Beach House

This is a little beach house in Atlantic Beach.
I added a few extra plants and palm trees!!   

Here I used warm colors in the sunny areas
and cool colors in the shadows. 

This was the first underpainting with a
basic outline of the composition.

This is the actual house!

Before and After

"Spring Greens"  The "AFTER" Painting

Here is a painting that I went back and repainted using a brighter approach.  I went back over the entire painting with warm yellows, oranges and pinks in the sunny areas, and I used cool greens, blues, and purples in the shadows.  Afterwards I went back in and added more of the local color.  I hope you will agree that the "after" painting is much more inviting than the "before" painting!

This is the "before" painting.  Everything you see painted here was done on location.  The "after" painting was done right on top of this painting in the studio.  I went back and used sketches and photographs from the day I was on site.

This is one of the photographs I used to go back and add the light and a few more details.

The joys of painting on location!! In one of the last blogs, I showed how the sailboat turned around as I was painting.  Here, I walked the entire, several acre garden center and picked this spot (which did not have the guys in red shirts at the time).  Then about 15 minutes into painting, these guys showed up to rearrange the plants!  Of the thousands of plants at this garden center, these were the ones that needed to be moved!  Great!

This is my painting/pastel friend Eleanor.  It's always more fun to go plein air painting with friends! 

New Website

www.catherineolander.com

Check out my new website and e-portfolio with images of my current work as well as student work.  You can also check out the research from the eye tracker studies that have been completed at East Carolina University. 

Summer Outings

Here are a few photos from this summer. 

Adam and myself on the 4th of July!

Here is a plein air painting that I did of a sailboat at Sugarloaf Island.

This is the underpainting.  I use warm colors on areas in the sun and cool colors on areas in the shade.  After the underpainting is done, I go back in and start adding the local color.

As you can see - the tide changed and the boat turned around as I was painting! The exciting thing about plein air painting - things are always changing!!  You've got to paint fast!!!

My dad was my painting partner this day!  It was hot, hot, hot!  Thank goodness for the awesome umbrella Adam got me for Christmas!!

Also - I am currently finishing my master's degree at East Carolina University.  For my final project I am redoing my webpage to include an e-portfolio as well as some of the research I have been doing over the past year and a half.  Check in to see the progress at www.catherineolander.com

Eye Tracker Technology

Here is one of the pieces of tracked artwork from the eye tracker study I did this spring.  The red dots show where the eye fixates on a particular spot.  The top number displays the time spent on an area and the bottom number represents the order it was viewed.  This week I will be tracking paintings and photographs at the ECU Visual Motor Lab to see where the eye goes as the viewer looks at both a painting and a photograph of the same scene.  

 To learn more about Eye Tracker studies at ECU go to: 

 http://www.ecu.edu/cs-hhp/exss/VML.cfm 

Commissions

Here are two paintings I have been working on this spring.

I will deliver both of them today!

Mural Competition

Beaufort Sister Cities Mural Competition

"Caribbean Connections"

Here I am with the finished mural - after 8 hours of painting!
The Beaufort Sister Cities Mural Competition was held on Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 8am to 4pm. Artists were given 8 hours to complete a mural on a 4 foot by 4 foot board. It was a fun and exhausting day! The theme this year was "Caribbean Connections."

We started with a blank canvas that we could cover with one color. My friend Jessica Ofalt painted beside me. Check out her website at: http://www.jessicafayeofalt.com/

Just getting started!

Here is my painting after an hour or two of painting!

Here is my finished painting.

To check out more of the murals go to: http://beaufortsistercities.blogspot.com/