Road Closed

"Road Closed"

© 2012 Carol Horzempa

6x8oil on canvas
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This painting is part of the "Wheel Challenge" posted by Carol Carmichael on Daily Paintworks. For inspiration I used a photo I took several years ago of a flooded street in Pewaukee Village. Carol challenged artist to paint something with wheels and the freedom they give us. These two boys seem to be looking for a little adventure on just two wheels!

Spring Thaw on Prospect

Spring Thaw on Prospect

6x6 oil on canvas

Hope of spring has finally arrived! While driving down Prospect Avenue in my village I was struck by the bright yellow reflection of a school crossing sign. Luckily I had my camera along and caught a great photo of a moment in time.

I have always wanted to paint reflections on wet city streets and dirty snow. This is supposed to be the ugly season with all the gray and brown snow left over after a long winter, but I found a lot of beauty in the variety of grays and colorful reflections.

My palate colors were: Cadmium Yellow light & medium, Cadmium orange, Yellow Ochre light, Cadmium Red light, Chromium Oxide Red, Ultramarine Blue light & deep, Viridian and Titanium White.

Finally Framing My Work

"Walkin' the Dog"
6x8 oil on canvas panel
Carol Horzempa

This January my well-intentioned plan was to frame everything that needs frames before starting another painting. All month I have been touching up and rescuing paintings, some of which I thought weren't worthy of a frame. It is a lot more time consuming than I thought.

I have learned one thing though, no more odd size paintings! I am fortunate enough to have a spouse who has a special gift in woodworking and can make beautiful frames out of recycled wood any size I want.

This painting, which was an odd size, was done for a Karen Jurick challenge. I was able to enlarge it to a 6x8 by adding more background.

The frame is made from recycled wood that my husband rescued from an old house that was being torn down several years ago. I think this pine wood taken from an old paneled wall looks beautiful in its second life or should I say third as a frame. I even like the little dings and patina that gives it a rustic look!

The Neighborhood

"The Neighborhood" 
 5x7.5 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa

Here in Wisconsin it's been so cold all week that I can walk on top of the snow without sinking in. Since I have been getting cabin fever lately I decided to paint the neighborhood with it's hard crusty snow piled up everywhere. This is the view I see from my back door.

Ductwork Blues

"Ductwork Blues" 
 4.5x5 oil on Masonite
Carol Horzempa

When I first saw Karin Jurick's posting of her photo of San Francisco rooftops for the DSFDF challenge I was intimidated by the jungle of rooftop ductwork. I'm glad I decided to try the challenge anyway. I found as I got into the painting that the abstract shapes and cast shadow along with pushing the colors kept my interest and was more fun to paint than I expected.

Walkin' the Dog

"Walkin' the Dog" 
5.x7.25 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa

NFS

This is my interpretation of Karin Jurick’s DSFDF challenge. I took the liberty of cropping Karin’s reference photo again. I added the girl who is supposed to be me (like about 20 years younger) walking Shawna.

I experimented with a textured surface made from priming a canvas panel with Utrecht Oil Priming White. I love this surface to paint on since it doesn’t absorb the paint like water base gesso does and I like how my brush glides across the oil base surface making it easier to control. I am also pleased with the fact that my paint stayed fresh and didn’t become dull as it dried.

Morning Rush Hour

"Morning Rush Hour"
pastel on paper
7.5x10.5

I decided to do Karin Jurick's latest DSFDF challenge in soft pastel on Canson MI-Teintes pastel paper. Cityscapes are a real stretch for me, especially doing tall buildings in soft pastel. I almost gave up until I started working on the traffic and taxis...my first attempt at drawing cars. I tried to get the feeling of depth with my values. I had a little fun with the people mixed in with traffic and all the spots of color and shapes fading off into the distant.


I used pastel pencils for some of the detail and Rembrandt and Schmincke soft pastels for every thing else. I will definitely be looking forward to getting back to oils in my next challenge!

Main Street Wigs

"Main Street Wigs"
6x7.5 oil on canvas

This is my contribution to this weeks Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge. Karin Jurick submitted a photo for artist to paint their interpretation of an array of mannequins wearing wigs. I was really intimidated by so many mannequins at first and almost decided to skip this challenge. Then I was inspired by a little shop with a colorful awning on Main St. in Waukesha Wisconsin and decided to incorporate the mannequins in the shop window. As I got further along I was wishing I had planned a larger format so I could paint more details of the mannequins. This ended up being a really fun project to work on. Thanks again to Karin Jurick for all her hard work and dedication even during a frustrating eight days of being without the Internet.

I had a problem getting the colors in the photo of my painting close to the original painting but thanks to my daughter Carrie Griesmer she did a nice job of color correcting. It is very close to a perfect likeness of my painting. Check her blog, she has "how to" instructions on correcting photos in Adobe Photoshop.

San Francisco Victorian

"San Francisco Victorian"

oil on canvas

This is my submission for Karin Jurick’s DSFDF Challenge. What a challenge this was, but I did have fun painting the sky and windows. I might try painting architecture again but not three story buildings.

Listening to Jefferson

"Listening to Jefferson"

oil on canvas

This is my submission for Karin Jurick’s photo of the Jefferson Memorial in the DSFDF challenge. I took liberty in cropping the photo to an extreme. The photo was so fuzzy after enlarging this one little area that the streetlight looked more like a moon over the horizon. The crooked tree leaning toward the Jefferson Monument and the bright streetlight illuminating the area really intrigued me. I especially enjoyed painting this night scene because I was able to use an old tube of Indigo Blue I never used before and discovered it is a good color for painting dark areas and mixing grays.