"Toppled"

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I liked this composition so much I did a larger version too. It will be at the "Grand Affair" show at the Wally Workman Gallery in January.

Someone asked me today if I use a palette knife. I don't. But what I do ... do, is use crisp flat brushes. I buy good brushes (lately Silver Bristlon brights - the flats are too long for me) and every time I wash them I wrap them up to keep them flat. Below is a photo of the process. I used to put each brush up in the ... crack of a folded piece of cardboard and clamp the whole thing, but I realized after a while that I get the same results with just the paper towel. I fold the end down so it stays closed on its own.

"Passing Through"

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I love this pig. It was a good day when I found him. I had some trouble this time with the leg you can see. I got all the way through and realized it was in the wrong spot so I had to move it. Sometimes (as with this situation) I think it's best to just completely wipe out the "affected" area and redo it from scratch. Otherwise one risks getting major mud.

"Step Forward"

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These lemon slices really glowed under this light and I tried hard to capture that. My favorite part though is the front "white" bit on the left-most slice where it's fairly gray and just a little bit of white up at the top. I go a little nutty over these kinds of details. In fact there was a point a few years ago when I realized I was trying so hard to get these little "happy moments" in my paintings I was ignoring the over-all design. That's part of why doing these small paintings has been so tranforming for me - it's hard NOT to focus on the over-all design when you're looking at a 6x6 canvas.

"Grazing" - SOLD

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A friend of mine commissioned a painting recently. She wanted one similar to one I did a while back with lemons. I ended up doing 2, to give her a choice, and she chose the other one. I must admit I liked this one better. But if there's one thing I've learned in past few years it's that everyone has their own tastes, and that's just part of what makes the world interesting.

"Good Day Sunshine"

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Last week I bought these flowers and brought them home to paint something big. I finished a 20x20 and liked it well enough, but decided to do another small one for kicks. I happened upon this composition and was really struck by it, so I did a 12x12 of it for my gallery here in Austin. I liked that so much I did this one, changing the flowers a bit so it wasn't just the same. I liked this one so much I did another, 20x20 (not all in the same day). I'll photograph the other 2 and post them soon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

"After the Rain" - SOLD

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I cooked a turkey today. The painting is from a few days ago. : )

"An Early Gift" - SOLD

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My husband and I have a bad habit of getting really excited about gifts we've gotten for each other and giving them early. This year we got each other furniture, so this box isn't a "real" present, but uhh, well I really liked these things together and the composition and colors. : )

By the way, just a few minutes ago I asked my 3 1/2 year old son what tomorrow is. He said "Christmas Evil." Not that he doesn't like Christmas ... just that he heard "eve" once and repeated it wrong. Happy Christmas Evil Eve.

"Foreboding" - SOLD

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I am feeling better today - thank you all for your kind emails.

Shiny things always pick up the colors that are around them. So you can see a lot of the purple showing up on the edges of the pepper, and of course the reflected yellow on the side closest to the plate. It is easy to over-do these subtle bits, but it is my opinion that these are the most important bits to be accurate about (after value in general). You almost don't even notice them ... unless they're wrong.

"Day Lily on Blue"

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I seem to have come down with yet another cold this season. Major bummer. I think I've been taking on too much. Here is a day lily I did last week, along with a super awesome title. It took me hours to come up with it. Enjoy.

"Topsy Turvy" - SOLD

This close-up version went smoother, and I like it better. Thanks to ya'll who wrote with kind words about yesterdays mushrooms. : )

lotsa mushrooms

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After 3 days of not painting, I came back into my studio only to find that ... I had forgotten how to paint! This has happened many times, and somehow, after a bit, I always remember. This time it was easier, and I'll tell you why. After the first bad one, I wiped it off. After the second one, ditto. The third one was easier. By the fourth I was back in the swing of painting and loving it (this given I had a whole day to paint). The idea here is not to struggle over paintings that aren't working, but to move on, and keep moving on, until things click again. I recommend it.

The first 2 wipers were of these mushrooms. I didn't wipe these 2 because they were better than the first 2, but ... I am posting them each starting at $50.



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"Hot Hill" - SOLD

My husband and I spent this entire last weekend putting tile down on our kitchen floor. It's harder than it sounds, let me tell you! And we still have more to do. And since the "glue" under the tile had to "set," we got out of the house on Monday, hence no posts from me for 3 days. Here is one more pepper painting from before, and now I am back to painting and on to other things.

"One Hot Mama" - SOLD

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I like the look of a casual composition ... not one that looks over-planned. Sometimes, especially with peppers, I just toss them around for awhile until they land in a nice way. This took about 15 minutes of tossing.

"Closeup" - SOLD

The last of the series, a closeup. The actual flowers were a bit more pink than this, but I couldn't figure out how to get the variety of pinks with my palette. Today I was working on a large day lily and pulled in a few pinks I don't usually use, which worked very well (I'll post the day lily soon). One is Permanent Rose, and the other two are Quinacridone something or others. Here is a 20"x20" painting of carnations I am sending off to the Just Looking Gallery in San Luis Obispo tomorrow. I love this one. I'm going to start posting some larger paintings here too. Oh, and by the way, I've been tagged a lot lately. I wish I could do them all, but I just don't have the time. Thank you all who have tagged me anyway! Always an honor!

"Far Reaching" - SOLD

Thanks so much to all of you who hazarded a guess about these mystery flowers. Several of you were right and sent some fabulous photos for me to check against. Thank you! They are called Clarkia (or Godetia) - apparently first discovered by Lewis and Clark. Here is a better photo.

"Wide Open" - SOLD

Here is another painting from the same batch of flowers, and a photo below of the actual flowers. I got a lot of emails suggesting they are tulips or poppies. Maybe this photo will make it clearer ... anyone?

"Buttercup-ish" - SOLD

I bought a bunch of these, intending to do a larger close-up painting of them. I ended up doing several small ones in one day instead, and I'm so glad. They moved all over the place! The reason for the title is because the pedals are thin and papery like buttercups (if you can tell me the name of the flower I'll be eternally grateful - I have a feeling it's not "buttercup-ish"). The flowers opened and closed and generally made painting them a real chore. But it was all worth it for the little white mini-flower down in the bottom of each one.

"End of the Line"

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I just spent 2 great days at the Coppini Academy in San Antonio teaching a weekend workshop. It was a lovely space to teach, the weather was perfect, and I was blessed with another great group of students! : ) When I got home I found this apple painting I forgot to post, that I did when I was painting apples last week. I did a demo today but it wasn't great, and I'm BEAT, so I'm hitting the hay early. Below are photos from class. Until tomorrow...

"Turn Around"

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You'd think this would have taken no time at all, but it was hard work getting all those petals in the right place. Flowers are tricky because if you go through and do the petals one at a time, by the time you're through they don't look right altogether. My best flowers have come from really really squinting and getting the basic, over-all values in first, then refining and refining until they look like petals.

"Post It Apple" - SOLD

Today I forced myself to slow down. I've realized lately that I have been just cranking them out, and not always giving each painting everything I've got. This took maybe twice as long as usual, and I think I enjoyed it about twice as much because I was far more relaxed.

"Pig at Breakfast" - SOLD

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And now for something a little different. Well, actually this is more in line with some of what my larger paintings look like. Just on a little canvas. It was tough painting so much so small, but I like it. My absolute favorite part is the spoon. Why? Because it looks like a spoon. With just a few tiny, little strokes. I am very proud of that spoon. : )

"Cherries Besides" - SOLD

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Yesterday I mentioned how it's nerve-wracking for me to have someone watch me compose. Carolyn Finnell left a comment asking how I can give demos if this is so? Well, I feel that if I choose a bad composition I've doomed the whole painting from the start, but while painting I have an hour or so to pull it off. And my secret for giving demos is to encourage the watchers to chat and have a good time. That way 1. they're not too bored 2. they get to know each other, which makes workshops way more fun, and 3. I can pretend they're just behind me talking and not watching me paint. : )

"First One In" - SOLD

I love the reflected blue here. It was one of those situations where I happened upon it and thought "woah, that's cool!" I have to admit most of my compositions happen by accident. I have some vague ideas in my mind ahead of time, sometimes, but mostly I just play around with stuff until I like what I see, and then I paint it. I had a student once specifically watch me while I composed. It took forever (I get nervous when people watch) : ) and after a while I turned to her and said "are you getting anything from this?" and she said "yep, now I won't feel so bad when it takes ME a long time." That made me feel better too.