Sierra Art Trails 5 Days to Go - More Paintings

"Lauren's Lillie's", 15 x 16

 

The inspiration for this painting came from one of the many lilly pond scenes that I photographed on my journeys through the years. I had fun painting the lilly clusters, changing shapes and trying different colors. I also added little whimsical things at will. I painted until I came to a point where the painting told me it was done.

 

"Meadow Dance", 11 x 14

 

I looked inward to draw out scenes from my memory of my backpacking days in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I played around on my canvas until something took hold and things began to present themselves to me. The more I painted the more it resembled a high country meadow with mountains in the distance. I gave myself permission to play around with the pastels and let each stroke tell me where the next one would go. It was like watching a story unfold on the canvas.

 

"The Pond #5", 8 x 10

 

This is the 5th in a series of small pond paintings inspired by Heron Lake very close to where I live. I liked the way the morning light hit this little inlet part of the lake.

 

 

A Week To Go for Sierra Art Trails....More Paintings

"Heron Pond Enchantment III", 20 x 16

 

This painting is about a place of mystery. a place that is dark, alluring, cunning and inviting.  A place where I hope the viewer will be drawn in to explore further and to linger a while. 

 

"Blue Duckies", 8 x 10

 

This painting is about the beauty that goes on in a small section of the lake. One does not have to see the whole lake to capture the beauty within. Narrowing in to capture the exquisite morning light along with the interplay of stillness and movement in but a little section of the lake can be more fulfilling then seeing the big picture.

 

"Into The Shadows", 11 x 15

 

This is another painting about mystery and intrigue. My purpose was to create a seductive and moody piece that beckons the viewer to enter and to allow thoughts to unfold and reveal themselves..

 

 

 

 

More Selected Paintings Showing at Sierra Art Trails

"Confetti", 8 x 10

 

Today I thought I would show some of my floral paintings on display at my open house for The Sierra Art Trails event Oct 5th - 7th at my home in Coarsegold, California. 

This painting "Confetti" is about light, shadows and colors in an intuitively created floral arrangement. When I started out all I knew was that it would be a floral and I wanted to use reds and other warm colors and create a sun flower.  For such a small painting, it took about 3 months sitting on the easel until I felt is was done. I would add a stroke here and a stroke there from time to time while working on other paintings. It was only when I was stumped on another wip and needed a break that this one caught my eye and if I felt the urge, I would divert my attention to this work. It's often good to have more then one painting in wip status.

 

"Mardi Gras", 15 x 19

 

This was my first of the three floral creations and it started shortly after Canson Mi-Tientes hired me to create a rendering that would be on the cover of two new pastel art pads they were coming out with. I decided that one of the renderings would be floral. I enjoyed doing it and this started a train of thought to create floral paintings by starting them out with the approach of  a rendering.

 

"Morning Celebration', 12 x 16

 

This is my latest version of an intuitive free flow floral. I liked the drama and dynamics that unfolded before me.

More Paintings for Sierra Art Trails

"Moody Heron Pond II, 10 x 14

 

 

This painting is about how color can change the mood of a painting. In this case, the original scene was a damp, cold and grey winter morning. Somewhere near the completion of the work I felt the need to add some warmth to it. I thought what do I have to lose. I could always wipe it away if it wasn't working. I started gingerly with a light layer of a rich warm color. I paused and stepped back from the painting as I frequently do, took another pause with my back to the painting, then turned around and took a second look. It didn't turn me off. In fact, I sort of liked it so I kept going. I continued to add color throughout and took more pauses and step backs. Each time I was more convined that I was on a good path. For this artist, it often pays to take chances.

 

Morning Light Play, 12 x 16

 

This painting is about spring light very early in the morning along a trail. I fell in love with the interplay of light, shadow and shapes. The scene set me on fire with an immediate and very strong instinct to paint it.

 

"Autumn Chic" 8 x 10

 

This painting is about an autumn scene along the shoreline of a local lake where I walk every day that I can. I  saw a beautiful pallet of unexpected colors that caught my undivided attention. When I painted it, I found myself painting by pure instinct way more abstractly then I expected to. I listened to that something within and ignored everything else that my brain and the photo was trying to tell me to do.

  

 

Sierra Art Trails 2012, More Paintings

 

"Random Frieze with Dahlias", 10 x 26

 

Today's paintings are three high energetically charged  works that I will be showing at my home studio during Sierra Art Trails.

 

About this first one "Random Frieze with Dahlias", creative juices flowed on this purely intuitive free flowing work. It was a joy to enjoy the journey of this painting I think because my pallet was very stimulating to me. Here's another stimulating one.

 

"Elation", 8 x 10

 

I had a lot of exciting gutsy energy flowing when I painted this, maybe it was a full moon.

 

"Chamisa Essence", 18 x 24

 

This painting was a free flow with absolute direction to bring out the essence of a highly evocative area on a crisp summer morning in the Tahoe Basin land preserve.

 

Sierra Art Trails Open Stuio - More paintings

"Mill Pond", 9 x 12.

 

My inspiration was about the shape of the surface and water reflection forming a wheel such as one would find in a mill pond wheel.

 

"Winter Showoff", 12 x 16.

 

It was a clear, crisp day on the floor of Yosemite Valley. Atmospheric conditions brought out a brilliance of color extraordinaire!

 

"Hula Valley", 12 x 24.

 

There is a beautiful agricultural area in Israel known as the Hula Valley. It is also a bird sanctuary. It was the gorgeous sky that day that inspired me to paint this scene.

 

 

Sierra Art Trails,This Artist's Open Studio Continues

"Autumn Dazzle", 9 x 12

 

For Today's selection I am featuring 3 more paintings I am showing at my open studio. Autumn Dazzle is about my reaction to the exceptional fall colors that I saw last year on the shoreline of Heron Lake. Autumn unabashedly burst forth with incredible brilliance. I hope the same thing occurs this year.

 

"Moody Afternoon at Heron Pond", 11 x 14

 

This painting is about my seeing the fog rolling in and invading what was a sunny afternoon at the lake. The ambiance changed from clear, crisp and sunny to moody and ethereal right before my eyes. I was mesmerized.

 

"Wild Preserve Tahoe Basin", 11 x 15

 

I love the area where the area where the grasses and shrubbery grow at the edge of a pond. In this case, it was a natural lilly pond on preserve land around Lake Tahoe. The Chamisa were in gorgeous bloom adding to the excitement of the scene.

 

Stay tuned for the next installment.

 

 

Anita Stoll's Open House During Sierra Art Trails

"Into The Light", 19 x 25

 

I'm repeating some selected paintings done over the past couple of years while I'm busy getting ready for Sierra Art Trails www.sierraarttrails.org. artist's studio open house Oct 5th, 6th and 7th. I will be showing a few of the paintings every couple of days or so up until the event. Please come and visit me. I welcome you with open arms. I would love to meet you. I will be showing around 50 selected works. Please stop by if you can.

"Moody Day", 9 x 11

 

This painting started as one of a local river but turned into a scene from my past when I was an avid backpacker. I relived the journey as I painted and I might add, I had a wonderful time both living and painting it.

 

"Jerusalem Gardens", 21 x 25

 

It was the golden hours just before twlight in Jerusaleum when I was strolling through a beautiful park that I knew I would paint this. The  light, the colors, everything had a lovely aura to it.

 

Stay tuned for more.....