"Backlit Bottles" - SOLD

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Here's something a little different for me. But the grapes are still there. Do you see them?

"Not Grape Juice" - SOLD

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More grapes. And a red cup. But not grape juice. : )

"Grape Reflections" & "Good Morning" - SOLD

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I've decided to go back to the auction format. Sorry to those of you who preferred it the other way. Below is another painting that'll be in my show in 2 weeks ("Good Morning," 12x12in.):

"Hidden Grape" & "Just You & Me"

click to buy - $100

I really like this kind of composition where all the players are gathered in one area. It seems friendly and cozy. And I really like these colors together: purple green and turquoise.

Here's another painting that'll be in my show. It's called "Just You and Me" and it's 12x24in.

"Golden Bunch" & "Seeking Shade"

click to buy - $100

I love to paint grapes. I adore the translucency, especially under a strong light where some go dark in the shadows of others.

Here is another painting for my show:



It is 12x12in and called "Seeking Shade". The reception for my show is July 11th from 6 to 8pm at the Wally Workman Gallery, in Austin, TX. I'd love to see you there if you're in the area!

"Cup of Glee" & "How Do We Get In?"

click to buy - $100


I just got finished boxing up 15 paintings! Wow and thank you to all who helped clear out my studio!!! Below is one of the paintings that will be in my upcoming solo show. It is 20x24in & called "How Do We Get In?".

"Piled On" - SOLD

I just lowered some prices in my Ebay store - check it out if you're interested. I've got too many paintings in my studio and would like to move some out. Even if they are small ... : )

"Teamwork" - SOLD

Recently my friend Qiang Huang, another daily painter, gave me several sheets of thin blue plastic that I taped to the front of my "daylight" spotlight lamp (a fairly yellow light, even though it's called daylight). This turns the light almost completely white - near enough - which I am really enjoying! If this is something you'd be interested in, Qiang's 10-yr-old son is selling them - just go to Qiang's blog and click on North Light Filter.

"Shelved" - SOLD

Today we had a belated father's day picnic, of homemade sushi, inside, because it's like a furnace here in Texas! This has absolutely nothing to do with this painting - my brain is fried because I just spent many hours compiling all the images for my upcoming show. It was like ... work or something. : )

See our latest progress on the studio.

"Standout"

click to buy - $100

Thank you all for the feedback regarding auction vs. fixed price. More of you preferred fixed over auction, so I'll stick to it for now.

I've hit a small glitch with my email list provider ... I wasn't able to send out my email tonight ... I hope to have it fixed soon. Sorry about that!

"Cast Shadows" - SOLD

I've been considering lately switching from auction format to a fixed price format for these small paintings. I feel it may be a friendlier way to buy. Consider this an experiment - I may switch back. Please let me know if you have a strong opinion either way. Thanks!

"My Little Friend" - SOLD

A former student of mine, Jeanie Thorn, has designed an ingenious metal frame for small paintings that she is now selling. Here is her website.

"Apple Pie?" - SOLD

This is one of my favorites of what I've done lately. I did a larger painting too with a similar theme. I swear I'll show these soon ... just need to get them photographed ...

I wanted to say, about the self-portrait yesterday, first of all, thank you for all the nice comments! It was especially difficult doing a face in such a small format, and well ... MY face particularly. And most difficult of all, posting it for all to see! I try to keep the standard up here and never post the should-have-been-wiped's. I don't know about this one. The more I look at it I see all the odd things that could/should have been better. Now I feel I have to redeem myself by posting a better self-portrait - I'm just afraid it'll take a little while for me to get around to it.

One more note: we did some work on the studio today and I will post photos tomorrow. AND, while outside picking up scraps, I got stung by a wasp - OUCH!

"Self Portrait 2" - n/a, & "Pear Bomb" - SOLD

I would like to propose that painting people is hard, and painting yourself, especially from life, is hardEST, like of all things to paint. I wiped this 3 or 4 times, in whole and parts before arriving at this ... somewhat likeness of myself. My husband said it was me, but I don't know. Why did I do this? To be a part of David Lobenberg's self-portrait "love in". I've been meaning to paint one for weeks, but I got a reminder today and just ... did it. The lighting isn't terribly captivating - I just used the light I paint by. I'd like to try again, perhaps from a photo.




When I set this up I thought - it's a bomb!

"Fairest Of All" - SOLD

I can't believe I've never used a metal bowl before. Duh. I love the idea of this lemon being mesmerized by it's own reflection. : ) Can you find me in there?

"Most Popular" - SOLD

There were lots of tiny highlights on these lemons with the light at this angle (from behind) and I had to choose how much to put in and how much to leave out. I ended up suggesting them a bit, but mostly leaving them out. I think when you are painting from life there is an overwhelming amount of information. We tend to get sucked into the details and miss the big picture. The hard part is deciding what to keep and what to "miss".

"Glow Through"

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The light shining through the lemons here really "yellow-ed" up the shadows, making them much more brown than an opaque object would have created on this blue/purple cloth.

"Next In Line" - SOLD

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I really like the colors of these lemons in shadow. It made me think about light. If you have two lights shining on one thing from different angles, you'll have two shadows and a conflicting light source. With just one light source you get a very dark shadow. Here, there is obviously another light source but it is not direct, and so it is giving some life and color to the lemons where they are in shadow. Sometimes I really like this effect, and sometimes I really like to have everything darker and a bit more dramatic. Options are gooood.

"Come Here Now!" - SOLD

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Back to a red ground again for this one. No surprise probably that I see this as a mom and kid, with the kid running away. Not that my perfect child would do such a thing. ; )

"Heading Out" - SOLD

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This time I used a green ground (as opposed to yesterday) as an experiment. I like them both for different reasons.

"Tagalong" - SOLD

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Usually when I choose the color for the ground (undercolor) I go with the compliment of the dominant color (dominant = the color that takes up the most room in the painting). So, here the dominant color is red (and pink) and the compliment of red is green (or turquoise if you're following the Munsell wheel). But in this case I thought a green ground would muddy up the other colors. The nature of oil paint is such that any color you put over another is going to mix a bit, unless the undercolor is dry. And if you put red over green you'll get a certain amount of mud. So I decided on red for my ground so the strawberries would be nice and vibrant.

"Out For Coffee" - SOLD

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I want to thank Bruce McMillan (children's book author and photo-illustrator), a student from my Salado workshop and my new friend, for helping me title most of the paintings for my upcoming show! He's a real artist with words, so I really appreciate it. Thanks, Bruce!

"Light Up the Dark"

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It's too late. I can't think.

"You First"

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I'm completely exhausted after my workshop. I am about to collapse. It was SUCH a fun time and I will remember this class fondly. Here are my kids, divided by bozoness - big bozos on the left, lesser bozos on the right, and a perfect bozo in the middle. ; )

"Three Stooges" - SOLD

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Below are a couple of pictures of my kids, hard at work. I seem to end up taking pictures when they are being serious, but I'm sure a minute after these were taken someone cracked a joke and we were all laughing our butts off. Somehow I always attract the wild ones!

"Craving Sweet" - SOLD & workshop demo

Thank you all who wrote back about lighting the bottom half of my paintings. Here are some of the ideas I got, in case anyone else is interested: 1. put something white/reflective at the bottom of my easel that angles back towards my painting, to reflect the light from above; 2. Mount other lights down low either under or to the side of my painting; 3. Shine lights up towards the ceiling that will bounce back down (more even I guess); 4. Get better lights, 5000k florescents and/or GE Halogen flood lights; 5. Get my studio built faster. : )

Today was the first of a 3 day workshop in Salado, TX. Below is the demo I did this morning (photo not so great) - sold.

"Limelight" - SOLD

Someone asked me today about the lights in my studio. I am currently set up in our bedroom as I wait for my new studio to be built. There I will have several, big, north-facing windows and hope to utilize that light. For now I use daylight, florescent bulbs mounted on the ceiling - the long kinds that don't buzz. To avoid glare I have them mounted directly above my easel. The only drawback is that it lights the top of my panels more than the bottom. It isn't so noticeable for the small panels, but with the bigger ones it gets downright problematic. Any ideas?

"Reflections in Purple"

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Someone asked today if I could show a reference photo for yesterday's (large) painting. I completely forgot to post it. Let me clarify that I painted it completely from life, but I did snap a photo before I started, just for this purpose. Here it is. Click on it to see a larger version.