"Die Strasse" --- SOLD

Greetings from Germany! I plowed through my first day with jetlag and slept REALLY well the first night. Since then I've been very busy eating, walking, sleeping, and trying so so hard to understand German. Ach!

And I've done 3 paintings but only this one is good enough to post. I tried to tell my German in-laws that today I didn't paint well, but they thought I was saying the landscape wasn't good! I said, it was my fault ... as well as I could, and I think they got it. : )

For this painting (done yesterday) I set up my new box (which is WONDERFUL, by the way) on this street (strasse) with the beautiful yellow flowers and the lovely tower (and tiny German cars), and directly there came a parade of tractors down the street! I said "you're in my way!", but fortunately they didn't understand me. Ok, not really.

A lot of people were walking by and spoke to me, and I had to explain over and over how little German I understand. One guy who knew some English said "where's the tractor?!"

Tomorrow we are taking a train to Freiburg and I may not be able to paint then at all. I hope to get in AT LEAST ein oder zwei (1 or 2) more paintings before we return on Wednesday.

"Chain Gang" --- SOLD

Still having trouble with my computer, hence not posting yesterday.

Check out Daily Paintworks for today. We decided to have a Tomato Tuesday and (almost) everyone painted and posted tomatoes today. It's really interesting to see what everyone came up with.

I've gotten a lot of emails from people saying they can no longer view my demo. If you go to Daily Paintworks and click on "videos" at the top of the page, you'll see 5 demos by our members, including mine. I plan to do another one after I get back from Germany.

"I See Through You" --- SOLD

More limes today. This painting combines 2 of my favorite things: I really love the way things get distorted behind glass, and I love green and purple together.

FYI: Tomorrow I am going out of town for a couple of days. I'll still be able to post, but I won't be able to ship paintings. I'll be back on Wednesday to ship anything that's ready to go before I leave for Germany on Thursday.

"Limes in the Sun" --- SOLD

My computer has contracted a virus ... bug ... whatever you call it. My computer EXPERT (my husband) is off in Germany visiting his birth-parents. I leave to join him on Thursday, and until we get back (Sept. 3rd) I have questionable computer reliability. Sometimes it turns on and stays on. Sometimes it doesn't turn on at all. And sometimes it comes on for a little while and then it goes into some sort of safe mode and tells me I shouldn't use it. Sigh. Right now it's on and staying on.

"Carnation 5" --- SOLD

This is my last carnation of the series. It's my favorite so far - I'm stopping while I'm ahead.

My new Open Box M came yesterday and my aunt happened to be here at the time. I pulled it out and showed it to her and she said "cool, how much was it?" I said "$200" (I just got the inside part). She said "What?! For a little box?!" I said "how much was that little box in your lap?" (her laptop).

"Carnation 4" --- SOLD

When you squint at this one, it really comes together. I know, I know, you shouldn't have to squint at a painting - sorry about that. This has been a mixed week.

"Carnation 3" --- SOLD

I learned something big with this one. If I want to make something look like it's glowing I have to be very purposeful with it. Clear as mud, eh? What I did here, since the flower is a light yellow and the background is a darker purple, was to mix yellow with purple (keeping the color saturated, so no white or very much blue) to paint in the bits right around the flower. Even though I didn't actually SEE this color - not really - I don't think - I just thought it might work. I'm so used to painting fairly intuitively, from the right brain, and for this I had to jump to the left brain for a minute. It was a bit jolting, but I like the result.

"Carnation 2" & Arte y Pico

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I worked most of the day today on a larger panting. I was so happy painting it. I lost all track of time and just thoroughly enjoyed myself. When I got to the end and stepped back I realized, to my great horror ... it is a terribly boring painting. UGH!!! This is very easy for me to say as I don't plan to post it. : )

On that note of shame : ) I'd like to accept and pass along the Arte y Pico award. I have received it from several people lately - thank you Susan, Liz & Annalein!

FYI...The Origin of The Arte y Pico Award and Rules if you choose to accept. You might be interested in the origin of the "Arte y Pico Award" The designer of the award puts it like this..."The Arte y Pico Award has arisen from the daily visits that I make to many blogs which nourish and enrich me with creativity. In them, I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. I want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain and enrich me day to day. Doubtlessly, there are many and it will be hard to pick just a few."

The Rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
4. Show these rules and the paragraph (above) explaining the awards origination.

My picks are:
1. Vicki Shuck, a rockin' gal from Bend, Oregon who shows a real subtlety in her work.
2. Lorrie Drennan, a classy gal from Mississip' who's colorful paintings are so full of life.
3. Vicki Brevell, another Vicki, the cutest gal in Texas, with an amazing passion for art.
4. Shelley Hocknell Zentner, a super cool gal from Tahoe who's passion for life comes through in her art with amazing clarity.
5. Dani Brandimarte, another fabulous gal from Texas who's portraits are tres fabulific.

"Carnation 1" --- SOLD

During my last workshop a student requested a painting of carnations. It was tough. Carnations are complicated little buggers. So I bought a bunch of 'em, different colors, and am working on a series, up close and personal. I'm enjoying it, but so far it's taking me about 2-3 tries for each flower.

"Three Onions" --- SOLD

My husband said, "they're lemons, right?" and my stepdaughter said "no way, they're oranges." But they're actually onions. Apparently not terribly realistic. Ah well. I went through about 50 different arrangements with these guys, even cut one in half, and couldn't find anything else that struck me.

"Lonely Red" --- SOLD

I love red and turquoise together. My dream is to someday have a turquoise studio (on the outside) with a red door. I think that would be so cool.

"Hot & Spicy" --- SOLD

I had a few people over last night and ended up not having the energy to post, so I'll post this now and another this evening.

This turned into an exercise in sparity. Is that a word? Spareness? It's really amazing how few brush strokes you can put together to make a clove of garlic. It's also amazing how easy it is to screw up garlic. This was my third attempt. Sometimes I feel sheepish about how quickly I paint and then I remember the countless hours spent getting it wrong over and over and over ...

"Inside Out"

I am trying out my gessoboard again after a long break. I had done it a few times way back and gotten frustrated with it. I remember now why I liked it. The brush strokes have a different feel. The paint tends to go on thinner ... they're slicker ... err something. The edges also tend to be a bit sharper, which is good for glass ... and apple slices.

Because my workshop in MA (next Spring) filled up rather quickly I have added a second just before it. Check over to the right (on my blog) for my full workshop schedule. I am adding March 2nd-4th, 2009, at the Parish Center for the Arts in Westford, MA. I've added a few other things lately as well - check it out.

"Blue Bottle" --- SOLD

I have a fascination with colored bottles, especially blue and green ones. And old ones. This one is made with really thick blue/green glass, though I suppose you can't really tell here. The flower is from my Rose of Sharon tree out back.

Julie wrote to me today and responded about yesterday's post regarding Harley Brown's most recent book, "Inspiration for Every Artist." She called it a "collection of thoughts, observations, guided teaching sequences and recommendations (for art processes, setting up a studio, planning work, choosing a workshop...)." She found it "useful & inspiring." Thank you, Julie, for your review!

"No Personal Space" --- SOLD

Purple and green, a combination I used to marvel over and wonder why they weren't compliments. But they are, at least according to the Munsell Wheel. My understanding of how Mr. Munsell created his wheel was thus: he stared at a color for a little while then looked abruptly at white, and whatever color he saw he put down as that color's compliment. He created his entire wheel that way and came up with something similar to the traditional wheel, but not quite the same. I first read about it in a book by Harley Brown. His first book, "Eternal Truth's for Every Artist", I highly recommend. It is no longer in print but a student of mine got in touch with me today to say she'd found it in her local library. Apparently he put out another book recently. Has anyone read it?

"Kiwi Reaper" --- SOLD

I'm really happy with this one. It was one of those thoroughly enjoyable painting experiences where everything goes just right. I love the glow of light through the kiwi and the little dabs of light on the spoon that suggest a bit of decoration. It feels wrong to say this about my own painting, but in this case I feel like an innocent bystander. Did I do this? Dude.

"Kiwi Train" --- SOLD

Well I finally ordered a new plein air box and it was kind of funny how I chose which kind to get in the end (see these 2 posts & comments for this discussion). I had decided on an EasyL but when, after 3 days of calling and leaving messages, I couldn't get in touch with them, I decided to try my luck with Open Box M. They gave me wonderful service and agreed to sell me just the inside portion of the box (just the panel holder and palette), which is exactly what I wanted. They said if anything in my box ever fails they will pay for me to ship it back to them, and fix it for no charge. And all their boxes are made here in America, where a lot of their competitors' boxes are outsourced to other countries. I am thrilled with the service I got. I will be receiving my box in a couple of weeks and will take it to Germany to test out. Apparently there's an internet cafe near where we'll be staying so I hope to post while I'm there. And in case you'd like to know sort of what it'll look like where I'm going, here are some photos from the Black Forest in Germany. Cool, huh?

"A Cup and Kiwi" - SOLD

Click Here to Bid

Someone asked me today if I use black in my shadows. I don't. I don't use black at all, actually. This is another of those "rules" passed on by some book or professor that I just follow blindly. But for me it works well and I've never been tempted by it. Without it I am very conscious of mixing interesting darks rather than relying on black. Sometimes, now and then, there are small amounts of near black in my setup. For those I mix Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber.

Thanks to all of you who responded to yesterday's post. Your support is greatly appreciated!

"Two Green" --- SOLD

I read in a book a while back that that you should never do a still life from a 45 degree angle - that it makes the object(s) look like it's going to slide right off the painting. Lately I have found that I can get a much more dynamic view this way, so I am questioning this "rule". Any thoughts on this?

"In Your Face" --- SOLD

Still the same big tomato but a different vantage point. I'm envious of those who can make objects look like they're going to reach out and grab you. This tomato may not grab you, but it's at least a bit 3-D, yeah?

"Tomato-ettes" --- SOLD

We signed up this year with a local organic farm that delivers a box of vegetables each week. This week we got a whole bunch of these tiny orange tomatoes. I love the color as they wander into the shadow of the large tomato. The light shines through the large tomato leaving red on the small ones. I love it.

"Mondrian Tomato" --- SOLD

I thought of a great new diet idea for artists: paint all your food before you eat it. Either we'd all learn to paint really fast, or we'd die of starvation. : )

"Piggy Bank" & the last photo from Canada --- SOLD

I did this pig before I left and completely forgot to post it.

Last night was the student show. Most of my class was there so we got some pictures (see below). It's been a great class and today is the last day. As always I am ready to get home but sad to leave my new friends! Thanks, ya'll, for making it great, eh?!