This morning after Izzy and I walked on the beach I told myself I needed to jump into a painting! This is our third day in Folly Beach SC and I've been just organizing my thoughts and the house. I took a photo in Ohio which I've been wanting to paint so now was a good day to start. Problem: Canvas too large for travel strada easel. Solution: umbrella table on the patio.
Adviser
This was the last paddle before putting the kayaks in the barn. I just looking back on a good day.
if you look close you can see my buddy Bill ready to pull into shore.
The sky was clouding up making us cut the paddle sort and head for our take out spot.
Rats!
At the edge of town runs the river. We were driving over the bridge just at the time the water captured the last of the sun on a perfect fall day. I was amazed at the shades of violet and purples plus the orange reflection of the autumn leaves.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 10"x10"
Price: $
Low Country in South Carolina at sunset can include all the colors on a palette. We were driving in a preserved area and were lucky enough to stop and take a few shots one of which inspired this painting. It is a 11"x14" oil on canvas.
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 11"x14"
price: $
On one of my walks with my buddy and Izzy the trail passes this abandoned looking house. One day the drive had several cars parked and to our surprise using the track behind the house were jockeys driving buggies for harness racing. ( you can see I don"t know the right terminology) It was the red truck that called for a painting as well as the muted hues of the unpainted wooden siding on the house.
In September The Ohio Plein Air Society held their annual Paint Out in Alexandria, Ohio.
My painting "The Road Home" was selected after the competition to be shown in their show for two months at Sunbear Gallery.
In this plein air competition artists are given locations that the land owner has approved the painting on their property. We also had the option of just driving around until we found a spot that inspired us. The event last three days with Friday and Saturday for painting and Sunday for the judging. Friday i was driving around looking for a spot and was captured by this farm early in the morning. This is a 15X30" board and I think I liked the way using a long rectangle helped convey the acreage on which this small farm was sitting. The fields at that time of year were that wonderful golden color.
Friends from my hometown still frequent the drive in restaurant that was a cruising spot when I was in high school. This past summer they drove their VW beetle to Swensons for a burger. Chris being an former art teacher saw the photo op happening so stood behind their car and got the shot. I was really taken with the orange and neon just popping. After I saw it I asked permission to use their photo as a reference for this 8 x 10" oil painting.
The Pacifico Railroad.
We recently returned from a railroad trip through the Copper Canyon in Mexico. We traveled for seven days on the train and spent the nights in historic hotels in villages along the way. I painted in my watercolor travel journal in two locations. Its always a pleasure to take out these journals and remember the many enriching destinations we have been fortunate to see around the world. I started these journals about ten years ago and its nice if i can't spare the space in my luggage for an easel and oil paints to take a special bit of time to fully observe our local surroundings.
I sat on a bench in a square in a small village in China and began painting only to be surrounded by young adult art students watching me as i painted. Wow.
My journals are now on display at the Cultural Arts Center in Delaware, Ohio.
A view from the road above Ceracahua.
Me on the "Rocking Rock" above.
The hotel room veranda
We took a train across Mexico to see the Copper Canyon which is a canyon that exceeds our Grand Canyon in size. The Pacifico railroad train made stops in the afternoon in quaint isolated villages where we spent the night in small beautiful hotels. We love the warm gentle Mexican people who seem to live a simpler life and seem to be content and happy with this life. Handmade tortillas still warm with fajitas and beans. I'm wishing i could be sitting at that table overlooking the canyon as i write.
The watercolor journal i take along with me when i vacation is always a pleasure to look through remembering each destination through an artists eyes.
I sat waiting for lunch on a wall and painted the cathedral next to out hotel.
My painting called "The Dog and her Boy' won Best of Show at The Arts Castles' Arts Affair this week. One hundred and five artists participated so I am very proud to be selected for this honor.
This is a small 5"x7" painting that is done from imagination.
Medium: oil
Size: 5x7"
Price: $
This farm house I pass just before turning into our driveway. The widow who lives in the home has recently moved in with her family and the surrounding fields are slowly being sold as five acre plots.
I will miss the open soy or corn fields but am happy to have painted one of the original farms in Olive Green.
Medium: oil
Size: 11"x14"
Price: $
This is a blues group that we enjoy in Charleston during the week long Blues Festival.
Oysters roast, greens and blues. good times!
Medium: oil
Size: 15"x 24"
Price: $
This is the bar in a wonderful old hotel in Nashville. It is in the original train station.
I was attracted to the wine cooler and cushy looking lounge.
Medium: oi;
Size: 11x14"
Price: $
Artist: Heffelfinger
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size: 8"x10"
Price: $
Therapy is free here. A walk with a dog in the sunshine.
Our home sits up on a cliff above the creek and for 10 years if we wanted to drop down to play, our transport was a heavy yellow rope tied to the big Maple tree. Otherwise we could take a path that slowly descended to the bottom. The rope has been loved by the kids and not so much by me. Last summer we had a bridge built the spanned a ravine and wooden steps taking us down to Big Walnut Creek. This has been a gift that has brought such joy to the whole family giving access to all who wished to be up close and personal with the fishys.
When there is more than normal rainfall, our creek overflows into the woods and the sunset on this night turned the scene a brilliant orange.
Artist: Carolyn Heffelfinger
Medium: Oil on Board
Size: 16"x 20"
Price: $
The night before heading out on a weeklong backpacking trip in the Laurel Highlands in Pennsylvania I was restless in a second floor room in our B&B. The night was beautiful and I look out onto an expanse of field between the home and the mountains. I was mesmorized by the seemingly continuation of the fireflies and this starry night.
Artist: Carolyn Heffelfinger
Medium: OIl on Canvas
Size: 30"x48"
Price:
This woods in the spring is a carpet of seldom seen wildflowers and all along the one and a half mile path the abundance of these spring beauties is quite surprising. There is an area where the Mayapples carpet the forest floor. The sunlight caught by the large umbrella like leaves was the draw for me to want to paint this big landscape piece.
Artist: Carolyn Heffelfinger
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 5"x7"
Price: $
Hay Bales are so much a part of the landscape in the fields around our home. They add such architectural interest in the design of a painting.
Earlier on this hike it had rained and the going was quite muddy splashing our calves as we trekked but as we entered an open area the clouds were breaking up and we hoped that sun was in the forecast.