"Come Out & Play?" - SOLD

I am flying to Boston tomorrow for a couple of workshops, just in time for a big storm on Monday! Apparently they will be having 8 to 12 inches of snow, which, being from Texas and having not actually seen snow in quite a few years, freaks me out a little. But they assure me people do this all the time, and that I'll come back alive. I hope to post with updates ... I didn't even ask about internet ... wish me luck.

"In Line for the Tub"

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Green and purple - one of my all time favorite color combinations. And in reference to yesterday's post, purple is my dominant color. And for all my kids, my value composition is mid: dominant - dark: secondary - light: smidge. ; )

"Tomato Bowling"

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I had a 2-D teacher in college who taught us nothing more profound about color theory than "blue ... blue is a boy color." I swear. What I've learned since then from books and experimentation is that while some color combinations tend to work better than others, you can make just about any colors work together. What it boils down to is personal preference. One thing I DO think works more often than not is to have one color be dominant (take up the most room in the painting). Someday I'd like to do a whole series where I go around the color wheel and choose one color after another to be dominant. I'd do it now but I've got another workshop next week.

"Cool Heat" - SOLD

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I loved the way the peppers looked coming out from under the shadow of the bowl. I did a larger painting today as well - this was my (hot) cool down. : )

The day I left for Carmel, as promised, the slab for my new studio was poured! I haven't had time until now to post the pictures. My gracious husband took them for me since I was packing and catching a plane. Here they are.

"Three on Blue" - SOLD

I am back from Carmel, and while I'm glad to be home I will miss (for now) the absolutely AMAZING beauty of the place and the new friends I made while there! Here are 2 photos from down on the beach. In the second one you can see a bit of the famous pebble beach golf course above the dog walkers.





And here are two photos of my kids hard at work. Most of them live in or around Carmel and when I asked them where they go for vacation they said "we don't." Well, I asked one or two. But why would you go anywhere when you live in such a beautiful place? I hope to return next year and do some plein air.

"Two to Tango"

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My son hates vegetables. There must be some good reason why children hate them because they seem programmed to avoid them at all costs. He WILL tolerate raw red bell pepper, for some strange reason, so I buy it often. This time they were all incredibly perfect - as if created FOR me. I couldn't resist painting them before my son had his way.

Tomorrow the concrete is poured for the studio! Here's what they did today in preparation. Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Carmel, CA for a 3-day workshop. In case you're wondering, it wasn't on my schedule - this group had enough to fill it on their own.

"Spiky Thing"

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In painting this a second time (and handling it into position) it occurs to me this thing has to be protecting itself from something. I know it turns into a flower if left on the plant - quite a beautiful one. But what does it need protecting from? (more studio progress)

"Artichoke on Blue" - SOLD

This goes to show what being "too close" is and what a few hours away will do. I was really unhappy with this one, and bummed that maybe I had slipped back into my bad rut. Now I love it. Go figure.

Well, I misunderstood about the studio - they're pouring the slab toward the end of the week - they put in the forms today. Read more and see pictures.

"Private Club" - SOLD

If all goes right, the slab for the new studio will be poured TOMORROW!!! You can be sure I'll be there taking pictures, and will post them on my new studio blog (I will link to it from here).

"Looking Up"

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This started out as a challenge to myself. I wanted to see if I could do a high key, mostly white painting with relatively few strokes - all deliberate. I ended up getting a little more fussy than I wanted, but I really like the result.

"Nectarine-y"

Destined for my July solo-show at the Wally Workman Gallery.

This is what I did today. I am back in the flow and feeling good. I realized after I took this picture that the reflection of the vase was shifted a little too much to the right so I fixed it but didn't retake the picture. You should see these nectarines up close - they are killer - best nectarines I've ever done. Thank you all again for your encouragement. I wish I had time to thank you all personally.

"Simply Me" - SOLD

Thank you all so much for the wonderful encouragement after yesterday! I got some really amazing emails reminding me of the important things in life. I need a little post-it on my forehead that says "LIFE IS A PROCESS: it's not about where we get to, but all the things we experience along the way." Like family and friends, of which I've got a lot, including a whole new cyber-family - ya'll! Thank you for the support. It is MUCH appreciated.

"Water Break" - SOLD

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I have formed a new theory about myself: I don't work well under pressure. I have a solo show coming up, in July, at the Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, TX. What with my workshop schedule and my 3-yr-old I only have 35 full painting days until then. And I need about 30 decent paintings. Ahhhh!!! Yesterday, really feeling the pressure for the first time, I freaked out. And apparently when I freak out my creative side shuts down. Duh. I did the above painting the day before (that's water in the cup), and the pig (a commission) late last night after 3 complete wipe-offs. Today ... today involved some tears but in the end (my husband graciously watched Jacob for the whole evening) I did 2 largish paintings that I'm pretty sure I will still like in the morning. Yay!

"Peeking" - SOLD

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Wow, thank you for the all the great emails/comments regarding my recent struggles! I am feeling much better today. One of the things I realized I want to do more of ... is play around with COLOR! When I close my eyes at night I see all kinds of neat color combinations, but all of them hazy and unclear. The best I can do during the day is try out different color combinations until I find things I like. I believe this photo is a bit too dark, and I am having trouble lightening it without losing too much info ... so I will retake the photo and post it tomorrow. I really like it, so I want to do it justice.

"Begonia Glow" - SOLD

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I was at the grocery store looking at flowers to buy for a larger painting when I saw a potted Begonia plant. The flowers are just gorgeous! I brought them home and commenced to spend many many fruitless hours trying to compose them in a way (in and out of the pot) that suited. I did a couple, including this one, but still don't feel I did the flowers justice. Now I've got half a Begonia plant in a pot, propped up because it'll fall over otherwise. Very sad.

And I was sad too. Oh I talk about how I don't get so emotionally involved anymore, but we all have our days. So I decided to sit down and spend some time thinking about what I really want to paint. I spent half a day browsing paintings on the internet and sketching in my sketchbook and it was the best thing I've done for myself in a while. I think we probably all need to rethink things every once in a while. I came up with some new ideas that I'm very excited about.

"Paperweight"

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I've had this paperweight for a while. I'm really not sure even where I got it. And I've painted it before, here. It looks a lot more purplue here ... some trick I'm sure of the light. In the first one I was using a super white light, and here it was more yellow.

"Apples at Sea" - SOLD

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I suppose if these apples were really at sea they would be walking on water. But we'll leave that topic for later. More importantly, I just found out I have been accepted into the Salon International show again this year with the 20x20in painting below! This always spectacular exhibit will be at the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio, TX in April. I will post more about it later. Also, I was featured on Hill Country House recenlty and got a very favourable review. So many great things happening - no time for anything. If you've emailed me recently and I haven't responded, please understand that while I would like nothing more than to respond to every single email, with the move and all, I am way behind. Thank you ALL for your nice comments!

"Apple Soup" 20x20in

"Staggered"

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When in doubt, paint what you know. This is what I advise every artist having an "oh darn I forgot how to paint again" day. I'm pretty familiar with apples, so they are generally my fallback when I have a crisis.

"Mismatched" - SOLD

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I have nothing to show for today's work (I happened to have the above painting from a few days ago). Today ... today I spent several hours trying very hard to paint some little onions that looked so good in the store. I know I've lamented on this before but sometimes it just feels like I've forgotten how to paint, as nothing turns out and I end up wiping everything off afterwards. It never lasts for long, so I'm not terribly worried, but I did find an absurd pleasure in cutting up the difficult onions and using them in our dinner tonight.

"That's Reaching" - SOLD

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I love playing around with variations of one color. I'm not a HUGE pink fan, but I have this really cute little pink vase and thought I'd do a mostly pink - smidge of green painting. The plant came from a bush right outside my studio window in our new house. It's a very common bush and I used to know the name, but it escapes me now. Soon the wildflowers will start popping up again - I am really looking forward to it.