"Enchanted Twilight" 36x60 Oil on Canvas

I am thrilled to have been invited to be part of an exciting new exhibition with four other artists in Omaha, Nebraska. "Enchantments: Visions of the Southwest" opens on Friday, September 3rd. The opening reception will run from 5 to 9pm at the Nicholas Street Gallery, Hot Shops Art Center, 1301 Nicholas in Omaha. The exhibit features no only my paintings, but those of Lori Elliott-Bartle, photography by Dorothy Tuma, sculpture by John Prouty and jewelry by Rose Rutherford. As you can probably guess, all of the artwork is inspired by each artist's interpretation or vision of the southwestern United States. My husband and I took a month-long trip this spring through Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California and Colorado, so I had plenty of reference material for my part of the exhibition. I've also had the opportunity to do some plein air painting in the last three years in Santa Fe, Taos and Phoenix areas. There are eight of my plein air pieces included in the exhibition and six of my "fresh off the easel" studio paintings. Above and below are some of my favorites, just to give you a sneak peek... to see most of the paintings, check out the "My Newest Works" category under the "Paintings" section of my website. I hope you enjoy them...and hope to see you at the opening of the show!

 
"Enchanted Land" 12x30 Oil on Linen Panel

 
"Zion Majesty" 12x30 Oil on Linen Panel


"The Sentinels of Red Canyon" 12x30 Oil

    

I was honored to be invited back again to the Door County Plein Air Festival for the third time. The festival was held last week in Door County, Wisconsin. Forty of the best plein air painters from across the US and Canada were invited to participate.   Sincere thanks to the staff and many volunteers at the Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek for their tireless work in putting together a very successful and well run festival.  The people of Door County are incredibly supportive of the art school and the artists, which makes it a joy to participate...thank you! It was also a pleasure to see so many of my artist friends again, and to make new friends. We had so much fun and everyone did fantastic work! 
   We all spent six days painting throughout Door County, from early morning until night...in fact some artists did nocturne pieces. I had good intentions of doing one, but opted for early morning pieces instead. We participated in several "mid day demos" throughout the county, which gave us the chance to visit with people, explain the process of plein air painting and allow folks to watch us paint. There was a sunrise paintout on Monday morning and a sunset paintout at Sister Bay on Wednesday as well. I completed a total of eight paintings with another three that need some "tweaking." So far, three of my paintings have sold (pictured above). You can see all of the finished paintings under the "My Newest Works" section of the Paintings page on my website. 
   
If you'd like to find out more about the Door County Plein Air Festival, please visit www.doorcountypleinair.com. As a fun side note, the photo of me painting, above, is now on the banner of the Egg Harbor Business Association website... www.eggharbordoorcounty.org. Take a look!
 

This is my personal favorite of the three paintings I did during the Carmel Art Festival, Carmel, California, in May 2010. It was very gray, foggy, cloudy, overcast and chilly during the plein air competition. I really like contrast in my paintings, which is sometimes difficult to find in a subject on a gray day. The cypress and eucalyptus trees make the perfect subjects in this situation, not only for their interesting patterns and nice vertical elements but for the strong dark contrast they create against the gray sky and light foreground. I also loved the mood of this scene...it was very quiet and and peaceful as I painted here in the solitude near Carmel Beach. This piece has been accepted into the American Impressionist Society's 2010 National Juried Exhibition at Richland Fine Art in Nashville Tennessee. The exhibit opens on October 7th. For complete information, please visit www.americanimpressionistsociety.org.

In September 2009, I was in Carmel, California for the grand opening celebration of Mountainsong Galleries, who represent my work. While there, I completed five paintings, including "Garrapata Glory", painted on location at Garrapata State Park...one of my favorite places to paint. Normally, I get so engrossed in painting that I don't think to take photos of the process...however this time I decided (and remembered!) to do so and thought you might like to see how the painting progressed.
  
Above left is the location where I was standing...the cliffs here are so beautiful and I love the shadow and light patterns at this time of day (mid-day). This next photo, above right, shows my pochade setup...an Open Box M on a tripod. Note that I placed my easel so that the canvas and the majority of the palette were in shade. This helps me to see the colors more accurately. I find if I paint with it in the sun, the colors are very washed out when I get the paintings back in the studio.
  
Above, left, you can see that I've blocked in the shadow shapes and can see part of the initial drawing, done with a brush and thinned paint. I toned the canvas with a light wash of cadmium red light before I started. This gives a nice warm glow to the finished painting, as some of that underpainting ends up showing through. This next image shows the light shapes including the water having been blocked in. I then went over the entire painting, painting in smaller shapes of color and value within the larger shapes. I left the foreground until last in this painting since it was in sunlight the entire time I painted and didn't change much. I was more concerned with capturing the light and shadow on the cliffs first since that was changing quickly. Finally, below is the finished painting..."Garrapata Glory", 8x10 oil on linen panel. This painting is available at Mountainsong Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, www.mountainsonggalleries.com.

I am thrilled to announce that my painting, "Laguna Cliffs II," has been accepted into the Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Exhibition which will be held at Howard Mandville Gallery in Kirkland, Washington from August 8th through 30th. For complete information about the exhibit, please visit www.oilpaintersofamerica.com. "Laguna Cliffs II" is a 14x18 oil painting on a linen panel, painted in the studio from a small plein air study I did in Laguna Beach, California last fall. This painting won an "Honorable Mention for Artistic Excellence" in the Salon International 2009 Juried Exhibition at Greenhouse Gallery, in San Antonio, Texas, last April.

I am one of 40 artists who have been invited to take part in the Door County Plein Air Festival which takes place in Door County, Wisconsin next week (July 20th through 26th). There are events all week long where the public will have the opportunity to meet the artists and watch us work. The event culminates in a Gala Auction event on Friday, July 24th; a "Quick Paint" event in the park on Saturday morning, July 25th, and a public opening reception on Saturday night. For a complete schedule of events and list of participating artists, please visit www.doorcountypleinair.com.

I was thrilled to learn that my painting, "Hill Country Morning," above, has been awarded First Place for signature members in the Plein Air Artists Colorado Juried Exhibition at Abend Gallery in Denver. A total of five of my paintings are included in this exhibit.The exhibition runs through July 25th. For more information, please visit either www.abendgallery.com or www.pleinairartistscolorado.com. "Hill Country Morning" was painted on location near Fredericksburg, Texas, in April, during a paintout with members of Plein Air Artists Colorado and a local painting group. This farmstead had so many interesting things to paint...there has to be at least a thousand paintings here! Many thanks to the owners for allowing us to spend a day there.

The National Academy of Professional Plein Air Painters national exhibition of plein air and studio landscape paintings, "Natural World Observed 2008" is currently on display at the Adam Whitney Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska. Eighteen members of NAPPAP are participating in the exhibit which runs through December 31st. These artists are nationally recognized, with most having had articles written about them in major art magazines, some have books published, many are national and international workshop instructors, and some have lectured at such institutions as Harvard and the Smithsonian. I am very honored to be a member of this organization and especially proud to have been able to arrange for an exhibition of this caliber to come to Omaha. Five of my paintings are included in the exhibition, including "Majestic Morning, Lake O'Hara," which was painted in the studio from a plein air study. Many thanks to Deborah Macdonald, owner of Adam Whitney Gallery, and her staff for agreeing to host this exhibit and for their hard work and outstanding efforts in hanging the exhibit in such a beautiful manner. "Natural World Observed 2008" can be viewed at the gallery, located at 8725 Shamrock Road in Countryside Village Shopping Center in Omaha, through December 31st, and can also be viewed online at www.nappap.org.

After nearly two years in the works, author Edythe McLeod and I have a new children's book available! We are pleased to announce the arrival of "A Mouse Tale: Meesee and the First Christmas." This is the second Christmas book that Edythe and I have collaborated on about Meesee, a curious little mouse. In this story, Meesee watches the family in his house decorate their Christmas tree and hears them talk about the first Christmas. Meesee falls asleep as he lays on the floor admiring the beautiful tree. He suddenly finds himself transported back to Bethlehem and is a witness to the very first Christmas. I did 24 illustrations for this book, which are drawn with sepia colored pencil and then watercolored over the drawings. The books are $10 each  plus shipping and are available through my website, www.debragroesser.com. Just go to the "Works" section, then scroll down to the "Books" collection. Our first book, "A Mouse Tale: The Christmas Mouse," is also available there. We are in the process of distributing the books to area bookstores...I will post those locations as they become available.

     

My husband and I just returned from a long road trip which included seventeen days in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. I painted with mentor artist Kevin Macpherson for the first week and John Cosby the second week as part of the En Plein Air Masters program. I came home with a total of 21 paintings! Not all were finished of course, but overall I was pleased. Above are two of them, "Work Boats" and "Coastal Morning"...see the "My Latest Works" section of my website for more. The mentor artists, who included Macpherson, Cosby, Kenn Backhaus, John Burton, Joe Anna Arnett, Gil Dellinger and Betty Carr, were tremendously affirming and encouraging with their critiques and feedback. Many thanks to each of them! It was also great to meet so many fellow artists from all over the country, and to get reacquainted with several we have met in the past.

    

St. Andrews is a very quaint town right along the coast on the Passamaquoddy Bay, about 28 miles across the border from Maine. This part of New Brunswick brought back so many childhood memories for me…I lived in Maine and on the coast of Newfoundland for about four years when I was a young child. The people there were so friendly and helpful, and very interested in all of us and our work. Many invited us to paint in their yards and gardens, and gave us tips on other great places in the area to paint. The most incredible thing was the tide there…it goes up and down 28 feet! In fact, there is one island there that at low tide a road appears that you can drive on over to the island. We literally would begin a painting with boats floating in the water and by the time we were done the boats were on dry land (and vice versa). The two photos from nearby Deer Island, above, give you an idea of how dramatic the tides are. A couple of times we found ourselves chased up (and off!) the beach by the incoming tide. It really was an amazing sight to behold. When the tide was going out it almost looked like the incoming waves were going backward…just unreal! There was an endless number of interesting things to paint there, from the fishing villages,  to the working boats, lobster shacks and traps, gorgeous architecture, the islands and so much more.