PineShoreStudio/Paintings by Helen Harris

How do I express the many sights and  awestruck moments that I enjoyed on my trip West ? I attempted to keep a journal on my trip but quickly discovered that there were only so many ways that I could say "wow!' . Words simply failed to express the wonder of such immense, open land.  I tried some photographs and was more successful, but still felt that the 360 degree vision of clouds in a crisp morning air was lost in the flatness of the shot. I recorded the facts and now as I paint each day I am trying to convey the feelings that were present.  Little by little the images are beginning to appear as I sift through all that I absorbed from walking in this wonderland of mountains, plains and coast, through pines and sage and drought dried riverbeds.  As I prepare to paint larger canvases than I've ever tackled before, I decided to work out the images not only in my sketches but as small paintings.   My Etsy  shop  features  these "small wo...

Laying out a new palette of colors...the West is so different from what I'm used to in the East. Did I mention the colors in between of the Mid West?   The last 15 days of my life have been driving through out this beautiful country, 7000 miles to and from. Until now most of my life has been along the Eastern Atlantic seacoast. Blues and varied greens, deep tones of purples have been the hues of my life. I reached the Pacific coast. Drought has dried the mighty rivers and turned the green tinged, rocky wilderness to tones of yellowed brown suedes. Silvery /violet sage brush withstand the harsh, unrelenting sun. Smoke from over 200 fires blanketed the ridges. Astonished by the vast grazing pastures and ever-present cornfields interrupted by farms of wind turbines, the images are starting to take form in my first sketches in pen & watercolor...paintings sure to follow. Will this be my theme for my upcoming Spring show in 2016? Time will tell. Can I connect the dots of my life l...

Ok...so I'm beginning to enjoy this form of communication. In the last day or so I've posted to a number of sights that I normally would not have found . Originally my intent was solely to drive more traffic to my blog and web site. Now ...it's also great fun. We all need that break in the day, especially if you work alone in a studio all day. So if you haven't tweeted on Twitter....give it a try, www.twitter.com or click on my update in the right hand column of my blog and then check out my new squidoo page http://squidoo. com/frame_it_right , and join the discussion. Below is a work in progress..currently trying to warm up the tones . It's a panoramic: image size is 8"H x 27" W.