"Summer Hike"

I love using these "hot" colors - they give the feeling of the heat we are experiencing here in Central Washington. And the mountains and plateaus are heavy with wheat crops and the hills are turning brownish yellow without the rain we had this spring.  I am again showing the B&W image below to show you the values - dark, medium, light, with variety of each.
"Summer Hike" 8x6" pastel on LaCarte $100.00 unframed.  Email jennifer@evenhusfineart.com to claim this painting. Please put "Summer Hike" in the subject line. I will then send you a PayPal invoice with shipping and tax added. Thanks!

"Wild Side of the Fence"

My challenge was to keep this abstract and loose. I really like the different colored shapes and the light "fence" strips cutting through the landscape. I wanted to bounce the warm against the cool areas and to keep other areas neutral.
"Wild Side of the Fence"  24x18"  pastel on LaCarte   $575.00  unframed
To purchase email jennifer@evenhusfineart.com and put "Wild Side" in the subject line and I will email you a PayPal invoice with shipping and tax added.

"Whispering Ridge"

"Whispering Ridge" is a study in design. This piece works because the composition is super strong. It's eye-catching too because of the strong colors - red, orange, purple . . . and pink!  All in one small landscape!  I drove up this morning in search of designs in nature. Up to the heights I went and stopped on a hairpin turn, parked and looked out. That's it! Of course the landscape in front of me is always just a jumping off point - I change colors, move trees, and create my own story. This could almost be a novel - don't tempt me!  Here again I wanted to check the values and was pleased to see that I am spot on as you can see below. I almost like it better in black and white! You can clearly see the design without the color  . . .
"Whispering Ridge"  8x6"  pastel on LaCarte  NFS

"Desert Heights"

 "Desert Heights" is a plein air piece done this afternoon in the heat of Central Washington in summer. I like the contrast between the warmth on the hills and the cliffs below. To cool it down a bit, the sky asked to be blueish green and I obliged.  When this piece was almost complete, I wasn't sure the values were correct, so I shot a photo of it in black & white - a perfect way to test your values - get rid of the color! And yes, they are good... as you can see below.
"Desert Heights"  8x6"  pastel on LaCarte  SOLD

"Spring Blush"

PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF!
So, after many attempts over the years, I finally produced a painting of apple blossoms where they actually "feel" like apple blossoms. This went through several modifications before I arrived at this point - it has the fragility of a blossom, it has the "color" of an apple blossom - which isn't really pink, but as you can see - a combination of pink, blue, purple, yellow, and white. Ha! Finally!
"Spring Blush"  8x8" pastel on LaCarte

"Cot Harvest"

"Cot Harvest" 5x7 Oil on panel. Go to my gallery on Daily Paintworks to bid on this painting. Bids begin at $85.00!
The challenge with any painting is to create a great composition with whatever subject matter you have. I really like the placement of the cot surrounded with the stems and leaves and the negative space works to enhance this piece as well.

"Early Cot"

"Early Cot" 5x7" Oil on panel. Bids start at $85.00.

Go to http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/jennifer-evenhus-2146 to bid on this painting.
Apricots are a favorite fruit of mine, not only for the taste, but for the memories. I grew up in a home sitting on half an acre overlooking the... Columbia River and the Cascades. The house sat at the top of the lot and then the lot sloped down to a flat area where we had a garden and five apricot trees. My 3 siblings and I built tree houses, had cot fights, and spent many summer days enjoying the ripe fruit from those trees.

"Abrupt Arabesque"

"Abrupt Arabesque" held my attention even after leaving the studio - haunting my dreams with its mystery and depth. My inspiration, believe it or not, was a photo taken up Icicle a year or so ago, of leaves and rocks at the edge of a stream. I loved the patterns in the image, but knew it would not remain "leaves" and "rocks." I blocked in the image, it was still leaves and rocks.  I blocked in the colors - still leaves and rocks.  Frustrated, I stepped back to ponder my next move. Painting is often like playing chess. Deep thought required. Skill and fearless moves are master. Make it or break it - my favorite move - is what this painting needed. So after a night pondering and a morning waiting, I entered the studio, knowing what I needed to do. The image below is the before painting - that point when the painting needed something but I wasn't sure what. Compare the painting below with the completed painting above. See what I mean? The upper left corner changed. The middle yellow area painted over, more highlights. I darkened the small yellow spot at top middle right. Added more yellow area to the left middle. A spot of yellow to the bottom.  All these subtle changes "make or break" a painting. These "made" this painting.  24x18" on LaCarte.

Abrupt Arabesque - Before

"Lavender Ridge"

"Lavender Ridge" went through a ton of transformations until we arrived here. The poppies threatened to steal the show several times throughout this process, becoming too large in the foreground, assuming that it was all about them, but it's not, it's all about the lavender field and the distance trees. So they were scrubbed out and repainted several times until almost invisible, much to their chagrin! The composition is very dramatic with the forest diagonal echoed in the ridge.
18x12" on LaCarte $450 framed. SOLD Thanks Mary Alice E. of Spokane, WA