Blog Anniversary

"My Song" 36" x 48" oil on stretched canvas

Last March - one year ago - my blog came into being with an older oil, "My Song" the first painting posted. Somehow it seems fitting to post it again since, as my all-time favorite, it's the one I consider my "signature piece". And, yes, I sold it - almost before the paint was dry! Didn't mean to sell it! Entered it in a show with a price way beyond what I thought someone would pay and, at the end of the show, it went to live in Brevard, North Carolina. The collector sent a photo of the painting on her wall in a lovely room which warmed my heart! That was so thoughtful of her and showed me "My Song" had found a special home! The painting began as a self portrait of me at my piano - well, didn't end up being "me" exactly but is a good portrait of my piano!

This year has flown by and via the blog, I have a journal showing me what I've painted and a reminder that I probably need to accelerate! Last March I had no idea whatsoever that anyone outside my family would ever visit, or that I would meet so many wonderful people and become blogging friends with artists around the world! Thanks to each and every one of you who visit and especially to you who leave comments! You mean more to me than you know! My intent is to make the posts more interesting in the year to come and to visit your sites more frequently and to leave comments!

Keep Looking Up

11 x 14 - oil on stretched canvas

Meet my sister-in-law, Monte. Her nickname is Sunshine and, while she now lives in central North Carolina, she is a "beach girl" at heart! A guest bath in her home is decorated with a beach-theme and she heads to the shore every chance she gets! This is another in the "Shades" series. My intent to showcase the shadow holes from the brim of the straw hat so attractive in the reference photo, - didn't work!! So, painted over the face which muted the stripes leaving a few "dots" for interest around her eye and mouth. This is much looser than I usually work...even used a palette knife on her shirt and the surf! I my revisit this little painting in the future, but for now will put it aside to look at later with a fresh eye. Monte's motto is "Keep Looking Up" and I hope she likes this interpretation of her reverent and fun-loving spirit!

Frank and Me

10 x 8 - oil on canvas

This is a painting of my wonderful husband using a reference photo from an outing last spring. He wasn't concerned about how I painted his face but he wanted that cap to look just right! Aren't men funny! Anyway, the legs in the reflection of the sunglasses are mine and thus the title. I painted this last week, and Monday it was juried into the "Arts of March" show at the Cape Coral Art League Center, 516 Cultural Park Boulevard, Cape Coral, and will hang through April 5! The show judge is watercolorist Joan Klutch and the opening reception takes place this evening! Getting in is an honor and I'm eager to see the show!

Sunshine Award

Thanks so much to Ann Rogers and Pat Koscienski for nominating me for this blogger award for creativitiy and positivity!
The rules for accepting the award are:
Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they received this award.
Link to the person from whom you received this award.

Picking only 12 is really impossible - so I'm taking some liberties (we artists often do that, don't we?)- here are some artists you may or may not know and will certainly enjoy visiting!
Desiree
Ruth Bodycott
Lois Anderson
Lokelani Forest
Dennis Bailey
Colette Theriault
Jo Castillo

The Path

6" x 12" - Oil on Masonite

Plans are underway for a one woman show in the summer of 2011. While that sounds distant, the days will fly by! Some older pieces are coming out for another look, tweaking and maybe frames. Yesterday this oil on masonite was 16" x 20" - today, thanks to my hubby and his trusty saw, it's 6" x 12"! Nothing of value was lost in content, and the narrow format is more interesting. The scene was loosely adapted from a photo taken at a park near Daytona Beach eight to ten years ago - actually the old fence being replaced by the new one is all that's authentic to the reference photo. Wood and masonite are favorite supports because they are easy to crop! I am seldom so bold with color - and this scene is certainly more romantic than realistic.

Portrait of Karin Jurick

10 x 8 oil on canvas

Via her blog DSFDF Karin Jurick has brought together a family of artist bloggers who participate in ongoing challenges throughout the year. The year end challenge is a portrait swap with Karin pairing participants at random to paint each other's portraits. This is a huge undertaking involving many hours of her time. As a way to let Karin know how much she and these blog challenges mean to us, fellow artist and blogger, Jill Polsby, coordinated a project whereby each of us would paint Karin from the same photograph. She then had a book printed which has just been presented to Karin as a token of our gratitude. Here is a photo page with the 118 paintings contained in the book.

Everyone must have used their best brushes because the portraits are awesome with many interpretations of Karin's lovely face! Thank you Karin!

Jill, this was such a great idea! Congratulations and thank you! The book is wonderful!

Meet Baby Addison

8 x 10 Oil on Canvas

This painting celebrates the arrival of a beautiful granddaughter for our good friends, Joyce and Mike, parents of mother, Jill. I tried to capture the joy reflected in Jill's eyes from the reference photo taken by the baby's dad. Little Addison was born just before Thanksgiving which seemed perfect timing to me! They live in New Jersey and this evening "Grammy Joyce" is flying north with this first portrait of her little angel! I enjoyed every brush stroke in this painting!

Yesterday I learned that one of two oil paintings accepted in the Fort Myers, Florida juried show, Feb Fest, has won an award! Yea & Yipee! The judge,
Greg Biolchini is a fabulous artist whose work I have long admired! It is a thrill being juried in and this award is indeed an honor! Feb Fest is at the Art League of Fort Myers Gallery, 1451 Monroe Street, and will hang through February 25th. I'm looking forward to the reception tomorrow evening!

Playing Again

6" x 6" oil on prepared masonite

Over the weekend, I completed one portrait and started another. The new one, a mother and baby, is slowly coming along and I'm really enjoying the journey but needed another little break from details! Soooo...since this arrangement was still on the table why not another fast study - same palette - same attitude. No timer set for this one. Had to take time out for dog training, running errands, etc. but total painting time was probably no more than two hours yesterday.

Well...sometimes they work, sometimes not quite. However, mission accomplished in that I'm ready to get back to details! Will be posting the portraits soon. In the meantime, these loose "play time" paintings could be habit forming!

Play Time

Lately most of my paintings have been slow and detailed. Yesterday the urge was to simply loosen up and play with paint. Faux fruit and veggies were hastily arranged (too carelessly I'm afraid) and, giving myself a two hour time limit, I picked up the brush! The light was reflecting the red fabric onto the little pitcher in an exciting way. Guess I'm still seeing red from those roses!

Some years ago in a plein-air workshop with New England artist Charles Movalli on a stormy stay-inside day, still life arrangements were set up for ala prima studies. In a critique of my work, Master (and he is) Movalli suggested I study the work of Leon Franks ( 1914-1970 ) as my style seemed to echo his! I was astounded since I had begun oil painting on my own as a teenager copying from old "how to" books by Leon Franks published by Walter Foster! Check the original price on the one I found on e-bay to show you!

This little still life reminded me of that long forgotten workshop and the teachings of Messrs. Movalli and Franks! This was fun and I wish I had handled the lighting and arrangement more carefully. If this were a serious piece, I would use real produce, not plastic and spend a lot more time with the set-up and lighting. As it was I happily moved paint this way and that and it felt good!

"It can't look like you've worked hard and long, even if you have. A painting should be done quickly with both your intellect and your nerves. When they give out, stop." (Charles Movalli)

They gave out - I stopped! Didn't go much over my time limit! Play time...I need more of that!

The "Best" Portrait

Oil on Canvas - 30" x 18"


This portrait was completed in November - a commissioned Christmas gift for a beautiful young couple who live and teach music in the public school system near the North Carolina coast. After Christmas Mrs. Best contacted me to let me know they are thrilled with the painting! Yea! That news makes me soooo happy! Their portrait was a joy to paint except for the red roses! I wanted more variation in the color and values of the red tones, but didn't want to draw even more attention than red itself commands! Was a dilemma but I feel with less detail rather than more in the roses, the eye is directed to the faces. Oh, it was so much fun painting these pretty people! The tiara was a challenge as were the sequins and beads on that lovely dress!

Mystery Solved

This mysterious artist has been identified! She is Becky Drees in Massachusetts! I received an email from her that she is pleased with the portrait and loves the green sweater! ;-) Here is Becky's blog where she has posted the portrait she did of me from the very bad photo I provided. I love the portrait and have tried to post to her blog but so far, no luck! I'll keep trying, Becky! Just want you to know you did a fantastic job!

The DSFDF Youtube video Part 4 includes mine and Becky's photos and paintings. What a fun challenge this was!

Woman of Mystery

10 x 8 - Oil on rough canvas


This is my entry for Karin Jurick's DSFDF Year End Challenge - Swapping 180 Photos. I enjoyed painting this pretty mystery artist and want to thank her for posing with her mouth shut and ears covered! Just kidding - but I'm always uncomfortable painting teeth and ears! I used a scrap piece of unstretched canvas thinking the off white would substitute for toning only to discover it wasn't properly primed! So...this challenge was more difficult than it needed to be! Since I had already started over once, I kept going and am pleased with the way it turned out. It seems to have a pastel look to it due to the rough canvas and thin paint.

My first attempt was on a white canvas board in blue tones...didn't feel I had a likeness and wasn't happy with the white support or the palette...so...started over...

This was fun and I am so eager to learn the identity of this Woman of Mystery!

Karin, thank you for the opportunity to participate in the portrait swap and Happy New Year to you and all our blogging family!

Merry Christmas Blogging Friends!

LISTEN!
9" x 8" Oil on canvas

It was fun looking back through old photos to find a puppy as a subject for this year's Christmas card. Our second shepherd, Joshua, had a terrible time keeping his ears up! He was almost three months old before he held them up all the time and what a precious little terror he was at that age! An old photo of him looking for trouble while playing outside provided reference for the puppy. We've never had cats so the kitty reference was from a photo in my file.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season and your new year will be a healthy, happy and creative one!

Mary Cassatt's Children on the Beach (1884)

Oil on Canvas - 36 x 24

This is my entry for Michelle Burnett's Following the Masters monthly painting challenge. For this entry we could choose an artist who had influenced our work and, since children are my favorite subjects, for me it's Mary Cassatt.

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists.

Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. A few of these paintings may be seen here. (Wikipedia)

I painted this a number of years ago for a lady who lives by the water and wanted this reproduction to complement her family room's "beach decor". I remember how hard it was to "cut off" the little girl's legs! I even asked if I might incude feet (which would have probably made Mary Cassatt roll over)! The portrait class I was taking at the time stressed that we were NEVER to "cut off" limbs at amputation points...i.e, wrists, ankles, etc. Guess that really made an impression - at least I've never forgotten it! Looking at the photo of the painting now, maybe I should have been more concerned with softer edges and more colorful shadows! I wonder if it's still hanging in the "Dockside Room"? Thanks Michelle for reminding me to take another look at this one!

Jason

18 x 24 Acrylic on Canvas

A lovely young lady commissioned this painting of her late brother as a Christmas gift for their mother - what an honor for me! I am really pleased with the way it turned out and so is she! You may find my method for "painting" the fishing lines interesting using a pizza cutter and white and black gesso. Since this was heavy tackle, the cutter lines were just right! Hey, it works for me! I would really enjoy hearing how some of you might have approached this "fine line" challenge?

November has been more than hectic with commissions to complete and deliver prior to our departure from North Carolina this past Sunday. I am waaaaay behind visiting blogs and am so eager to catch up and see what everyone's painting! We are back in Florida and I plan to relax and enjoy catching up this holiday weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!