Posted in daily painter, Plein Air, tagged daily painter, daily painting, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, Shenandoah River, Virginia Artist on June 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Shenandoah Fishermen, oil on canvas panel, 11″x14″. This is a painting that I started while painting at the boat landing on Luray Avenue in Front Royal a few weeks ago. I had almost finished laying in the composition when these fisherman rode up and stopped. They added the perfect finishing touch to this painting.
Posted in Art Class, daily painter, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, daily painting, flowers, impressionism, Landscape, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Artist on May 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »
We had a delightful class in Strasburg at Buggy B’s last night. As you can see we painted irises. Great job everyone.
Anyone interested in painting with us in Strasburg remember that we paint the last Tuesday at 5:30 at Buggy B’s on King. Come join us.
Posted in daily painter, tagged full-time artist on May 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »
One of the secrets that is seldom revealed by full-time artists is the amount of time you must spend doing computer and/or paperwork. If we could just paint and never worry about all the other “stuff” it would be so much easier. I spend several hours a day looking at this.
Posted in daily painter, Dogs, tagged daily painter, daily painting, Dogs, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, painting, pet portrait, Rescue dogs, Virginia Artist on May 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »
The Dog Walker, oil on canvas panel, 14″x11″.
A few weeks ago while down at the river painting I turned around to look behind me and there was this gentleman walking his buddy. I had to take a photo quick before they were gone down the trail. I just love they look.
Posted in daily painter on May 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Congratulations to my niece, Morgan and her parents as she graduated high school last night. So proud of you!
Posted in daily painter, Farm Animals, Pet Portaits, tagged daily painter, daily painting, farm animals, horses, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, pet portrait, rescue horses, Virginia Artist on May 21, 2012| 1 Comment »
This past week in art class and then again on Saturday at the Wine Festival downtown I worked on this painting. This is Patriot and Zip, two beautiful rescue horses adopted by my friend Suzanne McMinn and her daughter, Morgan. (Patriot and Zip, oil on canvas panel, 11″x14″, available by contacting kwalker@kellywalkerstudios.com)
I will be meeting these lovely guys in June when I go to Sassafras Farm, their home and home to Chickens in the Road, where I will be painting a mural for Suzanne. And while I am there Suzanne is having a fundraiser for Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue from where she rescued Zip and Patriot. Read about all of that here.
Next I’ll be making prints of this painting and anyone who donates at least $25 to Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue before the fundraiser in June at Sassafras Farm will receive a print suitable for framing. Take a look at Heart of Phoenix here and see the good work they do.
Posted in daily painter on May 20, 2012| 2 Comments »
Every once in a while I get to take part in a fun surprise. Yesterday was one of those times. Years ago I met Patti through Colonel Potter Cairn Rescue, a wonderful group of people who help these lovely dogs find homes. It’s where I got my sweet Rosie. (Click the links to read more.)
Patti and her husband Matt live down near D.C. along with their lovely dogs, Carmen and Cosmo. A few months ago Matt contacted me about painting a portrait of the “kids” for Patti’s upcoming birthday. And he wanted to surprise her with it.
And that’s what we did. He made all the plans and brought her and the pups out to Front Royal for the weekend. The festival was going on so that was a great cover story. They came to the shop where I was painting in the booth outside and I acted so surprised to see Patti after so many years. We went into the shop where we had her painting hanging on the wall just waiting for her. And yes, she was surprised! But my favorite part of the surprise was when they came back by as the festival was winding down and Cosmo, Carmen and their Mom posed with their portrait for this photo. Happy Birthday Patti!!!!
Posted in Art Class, daily painter on May 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Young painters this week worked on pieces to give their moms for Mother’s Day so I promised not to put them on my blog til Monday. 🙂
They do lovely work, don’t they?
And here is their birdhouses from a few weeks ago. They complete a painting every week so sometimes I get a little behind in showing them to you. But they remind me. 🙂
And the week before that it was lemons.
I just love the stunning work that they turn out. Good job young painters.
Posted in daily painter, Plein Air, tagged daily painter, daily painting, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, Plein Air, Plein Air painting, Shenandoah River, Virginia Artist on May 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I had a great day painting at the Shenandoah River with two painters who wanted to give plein-air painting a try.
It’s not as easy as you would think. It takes some planning just to get the equipment to the location and set it up.
Luckily we had a great spot down by the boat landing. We were lucky to have a picnic table, a trash can and even a porta-potty! That’s a big deal for plein air painters. 🙂
Jeff looks like he’s been doing this all his life. And he really got into it.
And here is Mary Lou, who was thrilled to be painting outdoors.
It was fun to see these two fine artists exploring a new aspect to their painting.
River View to the South, oil on canvas panel, 11″x14″ (SOLD)is the first piece I worked on that morning. I got a splendid start and plan to finish it in the next week or so. And it’s already spoken for, so that’s good news!
And this is the reference photo for that painting.
I had time to start a second painting but didn’t get quite as far along on it before the sun got to high for the light to work for us. Just as I got it laid in a boat pulled up with two guys fishing so I put them in the painting.
This is the shot I took of them. Glad I added them into my painting because one of the wives of the fisherman pulled up to give them lunch (they were fishing in a tournament) and she yelled up to me, “Are you painting my husband fishing?” Of course I said yes, and she picked up a card and emailed me later in the day to say she’d like to buy it for him for father’s day.
All in all, it was a perfect day for painting. I helped two great students explore outdoor painting; I have two sold paintings; and I got to spend the morning with Breezy (Jeff’s dog who came to help us paint)!
An excellent morning.
Posted in daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged acrylic, daily painter, daily painting, Denim and Diamonds, flowers, impressionism, Landscape, poppies, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Artist, Warren Memorial Hospital on May 12, 2012| 1 Comment »
These are the poppies that I painted last night at the Warren Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Denim and Diamonds event. There was a wonderful crowd of women there exploring the different vendors with information on women’s health and well-being. I had a great time seeing so many friends.
Poppies for Charity, acrylic on 12″x12″ canvas. I donated this piece to the raffle. I hope whoever won it likes how it turned out!
The Studio 