Summer Break.. or not?

The art group I go to every week is now on summer break.
Which means we won't meet again until September.

Some people in that break won't paint at all and some like me will.
I like to find one book and practice a few pieces from it.
This year my book is printed by North Light and is winging its way to me across the pond.

Whilst I am waiting for it to arrive, I decided to try painting without doing any drawing - and what's more to do it outside from life and only take 20 minutes per piece.I'm hoping this will teach me to be more selective in my brushstrokes and less intimidated of painting en plein aire.

The first piece I painted was in my garden - an ornamental blue pumpkin.

My question for you is - do you take a summer break from your art?
Do you feel better or worse by being away from your craft?
Or do you take time to try to improve one particular aspect of your work?

Whilst you're thinking, here's the pumpkin.

Memories of Home

One of my followers invited me to join a painting forum - Painting Friends.
I am so glad I joined, its a very friendly forum.

Recently we had a project thread, in which we were practising lost and found edges.
From two photos supplied by members JT and Peg, we painted pumpkins and an orchid.

Here is my effort at the pumpkins:

Memories of Home

this painting will be added to my permanent gallery site
Pat Elliott Paintings

The Legend of Stingy Jack

There is an old Irish legend, about a drunk called Stingy Jack.
This man tricked the Devil into not claiming his soul when he died, but being such a rogue was denied Heaven also. He was doomed to travel the darkness between Heaven and Hell for all eternity; with only an everlasting coal from the fires of Hell to provide him light on the road. This coal was placed into a hollowed out turnip and thus the first Jack O'Lantern was born. Full story here

When the Irish emigrated to the US at the time of the potato famine, they took the tradition of carving jack o'lanterns with them; but turnips were not as plentiful in the new land, so they started to carve pumpkins instead.
Read about the potato famine here.

Being half Irish, I knew the myth that was Stingy Jack, so when I decided to paint a picture of a carved pumpkin - what else could it be called, but "Theatrical Halloween"