Mr Scary

Click Here to Bid

Happy Halloween!

After the Rain

Click Here to Bid

I took some liberties with this image. I saw this tractor ... is it a forklift? ... in Maine last year when I was painting with Colin Page (a truly fabulous plein air painter!!!). It rained for almost all of the 2 days we painted, but cleared up finally on the last afternoon. I was walking around and shot a picture of this, but the sun wasn't coming through the clouds as I suggested in this painting. A little artistic liberty never hurt nobody. : )

Ribbet

Click Here to Bid

Jacob found this frog for me last spring right outside our Texas house, on a box I used for shipping. He sat still for a surprisingly long time while I took picture after picture. What a cutie.

Cozy Cows

Click Here to Bid

Here are a few cows I photographed forever ago in Germany. The light was perfect! What I need to find is someone with cows here in Oregon. I would love to get out in a field with animals (any kind really) and take pictures all day. I've wanted to do this for a while.

Many thanks to those of you emailing me about workshops!! I appreciate the help.

Model A

Click Here to Bid

I couldn't lose with this old car. I found it in St. Augustine last week in the same spot I had found another old one I painted. As with the faces, the "eyes" make it - don't you think?

On another note, I have a request I am a little embarrassed to make. I had all my workshops written down on paper calendars because they were much easier to see at a glance than on my computer. Unfortunately my calendars were lost in the fire. I think I have remembered all the ones I didn't have listed already on my blog, but if I have a workshop scheduled with you in 2012 or 2013, please email me. Thank you!!

One Eyed Don

This time I am including the reference photo, for your benefit, and mine, apparently. I see now that I painted this WAY too dark. I installed a florescent light above my easel and today I took out 2 of the 4 bulbs because I had a feeling I was painting too dark in general. Lesson learned.

Faith Surprised

Above is my interpretation of Faith Te, one of our Daily Paintworks featured artists. And below are pictures of my kids in Jacksonville this last week. It was a good group, kind of quiet actually. I told them they could chat during the demos but they insisted on watching ... of all things!

Below are my demos from class (all sold). I thoroughly enjoyed doing still lifes again and am looking forward to  doing more once I get set up. I am having to replace everything in my studio and have made some interesting discoveries so far, which I will be sharing shortly.

And below are all my kids from Jacksonville. Someone always asks after I post these pictures - why not more guys? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe they are afraid of me? Don wasn't (orange shirt, below).

I've had several inquiries about purchasing this painting, so I decided to go ahead and auction this one.

Click Here to Bid

Cactus Time Out

Click Here to Bid

I always seem to forget one thing every time I travel, and this time I had a big oops - I forgot my computer plug dealy - the thing that keeps my computer charged. Now I am home from Florida and catching up on email. Please forgive me if you've written and I haven't responded. I also have gotten quite a bit of email recently - which I appreciate GREATLY - but if you didn't ask a specific question I probably won't respond. Please don't take offense - if I respond to every one I won't have time to paint. Please know I read  them all and LOVE the support and comments!!!

This painting is the last one from BTF (before the fire). My plan is to return to the faces for now and probably resume still life as well by the end of the week. I have to admit I really enjoyed doing still life demos at my workshop this last week ... (will post photos soon)

Two tongues

Click Here to Bid

Real quick before I talk about what I learned from these 2 faces, I want to ask you to please consider taking part in the DPW Every Mother Counts fundraiser! There is a very interesting story behind why we are doing this now, and it involves one of the most popular blogs in the world! So if you're an artist, this is a great way to get your art seen AND donate to a very good cause. Read more on the DPW blog.

Now, I did the bottom face first, but am happier with the one above. The light was quite harsh in the one below, and a lot of the detail was washed out/lost in the light area. Plus, after doing the one above, I found that a child's face looks much more ... childlike, when the edges are softer - duh! I was really playing around with color on the one above - maybe too much - but it was fun and I love how the eyes turned out. I am coming to realize the eyes are the most important part of these little paintings.

Reflecting Love

Click Here to Bid

Thank you all so incredibly much for your kind comments!! As usual I am overwhelmed by the love, support and virtual hugs. You all have wrapped me in a giant, cozy blanket and it is just what I needed.

Now I am off to Florida to teach all next week. One thing I didn't think about when we moved to Oregon was how many time zones I was away from the East coast, and how many hours it would take to get there! Oh man. So while I lurch across the country tomorrow, please enjoy my second to last before the fire painting. I'll post more faces soon.

Whatever!

I received a funny kind of gift this morning that made me think all day. I debated sharing it, and finally decided, if nothing else, maybe some of you have had the same experience. It's long, so if you have a minute ...

Posting these silly faces has been a big leap for me. Heck, doing them has been a leap. So when I received my first comment this morning on my first post, I had some pent up anticipation. It said "I think your foray into funny faces is misguided." I like to think I'm a strong person, but deep down I am enormously sensitive. So my first response, one minute after trying to laugh it off, was to cry. Because, of course, it is my worst fear that this is a terrible mistake. And this confirmed it exactly.

As the day wore on I went through a series of emotions. Maybe stages of grief? At first I came up with all the reasons this person was wrong and I was right. I was angry at anonymous - I mean who did they think they were?! And how cowardly to post such a thing without a name attached! And then I became incredibly depressed - what if I have to paint apples and only applies for the rest of my life?! The whole time I felt incredibly sorry for myself.

And then, hours later, I thought, ok, so one person thinks this is stupid, and they happen to be the first one to speak up. And maybe lots of people think the same. Maybe everyone does. That doesn't change the fact that I was inspired to do this in the first place, and have wanted to for a long time. And I enjoy it.

Here's my reality. I've been doing still life almost exclusively for five years. One almost every single day. I got to the point, right before the fire, where I was drawing a blank in the studio. A BIG one. I decided I needed a break, and a hobby. So I started making jewelry, just for fun, on the side. In fact I was in the middle of a beading party with my friends when we evacuated. So in addition to everything else I lost all my jewelry making supplies.

Right after the fire everyone asked "so when are you going to start painting again?". But I didn't want to, so these questions just made me nervous. About a week later it suddenly occurred to me that I could paint something different, if only for a little while, and the first thing that popped into my head was silly faces. It's an idea I've had countless times before. I figured it would give my apple brain a break and time to get re-inspired. I was finally excited to paint again!

The reason I called this anonymous comment a gift? Because it made me think about ME for a change, and what I need. I need something new, a change of scenery. However, it also made me think about my family. Starting over is expensive, so I have to keep an income flowing in for us. So I decided to keep doing the faces, as a learning experience, for me, not for sale, but do still lifes too (as soon as I get my new heavy duty tripod and shadowbox - a couple of weeks), and maybe some other stuff as well.

I figure, the faces can only get better. And maybe someday I can sell them. I am already learning a TON! I will be happy to share what I learn and will gladly accept tips from those more experienced with this subject.

The moral of this story? Don't let the opinions of others discourage you from trying new things.

Elvis Impression

Here is the first of my silly face series! I want to make very clear right from the start, these are NOT portaits!!! I'm not going for absolute likeness - I'm going for silly. If you recognize this person or it is you, please drop me a line with the name. And thank you - thank you so much for those of you who've sent me images. I've got some really great ones to work from, but will always accept more. Please email me your silly face.

Shipless

Click Here to Bid

You'll never believe my luck! Someone wrote to me after my last post and said they had an entire set of these ship-guys (just like what I had) and is looking to get rid of them!! Thank you, Lilly!

Where's My Ship?

Click Here to Bid

Don't you hate it when you wake up in the morning and your dang ship is missing? I can identify with this captain. I found him at a thrift store near my folks a couple months ago. There was a whole set, all wood, all different, and after painting this one I asked my mom to buy the rest and ship them to me. Unfortunately, they got to my house right before the fire. I did paint this guy twice - I'll post the other one tomorrow.

Cactus and Water

Click Here to Bid

Water with your cactus fruit? I don't know - it seemed like a good combination when I painted it.

I did finally get to paint today. I need to figure out the good spots around my house for photographing my paintings, and then I'll start posting my silly faces. I've done 2 so far and I am pretty stoked. It's good to be back!!

Scary Cherry

Click Here to Bid

I apologize for not posting this past week. We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off in the never-ending (it seems) task of starting over from scratch in a new house. I hope to get back to regular posting soon. Meanwhile I am almost ready to start painting again. I keep thinking I can paint and then realize I am missing something important. The last order of supplies will come tomorrow while we are in Portland making an IKEA run.

See pics of our new house on our New Beginning blog.