Author: susan1bradford

This last summer I traveled to Utah to see Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. Even though they are only a few miles from each other they are very different. Canyonlands is huge, over 500 square miles. you can only drive into a small part of it but it is very majestic. Its where the Green River and the Colorado River meets and then that confluence goes onto the Grand Canyon.

My palette is Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light, and Titanium White. I use Gamblin oil paint and mix all my colors. I wasn’t going to paint the two national parks as it all seemed so surreal but decided to paint one of each.

Recently I have been in the Vineyards here in Sebastopol capturing them in their beautiful fall colors and doing very large plein air paintings which is very challenging especially in this long format. I have to adjust my easel so the bottom of the painting is almost on the ground and therefore I can work on the top of the painting. Then I can move the painting up to paint the rest of it. I use Gamblin Oil paint and my palette for this painting was cobalt Blue, Cadmium Red medium, Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White. I mix all my colors and I used very large brushes to be able to paint such a large canvas in a couple of hours. Of course I worked on it in my studio at home later.

I’ve been painting in the Sonoma County vineyards this fall to capture the fall colors and to try and do plein air with large canvasses. This is about 2 miles from my house on Gravenstein Highway and Oak Grove avenue. My palette is Cobalt blue, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium yellow light and Titanium white. I use Gamblin oil paints and mix all my colors.

I have printed up some large Christmas cards from one of my paintings “A Christmas Story”, 16 x 20, Oil. I painted this still life last Christmas with my Friday group. I love the painting so much that I decided to have Christmas cards made. Its a large card with a white border around the card. The card is 6 inches by 8 inches and comes with an envelope. It says Merry Christmas and Happy New Year inside.

If you are interested in purchasing them they are $8 each or $35 for 5. You can contact me if you would like to purchase them. susanbradforddesigns@charter.net or you can text me at 802-371-8236.

Our last night on Monhegan Island we went to the Inn on the harbor and sat on the porch with a glass of wine before dinner. I took this photo and when I got home I painted this beautiful scene from the photo. My palette is Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Red medium, Cadmium Yellow Light, and Titanium White. I use Gamblin oil paint and mix all my colors from these four tubes. The lobster boats were in for the night. Its a gorgeous place to visit.

This is a recent plein air painting I painted of Bodega Bay. I was painting the marshland when an egret came into my painting and stood there so I put him or her in. My palette is Cobalt blue, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White. I use Gamblin paint and I mix all my colors.

I was lucky enough to spend a week on Monhegan Island, Maine in August and painted nine paintings in seven days. My palette is Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White. I use Gamblin paint. There are no cars on the Island so one has to walk everywhere with their supplies. It was a tremendous experience and I hope to go their again next year.

I painted this beautiful cottage at the Fog Crest Winery a couple of weeks ago. The palette is Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Medium and Titanium White. This is in Sebastopol where I live here in Sonoma County. Not only is the wine there delicious but the views are spectacular.

Here’s a plein air painting I did with my Friday group of roses in a blue vase. I painted this one with a knife. My palette is Phthalo blue, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White. I use Gamblin Oil Paint and from these colors I mix all my colors.

Here is a plein air painting painted at my friends house who had some pansies spring up from last year. She put them in a basket and set them in the sun. My palette for this painting is cobalt blue which is a cool blue, cadmium red medium, a warm red, cadmium yellow light, a warm yellow and Titanium white. I use Gamblin oil paint. So here is an example of using a cool with two warms unlike the last post which was all warm.