On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Our featured artist today is Betsy! Let’s give her a warm welcome.
If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series, send me an email message. Don’t be shy! This is the final Artists post in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.
Betsy
I paint landscapes in watercolor.
I have a couple of favorite subjects.
One is the sense of a particular ecosystem or plant community. I want to be able to remember the sound of the insects buzzing in the beach dunes, or make you imagine the coolth of the air sifting down a shaded hillside in a northern forest.
My other main interest is structures in their setting — a town or rural village. I’m especially interested in the spaces between buildings.
I’ve also painted a few house portraits for friends and clients. Right now I’d like to do more work on commission, since I just left a “real” job due to coronavirus concerns.
I hope you enjoy these paintings!
Update from Betsy:
I am is available to take commissions for art. I specialize in house portraits, but if you would like a different subject, let me know and I may be able to do something a little different for you. I would love to do some art for you!
Previously I have mostly done commissions for friends and neighbors, so bear with me as I start to scale up — this feels like a good moment for it.
My email for commissions is BetsyMakesArtForYou at the google email place.
Mixed hardwood-conifer forest and pond edge
Maritime inter-dune scrub.
In my mind I can still hear the bugs that day, making their repetitive sand-shaker sounds in the waxy vegetation.
Human-modified meadow and early successional forest. I was sketching with a friend’s children on a perfectly beautiful New England summer day.
Pond landscape with birch, white pine, maple, and spruce trees
The welcoming dooryard at a friend’s condo.
This was a gift for her, since I’ve stayed in her guest bedroom too many times to count!
Bungalow with porch glider, flowers, and propane tank.
I wanted a surrealist, dreamlike color for the trees around the house and behind it, so I used intensely colored artist’s crayons to create a wax resist that would repel the watercolor and create a stippled, broken color wash, with the lurid greens and pale orange of the wax showing through.
Colonial houses in an old port city.
This was a casual sketch done from a spot across the street. I was trying so hard to “paint around my whites” as you do in watercolor, leaving the paper untouched where the lightest lights are meant to be.
Friend’s childhood home. This custom house portrait was painted from several sub-optimal photographs of different parts of the house and a poorly focused google streetview image. I had to “photostitch” it all together using the software in my head and sketching out a composite in pencil by hand since one good view of the entire house was not available.
Coastal cottage from the early 1800s.
It has a copper roof that has patinated to light turquoise. In the yard are flamboyant azaleas, and a magnolia tree that shades the whole front walk.
A cypress swamp along a blackwater creek in late winter. It’s called “blackwater” because the tannins in the cypress needles and oak leaves stain the creek and swamp water a deep, beautiful, clear red-brown, like strongly brewed tea or coca-cola.
skerry
These are wonderful. I’d gladly hang any of them in my home.
debbie
You’ve got a nice, loose stye. I especially like your friend’s childhood home.
MagdaInBlack
I’m a big fan of watercolor and I love these. Thank you for sharing.
LOVE the little red doored bungalow.
Lapassionara
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. One question: do you do the painting at the site, or do you do a sketch, then paint later in a studio?
CCL
Lovely.
WaterGirl
These are really lovely, I might want want for my house.
Kristine
Your work is lovely–so airy. I can feel breezes and the sun on my face.
Thank you for posting.
WaterGirl
@Lapassionara: I think Betsy mentioned in an email to me that one of the watercolors was based on three different photos of the same house. I am guessing that no photo was great in and of itself, but she pulled from all 3 to get the full picture.
I am answering this for Betsy because I momentarily lost my mind and scheduled this without coordinating the time with her. (yikes!)
I just sent her email, and if today isn’t good for her i will pull this after a bit and put it up when the time works better for her.Another Scott
These are really excellent. I like how the styles vary but are all very evocative.
Best of luck with the commissions! Let us know if you have a store where we can buy prints or jpegs (e.g. for computer desktop wallpaper).
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
Betsy is my hero right now for quitting her job after covid exposure at the workplace, after which her request to work from home was immediately dismissed as out of hand by her boss and the bosses boss. One of whom was working from home at the time!
Go Betsy.
Sure Lurkalot
Love the cypress swamp. It filters the light like a winter day when the sun is lower in the sky.
A good friend does pastels for clients…lots of people portraits and dogs, not so much houses. Do you do this sort of work often?
jnfr
Excellent work. Really beautiful scenes. Thank you so much for sharing.
Old School
Very nice!
Kevin
I’m partial to the natural/woodsy paintings but they’re all lovely.
And screw your boss for not letting you work from home during the pandemic!
Richard Fox
Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing these!!
SiubhanDuinne
These are all wonderful, Betsy! I’m glad I don’t have to pick a favourite because every one is charming — but if forced to, I think I’d choose “Adirondack Park.” You really captured the breeze in the trees, and the moving water.
P.S. Your former bosses are jerks. But you know that.
Betsy
@WaterGirl: Bring it on! I’m available for commissions.
Betsy
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you. Sometime the weather and the place are so amenable to doing the work – it actually makes a huge difference in how I feel and how satisfying the result is.
ETA: I don’t like to feel it (about the bosses), but they really were.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Lovely! I can’t imagine how people do this
Betsy
@Lapassionara: Either or both! Usually the scene is just a lot more inviting to “get into” when on site. A photograph can only capture 1/1000th of the information that comes from being there, feeling the air, being able to move your head around to take in all the 3D of the scene.
However, other factors affect field work (getting hungry, or having gnats landing on you, or being aware of a leaf-blower running in the background, or changing sunlight, or starting to feel too cold or hot, or any number of things) can make it difficult. At home I can get set up under conditions I control.
The little bungalow with the red door was done in the studio, and that way I could experiment with tons of materials and colors. I had sketched it loosely on-site and that helped too.
Same for the friend’s condo stoop — done from photographs indoors.
Albatrossity
Gorgeous! The blackwater creek painting truly captures that ecosystem and color scheme.
Betsy
@debbie: Thank you. It was a tough challenge because I had no photo of the whole house!
Lapassionara
@Betsy: Thanks!
MazeDancer
What lovely work.
Do you have a website where people might discuss commissions or purchase your work?
And guessing from your style, you might also be good at rendering pets from a bunch of photos.
Betsy
@Sure Lurkalot: That is exactly what was happening – it was late winter, with that milky cirrus sky. I’m thrilled that you mentioned it.
Betsy
@Sure Lurkalot: I’ve never tried a pet portrait, not on commission anyway – I have sketched my own kitties. Maybe I should try it!
Betsy
@Albatrossity: Thank you. I had a new orange and a new blue paint that I was trying out.
Betsy
@Kevin: It was nuts. All my work was in front of a computer, no interactions with public, hardly a phone call a week. Le sigh.
zhena gogolia
Lovely!
Betsy
@MazeDancer: Thank you. I’ve never tried that, but there’s always a first time, right?
I’m working with a person to get an art site set up, but it’ll be a little while.
Let me see if I can find a way to put folks in touch with me about commissions!
debbie
@Betsy:
Here’s a question: How do you know when to stop?
WaterGirl
@Betsy: Otherwise known as a totally arbitrary decision, displaying total disregard for your well-being. I am well and truly pissed at them even though I have no idea who they are. :-)
Betsy
@Richard Fox: Thanks. Glad you like it!
Betsy
@Another Scott: I’m working on that, but it’s a little way off. Let me see what I can arrange – maybe I can set up an art-specific email address that I’ll post in the comments.
WaterGirl
@Betsy: If I am not mistaken, Richard Fox was one of our earlier artists who was featured.
I always think that one artist appreciating another artist’s work is especially gratifying.
MazeDancer
@Betsy:
Can’t hurt to give it a shot. For ease of use and complete control of look. I rec Wix.com.
You don’t have to add any store or purchasing part, you don’t need Shopify, yet. Just display work, with prices, and people can email you.
Or at least put up an Instagram, despite their evil FaceBook connection, so people have a point of contact. Connect it to your nym.
Commissions make a nice b-day or Mothers Day gift.
Betsy
@skerry: @debbie: @MagdaInBlack: @CCL: @Kristine: @jnfr: @Old School: @Kevin: @Richard Fox: @Dorothy A. Winsor: @zhena gogolia:
Thanks! It’s so nice to hear that.
Almost Retired
Wonderful! I was particularly taken with the colors and shadows on the Coastal Carolina piece. Great work!
Betsy
@debbie: Ha! Great question. Sometimes I don’t, and I go too far and I wish I could go back.
Usually I have a composition (visual arrangement) in my minds eye and when it matches that, I stop.
It’s mostly intuitive, but often I will sketch out a value study (arrangement of lights and darks, to get the composition right ) ahead of time. There are “rules” (breakable rules) that can help make an arrangement pleasing or whole-seeming.
Also, very often I’ll take a break as I sense I’m getting towards “the end”, and come back after lunch or a break, or after a day or two, and just look at things and make notes on what else needs to be done – before I go and “ruin it”. (Believe me, I’ve ruined a thing or two by keeping on.)
Betsy
@MazeDancer: Wow, okay, those sound like great ideas! I’ll try to set something up today.
MazeDancer
@Betsy: Start with Instagram, takes 5 minutes to post 1 pic. And you can link to your nym, now, while the thread is fresh
Or have WaterGirl add an email up top. One you don’t use much. Or create a new one now. She can state it as “BetsyPaintsFotYou at the Google mail place” for example.
WaterGirl
@Betsy: You can also put add a URL to your nym once you have one, and then folks just have to click on Betsy to get to your stuff. :-)
Betsy
@MazeDancer: I set up an instagram and my handle is TheButtermilkyway
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZFa6jNP59s
From there, people can contact me about commissions!
Betsy
@MazeDancer: When folks go to my instagram, how do they send me a message?
Betsy
Trying to put the link with my nym. Hope it works ?
Another Scott
@MazeDancer: IG is great, I guess, but it asks me to sign up for an account and I’m not going to do that.
Is there a setting that Betsy needs to turn on to make it visible for those without accounts?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Cermet
The Bungalow is up there with some of the best paintings I’ve seen. The “Door yard” is beautiful in its simplicity yet offers such overwhelming warmth. The Northern New England picture gives a better impression for the feel of that country side then the actual picture – that is what art should be capable of doing but too often doesn’t.
Tehanu
Very nice, thanks for showing them to us.
Raven
Nice work. My just finishing up contractor did a copper roof for a semi famous local a few years ago and said it had quadrupled in value!
KRK
Really nice work. I would be interested in talking about a commission. But, like Another Scott, I’m not looking to create an I-gram account.
oldgold
“Be an opener of doors.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
I like that your paintings feature doors. They suggest possibilities.
WaterGirl
@Betsy: I see a table with a lamp, if that’s you, you did the URL right!
But without an instagram account, I can’t see anything but that image, and I don’t see a way to contact you.
Betsy
@Cermet: Gosh, your words really make me feel good! It’s nice to feel appreciated.
I do like to go from casual and whimsical (the dooryard) to a more “painterly” approach (the bungalow). Thanks for the noticing look at my stuff.
opiejeanne
The dooryard of your friend’s condo, was that somewhere in the Southwest? Something about the light and the plants and the overall look of it. I love it and all of the rest that you’ve shared today.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
These are wonderful! I especially like the Adirondack watercolors, particularly the first painting. Thank you for submitting these. And the shot of the painting in front of the scene really shows how evocative art can be.
Betsy
@Another Scott: @KRK: Based on helpful comments from MazeDancer and others, I’ve set up an email address where readers can contact me about a commission. That contact is BetsyMakesArtForYou and it’s at the “G (for google)” mail place.
I hope that’s too mysterious for the spambots — and yet not too mysterious for those who actually wish to get in touch with me!
WaterGirl
Betsy, thank you for sharing your art with us! These Artist threads can get comments on and off for hours as various people discover the thread. So even if it looks like the thread might be over at some point, I would encourage you to check back for comments and feedback, even tomorrow morning.
MazeDancer
@Betsy: They click on the little paper airplane symbol.
@Another Scott: You have to have an account to message.
But now she has an email, so enjoy the pics on the ‘gram and contact her by email.
Betsy
@Another Scott: @MazeDancer: @KRK: @WaterGirl: Got a new email address, so anyone can get in touch to ask me to make some art for them! I’ve put it in comment # 56.
@oldgold: How interesting. I will be thinking about my doors now :)
@opiejeanne: It’s in the humid east! But she’s got a very sunny, hot spot in the front, and those terra-cotta pots and the stones do give it a xeriscaped aspect.
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Thanks for the kind words.
Anna
These works are beautiful. I love the stylistic differences, yet they are all so inviting. There’s a gentle warmth each of them evoke that is calming and enveloping. They make me happy just viewing them.
MazeDancer
@Betsy: Well done with the email and Instagram speed.
This gives indication that you will be able to handle the biz part of owning a creative business well.
Alas, the biz part will be as time consuming as the painting part. But nothing wonderful is easy to start.
trollhattan
Think my BP dropped 12 points just enjoying these. Very helpful narrative outlining the visualization and paintcraft. Lovely!
KRK
@Betsy:
Thank you!
Kalakal
These are very nice. Utterly charming and on topics dear to my heart
RaflW
I have hanging in my home a beloved house portrait that I had a small hand in creating. Decades ago, my (dearly departed) mom did a needlepoint of my grandparent’s suburban Kansas City home. She drew it out on the backer from a photo, but had some challenges with the rooflines and getting the perspectives to look ‘right’ in the rendition. I was a clever little brat with some drafting training.
So it’s a mom-craft of the home I most associate with childhood Christmases and other delights. <3
Betsy
@Anna: @trollhattan: I feel useful now.
Always wanted to be the kind of person that could make people’s blood pressure go down. :)
MomSense
Your work is amazing.
Betsy
@RaflW: That’s so neat. I love your recollection of working with your mom on something that represented a special place to both of you.
Betsy
@MomSense: Thank you!
Another Scott
@MazeDancer: To be clear, I do not have an IG account, so I cannot see any of her stuff there – on clicking the link above (for her IG images) I immediately get an IG signup page. I assume, but do not know, that there is a way to make her images “public” there. If so, it would be helpful for us who do not have IG accounts. If not, eventually putting them on another site (that does not require an account for viewing) might be something to consider.
(Chrome on Winders.)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
BigJimSlade
Wonderful work!
MazeDancer
@Another Scott:
Used to be one could see images on Instagram without signing in. But, clearly, this has changed.
Yes, Betsy can set up a site with her work nicely displayed. She said she was working on something with someone. And I rec’d Wix.com for ease of use with total control of look.
The Instagram suggestion was just something fast to accompany this thread. But email works even better. Now people can think about a possible commission and be in touch with her.
And maybe others will recognize, gee, they need something to attach to their BJ Nym when they get featured in a post.
Steeplejack
Probably should fix the e-mail address in the “Update from Betsy” from “BetsyMakesArtForYou2gmail.com” to “BetsyMakesArtForYou@gmail.com.” Might not be an obvious typo to some.
Steeplejack
Beautiful work. I like the bungalow with porch slider and propane tank.
Gin & Tonic
8 hours without an open thread. I want my money back.
Ohio Mom
@Gin & Tonic: Oh, eventually every thread is an open thread, at least that’s the complaint I’ve heard.
Anything particular on your mind? How is the green card application going, or is it too soon to tell? There will be a lot of congratulations for you and your family around here when that card is in hand.
Chip Daniels
@WaterGirl:
What is your email?
I am a lurker, but have some watercolors to share.
stinger
Wow — these are so evocative, such a sense of place. I love the one that shows the space between houses — original and revealing!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Chip Daniels:
WaterGirl[at]balloon-juice.com.
Gin & Tonic
@Ohio Mom: Just generalized dyspepsia.
Thanks for asking, there was what was supposed to be an interview on Friday, except it was just a document review, with the “real” interview scheduled for tomorrow. After that, who the fuck knows? If all goes well, an IR-1 visa at some point.
mvr
@Chip Daniels: There’s a “contact us” tab up near the top that takes you to a page with emailing directions for the front pagers. near the up down and back arrows.
WaterGirl
The correct email address is now in the update up top.
Betsy
@Steeplejack: Thanks so much for catching that. I’ve emailed WaterGirl to see if she can adjust my typo.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Fixed!
WaterGirl
@Chip Daniels: You can send email to my nym at balloon-juice.com :-)
Benw
Nice, Betsy. I really like the charcoal piece.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: The check is in the mail.
Also, I put up an Open Thread for you.
Ohio Mom
@Gin & Tonic: Maybe after decades of 9-5 Monday-Friday, the Sunday afternoon blues take a while to fade away? Though I still have them and I haven’t worked at a paid job in a long time, mostly I think it’s sympathy pain for Ohio Dad and Son.
Or maybe we’ve had enough of winter? It’s week and a half until Ground Hog’s Day, the halfway point to spring.
SkyBluePink
Beautiful work!
Love the houses- will have to dig up pics of my house,,,,
Betsy
@Benw: Thank you. It’s actually Prismacolor pencil, a favorite of mine, and my favorite color in these is a 90% warm gray.
Betsy
@SkyBluePink: I would love to see some!
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: New thread up top, and debbie is asking you a question.
I can only peek at Ukraine through my fingers at this point.
Benw
@Betsy: oh, nice. I loved doing pencil work (many many years ago).
Grumpy Old Railroader
Go Betsy! Impressionist Landscapes are my Fav. Absolutely great work
WaterGirl
@Grumpy Old Railroader: Yours are great, too!
J R in WV
Betsy:
These watercolor paintings are wonderful — they remind me of the work my mom did years ago, which is a compliment as she was gifted with her hands. She refinished old abused furniture, sewed custom clothes, laid out newspaper pages (as a career) and after retiring started taking classes in watercolor from a friend who made a living with her art. The art group would meet once a week and drive together into the country and paint, waterfalls, old farms, old coal camps, etc…
After she and dad moved to FLA for the winters, she started doing swamps and barrier island overgrowth around old “mansions” on the beach islands on the Gulf. We have a couple dozen of her paintings, mostly hanging in the house. We gifted many as wedding presents to her great-nieces and -nephews, my cousins, over the years.
So your work hits me right in my sweet spot. Watercolor work is so much more difficult than people realize, leaving the base paper untouched where you need white space sounds easy, but the slightest error can spoil the plans.
And congratulations on leaving your manipulative bosses stranded without your work to exploit!! The gall of working from home to tell you you can’t work from home! They can’t stand the thought that an employee might be taking a snack break without permission, even if the work is always getting done well. Screw them!!
Best wishes with your commission work, also too !!!
Regine Touchon
@Betsy such lovely work! Tried my hand at watercolor and discovered how difficult it is not to muddy the colors and overwork the composition. Thanks for sharing.
Miss Bianca
Oh, these are just so lovely. Thank you for sharing them!
Betsy
@J R in WV: I loved hearing your story of your mom’s talents and how she used them throughout her life. This comparison is a compliment indeed. How great that you have and cherish her paintings.
Yep, watercolor is hard, which comes as a surprise to so many, including me! It’s such an innocent-seeming medium, with its portability and water-solubility.
I’m a draw-er by nature and practice, so learning how *not to draw with the paint* has been a long but worthwhile journey.
You totally get it about what happened (was happening) at work. Good lens.
PIGL
I really like your work. I’d buy the first piece in a minute.
Betsy
@stinger: Love some negative spaces, especially the ones between old buildings
@Grumpy Old Railroader: Thanks for egging me on :)
@Regine Touchon: I feel that. Still wrangling my colors and making plenty of mud!
When all else fails I say just mix ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, can’t go wrong there
@Miss Bianca: You are welcome. The kind words have been a great boost.
sab
Betsy,
I love watercolor because it is so immediate (hard to paint.) You cannot force it and you cannot fix it. Some good watercolorists are delicate, some are vibrant, some manage to be vibrant with colors, some don’t want to do that.
I love what you do in this difficult medium.
Denali
Betsy,
Thanks for sharing your beautiful paintings. I am getting back to watercolor and remembering the challenges of avoiding the muddy painting and overpainting- knowing when to stop. Even working from photos, it’s important to remember composition and values early on. It is always fun to give it a try- you never know when magic will happen.