All About Me - SOLD

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I thought I'd drop into cyber-world for a minute today to post my self-portrait for the Daily Paintworks "All about Me" Challenge! I've been teaching the last couple of days and as usual am completely exhausted at the end of each day. Thank goodness for wine is all I can say. But, about this painting above, I was outside one day taking pictures of my paintings for my blog and I thought, maybe we should have a self-portrait challenge - I think I'll take a picture for my reference. So I turned my camera around, clicked off a few of my most normal faces, and painted my favorite. I'm quite happy with the result. I think I'll hang it on the wall in my studio as a reminder to never take myself too seriously!

Pile of Sweet - SOLD

You've heard the deal about ... if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be. Well, 2 of my top choices, both still alive, would be Karin Jurick and Neil Hollingsworth. So tonight's dinner was a dream come true! I forgot my camera or else I would have gotten a picture with them to prove it. Two of the nicest, most down to earth people in the world, and both AMAZING artists!! I am so lucky.

Crossed Brushes

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I'm off in the morning for a workshop in Atlanta. As usual, I'll post as often as I can. And I'll ship any paintings when I return, Tuesday. Thanks for understanding!

First Date - SOLD

I spotted these pretty, yellow carnations at the grocery store and couldn't pass them up. I tried and tried to make it work with just one ... like a portrait. But there was so little contrast and it just wasn't happening, so I pulled in some supporting actors. I'm really happy with it.

Classic Dog - 8x8in - SOLD

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This is a second, larger version on the hot dog theme. I liked this composition so much I decided to "super-size" it. : ) It's 8x8in. For this one I painted the mustard first and everything else around it. For yesterday's I painted the hot dog first and the mustard on top, and I ended up fighting with the yellow to get it to stand out. I felt this worked better.

This auction is being hosted by Daily Paintworks instead of Ebay. My husband has been working his butt off for months (I miss him!) to get this up and working. Anyone can bid, but in a few weeks any artists who want to list their paintings with DPW will be able to to do that as well!! They are art specific, art friendly, and significantly cheaper than Ebay.

Punch, Grapes, Dog - SOLD

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I recently took on an illustration job that partly involves painting a hot dog. I don't usually do things like that, but I was really intrigued by the idea. For practice I decided to paint one on my own. It was super fun! I'm thinking at some point I might do more things like this - maybe hamburgers and things like that. Maybe - I don't know. I'll tell you all about the project when I'm done with it. For now mum's the word.

Plumtastic - SOLD

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I love these bowls. I got them recently, in North Carolina, from a store that was trying to get rid of them (why?!). They stack beautifully and the shape ... need I say more?

Fancy Shoes - SOLD

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These are my favorites - Banana Republic (they make shoes!?), but I found them at the thrift store. Actually, I got them all at the thrift store. And after I paint them a couple more times, I'll return them and get something else.

Killer Heels - SOLD

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Woops - someone let me know the shoes I posted yesterday weren't actually Mary Janes. Sorry about that. My style of shoes (that I wear) usually revolve around hiking or running, so I'm not versed on the lingo. Today's shoes I'm calling "killer" because they kill feet. On the two or three occasions that I've worn heels higher than half an inch, my feet almost died. I don't understand women who wear these on a regular basis. I mean, I know they look good, but is it worth the pain?!?

Mary Jane Heels - SOLD

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For all of you who guessed the portrait I posted yesterday was of my son, I am sorry to disappoint. His name is Isaac and he is the son of my very good friend Karen (who was out all day and didn't see my blog until tonight!). Our kids are one month apart in age, and good friends. But while they are both silly, I would argue my son is more the ham. Hence the scissors, below, in my son's hands. And for this one I did have fussy parents: myself and my husband. We both agree he looks a little older here than reality, but still more or less like Jacob.

Jengafied - SOLD

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Another thing I've been dying to paint again are people! For a while, years ago, I thought I would be a portrait painter. But life had different plans, and thank goodness - since then I've spoken with several portrait painters who hate painting for other people and dealing with fussy parents. So I figure I'll do this for fun. Below is a kid I know very well. I want to see if his mom recognizes him, so ... if you do, please leave a comment on my blog saying so.

Losing Myself - SOLD

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Lately I've been feeling very rut oriented. Like, I'm in one. So I've decided to mix up my still life with a few more ... non-still life subjects. I've been out taking photos of people and things, and you'll start seeing more of them going forward. For starters, here's another chicken. This one is not for sale. It is a gift for a crazy lady in Germany. I'm calling it "Proud Feather".

Disassembled - SOLD

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There was some confusion about the instructions for yesterday's challenge. It has nothing to do with your palette or paint tube colors. It has everything to do with the colors of your objects, background, etc. The actual colors in your painting should follow a color scheme, not the tubes of paint you use. Hope that clears things up! I've also updated the intstructions on the challenge page.

Flower Stack - SOLD

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This is my entry for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. It's the Color Challenge, and the rules are to choose a color scheme, and use only those colors. I chose one of my favorite schemes, which is a combination of complementary and split-complementary. I used orange, blue, turquoise and purple, with a dominant amount of orange.

Off the Top of My Head - SOLD

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We recently bought a new set of knives. They are all metal and cut beautifully! My husband, in an effort to keep them in pristine condition (anal) insists they be washed and put away directly after each use. To his dismay, he keeps finding them in my studio, abandoned, after an orange or apple has been sliced to bits.

Green Stack Skewed - SOLD

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When I was a kid, I had a set of markers. I remember sitting for hours trying out different color combinations and writing down my favorites. This was top on my list: green, purple, turqoise.

Apple Strata - SOLD

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I spent the day doing my taxes. Yes, last minute. My brain is fried.

Cut and Twisted - SOLD

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I bought some apples during my recent (aforementioned) block. Apples are my comfort food because I've painted them ... uhhh, just a few times. But, wanting to do something new with them, I borrowed this slicing idea from an artist friend, Brenda Furgeson, who did a bunch of sliced pears recently. Thanks, Bren!

What's Up? - SOLD

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Here's my chicken for the latest Daily Paintworks Challenge! I used the actual background from the photo as a color springboard, but tried to make the painted background a bit more abstract. There are already some VERY cool chicken paintings posted. Check 'em out!

It's my husband's birthday today and we are celebrating by doing one of our favorite things - camping. We are using his iphone as a personal hotspot so I can post - how cool is that?!

Wanna Piece a Me? - SOLD

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Well, it's that time of the month again. No no, it's not what you're thinking. It seems to come in cycles, and I haven't kept a record, but it seems to be a monthly thing. Blocks. You know, those days where you go in the studio and absolutely nothing works. And after a few days you become desperately afraid that it's all ended - you'll never paint another decent thing again in your life. That was me last week. My tactic this time? Avoidance. I took a breather - stayed out of the studio for a few days - worked on other things. When I went back, I picked up my trusty apple, set it up 10,000 ways, and finally settled on this simple composition. I thought I probably shouldn't press my luck, so I packed it up and called it a day. The next day was better. Whew.

Take Me Away - SOLD

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I'm really happy with the movement here. A lot of times when I'm playing around with compositions I land on about 1000 totally static ones before I land on anything with life. I think we tend towards balance - or I do anyway. But when I get something that is balanced in an unbalanced way, then it's exciting!

Stack Groupies - SOLD

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Another oft-painted subject of mine - stacks - getting so much glory the group has acquired some groupies. I was a little worried the pear wouldn't read, but seeing it again here I think it does. Yeah?

Birdie Brella - SOLD

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This birdie seems to be popping up everywhere. I think he got a taste of fame and then it went to his head.

Intimidating - SOLD

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These guys are trying real hard to be intimidating. Is it working?

End of the Day, Almost Home & Summer in Germany - SOLD

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Today I posted a new challenge to Daily Paintworks. It is the German Landscape Challenge, and it's what gave me the idea to start the whole thing in the first place. But let me tell you a little about these locations. This first one is just down the road from my husband's mother's house. Almost every day I would walk towards town looking for something to paint. And in the afternoon I would be trudging back up the hill, almost to the house and look back at this scene. Every time I would think, if this weren't such a busy road, and if I weren't so hungry, I would love to paint this. And I finally did - from a photo.

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This is a scene from a hike we took, up a mountain, to a restaurant at the top, which I've mentioned before. The only way to access the restaurant is to hike or bike this trail. It took about 2 hours to hike it. Would this kind of thing survive in America?!

Distraction - SOLD

Well, this is it folks. I've finally created the perfect painting. And now I can find another passion. You heard me right, I'm hanging up my brushes. For good. So a big thanks to all of you who have supported me along the way and given me encouragement. Please wish me luck with my new endeavors.

Gotcha! I think this might be the first April Fools Day I've actually realized in time to take advantage of. : )