Hey That's Not Coffee!

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Today I forgot how to paint. It was a disaster. Luckily I'm ahead with my paintings, so I still had something to post.

Lately I've actually been way ahead with my paintings, and I'm finding a pretty huge benefit to this (in addition them being dry and ready to ship): by the time I post a painting, I am far less emotionally involved. If I decide - well, this one really just isn't up to par, it doesn't slay me like it would if I made the same judgement call right after I painted it. And you end up seeing only the work I am most proud of.

Ready and Waiting

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I tend to like orderly scenes. I think it's the German in me. Of course my mother would say that I wasn't orderly as a child. But it's definitely something I embraced as I got older. In my environment and my paintings.

As for the bird I posted yesterday, the general consensus is that it's a Great Tit. Thanks to everyone who emailed me. : )

Looking for the Best Cup

 

Click Here to Purchase - $200 - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Hey all, sorry for the total radio silence! I've been sewing again. Apparently it's an addiction. I'm addicted. I'll try to paint again someday.

Meanwhile here's one from a few months ago. I tried several times to paint this striped cup, and this was the only one that worked out. I didn't realize it would be so hard! Also got this cute little square cup.

Enough Grapes

 

Click Here to Purchase - $200 - 6x8in - oil on panel

I found this one last small painting from back when I was doing grapes. Anything inside glass is tough, but a bunch of grapes? Quite a challenge. I realize I say a lot that something was a challenge, and so I guess what I should tell you instead is when something is EASY to paint, haha!

A Matter of Life and Death

 

Click Here to Purchase - $200 - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I got this little skull a while back with no idea that it would be SO hard to paint. The transitions are super subtle, but I think the hardest thing is that we know what a skull is supposed to look like, so even with it super sketchy like this, everything has to be in just the right place. I've had to wipe off quite a few versions for each time it's been in a painting.

Scissors Paper Grapes Apple

 

Click Here to Purchase - $200 - 6x6in. - oil on panel

What beats what in this contest? And do we add the cup, or is it just the referee?

Should We Hide the Sake?

 

Click Here to Purchase for $200 - 6x8in. - oil

Here's another one that's been sitting around my studio. I'm still not able to paint still life, but I have started to paint from photos (less difficult for my healing neck). As it is after any long break, my skills are rusty. I know it will take a little while to get into the groove and start doing work I'm proud to show you. Until then I'm enjoying the process.

Neck update: I'm feeling better every day! I started PT today and it's going really well so far. More and more I'm able to do the things I couldn't do for almost an entire year! It's like starting over with my life. : )

Hide the Last Apple

 

Click Here to Buy for $200 - 6x6in. - oil on panel

When I have a bunch of fruit, I have a hard time not painting them in a glass bowl. I've done it lots of times. Here's one of my very first ones, from 2007.

Look Harder

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x8in. - oil on panel - starts at $100

I know I've had quite a run with apples, but the little blue bird just discovered the very last one, hiding behind the cups. And now we'll move on to other subjects. : )

The Color Conference

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - Oil on panel - starts at $100

If you are looking for an interesting read over the holiday break, I am currently enjoying a book called "Caveat Emptor." It's about an art forger, and it's quite a wild ride, and apparently true!

The Green Square

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - Oil. - "The Green Square"

I have suddenly gotten the bug to paint still life again. It's been 7 months. I guess I needed it.

Eat the Apple

 

Click Here to Bid (starts at $1) - 10x10in. - oil - "Eat the Apple"

This is the second experiment from my "Just Try Sh*t: Composition" ArtByte (online tutorial). To review: I copied a painting with a composition I liked, then set up and painted my own composition using what I had learned. This was my second try, and I'm quite happy with it. I was trying for a more unusual composition than what I normally do, and a more sketchy style.

Protect the Apple

 

Click Here to Bid (starts at $1) - 10x10 - oil - "Protect the Apple"

This was one of my experiments for the online tutorials (ArtBytes) that I released a couple of months ago called Just Try Sh*t! This was for the last exercise in the Just Try Sh*t: Composition tutorial, where I copy a painting with a composition I admire, and then do my own using whatever a took away from that copy. This was my own (after the copy), or at least my first attempt. I ended up trying a second time, and created a video of it. I'll post that version soon. I am putting these both in auction starting at $1, seeing as they were experiments.

Wedge Issue

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil - "Wedge Issue"

I've been playing around with an alternate panel to the Ampersand Gessobords I've been using for years. Someone recommended some super-smooth primed canvas, and I've been gluing that to wood using PVA adhesive. This was my first painting on one. I used canvas panels many years ago, so it was familiar, but very different from what I'm used to now! It's a ton cheaper than my regular panel, so I'll have to use them a bit before I come to any conclusions. Meanwhile you should know that it is completely archival. : )

Cool World

 

Click Here to Bid (6x8in. - oil - starts at $100)

Another little still life that was far more challenging than it probably looks. Especially the spoon. Oof.

Primary Companions

 

Click Here to Bid (6x12in. - OIL - starts at $100 - click image to enlarge)

If you like movies about artists, a friend of mine sent me this page with a long list of them. I personally have only seen a few, but plan to check out more now that I've seen this. Enjoy!

Missing the Mark

 

Click Here to Bid (6x8in. - OIL - starts at $100)

I just finished a book called, "The Lost Notebook of Édouard Manet." Just to be clear, it is fiction (based on facts about the artist's life), but I found it interesting. He is dying of syphilis at the end, and he laments a lot about that and the women he can no longer be with, but there are some pretty insightful things about painting and art too. I plan to read it again so I can write down my favorite lines.

Arranged Marriage

 

Click Here to Bid (6x8in. - OIL - starts at $100)

I just read a book set in India that included an arranged marriage, so I guess it was on my mind. It's such an interesting concept. Also I needed a color fix, and this definitely did it for me.

Reflecting on Red

 

Click Here to Bid (6x6in. - OIL - starts at $100)

Two of these cups I made in my recent pottery class - the polka-dotted one on the left, and the turquoise one trying to hide. They are both incredibly impractical to drink out of, but I really enjoyed having them pose for me. It's almost as if they were made for it. : )

Leaning Knobby Vase

 

Click Here to Bid (6x6in. - OIL - starts at $100)

I made this knobby vase years ago, in Eugene, but didn't glaze it until my recent class here in Missoula. I don't know why knobs and polka dots appeal to me so much, but they do, as I have made several versions, and own many polka dotted things. Are these preferences imprinted on us at birth? Or are they acquired somehow?