breath of winter

Although currently working on studio paintings indoors, at the end of each session I try to make a plein air sketch -luckily I can just step outside. This direct observation work helps me immensely when addressing middle tones/values/edges in the larger studio works.

 *and I just really love the subtle breath of winter light

 December, remains of the day, oil / cold wax on canvas, 16x20in, copyright Jan Yates 2014

available

and on a field note:

milkweed

August

is bittersweet

August

cold wax & oil on canvas, plein air

16x20in, copyright Jan Yates 2014

taking flight

taking flight

is not a given

all though not always right

all is not lost

Thirty-odd nests have made their way to me over the years. They are not ‘stolen’ as I know birds like to return year after year to the same spot and use the existing structure and build on it-the less work for them the better!

No, they are nests that have been blown down by the fierce winds or abandoned, like the cardinals’ nest in this image.

 

July

 a summer day

 8x10in, oil & cold wax on canvas 

words/image copyright Jan Yates 2014

available

The cardinals were nesting in a vine structure on the porch and one day the mother did not come back.

The heartbreak was in the Father. For weeks and weeks he would call for her, over and over through out the day, his frantic whistles painfully pleading for her return.

So I thought it fitting to make this on the porch. I’ve highlighted the nest, on the lower left, in the image below.

taking flight

I watched you

Taking Flight

hoping for

a full circle
and a
safe landing

A Summer Day

cold wax & oil on canvas, 8x16in

copyright Jan Yates 2014 

available

little June

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June." -  L. M. Montgomery The long June days keep me outside working on things growing which I hope to post soon. However, as I was putting my paints away just as the light was leaving, I looked out the door..

Little June, oil /cold wax on canvas, 8x10in,

copyright Jan Yates 2014, available

pure, undiluted, untouched

Forsythia is pure joy. There is not an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or even knowledge in forsythia. Pure, undiluted, untouched joy. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I try to book my painting time around the fleeting May blooms. Forsythia waits for no one and I was at her beck and call.

 

 May, oil / cold wax on canvas, 12x48in, copyright Jan Yates 2014