Three in a Canoe

6 x 12 Oil on Archival Board

Usually it's the person in the back that gets away with not paddling :-)  She could blame it on her paddle, I guess.  The longer paddle is for our kayak.  I'm not sure why we got the shorter paddle.  This is what happens when your dock house is a mess and the girls are anxious to get out on the water.  Trying to find anything is impossible!  It's Fall.  Now's the time to start cleaning it out in preparation for next summer. 

Canoe x 3

6 x 8 Oil on Archival Board

 

To Purchase Click Here

Three people fishing in a canoe..an unusual site here at the lake.  Most people have very fancy, super fast fishing boats, so it was nice to see people enjoying the peace and quiet.  No motors, just the sounds of the water lapping, birds chirping, and occasional fish jumping (usually far enough away that they don't get caught :-)  Another moment in time...

Green Canoe on Smith Mountain Lake

9 x 12 Oil on Archival Board

SOLD

Smith Mountain Lake is so diverse due to its huge size.  We live on the Gills Creek portion of the lake which doesn't have the distant mountains.  Actually it does, but one has to stand on the roof of the house to see it :-)  This is the Blackwater part which has a totally different feel.  I love the ins and outs of the land.  The lake has 500 miles of shoreline, so there's plenty of places to paint without repeating too often.  The trick here is to sketch your painting in quickly, because the colors and shadows change if you look away for a minute.  If interested in purchasing, please email me at shelleykoop@gmail.com. 

Have a great weekend!

Paddles Up!

   
This is a relatively simple painting and I thought it would be a quick study, but it took a lot longer to paint than I originally thought.  I was using a new brand of pastels which are thicker than most I've used before.  Because the figures are small I wound up switching to my usual brands midway, but by that time everything was out of balance and I had used up the tooth of the paper.  I suppose I could have sharpened the thicker pastels, but I wasn't that motivated.   I saved it as best I could and may think about painting it again....or not.