493 Field of Sunflowers

On the return from our Door County plein air painting trip, we passed through Algoma, Wisconsin, where we saw such a beautiful turquoise barn with yellow trim and a salmon colored roof next to a breathtaking field of sunflowers.  I doubled back to photograph it and am nearly finished with a larger painting of the image.  I need to set it aside for a little while to critique it with "fresh eyes."  I am so drawn to this farm that I have been tempted many times to make the nearly 2 1/2 hour drive to see it again. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/493-field-of-sunflowers/286710

492 Pepper Caps

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/492-pepper-caps/276478

491 Ripe For The Picking

My friend's Asian pear trees bore no fruit at all this year, unfortunately.  Blame the polar vortex.

490 Big Bay Landscape

One of my favorite places to get away is Big Bay Park which overlooks Lake Michigan in my community.  At this time of year, the maples are so vibrant along the way leading to the path that takes you to the lake.  This Fall I've stopped my car many times to take pictures of the trees in all their glory and brilliance,  and couldn't resist the impulse to paint them.  I squirted out the Indian Yellow and Nickel Azo Yellow for this one. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/490-big-bay-landscape/276130

489 Ripened

The peppers ripened from green to orange seemingly right before my eyes!

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/489-ripened/275812

488 Nestled In

These peppers came in yesterday's farm box.  The green peppers are changing color by the minute, so tomorrow I may have a completely different still life.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/488-nestled-in/275601

487 Tipsy

These are the three bowls I purchased at Empty Bowls Milwaukee.  They were made by local artist, Jody Nolan.   www.jodynolalclay.com

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/487-tipsy/275375

486 Empty Brown Bowl

This is another of Jody Nolan's beautiful bowls, one of my favorites, and I'm afraid I didn't do it justice.  I love its free form and the three bowls look especially nice together, tomorrow's post.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/486-empty-brown-bowl/275217

485 Empty Red Bowl

This is one of the eight beautiful bowls I purchased at Empty Bowls Milwaukee.  I purchased three bowls made and donated by Jody Nolan, all are free formed and irregular and beautiful and I don't think I can part with them.  I don't know much about making pottery, but they look to me like they are made from a slab of clay rather than a thrown pot.  Here is the link to Jody's site:  http://jodynolanclay.com/ 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/485-empty-red-bowl/275024

484 Empty Bowls

A week ago, I attended my first Milwaukee Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for the hungry in our community.  I arrived 15 minutes before the event officially started and was shocked at how many people were there.  The volunteers were quite humorous--you had your choice of going to the "in control" (long) line where you could see and choose your bowl(s) or the much shorter "don't care about control" line where you picked a bowl in a brown paper bag.  You've probably guessed by now that I like choices, so I went in the long line.  I ended up buying 8 bowls, presumably for "gifts,"  don't know how I can part with any of them, all so beautiful.  I know I'm getting too wordy here, but the object of this fundraiser is to pick a bowl, have it washed, then take it upstairs where your bowl was filled with soup.  That day, Empty Bowls raised $46,400 to feed Milwaukee's hungry!  I was excited to read on my cousin's Facebook page that there is a similar event in West Virginia too.

My recent series of bowl paintings has been to celebrate "home" and 38 of the paintings have featured bowls hand made and purchased years ago from Jean Wells Smaglik, one of the artists and organizers of Milwaukee Empty Bowls.  These are 3 of the 7 pieces of Jean's. 

I tried something a little different with this painting.  I nearly always ground my boards with black gesso but so many artists are presently grounding with a soft orange/coral color, so I thought I would try it with this painting.  Carol Marine just mentioned it in today's post, and one of Milwaukee's favorites, Shelby Keefe often uses this color.   I am eager to hear what you think.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/484-empty-bowls/274801

483 Pie Pumpkin

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/483-pie-pumpkin/274511

482 Eggplant in a New Blue Bowl

You will obviously gather from the title that this is a new bowl, which I purchased at the Whitefish Bay Farm gallery in Door County when we painted there en plein air in early-September.  There were so many beautiful bowls and other items, including hand spun and dyed yarn,  that it was hard to choose what to buy.  I love the dark stripe in this bowl, calling out for an eggplant, and the irregular colors of the glaze. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/482-eggplant-in-a-new-blue-bowl/274293

481 Fall Centerpiece

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/481-fall-centerpiece/273936

480 Turban on a Pedestal

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/480-turban-on-a-pedestal/273728

479 Eggplant Variety in a Yellow Bowl

I believe these are Asian eggplants, and I bought them from the farmers market because I thought they were so pretty. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/479-eggplant-variety-in-a-yellow-bowl/273533

478 Capanata in the Making

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/478-capanata-in-the-making/273328

477 Delicata, Kohlrabi and Bok Choy

More beautiful and delicious vegetables from Springdale Farm.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/477-delicata-kohlrabi-and-bok-choy/273142

www.dianecampion.blogspot.com

476 A Delicate Balance

An odd pairing, I know.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/476--a-delicate-balance/272976

475 Lavish

I was stumped as to what to name this painting so I did a little online research on the lowly, unappreciated onion to gain inspiration.  I learned that "onions are an ace ally in your fight against disease. A prized member of the lily family, they lavish you with health benefits."  These beauties are from our farm CSA, Springdale Farm. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/475-lavish/272828

474 Farmers' Market Beets and Artichokes

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/474-farmers-market-beets-and-artichokes/272591