogged soon.....

Shadows-looking towards the Pacific.

Manhattan Avenue fading light

12th Place Evening Highland Ave

CHINATOWN - LA

 It was with much excitement my husband and I set out last Saturday night to see the Twitter Art Exhibit in downtown Los Angeles - about a 40 minute drive from our home on the coast. It was a particularly cold evening for LA.... And we were full of expectation. We arrived early - but were very kindly let into the gallery to have a look around before the 7pm selling frenzy. It was truly wonderful to see all the postcards, many of which I recognized from viewing on Twitter! I had too many favorites and knew that I had choices to make. My husband (who is also an artist) was very impressed with it all and very glad he came especially as glasses of wine began to flow!

 A wall of art!

 Here I am pointing at my 17 year old daughters postcard. Paintings began to disappear....

 I really should have taken that scarf off - but hey I was only thinking about the postcards at this point! My watercolor street scene is 2nd to the left of my head! I also had a painting of Big Sur on another wall.

 These are the 3 wonderful postcards my husband and I finally came to bring home. On the left a whimsical painting by @LisaGrahamArt, in the middle a portrait of AD by @LelandStruebig and to the right the postcard I really did have my eye on from the start by @dEEN1cKerson.

I just wanted to show you how Lisa and Dee had decorated the back of their cards - how  lovely they are? I will definitely do this next time - it makes for such a beautiful purchase!

 I was fortunate enough to see the painting above removed from the wall and given to the buyer! I was able to shake the buyers hand and introduce myself as the artist. It was a great experience to be able to  meet this very nice lady! - The painting below of Big Sur sold a little later in the evening - and I didn't see it picked off the wall! - I hope the buyer enjoyed the evening at Exhale Unlimited Gallery as much as we did! - Good Luck to Art Division and all the young people who truly deserve to have the best chance in their creative careers. And - thank you to @DavidSandumArt @natgeorgela and @ExhaleUnlimited.