"Grand Red Roof" by Beth Bathe

"Grand Red Roof", 9 x 12, oil on panel, en plein air

Sunday I went in search of some of the last snow in the fields. This grand barn with it's red roof is a wonderful example of the beautiful Amish farms here in Lancaster County. It was a cold brisk day, but very peaceful. While painting the only sound I cold hear was the sound of the whistling wind and the clip clop of the hooves from Amish buggies, so peaceful.

"Late Winter View of Rockville Bridge" by Beth Bathe

"Late Winter View of Rockville Bridge", 8 x 10 oil on panel, en plein air

Saturday I ventured out into the slightly above freezing temps to paint outdoors. The Rockville Bridge, north of Harrisburg PA, at the time of its completion in 1902, was, and remains, the longest stone masonry arch rail viaduct in the world. This view of the bridge shows the mighty Susquehanna River still covered in ice. This will probably be the last weekend of so much ice and snow with temps climbing above the 50s by mid week.

"Hen Party" by Beth Bathe

"Hen Party" 6 x 8, oil on panel

I have several requests for more CHICKENS! I feel like the Colonel Sanders of chicken paintings! Here are three pretty gals, a "Hen Party"!

"Guilin Pink Parasol" by Beth Bathe

"Guilin Pink Parasol", 6 x 8, oil on panel

This past September I had the privilege of traveling to China with artist Qiang Huang.
While visiting the city of Guilin, we noticed how many of the people on the street shielded the sun with bright colored umbrellas. The street was a type of stone which looked wet and picked up all the fantastic colorful reflections! I have so many wonderful photos and memories, and look forward to many new paintings.

"Obie's Siesta" by Beth Bathe

"Obie's Siesta", 6" x 8", oil on panel

This is my dog, Obie. Here he is taking a siesta in a very colorful armchair, at the lakehouse we visited in South Carolina. The sun was starting to set and a strong light was streaming into the window behind him. I loved all the oranges and reds. I only had about three hours to paint today and I think it turned out pretty well.

"Lotus Rest" by Beth Bathe

"Lotus Rest", 8" x 10", oil on panel

I think we are all getting cabin fever and dreaming of warmer weather. This lovely flower and his restful friend, was captured in a photo that I took at "Hillwood", Marjorie Merriwether Post's estate in Washington DC. I just happened to get a great shot of this dragonfly as he basked in the warm August sun.

"Morning Ride" by Beth Bathe

"Morning Ride", 8" x 10", oil on panel

Enough of the snow already! How about a beach scene? This is a shot I took at dawn at Huntington State Park in South Carolina in August. I love the refections of the sky in the water left on the beach after high tide. I can almost hear the waves...

"My Valentines" by Beth Bathe

"My Valentines", 6" x 6", oil on panel

Happy Valentines Day! Here is a painting of Bill's grandbabies, Madeline and Audrey.
We wish we were with you today, we miss our tiny "Valentines".

"Oranges For You" by Beth Bathe

"Oranges For You", 6" x 8", oil on panel

So today was the perfect studio day. 14 new inches of new snow, and we're still waiting for the tail end of the storm and maybe another 3 to 5 inches!

I have painted a lot of landscapes and snow scenes lately, so today was a great time to paint a cheery still life! I decided to paint the "Daily Paintworks Challenge" for the week, which is "citrus". I always like when orange is painted with it's complementary blue!

"Barn at Brandywine" by Beth Bathe

"Barn at Brandywine" 8" x 10", oil on panel

Tired of the snow...wanted to practice something green and inviting!!! This little barn at Brandywine Battlefield.

"Brandywine Brook" by Beth Bathe

"Brandywine Brook", 9" x 12", oil on panel

In preparation of the Chaddsford Historical Society Plein Air Paint Out this coming weekend, I decided I need to get out and paint snow, bare trees and water. Here is all three, on yes and some geese too!

So what did I learn...
Baby it's cold outside. Snow is harder than you think. Have to consider warm and cool shadows. Bare trees are HARD...get enough detail without going crazy. And of course water, I think I am getting the hang of that one!

"Blue Doors" by Beth Bathe

"Blue Doors", 9" x 12", oil on panel

I have a lot of interest in old abandoned buildings. Here is a set a doors from an old factory. The patina on the blue doors with a touch of warm orange showing was a photographer and painters dream! Also had fun with the palette knife on the concrete walls

"Still Snow" by Beth Bathe

"Still Snow" #28/30, 6" x 8", oil on panel

Today's painting was started yesterday (I thought I would get ahead. It started as a still life of three flowers in a delft pitcher. I got it blocked in, it had a very dark background and low lighting. I then worked on it all this morning. It just wasn't working. I ran some errands and got back to the studio at 4 pm...I then wiped the whole canvas down (first painting of the thirty that I scraped). So at 4:15 pm, this landscape was born. I wanted to continue to work with snow, and I like how the winter grass peaks through this wonderful snowy drive to an old barn.

"Mama Hen" by Beth Bathe

"Mama Hen", 26/30, 8" x 8", oil on panel

I'm on a roll with the "poultry series". I have even been called the "chicken lady". I had a request to do a hen and chicks and couldn't resist these cuties. I spent a lot of time on the details of the feathers. I usually paint somewhat looser, but I think all the detail works in this instance.

"The Three Amigos" by Beth Bathe

"The Three Amigos", #25/30, 6" x 8", oil on panel

Yesterday while we were out photographing the snow we stopped at one of our favorite bakeries, "The Bird in Hand Bakeshop". They have a small barn and petting zoo by the parking lot. All the animals were inside the barn but came out to see us. I photographed these three fellows, coming out of the barn door. They came out, checked us out, realized we didn't have any food and promptly went back through. 16 degrees, with a windchill of -5 is COLD, even for our feathered friends.

"Rosy Reflections" by Beth Bathe

"Rosy Reflections", 24/30, 9 x 12, oil on canvas

Baby it's cold outside. The high in Lancaster PA, was 17 degrees. We have plenty of beautiful white snow on the ground. I would love to go outside and do some plein air painting! I did go out yesterday afternoon and this morning to get some photo references of the countryside, and brrrr, it was COLD. I love the reflections of the sky in this creek, it was clouding up and the sky was had a warm rosy glow.

"Two by Two" by Beth Bathe

"Two by Two", #23/30, 6 x 6 oil on canvas

So today I didn't get a painting even started! Here is painting done a while ago. I like how complementary colors really make the subjects pop.

"Ballerina at Rest" by Beth Bathe

"Ballerina at Rest", #22/30, 8" x 8", oil on panel

This image was from one photographer Bill Taylor's photo sessions. Biggest hurdle today was painting a figure so darn small, on an 8 x 8 panel her face is barely larger than a quarter! This was a nice study for possibly a larger painting, and I loved painting the tutu!

"Misty Reflections" by Beth Bathe

"Misty Reflections", #20/30, 12 x 12 in, oil on canvas

So here is yesterdays painting...#20 of 30 daily paintings for January. It was too dark to photograph it last night, so here it is in the light of day. This was painted on a black canvas, it was an easy start, very impressionistic, I was really liking the outcome, then as it got later in the day I started to get into the details, first I got too detailed, which was ruining the feel, so then I reworked parts. All in all it was a frustrating, great day of painting, I really learned a lot. I had to deal with the black canvas, a very detailed photo, the atmospheric mist and the reflections in the water...hard, hard, hard....

"Still Standing" by Beth Bathe

"Still Standing", #19/30, 6 x 6 in, oil on panel

This small little outbuilding is located behind a highly photographed and well know grand red barn in the Brandywine Battlefield National Park. This little guy, behind the big barn kept saying to me "I'm here too!"