Artist Renee Lammers

"Garden Stroll" 7x5 oil on copper  Sold.  Thank you so much!

 350$ framed in gold or black with gold.  Shipped.

While I was painting my dogs escaped!

For three hours they were outside by themselves.

I opened the back door for fresh air.

The deck gate was latched.

They unlatched the gate and took off!

The house was quiet.

I ran outside.  I couldn't see them or hear them.

What a scary thing!

I thought they were gone for good.

Then I went next door. 

They were rolling in a mud puddle!

They came running.  They ran passed me right up the stairs inside the house.

I will use floral wire to secure the gate next time. 

I am positive Lily used her lock picking skills to let her parents outside.

   I took my dogs to the beach today.  They ran, swam, and dug holes.

This is before they escaped.  They have Spring Fever!

   I saw this beautiful home in Rockland on my way to an artist opening.

   Winter thaw has come finally! 

I am glad my dogs are home safe!  Good night.

"Monhegan Morning At Swim Beach" 20x30 oil on copper.  1850$ framed in your choice

of frame.  Shipping is included in the price.

    Here it is finally finished!  I took the painting outside on a grey windless day to photograph!

I used my Canon EOS 7D.  What a clear image compared to my cellphone or Fuji camera.

   The snow has almost melted. 

Here is Monet wearing many snow balls from a few days ago.

Good night!

    Wow!  Here it is so far!  Just one more skiff to paint! 20x30 oil on copper.

  I really like how this painting is coming along.

I decided to paint small touches of Cadmium Yellow Light with Titanium White

around the red house and Manana Island.

 There was so much light coming off of this house and Manana it was the only

way to pump up the light!

This also lightened the sky.  The sky looks more radiant.

I added pink to the sand on the beach.  There are also sky colors in the sand.

I decided to paint the green skiff a bright green with bright red bottom paint.

This seemed to balance all the bright colors in the house and grass. 

The sand, rocks, most of the skiffs will be neutral in color.

   Tomorrow I should post the finished painting!

Good night.

    I painted lobster traps, grass, flowers, trees, and rocks!

Tonight or tomorrow I hope to paint seven dinghies and sand!

   Here is the whole 20x30 oil on copper painting.

I believe the dinghies will be easier to paint!

   Luke was at the beach today twice!  It was warm for Maine 52 degrees!

   I loaded the dogs into the van.

   We had a great time!

   I like this photo of Sandy Point Beach.  The only problem I see is lack of a subject. 

Have a good night!

"Painting The Actor" 11x14 oil on copper.  475$ framed in gold or black with gold.  Shipped.

   Tonight we painted the actor again.

I started a new painting. 

Portrait class has been a great experience.

It has increased my drawing skill, gave me the ability to paint people, and gave me insight

into my own paintings.

I like to tell stories in my paintings.

I didn't realize this. 

I am also very surprised I can paint people!

I might not be the best at painting people but they do resemble the person.

Another thing I have discovered by taking portrait class...I am a fast painter!

Being a fast painter isn't really important.  Quality is important.  Speed can be useful.

   Port Clyde was beautiful tonight at sunset.

I admired the luminous sky.

I also loved the sunlit tips to the spruce trees and rocks.

I loved the light in the distance on the water.  What a beautiful line of light on the water.

Paintings are all about light for me.   They are about the quality of light.

 Marshall Lighthouse was beautiful. 

The only problem with this image is the sunlight beam in the center of the painting.

If I were to paint this image, I would need to crop the image, and paint either the lighthouse

or the lighthouse keeper's house.

    These white houses looked pink because of the quality of sunlight at sunset!

I would not be able to paint this photo because of the road taking the eye out of the image

to the right.  I could crop the house in the center to paint.

   This was my favorite photo taken today. 

I can not find anything wrong with the design.

The light is perfect.

I love the waterline not being in the center. 

Love the orange sunlit grass peaking through the snow!

    These two lobster boats on stand in the snow were cute.

The eye bounces back and forth between the two lobster boats.

I would call this a boat for each eye...a design problem...fixed by eliminating one boat!

Good night!

    Monhegan Island has such an interesting red house located on the harbor with

Manana Island in the distance.

    I decided to paint a sailboat in the harbor. 

    Here is the entire painting.  It is a 20x30 oil on copper. 

   The dog's bark box arrived today full of toys and treats!

Monet loved the zebra/ball toy.  He took possession of the safari hat and snake too.

He acted fierce defending his toys!

Then he allowed Lily to play.

Poppy ran upstairs dramatically to hide in her bed.

I went upstairs and petted Poppy.

Then she came downstairs to play with the toys.

Poppy can be a drama queen. 

Dogs have such personalities!

   The Searsport Captain's house was taking a break from being dismantled.

Good night! 

   I decided to take Poppy to the vet for an xray!

Poppy thinks she is pregnant.

It is time to figure this out!

She should have delivered puppies Feb 18-21.

UPDATE:  We are back from the vet!  No puppies seen!

Poppy has false pregnancy.  This is common in dogs.  She will get over this with time.

I am relieved!  I have my freedom back!  Poppy is healthy!

   I have spent many days drawing.

I like to draw sketches for a large painting.

 Robert and I decide on the sketch to paint.

Robert has a great eye for composition.

It is so important to select the best design.

I have criteria for large paintings.  The image must have light!

I have painted seven or more morning plein air sketches of this scene to aid my large painting.

There are seven dinghies! 

   This was the most difficult painting to draw.

    Lily and I loved the Delft Blue clock Robert brought us from Holland.

Lily even took a bite out of the edge.  She didn't hurt the clock.

   Lily loved the sheep skin slippers!

Robert helped me get my slipper back from Lily!

The slipper was a hit! 

 We loved the golden retriever puppy card. 

Here is a photo of the Moose Crossing Causeway in Stonington, Maine.

Good night!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGwwthfGVMs

Thought you might like to see what happened when Robert came home!

Lots of excitement! 

Working on drawings for a new large painting!

Good night.

   I decided to make snowman. 

Lily was curious.

She walked around them sniffing.

   Poppy was curious.  Monet was chewing on a stick.

   I thought Robert would like the snowman couple to greet him.

We miss Robert very much.  He should be home today or tomorrow.

    This was a beautiful snowman seen on Verona Island.

I didn't sleep much last night.

I was checking on Poppy every hour or every noise heard.

She opened one eye to see why the light was being turned on.

In the morning she laid down in her little baby pool nursery.

   Poppy pretended like she was going to have puppies.

Then she hopped out and ran down the stairs.  False alarm or was she playing?

Any day now!   Monet and Lily both cleaned Poppy's face this morning.

I think they know!  Good night.

"Hair"  11x14 oil on copper.  475$ framed in either gold or black with gold.  shipped.

I decided to leave the background free of oil paint to allow the copper to shine. 

Many of the artists thought it looked best with the background like this.

    The painter on the left lower foreground had wonderful hair.

I decided to paint his hair. 

I had him painted during the first 20 minute pose.

The painter came around to look at my work.

He said, "I didn't know I was bald!" 

He pretended to be serious.

I just laughed.  Many painters laughed.  I told him he had such great hair.

His hair had a life of it's own.

Next I painted the model. 

Then I painted another painter in front of me.

We jokingly asked her to pull up her pants so it would look better in the painting.

She asked why?  The other painter dramatically yelled, "Just do it for heaven's sakes!"

Then we all laughed.  She said she needed a butt stand in.

I told her she looked great!

One painter pretended to touch my painting in the butt area.

I had to tell him to stop that.  Ha.

We had another birthday celebration, complete with three pizzas, chocolate cake, three types

of wine, Firecracker whiskey (not popular with the artists), and Spanish Guitar music. 

The birthday boy requested the music. 

He surprised us all with an occasional "Olay!"  

Then he clicked his heels on the wood floor as if he were doing the flamenco dance!

There were balloons and a Happy Birthday sign hanging from the ceiling.

The balloons were painted into several of the backgrounds of paintings.

Finally we sang Happy Birthday. 

I think we did a great job painting, celebrating, laughing, and having fun.

Having fun is not easy.  Having fun takes effort.

   Poppy, Monet, and Lily are doing fine.

Poppy has been the first into my bedroom each morning.

She jumps into my bed, hops around, tries to get my attention.

Lily has learned to jump into my bed.

Both dogs jump all over my bed.

Monet comes straggling into my bedroom.

He has a different approach.  He pulls on my sleeve!

Sometimes he jerks his head back and forth with my sleeve.

Have a great night!

   I asked Poppy, "Do you have any nice female puppies in there?"

She gave me a look.  She rolled her eyes.

I guess we will have to wait and see!

The family who purchased Lady Cora, from Poppy's first litter, requests a big female.

"How many puppies are there?"  they ask me. 

 I just hope they are healthy.

Poppy has been running around top speed. 

This has been an easy pregnancy for Poppy.

   Poppy played tug of war with Monet.

I have seen Poppy leave a little extra food in her bowl for Lily.

She will watch to see if Lily is nearby.  Then she backs away from her bowl.

She makes sure Monet doesn't eat any more. 

   I framed up "Stonington Winter Blues" 20x26 oil on copper today with Randy Higabee's

King of Frame San Marino gold frame.  I shipped the painting to Texas!

Sure looked nice in this frame.

  I decided to paint inside my car at Sandy Point today.

There was a beautiful gold birch.

"Golden Birch" 5x4 oil on copper 150$ framed in gold or black with gold.  Shipped.

   Robert is back in Holland.

   He had raw herring with onions and fried potatoes.  Yummy!

Good night.

Sandy Point in Stockton Springs, Maine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naLoyHaWFLc&feature=youtu.be

I am tired from using the hammer to break up ice around my doorway! 

So here is a nice video of my dogs, backyard view, and house! 

Will be back to painting tomorrow!  Good night.

   Lily and Monet spent hours in the snow during the blizzard.

Poppy spent a few minutes at a time outside.

She is more interested in resting. 

Puppies should be born within a week or so!

Lily was so cute trying to hike through the snow!

   They loved it.

Snow was blowing!

So cute!

   I cooked them boiled chicken, light red kidney beans, black beans, and broccoli today.

I have cut back on Monet and Lily's dry dog food. 

They are on a diet.

They are feeling better.

Difficult to keep a golden retriever slim as they love food.

  Snow is piling up on the back sunroom's roof. 

Somewhere under the snow is the roof rake. 

Robert told me about breaking winds trying to remove snow from a roof.

(UPDATE:   I didn't mean 'breaking winds'.  I meant breaking windows accidentally

using the roof rake!  Ha Ha)

I did wade through snow to the mailbox!  What a trip.

I removed snow from the back steps for the dogs.

  Poppy has been carrying around this red ball.  She even sleeps with the ball.

   Robert sent photos of Poland. 

He said he walked for miles and miles today.

Poland looks beautiful.

Good night!

   I drove to Stonington, Maine in between snow storms with friend Linda.

Sand Beach in Stonington!

   I hiked in deep snow to see this scene on Church Street.  Captain Gross house on right.

   I showed Linda all my favorite locations in Stonington.

   The yellow house I like to paint was bright today!

   Robert sent photos of Krakow, Poland early morning.

    Now I need to spend an hour outside in the dark playing in the snow

with my three golden retrievers!  I should boil them eggs or there may be

a dog riot tomorrow morning.

"Monhegan Laundry Day" 20x30 oil on copper 1850$ framed in your choice of gold or black with gold.

Shipping is included in the price.

I finished this painting last night!

   Here is the painting before last night.  I like how it looks now. 

Good night!  Poppy is talking to me.  Must go!

"Stonington's Bounty Of Summer" 20x30 oil on copper 1850$ framed in your choice of gold

or black with gold frame.  Shipping is included in the price.

  Sold.  Thank you!

   I looked at a plein air painting of this location.

I used this to finish some areas.

Then I added a few sunflowers to the left facing the viewer of the painting.

The most important thing I did was to lighten the Dahlias on the left.

There were too much red in this area. 

   Here is the painting as of last night. 

You can see changes that were made today.

Looking at plein air paintings pulled this painting together.

It is snowing hard today!  The snow if light and fluffy.

My golden retrievers, Monet, Poppy, and Lily, have been playing in snow all day long!

Sometimes I am standing outside in the snow, or walking in the maze, or standing upstairs

watching them all from the window! 

I just cooked them boiled chicken, green peas, and carrots.

Then I baked eight sweet potatoes for them.

This should keep my snow bunnies happy! 

I am so glad this painting has been finished!  Now on to the next painting!

Here are a few photos of Amersfort, Holland taken by Robert.

He lived here with his family as a boy.

What an amazing little town.

What a beautiful photo!  Good night.

     I am very close to finishing this 20x30 oil on copper!

I would like to take another look at the painting tomorrow.

I decided the sky would look most radiant primarily pink!

The chickadee and goldfinch blend into the painting.

Now I need to consider a painting title!

I believe it is a great thing to revisit a favorite area to paint.

   Ted and Luke came over to snow blow our driveway and to create two loops.

Now the dogs and I can walk in these loops to get exercise!

    Monet has extra thick fur to handle the cold.

He was rolling on his frozen ball.

Good night!

   Ted and Luke visited us at 8:00am this morning.

We were up!   I made a compromise with my golden retrievers to wake up at 8 instead of 5am.

I normally wake up at 9:30 or 10:30pm because of my late night painting!

At 5am my sock was pulled off my foot.

Two golden retrievers, probably Monet and Lily, played tug of war.

Meanwhile Poppy was using the technique Daisy long ago taught her to wake us up.

Daisy explained to Poppy, never bark loud in a sleeping human's ear.

This is a dangerous thing to do.

She told Poppy to quietly yodel to the owner getting a little louder each time.

Daisy must have taught Poppy if the human yells "no!"  to cease yodeling all together.

My sock is longer with a few holes. 

We were happy to see Luke and Ted.

Ted checked our snow blower.  He warned us of the impending snow storm.

 Monet tried to bring into the house a 5 foot stick to chew on.

Monet climbed the stairs with his stick. 

When Monet tried to bring the stick through the door, the stick broke into.

Lily retrieved the other half of Monet's stick. 

They both settled down to chew.

I guess this is a way dogs get through a storm. 

   I spent many hours today petting and brushing the dogs.

They were all needing more attention today.

   I decided to paint a chickadee into the painting.

While I painted the yellow house in Stonington there were chickadees and goldfinches.

   The goldfinch is looking toward the yellow house.

  I will paint another goldfinch or two into the painting once the lower left is finished.

There was a fox one day running through the garden.

I am thinking of painting in a fox.

It will be a fox the viewer of the painting doesn't notice at first.

I am having a lot of fun with this painting.

   It will be interesting to venture out of the house tomorrow morning.

I wonder how much snow fell today.  Good night.

   I took Monet on a solo Winter walk in Sandy Point.

I will take another dog for a walk tomorrow.

I wanted to check out the ice situation.

There was no ice on the road.

The coast was clear!

  A golden birch tree stood out among the other trees!

   I am taking care of all three golden retrievers by myself since Robert is away.

For dinner I fed them baked chicken breast, light red kidney beans, and raw green beans over

a small amount of their dried dog food.

They ate it all and came over to look at me.

I am not sure what that meant.

They just stood there staring at me.

The raw green beans might have been too healthy. 

I only fed them about a cup an a half each. 

For breakfast I will cook them scrambled eggs over a tiny bit of dried dog food.

I hope they like it!

   We spent three hours outside playing in our snowy yard.

They kept waiting for Robert to arrive home.

  I decided to take the day off from painting.

I moved my bed, cleaned under the bed, removed clothing I was not using, donated them

to Goodwill, rearranged everything, and now I am so happy!

I even found a few possessions I thought were lost. 

Someone who is shopping at Goodwill will find new treasures.

I have more room! 

Ten more days and we might find out about Poppy's puppies!

I am guessing she might have four or three puppies.

She still has an hour glass figure with the exception of an larger ribcage area.

She runs top speed and jumps up into cars and on top of firewood.

Monet tried to wrestle with Poppy.  Poppy showed her teeth and back up.

This is the only sign I have seen besides her eating three times as much!

She is very friendly when she is pregnant.

Good night.

    It snowed off and on while I painted today.

I took breaks standing outside in the snow watching Monet, Lily, and Poppy play.

    The plumb lines or vertical lines in the yellow house seem straight enough!

I like how this painting is going!

This painting will tell a story of a beautiful Maine day in Stonington.

    The flowers were great fun to paint.

There are many varieties of Dahlias, Sunflowers, Daisies, and some other distant yellow flower.

The time of the year can be figured out by the Sunflowers just coming into bloom. 

   Luke came over to visit us.

    Poppy is not as large as she was the last time she had a litter in 2014. 

I wonder how many puppies she will have?  Will they be red like Luke? 

The suspense is really getting to us all! 

Poppy has a signature move as shown in this photo.

She scoots on her butt on sand or snow for a long ways.

She doesn't have worms.  Ted says she is a very clean dog.  Smart of her.

   Robert is leaving for his vacation to Europe tomorrow.

He will be visiting his Sister and her husband in Holland.

Then he will visit his nephew in Poland. 

I hope he has a lot of fun!

I will hold down the fort. 

Have a good night!

I made good progress on this 20x30 oil on copper painting of the yellow house in Stonington.

I have a plein air sketch I looked at today as a reference.

"Stonington Sunflowers and Dahlias" 6x8 oil on copper 450$ framed in black with gold.

"Adirondack Marsh" 6x8 oil on copper.  Sold today off my website.  Thank you!

    I am so appreciate of any painting sale! 

It makes me feel so happy!  Yeah!  Thanks!

  Nice view from Route 46 in Bucksport. 

We are expecting a snow storm tomorrow!  I love to watch snow.

Good night.

   I have started to work on a 20x30 oil on copper painting.

I have painted this yellow house in Stonington, Maine many times plein air.

I prefer the late evening light best on this house.

I often check many times a day to see what light is best for painting.

Every house looks their best either in the  morning, afternoon, or evening. 

I loved the glow here.

  I drew many designs for the painting.

Then I decided on this drawing.

I will paint lobster boats in a different position than in the drawing.

  Here is the overall drawing on the copper panel.

    Robert's chair and the relocation of my studio is great!

I have a view of the East Penobscot Channel from the windows.

Lily naps in her bed by my feet.

I have my trash can for flammable items under the table.

    I went for a drive to the load up on food!  Poppy needs much food right now.

I saw a beautiful rooster with guinea hens!

   This donkey or mule was getting fresh air.

  There was another donkey inside the building.

   I decided to drive on Church Road in Bucksport to view the smoking chimney under the mountain.

I wished I had my painting equipment along!

    My injured glute is doing better. 

Thanks for all get well soon messages.  I appreciate them all.

Good night!

   I was at Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde Thursday night.

   Maine is beautiful year round.

Snow has been scarce this Winter!

   My back is recovered. But then injured myself again!

 I fell down on Wednesday while taking photos at Lake Alamoosook.

There was snow covering ice.  One foot slipped out in front of me.

I laid on my back unable to move.  I was in the worst pain ever.  I heard many cracks.

I was all by myself.  A car pulled up.  A man helped me to my feet.

I crawled to my car.  I thought of calling an ambulance.

I sat for awhile until the pain subsided. 

I ended up with no bones fractured or broken.

I have a bruise the side of two open hands on my left glut!

I am grateful for extra Winter body padding, thick down Winter coat, and luck for not breaking a hip!

Walking is painful.  My tail feels like hundreds of bees are stinging.

I had whip lash for a few days.  

Besides all of the pain, Robert and I were Spring cleaning.

My recliner chair I sit in to paint has been broke by a flying 90 pound golden retriever. 

I know it is silly to paint in a recliner but it works for me.

I like to put my feet up to look at my work once in a while. 

The broken chair is in the basement.

I am very sad about my chair being retired. 

I have taken over Robert's recliner! 

Now my entire painting station has been moved. 

I will try to acclimate to the new arrangement.

Hope to paint soon!

4x5 after painting in my car.

   I met a friend Alison to paint an Ellsworth home.  We liked the mansard roof!

  We sat inside her car to paint because it was just too cold!

I didn't think it was possible to paint this house small.

I still don't think it is possible! Well maybe it is!

The sun came out for ten minutes!  We grabbed our cameras.

I painted the sunlight areas fast. 

I see I need to correct the roof line on the top! 

This is an easy thing to do if the oil paint is still wet.

The house looks like it is sliding off the hill.  These things happen over time.

"Mansard Home" 4x5 oil on copper 125$ framed in gold or black with gold.  Shipped.

I worked on the painting in my studio sitting in my broken recliner.

I like the painting now!

Sometimes a painting just needs more work.

"Painting Justin" 11x14 oil on copper 475$ framed in gold or black with gold.  Shipped.

Here is a better quality photo from last night's portrait class.  I like this one.

One artist said this painting could be historic someday.  What a compliment.

Every artist in this painting is accomplished or famous.

Another artist said, "Is that me?"  The other artist said, "Yeah man that is you!"

This is a Port Clyde home called Nantuck. 

 Many artists rent this house.

I heard the house has been sold and will not be rented out.

There are always other cabins to rent.

The light on the Marshall Point Lighthouse was great.

It was so cold.  I could not stay long. 

I loved the colors.

Good night!

"Painting Justin" 11x14 oil on copper.  I will take a better photo of the painting tomorrow.

Here is the finished painting.

I worked more on Roberta in the center. 

"Painting Justin" 11x14 oil on copper 475$ framed in gold or black with gold.

   One of the painters in portrait class had their birthday.

Each painter brought in something to contribute to a party.

I found a tiny birthday cake the size of a hand. 

There were three pizzas.  Someone brought a giant bottle of wine.

My job was the DJ.  They requested disco music.

Sometimes there was a few artists who decided to dance instead of paint!

I looked up to find Justin still posing diligently, three artists working, and two or three dancing.

We were all smiling or laughing. 

One painter suggested I add another panel to capture all the painters working.

Great idea.  Maybe next time I will bring another panel with me.

   The sunset was beautiful for Horse Point Road in Port Clyde.

    Andrew Wyeth's house Eight Bells in Port Clyde looked pretty.

   Monet was cuddling with his Daughter Lily this morning. 

Golden Retrievers really enjoy each other's company.

Good night.

   Lily has the most amusing personality! 

She makes us laugh.

Today she ran and jumped into my chair while I was in the chair.

I heard a spring in the chair bust.

The chair's seat sank about 6 inches.

Lily and I were sitting very low in the chair.

I realized the chair was done!

Lily didn't mind.  She sat in the chair all by herself!

Ted and Luke arrive.

    Lily grabs a bag full of trash.

She runs around growling.

Hilarious!

  She runs laps around the airstream showing off her find.

  Lily brings her trash bag into the house!

   Poppy was looking for Lily in the wood pile!

   There's Lily!  She was checking out the firewood.

  Poppy, on the left, can still run fast.  She ate a large can of light red kidney beans for a snack!

She thought they were delicious. 

I gave a couple of beans for Lily and Monet.

They are both dieting.

Monet lays as close to his Father, Luke, as possible.  He gave him many licks on the face too.

  My back is doing better.  I swam for an hour and soaked in the whirlpool.

It is snowing here today.  I think I may go for a drive!  Good night.