Renee Brennan

"Bird on a Buoy"

2011-11-21T11:13:00.001-05:00

8X10 Oil on Panel

Getting ready for the Muddy Creek Artist's Guild 3rd "Gifts from the Arts Show"

Dec 1,2,3,4 & 8,9,10,11

Edgewater Maryland

About the painting: Husband and I went out for an evening sail. Bad news was that there was absolutly NO wind when we got out onto the Chesapeake Bay. Good news was that all the reflections in the water were especially bright. So being the sweet husband I have, he manuvered the boat close to a bunch of crab pot buoys. I started snapping pictures ... well this little bird was posing for me and so here he is!

Virtual Paintout Sardinia, Italy

2011-10-31T11:08:00.002-04:00

Basilica di Saccargia 1116

(Basilica of the Holy Trinity)

Sardinia, Italy

Watercolor pencils & ink

Comments: Both are different views of the same location for Virtual Paintout Sardina this month.

I chose this scene which is a place I have actually been to. While living in Sardinia a few years ago, my family and some friends were driving along and spotted this old Basilica in the middle of the countryside. Curious and probably in the need of facilities we wondered about the grounds. I remember hearing bells in the distance, when we looked toward the hills there were many sheep making their way down the hill and all had bells around their necks...It was pretty neat because it felt like going back in time.

The only thing touristy about it was a charming little old Sardinian lady selling oranges, water, handmade souvenir's and sheep bells. Yes I bought a sheep bell....they could have been cow bells because there were also cows! ....anyway

The Basilica itself was beautiful and the architecture is Romanesque. It is constructed entirely of local black basalt and white limestone. Inside are incredible frescoes painted in the 12th century.

The sketches above really don't do it any justice so take a peak here to see more.

Harvest of Artist show

2011-09-11T22:29:00.000-04:00

Here are just a few more of my pieces entered in the Muddy Creek Artist's Guild Fall show "Harvest of Artist's" Greatfully hosted by Green Street Gardens in Lothian Maryland.

September 16, 17 & 18th....check out MCAG site for more details.

"Bloomin Chives"

8X8 Oil on canvas

SOLD

These were painted from the pot of chives in my yard.

"Number Five"

8X10 Oil on canvas

SOLD

I love Osprey nests, but this one is pretty shabby. I hope they were out gathering more sticks!

"Portrait of an Orange Crab Pot Buoy"

4X12 Oil on canvas

SOLD

One of the many buoy's we dodge while sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.

Naming of the Cherries

2011-09-03T18:53:00.000-04:00

6X6 " Oil on gallery wrapped canvas

With an upcoming show in under 2 weeks I had to stop painting in oils. Why? because they would not be dry in time for the hanging. Yes I have been guilty of hanging wet art.

Now is the part where we organize (not my best quality) and get down to the business of framing, inventory the pieces, pricing, marketing and selling the art.... Now to my dilema. Naming of the paintings. All I can think of is the obvious boring names that go with a painting. "Three Cherries and a Bottle" ....boring.... Some artists are so clever at this and every now and then I come up with one. But this time my hope for cleverness is failing. So I ask you, what would you name this painting?

By the way the upcoming "Harvest of Artists" show is with the Muddy Creek Artists Guild and is going to be at the wonderful Green Street Gardens 391 West Bay Front Road Lothian, Maryland 20711

September 16, 17 & 18

(open up either link for more info)

Several of us will be painting plein air in the gardens. Stop by and say hello!

UPDATE: Name of this painting will be....."BREAKOUT CHERRIES"
Thanks to everyone for all the fun names and feedback!

"Reflections of a Banana Pepper"

2011-07-22T08:53:00.000-04:00

6x8 Oil on Ray Mar Panel

This is my submission for the Daily Paint Works Challenge given by Abbey Ryan a couple of weeks ago. Here were the instructions.....Paint a reflective object from life. As you are setting up your still life, pay particular attention to your excitement about the reflections. Once you find something that catches your eye, use your painting time to make a visual inquiry about the nature of reflections."

So the objects I chose were a little glass bottle along with a banana pepper that I picked from my garden. Instead of painting it near a window as usual, I closed the blind and used a light adjusted over the set up to eliminate moving reflections from the natural daylight.
My visual inquiries were how cool it was that the pepper behind the glass flows into the reflections of the glass itself...see how that yellow/green creeps up the sides and then is distorted in each section of the glass? I am so easily amused.

Wonderful Workshop

2011-06-17T17:36:00.000-04:00

This is a photo taken from the Workshop of Abbey Ryan. It was situated in the Pennsylvania countryside at the Artist's of Yardley. AoY is a great place to take classes, workshops, kids camps and see local artists work.

The photo below is of Abbey giving a very informative demo. We were asking her all kinds of questions and she graciously answered while painting. Alla prima is the practice she chooses which means to paint wet on wet and complete in one sitting.

After lunch the class set up about 5 different still lifes throughout the room near the windows. I shared one with 2 other gals it was a piece of pottery, 2 cherries and a pear. I had never painted those fruits before so it was fun trying something new.

Abbey took the time to sit down with each of us and study the view we were painting...then gave us her expertise advice on how to correct or enhance something on our paintings. I learned quite a bit, but still have far to go.

Abbey's workshop was enjoyable and she is a gifted young lady who is also very inspiring. If you have a chance to see more of her work or take a workshop, I highly recommend it!!!

p.s. she paints and sells her beautiful small works nearly every day...amazing!!

6X8 Oil on panel

Here is my study of the setup....I have been playing with it today but still need to adjust the background and shadows need to be darker....reflections are driving me crazy!! time to take a break :)

Crazy Fish & Matisse Inspired Birdbath

2011-06-08T11:07:00.000-04:00

This is what I have been up to ....painting a crazy looking fish for one of my collectors

and...

a Matisse inspired birdbath.

Fun to paint these kind of things, but now I am content being inside since it is about 95 degrees outside!

"Close Enough"

2011-05-16T19:07:00.000-04:00

8x6 Oil on board

This is my very first portrait in paint ...I entered it on the Daily Paint Works website. It is under one of the many challenges going on. This one called "All About Me". A wonderful painter named Carol Marine hosted this one saying "nothing to learn here, exept perhaps that portraits are frickin hard!" Haha YES they are! but it was fun as well.
Now my hair really isn't purple and orange, and at this point I don't know what color it really is. Besides it's cheaper to try out a new look on canvas don't you think?

"Red Shrine" Japan Virtual Paintout

2011-04-30T19:02:00.000-04:00

8 1/2 X 11 Pastel & Oil Mixed

on Cranston colored paper

I am such a procrastinator it's embarrasing sometimes. Today was the last day to submit for this months Virtual Paintout. I even had the location picked out the first week of the month. Anyway, I found the Itsukushima Shrine along a walking path via Google Street View. Some of the views had it completely covered in water and others like the above where people can walk out to see the shrine.

Daily Paintworks Challenges

2011-02-13T17:04:00.049-05:00

One Stroke Per Color Challenge

This is another one led by Carol Marine. Painting one stroke and getting the right color was very difficult to do for me. I had to mix enough of the same color to get the same background. It also forces you to slow down.

So about this globe. A few years ago I got this bug to collect old globes on ebay. This is one of my favorites, the colors are pretty bright and of course it is outdated....It has dings and dents and is wobbly. I suppose that's part of it's charm.

10x8 Oil

"Old Tin Globe"

The Zippo Challenge

This challenge was hosted by one of my favorite artists Michael Naples...I LOVE his work.

for this we could only use 3 colors, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and titanium white.

It's amazing how many colors you can make from that pallete!

So when I showed my family members this little painting they all said it was Papa's Zippo...he was our grandfather who alway's had his Zippo handy. I like the sound they make when you flip the top!

6x8 Oil

"Papa's Zippo"

Ten Minute Challenge

Oil on 2 6x6 panels

This is a new challenge, it is from the Daily Paint Works site which has some of my favorite artist's on it. One of which is Carol Marine who started a new weekly challenge open to all artists. This week is a 10 Minute Challenge, rules are basically this:

Pick 1 object, set your timer for 10 minutes, paint the object and then stop when timer is up. So each

square takes 10 minutes it goes by so fast and that is the point, to minimize brush strokes and just look at the shapes of color. You can change the position or lighting. (I did a cooler light in the first 4).

Sound easy? well it wasn't. First I did a banana...all 8. They turned out terrible, so I scraped off the paint and ate the banana. Then I tried a tomato, and here those are. The last one is a slice. I gave the the rest to my son and he made a sandwhich. Definately will try more of these!

Oil on 1 12x6 panel
"Ten Minute Tomatoes" study

www.dailypaintworks.com

"Laundry Day"

2011-02-07T21:18:00.003-05:00

10x8 Oil

This is my submission for The Virtual Paintout. This month is Romania.

I missed the last few months doing this challenge.....but after traveling through the

street view from Google Maps I scrolled the viewer up and saw this little balcony and

it's laundry drying in the sunshine. I can't wait for spring!

here is a screenshot of original view
located on Strada Mircea cel Batran, Constanta, Romania

"Sarah Lee's Teapot with Clementine"

2011-02-02T08:57:00.000-05:00

"Sarah Lee's Teapot with Clementine"
10 X 8 Acrylic
by Renee Brennan

Painting shiny things are very difficult for me. I keep chasing the reflections especially if the light is natural. So this time I set up a still life with the window shades closed and used my handy dandy rolling lamp light thingy. The lamp gives off a cool reflection which made the color of the teapot a different shade of green than it actually is.
Now why is this teapot Sarah Lee's you ask? Sarah is my friend who creates pottery and I bought this from her at our last Muddy Creek Artist's Guild show. She will probably get a kick out of it that I painted her teapot....well now it's my teapot. Do I have to change the title now?

"Sunflower Study"

2011-01-23T13:53:00.001-05:00

"Sunflower Study"

9x12 Oil

So, I have not being very good about keeping my New Years promise of posting, but I really have been painting. Although this is not what was painted. This week I did several setups and equally amount of wipeouts. One of which was on top of another painting from a couple years ago that is about to be wiped out again ugh!!...

...now back to the Sunflowers. In October I had taken a class from Bonnie Roth Anderson who is a Gem of a teacher at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts located in Annapolis. The class was called "Hawthorne on Painting", based on the principles and instruction of Charles Hawthorne. Bonnie is a truly dedicated who has been taught in his liniage and herself a wonderful artist. She pushes us to see the color relationships throughout the painting. Anyway, with alot of squinting, mixing, scraping, remixing..... this is the result. I would still change quite a few things, but for now it is a study and a study it will probably alway's be!!

9X12 Oil

This is from another class of Bonnie's. She set this still life up the first week and the lillies were closed.

by the 2nd week both were open so I had to edit ...as you can see I left one closed and had to imagine how the light was affecting the flower....also the light had changed dramatically....that's the downfall of painting with natural light...it changes constantly...but that's also what makes it more interesting!

Happy New Year!

2010-12-27T11:04:00.000-05:00

"You are now in Bedford Falls"

by Renee Brennan 2007

10x8 Acrylic

Happy New Year!

This is a little painting I did a couple of years ago. One of my all time favorite movies is "It's a Wonderful Life". Every year we set up the IAWL village with it's little lit up buildings, trees, cars and people. I think we have the whole set and if not it's too bad because they don't make it anymore. Every year we get the dvd out and I "make" everyone who is in the house sit down and watch it. They don't complain anymore as it has become a favorite movie to them as well.

I often don't make New Years resolutions but this year I promise to paint and post more on this drafty old blog. Let me know how I am doing in a couple of months!!

Renee

Harvest of Artist's Show

2010-10-02T08:14:00.001-04:00

5x7 Oil

sold

9x12 Oil

sold

"Picnic Boat Beauty" are just 2 of my newest paintings entered into the Muddy Creek Artists Guild, "Harvest of Artist's" show.

The show is today Oct 3 and Sunday Oct 4 in Galesvile MD....Stop by and say hello! For more info on times etc click on link above.

"Red #4" Boothbay Harbor, Maine

2010-09-23T09:43:00.000-04:00

10x8 Oil

This #4 Buoy is located in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Recently enjoyed our first trip to Maine with husband of 20yrs married. Everything there is so paintable!

We took a tour around Boothbay Harbor via boat....lovely lighthouses and scenery of islands and boats of all kinds........what do I like? The channel markers, and lobster bouy's.

I painted this for an upcoming show with the Muddy Creek Artist's Guild,

it still needs a little tweaking I think;) when paintings are posted it's funny how I see things that need fixing. Oh yes the show is October 1-3. Click on link for more info.

Comments are welcome!

"This is Main Street?"

2010-08-31T22:00:00.000-04:00

10x8 Acrylic

This month's Virtual Paintout was on the beautiful Island of Prince Edward, Canada

The location was coming off a small bridge on Main Street. Of all the Main Streets in this world, this has got to be the most unique! From what I saw "walking" by streetview via google maps there are many lovely farms on the water....how cool would that be? go feed the chickens before taking a sail!

O.k. so now to the painting itself. The colors were pretty true except for a little artistic licence with the blue grass. Those blue clouds were very stormy, which made that green stand out even more so.

As usual I am posting on the last day of this challenge. Next month starts a new location...hopefully it won't take me that long finding a spot to paint!

"Romy's Prawns and Shrimp"

2010-06-29T08:12:00.003-04:00

11 X 14 Acrylic

56 Kamehameha Hwy
Kahuku, HI

So this month I finally went to Hawaii!....well virtually.

This month's Virtual Paintout hosted by Bill Guffey. While searching via Google Maps Street View for the perfect spot to paint, I found this fun red building in the midst of farming fields. The red truck matched it's building as did several red picnic tables. If I were really there, this would be a great place to eat some fresh prawns and shrimp!

New Painting for Artist's on the Half Shell Show

2010-06-22T12:33:00.002-04:00

24 X 48 Acrylic on canvas

This piece was so much fun to paint. I took a reference photo from our sailboat out on the West River on the Chesapeake Bay. If you are not familiar with channel markers, there are these migrating birds called Osprey. They come back to the Bay in the Springtime and build these huge nests....really they are about 3 - 4 feet wide! Most of the markers have nests and sometimes you can see the newborns peeking their heads out. Of course the parent's are very protective of the nests and when a boat passes by, the Osprey will circle out to distract onlookers from their nest. Often while sitting on my back deck, you may hear a loud snap...and then see an Osprey with a large branch flying overhead....HEY I wonder if one of those branches I painted is from my tree!

Painting is for the Artist's on the Half shell show. Click on link for more information please!

Painted Rain Barrel Project

2010-05-27T08:55:00.001-04:00

Rain Barrel Project

Muddy Creek Artists Guild Outreach

This was how I spent my last Saturday, well really a few weeks ago painting this rain barrel

for the rain gardens to be installed at our local Shady Side Museum which is located on the

Chesapeake Bay.

As part of our groups outreach project, I took this one on and recruited a few of my fellow MCAG to help with the painting....serving them lunch alway's does the trick:)

This side has my little Box Turtle along with a few other critters.

Other side has a Blue Heron painted by Saralee Chaney

My other friend Nanci Worthington painted this beautiful barrel with

sunflowers and Maryland Blue Crab on it.

note: Other artist Flo Ormond helped paint a butterfly (sorry I didn't get a picture of it).

Bucket Headed Sheep

2010-03-29T17:57:00.004-04:00

Sold

6x4 Oil

This post is from a website called virtual paintout started by Bill Guffey. It is an online art project. Artists from all over the world use google maps to virtually walk around and find a view to paint. It's very addictive....I find myself "traveling" a little too much.

The location for this challenge was Stavanger Norway. I chose a street called Krossbergveien.

What caught my attention was this flock of sheep near the road. There were more sheep in the original street view photo, but the others I tried looked like clouds in the grass. This hungry little guy had a bucket on his head!!....he made me laugh... and so there you are....my little bucket headed sheep!

Bowl and Spoon Challenge #2

2010-03-05T16:37:00.003-05:00

Sold

8x10 Acrylic

This is challenge #2 from the Rookie Painter blog and YES it was a challenge! At first I thought the spoon was going to be the most difficult, but the bowl gave me fits! I had to walk away 4 times....folded some laundry, played with the dog....finally I got to a point where enough was enough. The bottom of the bowl is still kind of questionable, but overall it turned out a little better than hoped for.

here is the reference photo:

3 Clementines Challenge #1

2010-02-17T19:49:00.007-05:00

SOLD

8x10 Acrylic

Welcome to my first post of group challenge painting.

This comes from a new website called Rookie Painter.

here is the reference photo: