Possibilities

“Possibilities”       Pastel       7” x 5”      $50     © Sharon Lewis
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            I’ve been practicing painting Scotland and the Lake District since I will be going back there soon. I’m also trying to get used to using a very small travel box that I’m planning to bring. This painting is based on reference photos I took from the car.

            I loved the shadowy path with the light shining on the distant trees and bushes as well as on the branches of the larger tree. I wonder where this path will lead us. To a beautiful meadow? A farm with sheep? Or maybe it winds its way up a majestic mountain?

Happy Easter/Passover/Spring!

“Searching for Peter Rabbit”        Pastel          2.5” x 3.5”       © Sharon Lewis
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Hope you enjoy a Happy Easter, Passover, or just a beautiful spring weekend!

The Glory of Summer

"Shady Refuge"             11" x 14"             Pastel           $150          © Sharon Lewis
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I'm on Bailey Island, Maine, one of my favorite places to be at this time of year. While the Atlanta area has gotten warm and humid, this small island in the Casco Bay is still experiencing spring-time temperatures with cool mornings and evenings.

We are in a house that we rent each June that sits on a rocky cliff overlooking a cove as well as the beautiful Casco Bay. We fall asleep listening to the waves gently breaking and are awakened by birds singing and the excited peeps of the twenty tiny ducklings below.

I hope wherever you are, that you are enjoying a glorious summer!

Spring Fever!

“Moody Mountains”     9” x 12”        Pastel       $100       © Sharon Lewis
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            We have one more full week of classes and then we have our spring break and my students and I can’t wait! I know that our southern winters are nothing to complain about as I was reminded of when talking to my son in Madison, Wisconsin last night. He was getting excited because the temperature was going from 6 degrees to a balmy 18 or 19 degrees!!

            Today’s painting is of the Castlerigg area, a wonderfully, moody and mysterious place in England’s Lake District. Castlerigg is one of over a thousand stone circles in the British Isles, located near Keswick in Cumbria, Northwest England. Some sources suggest that it may have been constructed in 3000 BCE which means it may be about 5000 years old!

            From the center of the stone circle you have a view of the surrounding mountain peaks which have really interesting names such as: Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Grasmoor, and Blencathra. It may have served as a ritualistic place where stone axes were traded but no one knows for sure. I do know that it would be a wonderful place to do plein air painting because no matter where you placed your easel in this area, you would have a beautiful view to paint.

            Happy Weekend!

A Bucolic Lake District Scene…and one crazy sheep.

“There’s Always One”   5” x 7”   Pastel   $50   © Sharon Lewis
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This past summer I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Scotland and the Lake District in England. It was beautiful in both places and everywhere we went we saw sheep…by streams, on mountains, in the woods, and by the road. You had to watch them carefully as they would sometimes just decide that they felt like walking into the middle of the road right in front of your car and then just stopping. They seemed to be totally unfazed by oncoming cars. I haven’t decided if they were really stupid or really smart, and just knew the tourists and the UK citizens so well that they knew we weren’t going to run them over. I also don’t know if it was my imagination but the more sheep I saw, the more they seemed to have different personalities as well. Most seemed really sweet but every once and awhile you saw one that looked just a little bit crazier than all of the rest.

Today’s painting is of a flock of these sheep in the Lake District. You can see that most of them appear pretty sweet, placid, and innocent, just munching away on grass. Then there’s this one guy (can you find him?), who’s just staring at you as if to say, “One step closer and you’re a goner!” There’s always one in every crowd!