Glamour Girl

Went to a beautiful garden and shop this past weekend. The highlight for me was the lone chicken running around the plants. She stopped for a little photo session and was the most personable bird I'd ever worked with. :)

12x12 on 1/8" museum quality panel
www.halliekohnart.com

White Ducks

Continuing on with my "Farm and Table" series. Found the inspiration for this latest painting while at one of my favorite perennial gardens. The white ducks are roaming around, catching the sun and seeming to glow. There were actually three, but one was shy.

8x8 on 1/8" museum quality panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Daisy

The daisy population is out of control in my backyard. Excellent for painting through!

6x6 on 1/8" museum quality panel
www.halliekohnart.com

Al Fresco

This was definitely a challenge for me. I don't typically paint scenes like this, but I was drawn to this one. There is something about being tucked into a cozy little spot to dine or drink al fresco that I love.

8x10 on 1/8" museum quality panel
www.halliekohnart.com

Fearless Chicken

Painting chickens always has me reflecting on how far my painting has come. I remember the very first one and how terrified I was to paint the face, and how to get the feathers right... There have been many in between, but definitely no fear with this little chicken. :)

12x12 on 1/8" museum quality panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Primrose

Another painting inspired by my local garden shop. I love primrose. Every time I hear the name now I will think of Catniss' sister from The Hunger Games novels!

6x6 on 1/8" museum quality panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Garden Chairs

These garden chairs were tucked into a flowering hedge at one of my favorite outdoor gardening shops, Northwind Perennial Farm. It's the kind of place that has been so artfully and tastefully done that you could spend an entire afternoon lingering around. They also have animals, so we try and go with our boys often.

8x8 on 1/8" museum quality panel
www.halliekohnart.com

Sit a Spell

This painting was also inspired by my trip to San Francisco this summer. My sister has an adorable walk-up apartment in the Castro. There is a staircase out the back and her landlord has the most adorable little garden and little spots to sit. Made me just want to stay and sit a spell.

12x12 on 1/8" museum quality panel
www.halliekohnart.com

Garden Gems

I looked through all of my painting photos this morning, searching for the inspiration that would send me running to my easel. I have thousands of potential paintings, I mean photographs!, but none were calling to me. I went out to take a look at my garden and then looked over my vases because what I honestly wanted was to try and paint glass again.

I clipped a few colors of Zinnias, white and pink Cosmos, some Black-eyed Susans, and a taller pink one that I cannot remember the name of, and tried to make a pleasing arrangement. That was the toughest part! I did my best though, and the good news--I had something to paint that I was extremely excited about. Thanks for looking!

8x10 on 1/8" museum quality panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Japanese Irises

My husband and I were sitting out on our patio having a drink as the sun was going down. It is one of my favorite times of day, when the light changes so drastically in our back yard and that sunlight shines right through the flowers. Definitely something I wanted to capture as a painting. Not only because of how beautiful it looked at that moment, but also because of how it made me feel.

There was another time when I painted a different cluster of Japanese Irises in my yard. Those were done with palette knife, and the flowers were growing (and painted) all in a line. That painting is hanging in my home because it was 12x24" and I was so proud of the detail--did I mention it took FOREVER to paint? Honestly, I much prefer this version because of the looseness, which is much more fun to do.

Here is the link to that post [http://halliekohn.blogspot.com/2013/06/japanese-irises.html]. Hopefully it shows not only a change in painting tool, but also growth as an artist.

8x8 on 1/8" museum quality panel
www.halliekohnart.com
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Garden Chicken

Took this amazing photo of a mama chicken at the Northwind Perennial Gardens and have been looking at it for almost two years now. I wanted to try painting it, but was so intimidated by the intricate details on the bird; it was a challenge! Started with the brush on black, but needed to brighten up the feathers. In the end I'm really glad I introduced the palette knife because of the texture it added.

12x12 on 1/8" museum quality panel

www.halliekohnart.com

www.facebook.com/halliekohnart