On the Plein Air Trail with Brenda Behr

Missing birds

2012-02-02T05:36:00.000-08:00

Swan pond, 8x10" oil on panel

There were actually two swans in this lake. I took several decent photos of them, but including them would have ruined the painting. They would have become the focal point in a hurry, ruining the overall impact and abstract qualities in this landscape. It was intentional that I painted all the sky in the water rather than above. I haven't looked at the painting upside down, but it might be fun to.

It’s the exception when I can appreciate wildlife in a painting. Unless it’s a bird perching motionless, I think the lack of movement in a painting of a wild animal is a contradiction. The only successful painting of a bird in flight I can remember seeing was a cardinal, indicated only by a red streak of paint. It was so much more convincing than a bird stopped dead in mid-air. Imagine a plein air painter saying to a bird in flight, “Okay, freeze!” Or even better, “Twenty minutes, and then we’ll take a break.”

Not too shabby art studio

2012-01-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

Brenda Behr slept here, 7 x 91/2" watercolor

I hope I never stop receiving overnight invitations. Not only is staying with friends on the road cost efficient, it provides me an opportunity to so better know my host friend(s). It’s also always a surprise to know just where I’ll be resting my weary head. So much more interesting than a generic hotel room.

Night before last when I was shown the studio where I’d be sleeping, I felt I’d died and gone to Art Heaven. Wow! This place was combination studio guesthouse / ivory tower treehouse. Check out the funky bed and the shabby chic chandelier. Up in the window are containers filled with various paint brushes and below, an I-want-one-of-those contemporary flat files used for storage. I was so excited to see my accommodations Thursday night that in spite of the hour (11:00 p.m.) I stayed up and did these two paintings.

Take note of the bathroom, my third painting to include a john. No t.p. in this painting, however.

Watercolor Water Closet, 9 1/2" 7" watercolor

Grrrrrrrrr . . .

2012-01-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

Can you find the tobacco barn in this picture?, 14x11" oil on panel

Yesterday afternoon

This morning’s light

The last thing I wanted to do this morning (well maybe not the last) was leave the house just after 9:00 a.m. and go back to the plein air location where I had painted the day before. Friday I was unable to finish my painting because of rain. Then today, I had to get out early to avoid the rain. How dreadful it is that we had rain today. The temperatures in Eastern North Carolina were expected to reach 70º. My hunch is most plein air painters watch the weather forecasts as much as most farmers.

My colors may look surprisingly bright compared to the colors in the photos. I haven’t decided yet if I want my paintings to be more expressionist in color or more realistic. Behr with me.

F.Y.I. That little speck that appears down the road in this morning’s photo is my vehicle after a man delivering turkey feed suggested I park further down the road. Ooops!

Paintings for sale

2012-01-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

River edge on a rainy day, 11x14" oil on panel

Have I mentioned 99% of my paintings are for sale?

I’ve spent the entire morning updating my website with current work. I believe in including prices with my artwork on my web site. I’m under the belief that it makes people uncomfortable to ask. Click New oil paintings to check out most of the work I’ve done in the past six months. A few new paintings are listed under Original watercolors as well.

Today’s marsh painting is one I haven’t shared online before today. I did it while attending an Albert Handell mentorship* on St. Simon’s Island in Georgia last November. It was an overcast day, thus most of the colors are cool. Speaking of cool, I’ve decided cold temperatures are something I need to deal with. Too much sitting inside makes Brenda a dull artist.

• Mentorship as opposed to workshop means participants get no hands-on help with their paintings.

Toy story

2012-01-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

Barn with boy toys, 11x14" oil on panel

Loved the linkage of the whites and the stark contrast of light and shadow in this scene. The diligent man who owns the boat renovated what had been his [tobacco] packing barn and made it into a shed for storage of his farm and lawn tools. He also owns the dilapidated old barn that I featured on yesterday’s blog.

He who dies with the most toys wins was the message on the t-shirt of a Minneapolis friend and former business partner. With plans within a year to buy a sailboat in Florida and take off sailing with his fiancé, my buddy collapsed with a fatal brain aneurism just before his 49th birthday. The lesson learned from this story is not to wait until tomorrow to do what you love and not to criticize your neighbor for having toys you think (s)he can’t afford.

Another bloody barn

2012-01-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

Old packing barn in afternoon sun, 9x12" oil on panel

Dang! I thought I’d shared Van Gogh’s tobacco barn (below) on one of my blogs before this. Guess it was featured in my BehrPath newsletter. I’m really enjoying and discovering much about color with this Impressionist palette knife painting. I find it’s most effective on textured subject matter like landscapes and old barns than it is on contemporary urban structures. Here’s a packing barn to go with the tobacco barn painting. Different rural setting than the first one, but surely Van Gogh wouldn’t have cared. To my knowledge he never set foot on U.S. soil. As evident in Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe, we assume he was familiar with tobacco.

Van Gogh’s tobacco barn, 8x10" oil on panel

The drama continues

2012-01-06T05:10:00.000-08:00

Most Fall Down, 11x14" oil on panel

“That was just a warning!”
And suddenly to my misfortune, he did a U-turn and screamed, “And this is for real!” Almost as quickly as my brain could digest his words, another bullet hit me in the chest. This time it killed me. The End.

Sorry folks. I didn’t think you’d believe yesterday’s “story”. From your reactions, I knew pretty quickly, I needed to finish it. Guess I felt an interesting story might liven up the painting. I have only written fiction here one other time, but had made it more obviously more fictitious. So sorry to have thrown you.

And by the way, I did purchase an item at Wild Indian Gun Co. When I’m out plein air painting alone, I carry a small spray dispenser of pepper spray on my key ring. So just so you know, don’t mess with a plein air painter! No sirree. To be sure, it gives me a false sense of security. It would be no protection from a drive-by shooting, but knowing I have a cell phone and some mace on me helps dissipate the fear of being out there alone.

Hope you can appreciate last weekend’s tobacco barn painting. This is my fourth oil of this barn near Shine Crossroads on Highway 13. Two paintings of it are, in fact, included in the Highway 13 Revisited collection (last blog). I’ve developed a relationship with this soon-to-be-torched tobacco barn. When I was there on Sunday, the property owner told me that the local fire department has plans to use the barn for practice. This saddens me.

I sure as heck hope the South has protected a few of these tobacco barns that once dotted our landscape. I’m glad tobacco has lost its former stature as “King”, but always feel sad when a structure once deemed so purposeful is facing its demise.

Happy Trails to You

2012-01-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

SHOW ME SOME OF THAT COUNTRY MONEY, 6x9" watercolor

Here’s the painting I’d just completed before the accident. Many of you are unaware that in early November I was the victim of a drive-by shooting. The bullet grazed my left shoulder. Before screeching off, the driver of the vehicle at the intersection yelled . . .

The above paragraph is not so much a way to grab your attention, as it is to explain a large gap in my plein air painting between mid-November and late December. Sure there was a cool nip in the air, but Nov./Dec. is prime commission time for me, so I was busy. And busy with the holidays like so many in the Western hemisphere. I’m including below three of the commissioned paintings that kept me busy during this time.

It’s hard to say what made me want to paint the Wild Indian Gun Co. Subject matter, no doubt. I especially liked the sign to the right of the door, SHOW ME SOME OF THAT COUNTRY MONEY, NO SMOKING OR SHOOTING INSIDE. (That’s right, leave the shooting for innocent plein air artists at their easels!) Aw shoot, although the subject matter is interesting, the composition is weak. A big old pick-up truck in the foreground might have helped. I think it’s the lack of an interesting composition that kept this scene out of the collection of Highway 13 paintings I did several years back. Here’s a link that will take you to that collection, all 24x30” oils, most of them painted en plein air. Just click Highway 13 Revisited.

Two of the highway 13 paintings are currently on view at beautiful Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, North Carolina. The country club each month features the work of a different artist who is a member of the Eastern North Carolina art group known as Greenville Brushstrokes. See side bar for more info on the collection of paintings at Brook Valley.

Golden Memories, 14x18" oil on canvas


Wayne County Veterans Memorial, 8x12" watercolor

Heather’s Dad, 12x8" watercolor

The Lady in the Park

2011-12-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

Path to The Lady, 6½ x 9" watercolor

Here’s the second watercolor I squeezed in last week while painting across the street in Herman Park.

Paris has its Eiffel Tower, Washington D.C. has the Washington Monument and Goldsboro, North Carolina has The Lady in the Park. The sculpture, originally made of zinc in 1916 by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorwaldson was named Hebe, Goddess of Youth. Heavily damaged over the years, the original “Lady” was replaced in 2004 by a bronze replica. Locals refer to her simply as “The Lady.” She remains Goldsboro’s most highly revered icon. Dear friend Donna Jansen who visited me from Minnesota became enthralled with the statue. She thought it to be “so southern”, and compared its charm to Savannah’s Bird Girl statue that graces the cover of the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

I do not reproduce many of my paintings. The exception may be when I do one that is in high demand and that features subject matter for which I don’t want to make a painting career. Below is giclée reproduction from a tighter, more realistic watercolor of the Lady. For more information on the reproduction just click “The Lady”.

The Lady in Springtime, 18x14" watercolor

Breathing a joyous sign of Christmas relief

2011-12-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Park House in winter, 6 ½ x 9" watercolor

99.5 percent of what I need to do for Christmas is behind me.

And finally, I have a new painting to post. I’ve been buried with Christmas painting commissions and with creating my holiday card image, and so haven’t had much time to get out and paint. And today, I’m torn, do I paint the rapidly opening Amaryllis that stands tall in my window, or do I sneak in a plein air painting while North Carolina’s still in the 60’s? Seems the sense of urgency is not behind me.

The Park House in Winter is the first of two watercolors I did yesterday. The painting features the landmark Victorian house that graces the city park that is just across the street from where I live. I omitted the Christmas décor. Our warm temperatures have taken a toll on the garland and wreaths with which the park house is now decorated.

Just a suggestion, consider purchasing some small gift cards today at a place from which you’d enjoy receiving a gift card; then hand them out at random to the people who serve you well, give you a warm smile or who have helped you throughout the year. I gave one yesterday to the man who manages our local UPS office. He responded, “You didn’t need to to that.”

I replied, “That was the idea.”

EnJoy!

En route to an Albert Handell mentorship

2011-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

Inside the sunroom, outside the guesthouse, 7 x 9 ½" watercolor

I had no idea when Jerry Stocks first invited me to stay with her and Ray what a treat I was in for. Last year, and more recently I was en route to workshops that took place south of Beaufort, SC. I have since fallen in love with this delightful little community where they reside. Southern Charm plays second fiddle only to Southern Hospitality at the Stocks’ house. If Jerry ever decides not to be an artist she might consider being a chef. She’s a superb cook. I had my first Low Country Boil at her table, as well as my first shrimp pie and tomato pudding. My last trip through, we netted the crabs we ate later for dinner. Beaufort, SC is quintessential Southern. How fortunate for those lucky enough to live there. What a wonderful backdrop author Pat Conroy had for so many of his novels.

Both of today’s paintings feature the Stocks’ guesthouse (where I stayed) and both paintings will be gifted to the Stocks (if they want them). I couldn’t have the life I do if it weren’t for the generous hospitality of the wonderful people with whom I have the good fortune to stay during my plein air travels.

Inside the guesthouse, 7 x 9 ½" watercolor

Meet Lee

2011-11-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

Lee 1, 15-minute Creatacolor® sketch

Lee 2, 15-minute Creatacolor® sketch

Lee 3, 20-minute Creatacolor® sketch

Lee relaxed, Sharpie® sketch

The consensus is that I do put some of my previously posted yoga pose sketches up for auction. But later. I’ll let all know when this happens. I’m pooped. It was a quick trip up to the Triangle today. Stops included another two productive hours at Chambers Arts! We had a different model today. Lee had never modeled before, and I feel he did a great job. First we had our typical ten 1-minute poses. The rest of the time was divided into three 15-minute poses and one 20-min. pose. When Lee saw Lee, released (above) he gave me the biggest compliment anyone can pay me as an artist, and that was that I had caught the essence of the pose. In fact I’d rather hear the word essence than to hear likeness, which is what was said for the longer-pose sketches. This was all great portrait practice for me, and I’m grateful to Lee for his ability to strike a twenty-minute pose without flinching. Good job there, Lee!

Stretching reality

2011-11-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Picasso Yoga, Sharpie® rendering on paper

Last Thursday, I was privileged to attend another Life Model Open Studio session at Chambers Arts!

And fortunately, we again had artist Kathyrn Cook as our model. And finally, I asked her, “Do you teach it [yoga]?” She confirmed, also telling me she’s been doing yoga for some ten years. Yow! And I have trouble making it to my first session!

Again, we did ten one-minute poses. Tell me if you think I should put these drawings up for auction? I’m thinking in this economy, they would give me some pieces with a significantly lower (teeny-weeny) price point that might actually move.

After getting into the rhythm of these poses, I focused on conveying more info with fewer lines, and voila! I ended up with Picasso Yoga (above). Picasso’s drawings and paintings of many of his models look about as close to reality as some of Kate’s stretches are relative to human form as we know it. —This is why Kate’s poses make for such good drawing practice.

Zombie Pin-Up Session

2011-10-20T06:51:00.000-07:00

Zombie Pin-Up model, 7½ x 4½" watercolor sketch

Artists squeamish about the risqué need not attend a Dr. Sketchy session. Many who have been to art school are comfortable with nude figure studies. Dr. Sketchy models are not nude, but do often wear exotic garb. I find this more interesting than plain ole nude anyway, certainly more provocative.

On their web site, Dr. Sketchy includes the following:

Since 2005, Dr. Sketchy's has been the name in alternative drawing. From illegal flashmobs to the Museum of Modern Art, Dr. Sketchy's has brought artists a rule-breaking cocktail of dames, drinking and drawing. Dr. Sketchy's branches draw in over a hundred cities around the globe, from Akron to Zagreb. Whether you're an artstar or a scribbling newbie, Dr. Sketchy's is the perfect place to get your fill of life-drawing

Dr. Sketchy's is the brainchild of artist Molly Crabapple

Artist at Dr. Sketchy

At the October 13 ZOMBIE PIN-UPS Dr. Sketchy session in Raleigh stage names of the models were Sinister Red and Lady I'llphelia. I did many small watercolors of these macabre vixens. I’ve found that changing colors takes time away from sketching. As I recall, the one I’m showing above was a five-minute pose. Using multiple colors takes time away from painting. Although the color is fun, next time I think I’ll resort to only black paint with maybe a spot of color.

Exercises

2011-10-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Thursdays are often a double-dose of figure drawing for me. I go to these sessions to hone my skills. The last thing I need is a finished oil painting that has skeletal issues with its drawing. At Chambers Arts! in Cary, NC. Lynda Chambers offers live model sessions to those interested. I’ve signed up for a package of six. On Thursday evenings, once a month, I often continue figure studies at a Dr. Sketchy session in Raleigh. More on the last Dr. Sketchy session will follow.

At Chambers last Thursday we had a fantastic model, Kathryn Cook. She is not only beautiful and limber, she’s a talented artist represented by the gallery. Because she’s an artist, she has a good handle on the types of poses that benefit us. She first gave us some one-minute poses, then five; then 15-20 minute poses for which she did some play-acting. I’m including here my first three of the one-minute poses. I moved to a larger sketchpad after these.

One thing became perfectly clear. I need to go to the gym more than I need to go to drawing sessions. Can you imagine holding any of these poses for a full minute? She also does yoga.

Good news; bad news

2011-10-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Dr. Josephus Hall House, 9x12" oil on panel

First the good news: The painting, A road less traveled shown in my last post took second place in the Cary Gallery of Artists Third Annual Paint-Out. Thanks to some of the Cary civic supporters of the gallery, four of us actually received a cash prize.

The bad news: Dr. Josephus Hall House did not sell in Salisbury. Neither did A road less traveled for that matter, but the latter will be much easier to sell down the road, as many landscapes have appeal anywhere. One thing about painting landmarks, they’re generally fairly easy to sell near their geographic location where people are familiar with them, but not so as one attempts to market them further away.

It was a great paint out on a fabulous autumn day. Nineteen plein air painters showed up for this Oil Painters of America paint-out at Salisbury’s 36th Annual October Tour. Artists were there from cities that included Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Greensboro. In that Goldsboro is even a further distance may be why a photo of my easel and me wound up on the front page of last Sunday’s local paper. A view of the photo may be found by clicking Hall House. (You’ll want to scroll down.)

Thanks and appreciation goes to artist Phyllis Steimel, a founding member of Plein Air Carolina, for her success recruiting so many artists eager to participate.

Oct 14 plein air show announcement

2011-10-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

A road less traveled, 12x9" oil on panel

It’s been too difficult to restrict these postings to my plein air watercolors, which was my original intention for this blog. I so enjoy capturing the light of the great outdoors, and this I find easiest to do in oils.

All are invited to the Third Cary Gallery of Artists Plein Air Paint Out exhibition that opens this Friday night, Oct. 14 in Cary, NC. All artists who participated in the paint out will be exhibiting their work. Wine and cheese reception plus award presentation 6-8pm. Work will remain hanging in the gallery through October 25. The gallery is located in historic Cary at 200 S. Academy Street, Suite 120.

Hope to see you there!

Focal points

2011-10-10T07:19:00.000-07:00


The Steimel Forest, 6.75x9.25" watercolor

Through Facebook I was invited to the Oil Painters of America paint out in the historic town of Salisbury, NC that took place this past weekend during the town’s annual October Tour. I was graciously given a place to stay with Herb and Phyllis Steimel. Phyllis Steimel is an accomplished artist and founding member of Plein Air Carolina.

In the 90’s I taught graphic design at the University of Minnesota. Directing the viewer’s eye is as important in graphics as it is in painting. There are several ways to add emphasis to whatever it is you want to be your focal point — size, isolation, color, contrast, and/or inherent interest. As wonderful as Phyllis’ paintings are, the deer trophies in the Steimels’ den were for me the focal point of the lower level of the house.

Bed hopping

2011-10-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Ann’s kitchen, 6¾ x 9¼" watercolor

Friday night I drove up to north Raleigh where I stayed with plein air watercolor artist friend Ann. The wooden pig in her kitchen caught my eye. Looks like an artist’s kitchen, just my opinion.
I’ve begun posting some of the plein air oils I did in Susan Sarback’s workshop last week. All were painted with a knife, something I haven’t done since high school. I invite you to visit some of my new impressionist oils by clicking Early autumn day on the lake — quite a switch from these calligraphic watercolors.

Home alone

2011-10-03T05:36:00.000-07:00


Debbie’s birthday roses, 9 ¾ x 6 ¼˝

Here we have a glimpse of Kent and Debbie’s informal dining room. Informal is a subjective adjective. In my house, this would be the formal dining room. Rather, this room would not even exist in my house-turned-studio. I feel fortunate, however, for rooms like this. They give people places to hang my art. And wouldn’t you know — that’s a Brenda Behr watercolor on the wall. Note the BB initials in the bottom right corner of the painting. Sorry, maybe too small here to see.

And the roses are birthday roses I assume. The card marked “Mom” on its cover was from Meredith, Debbie’s youngest daughter. I did this painting at night. The dark patchwork pattern of the windows was created by the darkness outside. Debbie and Kent were off to New York and left their houseguest mouse home to play.

These calligraphic paintings are about the stroke, not about the light. In order for the strokes to show, I have to keep the colors in the mid-tones, lest they disappear. This painting has deep mid-tones, about as deep as they should go with this style of painting.

Brenda Behr slept here

2011-10-02T06:15:00.000-07:00


The room with the red quilt, 6¾ x 9¼" watercolor

I got in from six days in the Raleigh area last night and made the mistake of pushing myself to stop by the local Food Lion to pick up a few staples. And I’ll be dang if on my way out of the store, I didn’t lose my purse with my iPhone in it. I’ve stopped service on it so if you’re one of those connected to me by cell, please know that my old number will no longer work.

Wanted to post last night, but the bed in this painting was way too inviting, reminding me at midnight that I wasn’t too far from my own sack.

I don’t know how many rooms I’ve painted in my travels, but these little boudoir watercolors have become a journal of where on the road I’ve laid my head over the last couple of years. The first five nights last week I was a guest of Kent and Debbie Lockey, childhood sweethearts with whom I graduated from high school. Kent’s great grandmother from near Newport, NC was the person who sewed the lovely heirloom quilt in this painting.

One more thing, the book on the bed is Capturing Radiant Light & Color by Susan Sarback. More to come on her impressionist approach to painting.

Wilmington Waterfront Day 2

2011-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Facing north on Market Street, 9x12" oil on panel

Someday, I’m going to cross the bridge in Wilmington and paint the USS North Carolina, a WW2 battleship that’s docked there for the benefit of tourists. I’m sure the ship would provide me with all kinds of interesting shapes and shadows. But on Sunday, this scene drew me. I stood not far from where I’d stood to paint the Saturday market scene, but this time looked east up Market Street rather than west. Cars had already grabbed their free-on-Sunday parking places and the guide for the trolley car was there an hour early to prepare his horses and trolley for the day’s tours. Morning light like this is wonderful. But like youth, it’s oh so fleeting.

Wilmington [NC] Waterfront Day 1

2011-09-16T10:14:00.000-07:00


Market Day on Water Street, 8x10" oil on panel

Last weekend was International Plein Air Painters WORLDWIDE Paint Out, and for plein air artists in Eastern North Carolina, the waterfront in Wilmington was the designated place to be. Other than a battleship and a few alligators, there’s nothing scary about the Cape Fear River along which the city of Wilmington is situated. Instead, the eastern shore of the Cape Fear River in Wilmington is a place to find tourists as well as locals strolling, shopping, and grazing along its mile-long Riverwalk. The whites of the tents set up for the Saturday Farmers Market in Riverfront Park caught my eye, and because the entire market would be folding up at 1:00 pm, it made it easy that morning for me to decide my priority subject matter.

Click WILL PAINT FOR SHELTER to see Saturday’s second painting.

Plein air buddy Bernie

Here too is talented artist and Chief Gatherer of Plein Air Painters Bernie Rosage of the OOPS* tribe. Bernie’s the one whose invitation I accepted to participate in last weekend’s WORLDWIDE Paint Out.

*Onslow [County] Outdoor Painters Society

Rabbithood

2011-09-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

Home on 13th Avenue, 6 ¾ x 9" watercolor

Here is the home that it took me courage to revisit. How I loved this house. I purchased it a year after my divorce. It was located not far from Minnehaha Parkway in a neighborhood nicknamed Rabbithood. Click rabbit to read how the area got its name. I don’t like to think I gave up a house in an area known as Rabbithood. Those who know me well, know what a bunny-lover I am.

See the airplane in the sky? The house was under the path of planes coming into the airport. I soon regretted having a deck built onto the back of the house. It was great for viewing, but the noise from airplanes passing overhead made conversation there impossible. The Metropolitan Airports Commission put $80K worth of new windows, doors and insulation onto this house (and others in the path) to insulate it against noise, another reason I can feel remiss that I no longer own this home.

Photo taken by friend Leslie Carlson Ritchie

Enough about regrets, I was happy to see that the lilacs, Flowering Plum and Star Magnolia trees I planted have so beautifully reached maturity. After visiting the house, I met with a friend for lunch. I told him how much I regret losing this house. He said, “You didn’t lose it, you traded it to care for your mom [in North Carolina] and for your art career.”

Mixed memories, 1989-1996

2011-09-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

duplex on Thomas Ave., 5 ½ x 8 ¾ watercolor

I’m picking up a commission today that will include a rendition of twigs of a plant called bittersweet.

Bittersweet pretty much sums up my feelings when I look at this side-by-side duplex where I once lived. I went in a happy, hopeful half of a newlywed couple. I went out alone looking for the nearest apartment. It is difficult to write about this dwelling without dwelling on the marriage that took me there in the first place.

Skipping the bad stuff.
Realtors tell us to look for the shabbiest house on the block. This house fits the bill. It is situated on a street divided by a beautiful median where I sat to do this watercolor. At the end of the street is a tennis court and just one street east is Lake Harriet, formerly known as “the yuppie lake.” This and the home’s quaint Linden Hills neighborhood make the area one of the most desirable places to live in Minneapolis.

I think you’ll agree the painting looks a little cattywampus. I’m including a photo below that also looks cattywampus. Maybe it’s my view of this place that’s cattywampus, making it impossible for me to take or paint a straight rendition of it.

Home, 1980-1989

2011-09-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

The next several Plein Air posts will feature the places in which I lived at one time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I just returned from a trip there and while visiting, decided it a good thing to paint part of my history. I lived in the Twin City metro area from 1970 until 2003, until I returned to Goldsboro, NC, home of my parents and the later years of my youth.

Home of Behr Lemons, 6 1/4 x 9 1/4" watercolor

When I was in my twenties, I became almost obsessed with owning my own home. Somehow, thirty seemed like the age at which one was supposed to have their name on a property. I rented an upper duplex in Kenwood, an upscale neighborhood in Minneapolis. The duplex was a grand Victorian two-story house with gingerbread woodwork and at least one stained glass window. The duplex I liked second to mine was this prairie-style home in south Minneapolis. Rick Lemons, a friend and fellow art director in the ad business rented the second floor. His living room featured a large skylight that provided light and cheerfulness even in the dead of winter. Sure enough, Rick’s landlords, a married couple who lived downstairs, needed more space when two children from a previous marriage came to live with them. In January of 1980 Rick and I purchased the duplex from them, and became legal tenants-in-common, each with our own unit. Later that year we also became business partners, thus the name Behr Lemons.

I moved out when I married in 1989, but continued to run my freelance graphics business there. When Rick and I were threatened with eviction for operating a business in a non-commercially zoned space, we decided to sell the property. Closing day was on a Monday in early November 1993. Two days later, Rick collapsed from a brain aneurism while working out at a local gym. Sadly, he died just days before his 49th birthday.

I love painting that which is beautiful to behold, but I also enjoy painting places that are meaningful to me in other ways. This gives me time for contemplation and reflection, allowing me to pay tribute to those places or people who have shared a piece of their history with me.

Lookout! Another lighthouse!

2011-08-21T05:35:00.000-07:00

Lookout Light, 9 x 6 ¼" watercolor

Pathway to Lookout Light, 8½ x 5½ watercolor

I’m skipping the oil I did of Ocracoke Lighthouse as I’ll be featuring it in one of my future Behr Path e-letters. Dick and I explored the island, met some interesting islanders then proceeded to the mainland on a 2½-hour ferry ride to Cedar Island, NC. Twenty or so miles south, we rented the house of a friend in Marshallberg, thus giving us a base from which to explore the area known as Down East. On Harper’s Island we caught a 16-passenger ferry over to Cape Lookout. I managed to do several watercolors of this lighthouse that so well marks its shoals, another strip of our National Seashore. History and lighthouse mavens will find interesting material about the lighthouse and this section of the Outer Banks by clicking Cape Lookout, NC.

Turning in at Blackbeard’s

2011-08-20T08:34:00.000-07:00


Room at Blackbeard’s Lodge, 7x9.5" watercolor

Hotel rooms can be lonely places. When you’re alone and you don’t feel like watching TV or reading, what do you do? Well, I wasn’t quite ready for bed, and there was something about this room I wanted to capture. Maybe it was all the blues reminding me I was on the coast, on an island in fact, or maybe it was some of the dark wood that spoke to me of being old. Here I was in a not-so-good-value of a room at Blackbeard’s Lodge on Ocracoke Island. Maybe I just wanted to do a painting that included a roll of toilet paper—my second painting with toilet paper, in fact. Click Quail Ridge Reprieve to see the first.

More pier

2011-08-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

Activity at Avon Pier, 6.75 x 9" watercolor

Photographer friend Dick needed another day at Avon Pier, and so we traveled back again the next day, allowing me to capture a different view of the old structure erected in 1962, just one year after the military delivered my family to North Carolina from the Philippines.

Alas! — a place in the shade of the pier that gave me a view worth capturing! I particularly like the spot of intense color offered by people gathered under their colorful umbrellas. Painting some quick watercolor sketches of beach people allowed ample drying time for the base coat of the pier painting to dry.

Beach people near Avon Pier, 5 x 8.5" watercolor

A little family history

2011-08-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Parked at Avon Pier, 6 3/4 x 9" watercolor

Bodie Lighthouse (for reference)

After visiting Currituck Beach Lighthouse, friend Dick and I traveled south to visit Bodie Island Lighthouse. I am no wimp when it comes to plein air painting weather, but a heat index of 114º became an issue. If I had found a good view of the lighthouse in the shade, I would have a painting of the lighthouse to share with you today. I did take some photos of the view that I will paint some time in the future.

On south even more to a pier I’d heard was torn down, Avon Pier in Avon, North Carolina. When I inquired, a lady in Rodanthe [NC] told me the pier was still standing. I’d never been to this pier that holds significant importance to my family’s history. In 1981 my dad cancelled an angiogram so he would be able to take a trip with his aunt, my mom and brother to fish on the Outer Banks. That October he and my brother were fishing on Avon Pier when dad was struck down with a massive heart attack. I’d always dreaded the day that I’d receive a phone call notifying me of the death of one of my parents. I was in Minnesota when I received the call from my grieving mother. When my mother died August 19 four years ago, I take comfort in knowing I was by her side.

Again, much of what I paint is tied to a memory.

A trip to the Outer Banks

2011-08-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Currituck Light 1, 6.5x9" watercolor

Currituck Light 2, 6.5 x 9" watercolor

A Minnesota friend and I just got back from a week long trip along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. One of my painting goals was to paint (in my calligraphic watercolor style) the lighthouses along our path. So, on day one, we headed up to Corolla where we visited Currituck Beach Lighthouse. I’ve painted the lighthouse before, but from photos. Nothing quite compares to being on location for reference when painting. Painting two views of the lighthouse better justified the travel time and expense to go there. As always with my calligraphic style, painting two views in the same vicinity also provided ample time for the wet base coat on each painting to dry.

Hotter‘n Hot

2011-08-02T08:47:00.000-07:00


Hotter‘n the 4th of July, 6.5x9.5" watercolor

If I had kids and it was my desire to hand down to them a business that could ride the worst of economic times, I’d open a hot dog joint. I currently paint two popular hot dog stops in Raleigh, The Roast Grill and Snoopy’s Hot Dogs. The Roast Grill opened in 1940 and Snoopy’s, in 1978.

Notice the crowd waiting to get into the Roast Grill. When I stopped there last Friday to grab a hot dog, the temperature was 101º. Well, no need for me to stand in line. Nooooooooo, I can always do a painting! Watercolor dries a little too fast and artists melt in this kind of heat. Not only this, the jerk parked in the foreground of my painting had the audacity to pull away! Notice I left the J out of JERK in his license plate.

I cannot say when the prices on the image above were changed, but we can believe the Roast Grill wasn't selling hot dogs for $1.75 in 1940. Image came from a Roast Grill web site.

Theatre of the Absurd

2011-07-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

Red balloons, 4.25x10.5" watercolor

It was in February when I last attended a Dr. Sketchy session, way too long ago. Those not familiar with Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School should check it out on the web.

Raleigh is one of over a hundred cities on five continents represented by a branch. Click here to go to Raleigh’s web page. I actually ran into someone there Thursday almost my age. She’s a professional illustrator, who like me, was there honing her skills.

The theme of Thursday night’s session was a French surrealist play titled “Les Mamelles de Tiresias”. One of you is French Canadian, and familiar with Dr. Sketchy in Montreal, so can you please translate for the rest of us?

The show was what they say, risqué? Loads of fun to try and capture such theatre. Not familiar with the play, I’m assigning titles to only three of the sketches.

Playing with lipstick, 8x10" watercolor

Virginia, 6x6" watercolor

Mad dogs and a Lexus

2011-07-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

My neighbor's Lexus, 7x10" watercolor

I suppose you’d rather read here about the color, the composition, the medium, etc. Although I do respect and try to pay attention to the “rules of aesthetics”, seems my inspiration to paint what I do is often tied to a story or a memory. Today’s plein air watercolor is no exception.

I live in the house on the left in this painting. That’s my neighbor’s car in the garage.

I love most of what I can recall about my more-years-than-I-want-to-admit advertising career as an art director. Sure there’s a lot of schlock out there, but much advertising is downright entertaining. An ad group in NYC created one of the funniest, most clever ads I ever had the privilege to view. The name of the small, very-hot-at-the-time, agency in New York was Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Yes, I’m serious. (I Googled them and found the agency closed its doors in 2005.) The ad was for the National Wildlife Federation and the visual had a couple of small sparrows perched on a tree limb. The headline was, “Give to the Wildlife Federation. After all, who else is going to _____ on your neighbor’s Lexus?” something like that. You fill in the blank.

Yep, that’s a Lexus parked safely (from any wildlife) in my neighbor’s garage. Did this painting yesterday in spite of the heat. Click Morning pathway to see the plein air oil I painted this morning before the mercury soared.

Company’s coming

2011-07-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

Task Avoidance, 9x6" watercolor

In 2005 I enrolled in a Frank Webb workshop. See the signature on the bottom of the matted painting at top of today’s watercolor. Webb, like some of the other watercolorists with whom I’ve studied is a former student of famed watercolor artist Edgar Whitney. It was hard in the Webb workshop to know what came originally from Webb or what he was passing down from Whitney.

Calligraphic painting, Webb said, is about adjectives, not about nouns. By this he meant, if you’re doing a calligraphic painting that includes a roof, paint the shingles, not the roof.

Anyone who’s been in my house knows that the rooms inside are rich with adjectives. Every room is laden with adjectives that might lend themselves to my calligraphic style. So here’s the first of my Brenda’s House paintings. Hey, we got to do something while it’s too hot to go outside and too soon to worry about the company that will be here in two weeks.

Commemorative statue planned

2011-07-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Get ‘em while they’re HOT, or not, 8x10" watercolor

The City of Raleigh Arts Commission will commission a bronze statue of American artist Brenda Behr that will be positioned where Person Street dead ends Peace Street in Raleigh, North Carolina. Plans are under way to erect the statue diagonally across the street, kitty-corner to Raleigh’s most iconic Krispy Kreme® doughnut shop.

In 2011 Ms. Behr set the Guinness book of World Records not for eating Krispy Kremes, but for painting them. During the difficult economic times the United States suffered in the first two decades of the 21st century, Ms. Behr resorted to painting and selling Krispy Kremes to pay her rent and otherwise put bread on her table. The statue will depict Ms. Behr painting as she sits on her little red stool, a constant traveling companion when she was on the road. Also featured in the statue will be Behr’s ever-present Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff tote bag.

Disclaimer: Only portions of the above statement are true. The City of Raleigh Arts Commission and the Guinness Book of World Records have no knowledge of Ms Behr or her artwork. Nobody said blogs have to be true, just interesting.

Red, white, and green

2011-07-06T06:37:00.000-07:00

Independence Day in Goldsboro, 8x10" oil on panel

I was good. I stayed in all day on the 3rd and worked on my portrait commission. And I’m pleased with how it’s progressing. On the 4th however, I decided I was entitled like the rest of America to celebrate our country’s birthday. My way of celebrating was to get out of the house, find a shade tree not far from home and do some plein air painting. Independence Day in Goldsboro is the view as you’re facing north on the sidewalk between my neighbor's and my house.

Last summer I painted a house with a red roof. And just out of curiosity I went back and checked the date on which I’d done it. I believe it was either the 3rd or the 5th of July. So it looks like I’m establishing an Independence Day pattern here with a red roof theme. Janet Francouer who owns Carolina Creations Fine Art & Contemporary Craft Gallery in New Bern, NC posted a blog a year ago that features last year’s red roof painting. Click here to read Janet’s take on our plein air adventure.

I will stay inside and paint today. I will stay inside and paint today. I will stay inside and paint today. I will . . .

2011-07-03T05:48:00.000-07:00


Ruddy Duck at dinnertime, 6x9" watercolor

Here’s the last of the Morehead City paintings, at least until I trek down there again. I’m dying to get out and paint again en plein air. For the time being I’m confined to quarters, as they say in the military. I’ve been dragging my heels on a major portrait commission — three faces, 40x30”— and so in this hot July month, I’ve decided it a good time to tackle it. Problem is, in spite of air conditioning, I wilt when I don’t get out and enjoy nature and all her gifts. Soon the caterpillars will be on my fennel plant, ready to strip it of all its fine foliage. Reminds me of a book of poetry I illustrated when I was in college,

. . . And the lilies tall lean over the wall
To bow to the butterfly,
It’s July.
by Susan Hartley Swett (published in the 1880’s)

For those who are within driving distance of Raleigh, please stop by The Little Art Gallery the evening of July 20. This gallery, that is my exclusive gallery representative in Raleigh, is participating in the event I’ve shown below. I will be there doing yet another painting of the Peace and Person Street Krispy Kreme. What could be sweeter?

Click here for more info

Sanitary paintings

2011-07-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

Sanitary street view, 5.5 x 8.5" watercolor

Earlier this year I received a commission to paint the Sanitary Restaurant and Fish Market, a landmark restaurant on the waterfront in Morehead City, NC. The popular eatery has a history that dates back to 1938. As you might guess, the Sanitary was first a fish market, then a restaurant. I can maybe get why somewhat would call their fish market “Sanitary”, but don’t we all want to assume a restaurant is clean? Can you think of a worse name for a restaurant? The name stuck. And now I bet they sell as many Sanitary t-shirts out of the place as they do seafood.

This small watercolor, like my other Morehead City paintings in recent blog posts is now hanging in Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach. $195 each including frame.

A couple of drive-ins

2011-06-29T05:39:00.000-07:00


Remembering carhops, 7 x 9" watercolor

Having left North Carolina for thirty-seven years, I remember carhops, but for the life of me, I don’t remember El’s Drive-In in Morehead City. I do remember pizza burgers. In high school in Goldsboro, going to the beach took precedent over going to the prom. Five or so gals would get together, get a chaperone, and rent a place at the beach. Most often, on prom weekend, we’d skip the prom altogether, and head for the coast. Crazy. At the end of a sometimes life-changing weekend, on the way out of Morehead, we’d stop for pizza burgers. I remember getting them to go, and as the sun set low in the western sky, we’d say goodbye to Morehead City as we chowed down our pizza burgers and headed back to Goldsboro.

Forty years later, I pulled into this popular Morehead drive-in and asked my carhop, “Do you have pizza burgers?” With her positive reply, I knew it had to be the same place we’d gone to way back in the sixties.

Backed up to the Big Oak, 5.5 x 9.5" watercolor

The Big Oak Drive-In in Salter Path, North Carolina, south of Morehead, is a place I cannot recall. Never got down that way when I was growing up. My understanding is that it’s just as popular as El’s and possibly, even older. I wish it were as easy to sell paintings, as it is to sell burgers. I got to the Big Oak at closing time, 4:00. As I painted this watercolor, at least six cars pulled up, only to find the place closed.

Both paintings have found their way to Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach, NC. Grab a pizza burger on your way there.

Deep fried art

2011-06-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hot Stop, 6 x 9" watercolor

I tell people that Krispy Kreme’s coffee is better than Starbucks, but more fattening. Seniors in Goldsboro, Greenville and Rocky Mount, North Carolina get a free doughnut of their choice with the purchase of a cup of coffee. It’s called the “Get Sweeter with Age” Discount. Seniors are so vulnerable.

I’ve probably painted as many watercolors of this Krispy Kreme in Raleigh as I’ve eaten KK doughnuts. People like their Krispy Kremes any way they’re served.

Tenth Avenue North

2011-06-23T04:59:00.000-07:00

Christian rock, Sharpie® rendering

When someone tells me I’ve captured my subject matter, and they mean that I’ve captured the subject’s spirit or its essence, not necessarily the likeness, they can’t pay me a higher compliment. It is my opinion that Christian rock captures the essence of the Christian rock concert I attended on Sunday.

Rock band hieroglyph, Sharpie® rendering

Warm-up, 5.5 x 7" watercolor

At times of trouble my brother used to say, “Get out your paints.” Last week when I invited my brother’s son to spend Father’s Day with me, he invited me to join he and his girlfriend to run down to Myrtle Beach to hear a Christian rock band that goes by the name Tenth Avenue North. He told me I might want to paint them. My nephew knows how to stir my interest.

The watercolor paper I took with me wasn’t nearly absorbent enough, and so took way too long to dry for this type of quick on- location painting. I resorted to my Sharpie® markers.

My experience with outdoor concerts is that if you have a really good view, a crowd will gather right in front of you. We were forced to move back for a better view, lest we be drowned by the mass of people that moved in front of us. The people attending were just as interesting to me as the band, so I came away with many pieces similar to Groupies below.

Groupies, 5 x 7" watercolor

Back to the beach

2011-06-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

I really should be on the road to Wilson right now to pick up the unsold works in my recent show there. But I so love mornings spent blogging over coffee. Would I have said such ten years ago? I enjoy coffee and blogging more than bacon and eggs, more than cookies and milk, more than a whole lot of things. And without a doubt, I know it’s this fondness that keeps me from going to the gym mornings. Wish I could type a wink. io)

Bernie Rosage is a terrific painter and an all around good guy. He’s also a remarkable promoter who seems to enjoy sharing the successes of his artist friends. Click here to see the photo of me he tagged recently on his facebook page. It’s my wish that someday all his sharing comes back to him threefold.

Today’s painting is another watercolor that will soon be hanging in Vision Gallery at Atlantic Beach. Depicted here is an ice cream parlor that recently opened across the street from Big Rock Landing (see painting in my June 18 post). This is a case where all I had to do was turn the opposite direction to get a view for a second painting.

Sweet 16, an ice cream parlor, 6 x 9" watercolor

Beach break

2011-06-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Pathway to Nan’s, 6x9" watercolor

So the question is, do I stay up and post this blog or do I turn in for the night? I love writing in the early morning over my first cups of coffee, but alas, tomorrow morning I have a 9:00 appointment with a masseuse. Generous patron friends gifted me a massage certificate for my birthday in 2010, and I’m just now getting ‘round to using it.

I painted Pathway to Nan’s on my recent trip to Chapel Hill. See the other paintings I did on that trip by clicking Meet Gregory. Nan is a woman in Chapel Hill who has graciously put me up nights during many various painting expeditions over the past three+ years. She is a New Yorker with a fantastic knowledge of art and antiques. Her sister, in fact, was one of the last of the working artists to have an art studio in the building that houses Carnegie Hall. The walkway to Nan’s front door is dark like this but the surrounding garden has a lush patina that can be gained only after years of plantings and pulling. The rooster on the left is no doubt one of Nan’s charming collectibles.

More fishiness

2011-06-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Scene at the Big Rock, 5.5x9.25" watercolor

What is this? We’re just two days away from the longest day of the year, and there still aren’t enough hours in the day. Something is haywire. It may have to do with my two recent painting trips to the coast with an intermission at a lavender farm in central North Carolina. I’ve finally figured how I get so much painting done. When I’m on the road, all I have to do is eat, shower, sleep, paint and brush my teeth. Love it. Hate coming home however to unpaid bills and accumulated laundry. Home lately has become a pit stop. And the pits it is.

Here are two more plein air watercolors I painted at the Big Rock billfish tournament in Morehead City. These paintings and more to follow of the Morehead area are destined to be hung on the art adorned walls at Vision Gallery in Atlantic Beach, NC.

I actually witnessed the third place blue marlin being weighed in at the Big Rock tournament. It came in last Wednesday on a boat named Sushi. The fish was a mere 467.4 pounds. Still, that’s a lot of sushi. And the $126, 700 third place prize money might even cover that much sushi.

Big Rock Landing, 6x9" watercolor

the Big Rock, a fish story

2011-06-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Big Rock Big Hopes, 9x6" watercolor

I painted Big Rock Big Hopes Thursday morning before leaving Morehead City, NC after a three-day coastal painting excursion. On Wednesday I painted an oil of the same scene. Both paintings will be available this week at Vision Gallery in nearby Atlantic Beach. Although it might be way too crazy to capture, I’d love to paint the same scene again with the crowd as it gathers for a weigh-in of one of the blue marlins that will be competing this year in Morehead City’s 53rd Annual Big Rock Tournament. $1,398,375 is the prize. This is a really big fish story. Believe it. If you’ve got the right boat and several thousand $’s to lie down as an entry fee, you might think about signing up next year. Registration for this year’s tournament closed today:o(

Asian influenced pelicans, the last five

2011-06-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

Mandarin Duck 1, 3.5 x 4.5", ink on newsprint, N.F.S.

Wearing purple, 8.5 x 5.5"

Shy guy, 5.75 x 3.5" SOLD

Pointing it out, 5.5 x 3.5" SOLD

The paintings I’ve been featuring of pelicans are in a style that has taken me some time to develop. In Minneapolis in the mid-nineties, I took sumi-e classes from Susan Frame, renown for her Asian brush painting. The paintings here were not done in sumi, Japanese for ink, so they are not considered sumi-e. More about the influence of Asian brush painting on my watercolors can be found in a past clickback of Canadian painter and author Robert Genn. When you’ve opened his web page, please scroll down to the clickback titled “Omission encourages participation”.

Here are the last five pelicans that I’ll be offering as fundraisers for Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter. At some point I’ll be matting many of these paintings and placing them in some of the North Carolina coastal galleries that represent my work. I hope in the meantime that you will take advantage of my lower prices on these paintings by making a donation to Sea Biscuit, a very worthwhile non-profit wildlife organization. Once I’ve matted them, my images like these normally sell for considerably more, $65-90. The painting Heron on Robert Genn’s clickback sold [framed] for $600 in a silent auction at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minnesota.

Out of the blue, 9x4" SOLD

Tim 5, 9.5 x 3.5"

What paintings do people purchase?

2011-05-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

Mary Ellen’s Choice, 5.5 x 3.5 watercolor, N. F. S.

Tim, coiled, 3.5 x 5.5, N.F.S.

It’s really hard to guess what people will purchase in the way of artwork. Last week I sold five oil paintings and a watercolor to a gentleman who is redoing his home on the coast. I’d had one of the paintings since 2007, and had never before had a nibble on it. It could very well have been one of those paintings that come out of the frame, so I can use its frame for a more saleable painting. Another of the paintings I’d had for over a year and had never as much as heard a comment on it. The two paintings represent $1000 in sales. The gentleman who purchased them has as fine a collection of fine art as anyone who has ever honored me with a purchase.

The eye of the needle, 8.5 x 5.5"

Rear view mirror, 8.5 x 5.5"

The paintings I’m sharing today include the two at the top of this post that Mary Ellen, owner of Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter, selected from all the paintings I did of Mouth with Feathers and Tim, the pelican. And if you would ask me, these are the least saleable of all the paintings of the two birds. “That’s Tim!” Mary Ellen exclaimed when she selected Tim, coiled as the painting she wanted of the pelican. My opinion of Tim in this particular painting is that he more resembles a snake than a bird, and with Mary Ellen’s Choice, one cannot see the mouth that so identifies the bird Mouth with Feathers.

Never ask me to identify an art market.

Roosting 1, 6 x 8.5"

Roosting 2, 5.5 x 8.5"

Pelican pause

2011-05-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Mouth with feathers, 4.25x4.25" watercolor

I just posted four more pelicans on Hot Off the Easel, so time for a break from the pelicans. Here’s a little blabbermouth of a bird. Mary Ellen, owner of Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter didn’t know if it was a cowbird or a grackle. In spite of being totally obnoxious with its continual chirping, I could have brought this little bird home with me. These watercolors as well as the last group of pelican paintings are each yours for a $25 donation to the Shelter. Postage is an additional $2.

Saturday night, just as I was finishing my last Behr Path newsletter, I heard dogs barking outside. The newsletter was about my trip to Sea Biscuit and all about my love for animals. Afraid the dogs might be after my pet (oxymoron) feral cat, I looked outside to see what all the commotion was. Feeding at feline’s Fred’s dish, was a strange visitor. Five guesses, which image below is not a fit?

Mouth on bird, 3.3 x 5.5"

Mouth with feathers 2, 5.5 x 3.5

Mouth with feathers 3, 5.5 x 3.5"

Picasso bird, 4.5 x 4.5"

Not good at “playing possum”, photo

Happy Memorial Day

2011-05-30T07:11:00.000-07:00


Blue beak 1, 6.5x4"

Sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday with the pelican paintings I promised. I was so busy and so weary of scanning them that I just couldn’t make myself do the last four scans. To make up for it, I’ll post two blogs today.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day. Someday I’m going to paint the photo I took of my mom walking with small flag in hand to my dad’s grave. She now lies next to him there.

Here’s a gang of the small pelican paintings. I’m also going to post some on Hot Off the Easel, just a click away.

Blue beak 2, 6.5x5"


Blue beak 3, 5.75x3.5"

Looking back, 5.5x3.5"

Chin up, 5.5x3.5"

Bird rehab

2011-05-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Essence of Pelican, 11x8" watercolor

Watching the tennis match, 10x8" watercolor

Bashful, 11x7" watercolor


Feathered, 11x8" watercolor

Tim 1, 10.5x7.5" watercolor SOLD

I was given the opportunity this past week to visit a bird wildlife shelter on Oak Island, NC. I was impressed with Mary Ellen Rogers and with the center she founded and so passionately runs. Here is the mission statement of

Tim 2, 11.5x5.5" watercolor

Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter:

The Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter cares for injured or orphaned wild birds. We provide minimum medical care, safety from predators, food and shelter from the elements. When an animal is able to care for itself, it is released to the wild. We do not keep non-releasable animals nor use heroic methods to sustain the quality of their life. However, the Shelter does make every effort to rehabilitate an endangered species and every animal brought here is treated with respect and caring.

For more information on the shelter, visit it on the web at seabiscuitshelter.blogspot.com

A $50 donation to the Shelter buys one of the original pelican watercolors featured on today’s blog post. Tomorrow, I’ll post some smaller ones that I’ll offer in exchange for a $25 donation.

It costs an average of $25 to rehabilitate a bird. If you want to make a donation, make your check payable to the Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter and send it to 1638 East Beach Drive, Oak Island, NC 28465.

Notify me on this blog which painting you would like for me to send to you. Please include your mailing information. As soon as I receive confirmation that your check has been received I will mail your artwork.

Touché, 7.5x11" watercolor

Decent Exposure

2011-05-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Study for Midday at the Pit, 6.5x9" watercolor, SOLD

In conversation recently with the owner of one of the galleries that represent me, I said to her, “Eventually, they will all sell.” We were discussing the twenty-three paintings I currently have in my Chapel Hill 23 show.

On Monday, I sold one of the very first paintings I ever did in Chapel Hill, a painting done way back in 2006. Study for Midday at the Pit was a preliminary to Midday at the Pit, my very first commissioned painting from the University of North Carolina. A section of the painting which is now in the permanent collection of the University, is currently featured on the cover of the May/June issue of Carolina Alumni Review, a bi-monthly magazine that goes out to all alumni of the University. Click here if you’re interested in seeing the painting in its entirety.

On Wednesday, a gentleman, who had seen one of my Carolina 23 postcards, called and purchased one of the twenty-three paintings in the collection. When I referred him to my web site, he then selected five of my oil paintings, one of which dates back to 2007. Take heart, artist friends, it only takes one buyer to buy a painting, and sometimes, just a little exposure in the right places.

The last of the preliminary paintings I did for Midday at the Pit is still available. The painting features the Pit Preacher, now part of the history of the University of North Carolina. All of the Pit paintings were painted en plein air.

Friday at the Pit, 6.5x9" watercolor

Going to Carolina. Again.

2011-05-11T04:47:00.000-07:00


Commencement at the Old Well, 5 1/2 x9" watercolor

Chapel Hill News just published a wonderful article about my Chapel Hill 23 show. The reception is this Friday evening, so if you’re available and it’s within driving distance, I hope you can make it.

I did a similar painting to this one for the show, only larger. I’ve learned a sure fire way to not sell a larger work is to offer small works or prints of the same subject matter. Conversely, a good way to sell small works is to make available larger works of the same subject. I did this painting of graduation at the Old Well last year. I’ve sold the two others I painted that day. This one is probably my favorite of those small ones. Because it’s not as literal as the others, I suspect is why it’s the last to go. It’s also why it’s my favorite. Carolina pride may be something I mention when I speak Friday night at the reception. The families at the Old Well on Graduation Day are boiling over with pride; it’s a wonderful thing to witness.

Nursing a barbecue joint

2011-05-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Sucklings, 5x9" watercolor SOLD

I’m proud of the name I gave this painting. How many different names can I give a painting of this place? Wilber’s Barbecue in Goldsboro [NC] is like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Peace and Person Streets in Raleigh. If I’ve painted it once, I’ve painted it a million times. Not really. Let’s just say, I could probably make a living supplying the demand for paintings of these two iconic food stops. I try each time to make the painting a little different. My emphasis here was on the cars parked in front for lunch. In reality, the cars weren’t here for lunch; they were just waiting on their passengers inside. And there are actually wait people inside to do that, so these cars were just loitering outside. It’s late. I’m getting punchy.

Three guesses, why am I partial to B&B’s?

2011-05-04T06:09:00.000-07:00


The Monarch Room, 548 West B&B, 7 x 10" watercolor

Traveling invigorates me. I meet new people and find new things to paint. If it makes sense for me to stay overnight and when possible, I stay with friends, check into a B&B, otherwise. The Monday night after Easter I stayed at 548 West, a charming little B&B in Pittsboro, NC. It was just down the road from Fearrington Village, my painting destination last Tuesday. Owners Houston and Cheryl maxed the place out when they renovated it. Humble from the outside, the inside is full of luxurious touches that they incorporated.

I started painting my rooms when I found myself staying in B&B’s that did not have in-room TV’s. So at 9 o’clock at night, what better way to entertain oneself than to paint one’s accommodations? The cheerful Monarch room was inspired by the beautiful Monarch butterfly. Notice the art on the wall, an oil painting by Cheryl’s artist daughter. The room included a flat screen TV, so this faced me with a dilemma. Do I paint or do I watch the dvd I’d packed for the trip? Painting won out. Dvd’s can wait.

Painted from LlVE telly!

2011-04-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hand in hand, 8 x 5 1/2" watercolor

Royal grandparents, 5.5 x 3.5"

Royal Carriage Ride, 8 x 5 1/2"

Wedding aisle, Westminster Abbey

Leaving the Queen’s Royal Carriage

Dang! They never did ask me to paint their wedding! And then, should some watercolorist have been asked to paint the Royal Wedding, no doubt it would have been someone appointed by the Queen herself. Little does HRH know that way back in about 1955 yours truly laid eyes on Her Majesty on the Thames River. I truly did. Couldn’t tell who was who. Her sister, Princess Margaret was along with her.

I was invited last night for a Royal Wedding sleepover. Great fun. Just before the crack of dawn, we had quiche and muffins with marmalade, tea served from a silver teapot, brown sugar pound cake and strawberries dusted in powdered sugar. I painted the paintings above, plus more, while watching the Royal Goings-On on the kitchen telly. Jolly good fun!

Me! Painting the Royal Wedding

Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill

2011-04-28T04:14:00.000-07:00


Easter Sunday, Chapel of the Cross

I’ve painted many small watercolors on commission lately. Several of them are gifts, and so I do not feel free to post any of them until I know they are in the hands of their recipients. This painting was not a commission, but a request. Last year on Easter Sunday in Chapel Hill, I’d noticed the most wonderful flower-laden cross. I mentioned it to the owner of University Flowers and found it belongs to his church, Chapel of the Cross. As I was painting, a church member/passerby told me that just before the 9:00 service children cover the cross with flowers. I’ve now made a mental note of this so I can be on location with my camera and paints next year when this takes place.

Do any of you know why so many Episcopal churches have towers instead of steeples? Before I left Minnesota in 2003, I designed a logo for St. Marks Episcopal Cathedral, an architecturally impressive church on the fringe of downtown Minneapolis. The tower is the distinguishing feature of the architecture and so it symbolically, in fact, became the logo.

Vollis Simpson’s Whirligigs

2011-04-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

Vollis Simpson’s Whirligigs, 20x16" oil on canvas

Here we go, art of someone else’s art. Vollis Simpson in Lucama, North Carolina is the creative mastermind sculptor behind these fantastic whirligigs. I just finished writing about them in my email newsletter, so am fresh out of superlatives to describe them. They’re to be seen, not read about anyway, so if you find yourself in North Carolina, just ask where you might find the nearest whirligigs.

This painting and another one of the same subject matter will be in my show of oils coming up May 5 at the Arts Council in Wilson, NC. Please click here for more info. Hope you can swing by during the reception. My paintings and I would love to meet you.

Doggone, another dogwood

2011-04-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

White Dogwood, 6x8" oil on panel

After I painted Pink Dogwood, I spent some time driving around trying to find the “perfect” white dogwood. And it occurred to me, there are so many blooming dogwoods in Goldsboro that one could make a career of finding the “perfect” one to paint. Finally, this one stopped me. One of my prerequisites was that my perfect dogwood have layered branches much like its cousin the Pagoda Dogwood that grows as far north as southern Minnesota.

Speaking of Minnesota, here’s a joke dry-witted Swedish Minnesotan friend Leslie Carson wrote after receiving Pink Dogwood.
Question:
How do you tell a dogwood?
Answer:
By its bark.
Thanks there, Leslie. Please tell Sven and Ole Dixie says Hey. :o)

State symbols

2011-04-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Pink Dogwood, 6x6" oil on panel

There is actually a website called NCpedia. I know; I needed to google NC state tree today. And it’s no wonder I needed to. The official state tree of North Carolina is the pine, shared with you yesterday being enwrapped by a beautiful Southern clinging vine, the Wisteria. And today we have the tree that bears the official state flower, the Dogwood. See where this might get confusing? Furthermore, the official state flower might actually be a white dogwood. I’ll share one of those trees at a later date.

So here we have a pink dogwood, painted entirely with a knife. I’m coming to believe the best way to paint the wispy flowers on some trees is not to paint them at all. The pink you see here is the pink I used for the ground on the panel. So not only was this painting done with a [palette] knife, it was done using a technique called negative painting, painting the negative spaces, not the positive.

Killer vine

2011-04-06T05:27:00.000-07:00

Wisteria on a long leaf pine, 8x6" oil on panel

I remember wisteria from my days in high school here in Goldsboro. And I remember the way it used to climb up our long leaf pines, as this one is doing. If not destroyed, it will eventually kill its host. So much for “Pretty is as pretty does.” Unless you need to get rid of it, it’s a marvelous vine. For those not familiar with it, long before it bears leaves, it bears a lovely lavender colored flower that falls from it much like grapes on a vine. It grows wild and in spring can be seen along the highway draping the rural landscape. I understand there is a non-invasive one that is not so intrusive. Below is a plein air oil I did as part of my Highway 13 series of rural Eastern North Carolina. Difficult to make out, but here, the wisteria has already killed the tree that is its host.

Antebellum mansion, 24x30" oil on canvas

Still looking for red buds

2011-03-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Eastern Redbud, 6x6" oil on panel

In conversations about spring blooms in North Carolina, my brother frequently mentioned Redbuds. I never knew what he was talking about because I wasn’t seeing trees with red buds. I have since learned that the Eastern Redbud is the tree we see in the Carolinas in early spring that has a brilliant magenta bud and flower. It grows in the wild, but it is also used as a planting in many commercial and private landscapes. Here I have depicted one on a commercial property. Truthfully, I think these trees are most beautiful along the highway in early spring when their intensely magenta buds contrast so radiantly against the still grey backdrop of winter.

This was my third painting on a paint-out in Raleigh on Tuesday. I’ll be posting many new landscapes I’ve done en plein air in Hot Off the Easel, my other blog. For a while at least, I’m reserving On the Plein Air Trail for my tree paintings.

Spring smorgasbord

2011-03-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yoshino Cherry, 6x6" oil on panel

Like yesterday’s Weeping Cherry, I painted Yoshino Cherry from the comfort of my car on a gusty day in Winston-Salem. The blossoms of both trees are predominantly white with a touch of pink. Here in North Carolina it’s almost impossible to keep up with the trees that are coming into bloom right now. I may have missed an entire peach orchard in bloom just twenty miles down the road. A non-artist needs to know that being stimulated such as a plein air painter is by surrounding visual beauty is comparable to feeling really hungry, then being offered a smorgasbord. You want it all, you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to capture it all. We’re visual pigs is what we are.

Grieving Japan

2011-03-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Weeping Cherry, windblown, 6x6" oil on panel

When I first tried to identify a Weeping Cherry, I assumed it was a willow. It wasn’t in bloom, and it looked very much to me like a willow. What a marvelous tree, what delicate branches and flowers! On Monday, a windy day in Winston-Salem, NC, I painted this one in the comfort of my car. The name of the tree speaks to the catastrophic events that have so devastated Japan.

I have plans to donate proceeds from the sale of this painting to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Bids will open at $100.

A close calamity

2011-03-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Tulip tree, 6x6" oil on panel

Right down the street from Friday’s fabulous paint-out was a lovely tulip tree. We didn't have this tree in Minnesota. Long before the tree has leaves, it bears a large flower that closely resembles a purplish pink tulip. I remember my first experience painting a tree like this. The tree was large enough that I could sit under it as I painted. The petals fell down all around me as I painted, some of them into my palette.

I was well into the painting on Friday when I was approached by a worker on the street.“We’re going to be coming through, so I hope it won’t disturb you,” he reported.

When I looked down the street and saw what was headed my way, all I could say was, “Oh, stop it.” The bearer of bad news gave me a strange look.

When you check out the photo below, you’ll see why my painting and all my gear had to take temporary shelter in my vehicle. Wet oil paint acts like a magnet to even the smallest amount of dust.

Leaf Busters

Lakeside paint-out

2011-03-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Willow, 6x6" oil on panel

Wow! My very first blog entry from my new laptop! I'm lovin’ it. If my x-techie-husband could only see me now!

Got to a Paint NC* paint-out this a.m. at about 7:30. This is why you didn’t hear from me earlier. The temp was 83º when I packed up to leave at 4:30. it was the kind of day of which plein air dreams are made.

Seems like weeping willows grow in most areas of the U.S. I'll have to Google them. The deeper blue behind the willow is the picturesque lake on which the host of today’s paint-out lives. If I were thirteen years old and saw the painters in such a setting and the epicurean lunch that was spread out for us, I‘d be thinking without a doubt the life of an artist is an easy one. Wrong!

*Paint NC is a group of North Carolina artists, mostly in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill), who spring through fall each year, get together twice a week to go on paint-outs at various designated locations. If you’re inclined, read more about us at Paint NC.

Lucky stars in North Carolina

2011-03-17T05:37:00.000-07:00


Star Magnolias, 6x8" oil on panel

I may have captured the shape of the tree better had there been only one tree. But this is a MamaBear/BabyBear relationship between two trees, and honestly, I didn’t see Baby Bear there until after I’d chosen the format and begun painting.

Star Magnolias are another tree species native to Japan. I planted one on the north side of my house in Minneapolis and often wonder if it survived. It would make me too sad to visit my old house there. The Star Magnolias I’ve seen in bloom in Minnesota appear different than the ones here in North Carolina. In the North Country the blooms look like those flowers we made with tissue as kids. Or like wadded up toilet paper thrown on a tree. Maybe it’s the snow that gets to them up there. No offense intended, Minnesota.

Not illustration

2011-03-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Remnants of autumn, 8x6" oil on panel

It is not my intention to create an oil painting walking guide of trees indigenous to North Carolina. It is my intention to document in oil those trees that talk to me. For years I have passed trees and said to myself, now there’s your quintessential Live Oak, or there is the perfect representation of a Magnolia tree. These are the trees I want to paint. In some cases, I want to paint visual definitions of various tree species. Botanical artists do a good job of this. I want though to do this in my own style and hopefully, to bring more life to the work than I see in most botanical illustration. I want these to be tree paintings, not tree illustrations.

Our friend Japan

2011-03-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Cherry Tree, 6x6" oil on panel

A friend tells me this is a Yoshino Cherry. Over 3000 cherry trees, mostly Yoshino, were gifted by the Japanese in an act of friendship to the United States in 1912. In 1965 Japan’s gift was renewed with 3800 more cherry trees. Our nation’s capital turns into a fairyland each spring when these trees bloom and are celebrated at our annual National Cherry Blossom Festival.

I don’t know that this is a Yoshino Cherry; it may be a Kwanzan Cherry, another tree native to Japan. I cannot mention this country right now or look at this painting without being reminded of the devastating triple tragedies that have recently wreaked havoc on that country’s mainland.

Keiko Tanabe is an artist whose work I have collected. I just placed a bid on another painting by this remarkable San Diego watercolorist. Please join me in her generous effort to help her native country. Several of her beautiful paintings are up for auction on her blog at Disaster Relief Fund.

Another year older

2011-03-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Bradford Pear, 6x6" oil on panel

Not a tree whose fruit you would eat, I always think Bartlett before Bradford comes to mind. For me, the appearance each year of Bradford Pear trees is like a birthday. I know how old I’m getting by how well I can remember the name of this tree. The rest of the year, it’s just another green tree to me and I don’t give it a second thought. But every late winter it is one of the first trees in North Carolina to bloom, announcing beautifully that spring is just around the corner.

$100 plus shipping.
PayPal available upon request.
brendabehr@gmail.com

One, two, tree

2011-03-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

Tree No. 1, 6x6" oil on panel

Spring is definitely in the air here in Carolina so it’s back on the plein air trail for me. I don’t know how long I’ll be posting trees but will paint and post them for as long as they inspire me. Don’t know the tree species of this first one, but the new orange growth on a rainy day was too good to pass up.

$100 plus shipping.
PayPal available upon request.
brendabehr@gmail.com

Ever get the feeling you're being watched?

2011-03-02T21:20:00.000-08:00


Artist types, electronic composite of three 8.5 x 12" watercolors

Just more “quicker” sketches of the people who showed up at my demo at Jerry’s. The lady to the right of center is Adele (think I got her name right). She’s 92 years old and still painting. She looks great, due to her art no doubt. I’m encouraged and inspired by folks like this.

Quick and quicker

2011-03-01T05:44:00.000-08:00

Spencer quick, 9x6"

See my most recent Dr. Sketchy paintings by clicking Birthday Bash at the Black Flower. Not having made a post there for some time, Hot off the Easel, my other blog, had grown a bit cold and so I decided to warm it up by adding some fresh work.
Saturday, Jerry’s Artarama Raleigh store had me stop by for a couple of hours for some FREE product demos. Know that I am totally opposed to artists endorsing products that they would not otherwise use. In this case however, I helped Jerry’s promote their DaVinci line of watercolors, a brand that comprises most of my full palette when I’m working from a full palette. This brand was first introduced to me when in 1995 I took a workshop from the late, great Robert E. Wood, California School master watercolorist. To date, he’s probably the most famous of all the painters under whom I’ve studied.
The paintings here are a quick and a quicker watercolor of Spencer, one of the folks who stopped by to watch me demonstrate my fast gesture approach to painting figures in watercolor.

Quicker Spencer, 6x3"

A green landscape

2011-02-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

Integrating with nature, 7x10" watercolor

I feel sure that if someone would send me to the woods for a week, I would come out a very different painter. Partly due to being at one with nature; partly, because I’d be taking with me a new pair of eyes. I don’t spend a lot of time in the woods so my surroundings would be mostly new to me. When we see the same things over and over again, we begin not to see them. We become familiar with them, but tend to stop seeing their nuances.

It was almost impossible for me to name this little painting. The building in the background is anything but obscure by way of architectural achievement. It’s the new Education Center that opened in 2009 at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, mentioned yesterday. It is the first state-owned building in North Carolina to have achieved LEED* Platinum Status. Perhaps it’s appropriate that I depicted it in a supportive role to its environment.

The tall pines you see in the painting are North Carolina’s famed longleaf pines. Other than the University of North Carolina sports teams, ever heard of Tar Heels? Two of the byproducts of the longleaf pine are tar and turpentine. Workers in close proximity to these trees picked up tar on their heels and came to be known as Tarheels; North Carolina, the Tarheel State — just a little trivia for you today.

* Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design

Back on the trail

2011-02-17T06:34:00.000-08:00

Sycamore trees in winter 1, 10x7" watercolor

Sycamore trees in winter 2

My first date with my late husband included an afternoon at a State Park near Faribault, MN. When I asked him the names of particular wild flowers, he couldn’t tell me. “If I was from Minnesota, I would know them,” I responded. I wasn’t being nasty; I simply spoke the truth. Moving around all my growing up years as a “military brat” involved getting to know new regions and their vegetation. We picked blackberries in England, mangoes in the Philippines. I think my mother was responsible for instilling in my brother and me, a true appreciation of nature and its wondrous beauty.

I spent the day last Monday observing, appreciating, and painting a few of the glorious sights offered by nature at the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. With the prospect of a show next year in the new Education Center’s art gallery, I was given a quick private tour of the Center’s Display Gardens. Afterward, I headed down one of the Piedmont Nature Trails where I found many striking Sycamore trees, naked in winter with veins of white bark exposed on their upper trunks and limbs.

Steampunked cupid

2011-02-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

Rethinking her target

Setting her sights

Loading her weapon

Cupid, draw back your bow

On bended knee

Cupid perched

I had never heard of Steampunk fashion until I attended “My Broken Valentine”, another Dr. Sketchy session, this one in Pittsboro, NC. We met at a place called Davenport & Winkleperry, a coffeehouse and art gallery, both under the same roof. I admit, I had to google steampunk clothing when one of the Sketchy sketchers referred to cupid here as a “steampunked model”. Being an artist, it’s pretty easy to check out what the younger generation is up to. Behind one’s sketchbook, no one recognizes you as an imposter. I’m sure they view me as a child of the sixties, a pretty accurate assessment.

The sketch in color was a ten-minute pose, much too lengthy, as with the model’s back to me, there wasn’t a whole lot to draw. The black and white sketches above, all watercolors, were one-minute poses.

On trapeze

2011-02-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

Trapezio 1

Trapezio 2

Trapezio was the name of last Saturday’s Dr. Sketchy session in Raleigh. Attendees were provided with two female models who posed for us on trapeze in several one-minute poses, then some five, and finally a ten. These are my favorite of my one-minute sketches. Trapeze is a wonderful way to view the figure in ways one wouldn’t normally view it. Great sketch practice. In positions that might otherwise be impossible, a model on trapeze requires an artist to draw what they see, not what they know. Paint what you see, not what you know has quickly become one of my favorite drawing / painting mantras.

I’m not certain my last blog post went out to subscribers. If you did not receive the January 29 post, you’ll find it posted below or by clicking here.

Inward Bound

2011-01-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Spring walkway, Coker Arboretum, 18x24" watercolor

This may be my least favorite time of year. Too cold outside to comfortably paint en plein air, I’m housebound. With twenty-three paintings on my agenda for an upcoming show at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this may, on the other hand, be a good thing.

It was intended that all of the paintings for this show would be painted en plein air. I share with you one of two that I painted on location. The size of all the paintings will be 18x24". I have found that this is a little large to be painting in my calligraphic style. No problem with the lines going down in the second stage of painting, but the very wet wash that is essential to the base coat, does not want to remain wet on a day favorable to plein air painting. Here lies an example of not being able to have it both ways.

Click Chapel Hill 23 to see most of the paintings completed so far for my upcoming show at Carolina.

1-minute poses

2011-01-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Miss Annie Rose, 1-min. pose

I am not one for the bar scene. In fact, I gave up cocktail hours altogether over thirteen years ago. I could not resist the lure, however, of these wonderful dancer/models. Click on Hot Off the Easel, to view a 1-minute sketch of the other model, the exotic Meka La Crème.

To your right is a slide show of more Miss Annie 1-minute poses as well as the prize I was awarded for Best Marker Sketch. Now fancy that. I had to have been the oldest in a room full of twenty and thirty year-olds young enough to be my kids. Three prizes were awarded, and I’m the lady who won the black seamed stockings. Oh my!

Life is a cabaret

2011-01-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

Miss Annie Rose, 5-minute pose, 8x8" watercolor

Meka La Crème, 10-minute pose, 7x12" water color

If you like Lisa Minelli, here’s a little musical accompaniment while you’re reading.

Kegan, a.k.a. Sheik Attire

Burlesque Underground provided the models Thursday night for Dr. Sketchy’s Cabaret Exotique. Meka La Crème, the burlesque dancer, was by far the most exotic creature I’ve ever sketched. Performances after each sketch session were highly entertaining. What a great way to break the chill of a January night — sketching from life, entertainment from an eclectic troop of performers, and camaraderie with like-minded artists. Loved it.

Meka La Crème, 5-minute pose

Harem painting

2011-01-14T07:31:00.000-08:00


Harem, 7x10" watercolor sketch

Not the kind of harem I painted in November of the cows at Fearrington Village. This painting is a result of a severe case of cabin fever that drove me to Raleigh last night to participate in another Dr. Sketchy session. See Models Gone Mad in my Aug 26, 2010 post. More sketches and more about last night’s session to come.

Going to Carolina

2011-01-09T06:59:00.000-08:00


Rose time at the sundial, 9x12" watercolor

I’m playing James Taylor’s “Carolina in My Mind” as I write this. I’m gearing up for a spring/summer show in the gallery of Carolina Union at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This is one of several small studies for the show that I’ve done in the past year. An alumna of the University’s law school now owns this painting. This is one of several small Chapel Hill watercolors she purchased, so I think it is the University in general, not just Morehead Planetarium, to which she has a connection. I hope she comes to the opening of the show in May.

When I matted this painting, I left the edge showing, qualifying this painting as a vignette. This rarely works for me. To think about the outside edges of a painting while maintaining spontaneity within, is a little like scratching my head while patting my stomach.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind?

2011-01-01T09:49:00.000-08:00


“Corner Drug Store", 7x10" watercolor

I did not paint this scene to capture the Drug Store. I came to this corner to paint this little slice of Goldsboro where I live. Funny how it takes losing someone or something before we truly appreciate them. I was told when I was painting this that Goldsboro Drug Co. is going (or has gone) out of business. And I was reminded that there used to be a mortar and pestle sculpture atop the building. As I recall, it was gold in color. How I now wish I’d taken at least one photograph of it. The building I’m referring to is the one at center with the green and white awning. It’s probably the graphic awning more than anything that drew me to this scene.

How sad it makes me to think this business, like so many others in recent times, is going by the wayside. I wish I had enough willpower and commitment to stay away from the chains, the Walmarts and K-Marts, and pay a little bit more and give my business to our country’s smaller retailers. We may be able to find it for less, but the price we’re paying is the loss of the charm and personalized service small businesses bring to our communities. Goldsboro Drug Co. was built in 1870. It has been Goldsboro’s oldest business in continuous operation. I hope it remains so, and that what I heard about its closing is only a rumor.

Go to Hot Off the Easel to find the same scene in oil. In fact, if you’re a subscriber to my Behr Path newsletter, you’ll see this scene again this coming week painted again in oil, but from a limited color palette.

Captive subjects

2010-12-24T06:03:00.000-08:00

“William does bananas”, 5x8" watercolor

Rita Reinecker of Minneapolis, Minnesota was winner of the red fruit contest. Pomegranate, she guessed and pomegranate it was. Dave Hawley of Huntington Beach, California came in second by guessing tomato. Both were good responses, both, more creative than an obvious red fruit apple response.

The first request I’m likely to get when I’m commissioned to paint a wedding is “paint my grandkids”. As you may know, my wedding painting is done on location, in the moment. No preliminary sketching with pencil, just alla prima paint application. If one of my subjects stays still for more than a minute, I’m fortunate. Kids, of all people, do not stay still for a minute. And so I simply respond to a grandparent’s request by saying, “I can’t guarantee anything. But then, neither do doctors and lawyers.” They usually cut me some slack.

This painting of William was a little less challenging. He was locked into his high chair, and so I had a captive subject. And his little dog Felton enjoyed snoozing, so he too was still for more than a minute. See the entire collection of William and Felton paintings by clicking here.

“Cavalier King Charles on his throne”, 6 x 8" watercolor

Out of the box

2010-12-21T05:11:00.000-08:00


“Facing Finals at UNC”, 3x3" watercolor

I’m trying to find a link for Beaufort artist and good friend Jerry Stocks who tied with Donna in our little “Find the Dude” contest. Help me with this, Jerry, if you happen to be reading.

And here’s the last of the students studying at Carolina Union. Very recognizable in the crowd, with the UNC sweatshirt that gives him away.

In my past life as an advertising art director, creativity was king. No maybe not king, queen. The Idea was King. And so after trying to think out of the box for most of my life, I find myself still trying to come up with creative solutions. Here’s a valuable piece I learned from Bob Gill* when I was in graduate school, “If you want a more creative solution, make the problem more creative.” It works. Just try it. Ask yourself to name a fruit that’s red. Apple, right? Then make the problem more interesting, and ask yourself to come up with a fruit that’s red both inside and out. Name the fruit. I’ll post your response (or mine) on my next blog post.

Please note that I’ve left my last several students studying unsigned. This is because I don’t know where they’ll end up — the trash, in a mat singularly or in a dual-window mat where I only want one signature to show. Below is a series of quick-sketch watercolors I painted in Raleigh at Jerry’s Artarama for a fundraiser to benefit the National Wildlife Federation. Who says mat windows need to be cut perpendicular?


“Jerry’s Art-A-Thon”, multiple watercolors in an 8-ply multi-window mat

* Bob Gill, author of Forget all the rules about graphic Design. Including the ones in this book.

We have a winner

2010-12-16T06:29:00.000-08:00


“UGGs, book, and a laptop”, 2.5x4.5 watercolor sketch

Here’s one of the last two watercolor sketches I have of students gearing up for finals at UNC.

Interruption: my neighbor just stopped by with his usual Christmas gift for me, chocolate covered peanuts. I’m told he and his wife are now in their 80’s. Their son died just before Thanksgiving with a ruptured heart. 52 years old. As I watched his Dad step down my icy front steps, I thought to myself,

Sometimes life just kicks the crap out of us.

Two of you who put in guesses on the dude in the painting contest were friends of mine when my 36-year old husband Jerry died of cancer. I became a 29-year old widow. That’s when life beat up on me. I couldn’t have survived my loss without these close friends. Writer friend Leslie Carson Ritchie went out to eat with me when for some reason food wouldn’t go down in the presence of anyone else. Donna Jansen, also a writer, is a rock solid friend who I met in 1976 when she and I became a writer/art director team at TEAM Electronics, a chain of stereo component stores (remember those?) based in Minneapolis.

The contest was not rigged or biased. But I am glad Donna guessed the right dude. She’s been a great supporter of mine as well as a good customer. She is partial to my animal paintings and now has practically a farm in her collection — cows, sheep, goats, maybe others. It was partially her response to my last round of cow paintings that led in Fearrington Village (click “Losing the Muse”) to my last commission to paint a wedding. Thank you Donna!

The challenge continues

2010-12-15T05:04:00.000-08:00

“The dude on the right is eating Chinese take-out”

4 x 10.5" watercolor

I have about a million things to be doing today other than running blog contests. Only one person tried yesterday to guess which of the students in “Reading Day . . .” might be the mystery student. And he guessed about every one but the correct one! This probably says more about my ability to draw than it does his ability to identify. So here’s anther visual clue. C’mon people!

A contest

2010-12-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

Study for “Reading Day at Carolina Union”
9x12" watercolor


“Just-Not-Into-It-Dude”, 4x3" watercolor

Here’s a painting I shared yesterday in my weekly Behr Path email newsletter. If you’re a non-subscriber, clicking here will take you to the prompt that will allow you to become a subscriber.

The painting is a study for a larger painting that I plan to hang in my show next spring in Carolina Union at the University of North Carolina. In fact, this upcoming show explains my focus recently on the town of Chapel Hill and the University that calls it home.

The subject of yesterday’s blog entry is in the painting above. See if you can find him. I’m dropping in another one of him today. First one to pick him out of the group above gets a link on my blog. Already have a link here? I’ll give you another link on BrendaBehr.com Just leave a comment with your response. Ready, set, go.

A matter of focus

2010-12-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

“Just not into it”

5.5 x 8.5" watercolor

It’s been forever since I last posted, so I’ll try in the next couple of days to make up for lost time.

Last Thursday was “Reading Day” at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In preparation for finals, students with their brains, books and laptops were draped over every possible chair, sofa, and windowsill throughout campus. This provided the perfect opportunity for me to do some quick figure studies in watercolor. When I did these paintings, I was perched on the third level of the student union looking down into the lounge below. I could see the students clearly, but most of them were unaware of my presence above.

This guy was fun to watch. He was reminiscent of the quick model poses I’ve sketched in live model drawing sessions. He changed positions about every minute or so. One minute, he’d be checking his cell phone; the next, trying to focus on a book; and finally, he was eating take out food (I assume Chinese) with chopsticks. You’ll see more of this dude in days to come.

BrendaLand

2010-11-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

“The third floor”

6x9" watercolor

Friday night was the official opening of On the Plein Air Trail with Brenda Behr at Carolina Creations in New Bern, NC. In 2003, I found this [very] fine art and craft gallery soon after my return to North Carolina. It might well be the finest gallery of its type in the entire state. Word has it that co-owner Janet Francouer hand selects every single item right down to each of the greeting cards. I love her taste of humor and whimsy.

Here’s a link to the paintings in the show if you are one of those living too far to travel to New Bern. If, on the other hand, you want a really splendid Christmas shopping adventure, I advise you go the extra mile.

I did my very first night painting en plein air Friday night while standing outside Carolina Creations. Janet’s husband and business partner, Michael Fracouer, rigged me up with some lighting. I’m happy with the resulting painting. I’ll be sharing it on my newsletter that will come out tomorrow. Not a subscriber? Click here.

Janet and Michael graciously invited me to be an overnight guest in their home Friday night after the festivities. What an honor! If I could afford it, theirs is how I would decorate my home, and I would call it BrendaLand. It’s full of art and color and whimsy. If I didn’t love my life so much, I’d be mad with jealousy.

Had to paint the other view. I’m in love with the apple green bookcase you see on the right. It’s from a line of “Dust Furniture” that is carried at Carolina Creations. I think the name of the line should be Drunk Furniture. If you agree (or disagree) and like the look, just click on the name I’ve given it.

“Room with a bookcase”

9x7" watercolor

Losing the muse

2010-11-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

“Feeding”

“Rear View”

“Holding it in”

“Dos Oreos”

“Solo Oreo”

Yesterday the Lord of Plein Air commanded me, “Go to your room and paint twenty cow paintings.” I painted twenty-four.

When most artists lose their muse, they paint dogs. I paint cows. After spending a frustrating two hours trying to find parking near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I decided I’m outta here and drove up to Fearrington Village near Pittsboro. Painting in the country sounded real appealing to me. Amongst other things, Fearrington Village is known for its Galloway cows, cows that appear to have white corsets around their mid sections. For this reason, they’ve acquired the nickname “Oreo Cows”. Click Mooving subjects to see my attempt earlier this year to paint them in oils.

Painting live animals on location has its challenges. As the afternoon moved on, my sketches became more anatomically correct. Focusing on shapes and the relationship of body parts, one to the other, was key.

Voyeurism

2010-11-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

“Lovers at the Cow Cafe”

7x9" watercolor

I do not include people as subjects in my plein air paintings because I’m interested in watching their activities, albeit those activities can sometimes be interesting. If I’m in close proximity to the people I want to include in a painting, I will tell them my intent, and make sure it’s okay with them that I paint them. If, however, the people are across the room, such was the case here, I can generally get by unnoticed.

I could write a romance novel based on my observations of the scene above. He couldn’t keep his hands off her; by the time they left, she’d let her hair down; they didn’t let the table come between them and their embrace. Oh my!

Here is a case where I went to the most family-oriented of cafés, the Cow Café in New Bern, and found there a couple deeply emerged in each other. I had been expecting a bunch of kids that wouldn’t stay still long enough to be included in a painting. (Notice the dad and his daughter to the left of the lovers.)

Sketching people in public places can be great practice for an artist. People, cars and animals move, and so capturing them can speed up your observation and drawing process. There are no model fees. You can meet people this way. If the drawing turns out, and you’re feeling generous, they’ll appreciate the drawing as a gift — on and on.

Carolina Creations Fine Art & Contemporary Craft: On the Plein Air Trail with Brenda Behr

2010-11-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Carolina Creations Fine Art & Contemporary Craft: On the Plein Air Trail with Brenda Behr

Movin’ on up

2010-11-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

“The Guesthouse”

6 1/2 x 9" watercolor

I’ve painted the B&B and hotel rooms; now I’ve painted the guesthouse where I was so graciously accommodated in Beaufort last week. Years ago a TV show called The Jeffersons had the theme song called “Movin on Up”. I looked for it on YouTube as possible audio accompaniment to today’s blog post. I won’t go there.  

Notice the whites left in the painting. I’ve taken many workshops by former students of the great watercolorist Edgar Whitney. And many of them have passed down quotes from the master. “Your whites are your Ace card” is one of them. In this quote, he was making reference to the white of the paper. With watercolors, this is really the only legitimate white.

Santa’s coming

2010-11-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

“Steve and Ivie’s house”
7x10" watercolor

Ho de doe ho! Santa’s around the bend!
So, I’m not a poet, or a songwriter. But Santa really is just around the corner.

It would have been hard for me to leave the lovely Inn on Oak Street had I not been returning to quaintly beautiful Beaufort [SC]. My hosts Jerry and Ray had extended their gracious invitation to include the following weekend. And besides, Jerry was interested in commissioning me to paint her daughter’s house. And so here you are folks, Ivie and Steve’s lovely home in Habersham, an upscale development in Beaufort.

Notice the white trim. Normally, my calligraphic watercolor style does not lend itself to this kind of white crispness. I decided the trim, however, was so much a part of the character of the house that it needed to be depicted. To accomplish this, I did a base coat of watercolor that was a combination of wet and dry. Dry in the areas where I wanted to maintain my whites; wet in the areas where I wanted the colors to meld together. I feel good about the result. The next posting will include a painting in which I used this same approach. I may be onto something. With a major show of my calligraphic watercolors coming up next year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this breakthrough did not arrive too soon.

So you ask, where did Santa hop off his sled? The painting of Ivie’s house is a gift from her mom. Smart mom, she checked first to see if her daughter would be good with one of my paintings. Glad she is. Jerry’s candidness with her daughter also explains why this painting is not still under wraps.

Bedroom paintings

2010-11-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

“The Treehouse”, 6x9" watercolor

Van Gogh painted his bedroom in Arles three times. My first bedroom painting was of a room where I stayed at a lovely B&B in New Bern, North Carolina. Click on “The artist’s room at her B&B” to view. Following this was my room last April at The Inn on Oak Street in Jacksonville, Florida. Click on “The Boudoir”, which has in it a stately four-poster bed. Next, was an elegant room at The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, NC. This time click on “Sweet dreams”.

Two weeks ago, I returned to the Inn on Oak Street in Jacksonville, where I stayed in “The Treehouse”. I like to think there are better things to do when I’m on the road than flipping on the TV. Certainly, I can absorb more on my trips, if I’m painting as I go.

The Innkeeper

2010-10-30T05:56:00.001-07:00

I had to rush out of Beaufort right after I painted Jerry’s house, so I could catch the light in Jacksonville to do this next painting. I’ve named it “Lorena’s Sunroom”, as it is a painting requested by a beautiful woman named Lorena and differs from the one I painted last April of the same room. Lorena Eagle is the beautiful new manager of the Inn on Oak Street, where I’ve stayed twice now during Carol Marine workshops. See the watercolor I did of the Inn by clicking here. Owner of the Inn, Robert Eagle, a wise man, married this charming woman who comes from Albania. I call him wise, for as I see it, he could not have made a smarter choice in women for a wife and in managers of his beautiful Inn. She made my time at the Inn extra special by adding all kinds of special touches throughout my stay.

Above: “Lorena’s Sun Room”

Below: “The Sun Room”

“

Southern Hospitality

2010-10-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

“Jerry and Ray’s”
7x9" watercolor

It’s been awhile since I last posted. Travels have taken me afar. One of you has followed me well enough to know that I was headed in mid-October to Florida for a Carol Marine workshop*. And, Jerry, you were kind and generous enough to offer me a stopover in your charming, quintessentially Southern town of Beaufort, South Carolina. Only half an hour or so out of my way, the overnight stay broke up the road trip beautifully. Additionally, I can’t thank you enough for undoubtedly having the insight to know that I would be mesmerized into painting your gem of a Southern town. In the coming week, I’ll be posting here and on my Hot Off the Easel blog the fruits of my Beaufort labor [of love].

*Fellow blogger and artist, Linda Popple, has done us all the service and favor of blog posts that very well cover Carol Marine’s workshop in Jacksonville. Do click here to follow Linda’s blow-by-blow posting of the workshop from October 18 through the 25. Linda’s a buddy I had the privilege to meet in a workshop with Carol Marine last April. She’s as kind, talented, and generous as TEXAS is big!

Cotton fields back home

2010-10-15T05:28:00.001-07:00

“Now a Walmart”
5 1/2 x 8 1/2" watercolor

I’ve been intrigued with cotton fields since I very first returned to North Carolina in 2003. And I’ve always enjoyed putting stories with my paintings. Next Monday I’ll be sharing with my newsletter subscribers a new oil I painted of a cotton field not far from where I live. I’ll also be discussing the use of oils vs. watercolors. Please click here if you are not already on the mailing list, and are interested in becoming a subscriber to my weekly Behr Path newsletter.
Following is the text I wrote in 2003 that accompanied this painting. My watercolor style is different now, of course I’ve changed the name of the painting, and my mother has passed, but my love of storytelling and plein air painting continues.

I drove by this field many times on Hwy 70 en route to Raleigh. The vast field with barns on the horizon caught my eye even before the cotton started bursting. Mother in tow, I did the painting utilizing the trunk of the car as my easel. The leaves of the plants had turned partially crimson. How many times did I hear Mom tell me the cotton should be picked before so much rain falls on it? Growing up, long ago, she worked for a cotton grower in Texas. That’s why she says she knows cotton. I suppose any farmer in these parts would tell her it’s not her cotton pickin’ business.

It Takes a Village

2010-10-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

“Miss Tee’s House
7x9" watercolor

The modest house in the painting was the home of a former Senior Vice President of Piedmont Airlines. And yes, she was a woman. Trailblazer Ms. Davis made her way up in the South of the 50’s, a time when Harriet Nelson was role model to many. Her friends called her Miss Tee, hence the name of the painting.

Wherever you stand on Hilary Rodham Clinton’s book It Takes a Village [to raise a child], I’m here to say, It Takes a Village for an Artist to Make a Living. I view my patrons as not only those who purchase my artwork, but those who support me in whatever way they can. Friends in the town where I live keep their eyes and ears open to opportunities for me. I get referrals from people who know my work, and I receive invitations for overnights on the road where overnight stays would otherwise be cost-prohibitive. I never had the privilege to meet Miss Tee. She is the late mother of patron and friend Ed Davis. Miss Tee’s house is where I’ve stayed in Winston-Salem in preparation for the Black Walnut Festival in Bethania, NC. Thanks to Ed and also to friend Rita who flew down from Minneapolis, MN to help me at the Festival. I send my deepest gratitude to all who so generously give me their continuing support.

See another recent gesture of hospitality shown to me by clicking “Cabin Retreat” .