Love at First Pumpkin

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

The title for this one popped into my head the second I came up with the composition. I think it's cool that the pumpkins are so completely fixated on each other despite the distractingly bright cherries.

I'm No Pushover

 

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

My friend Leslie hosts a very fun pumpkin painting party every year, so I bought a bag of small ones from Costco. I really liked this one, so I "painted" it twice. : )

Remembering Fall

Click Here to Purchase - $1000 - 24x30in - oil on panel

All my life I've collected pretty leaves. I used to save them inside the pages of books, and include them in letters. A few years ago, when we were still living in Eugene, I got the idea to paint them. I tried a few small paintings, but found they worked best really big! This is a painting from that time that I've hung onto but am now ready to part with.

Nap Time

Click Here to Bid (3x7in. - GOUACHE - starts at $75)

Something that happens to me is that sometimes I'm inspired by something, and other times I'm not. And when I'm not, that thing looks ugly to me. Does that happen to you? Sometimes I think leaves are just the most spectacular things in the world, and sometimes I'm just like - yawn. It's so weird. Most often, of all the subjects I paint, there's something I can get excited about. But once in a while everything looks ugly to me, and that's when I remind myself to take a break.

Leafs Three

 

sold. (5x4in. - GOUACHE on 24-ply illustration board - starts at $75)

Before the snow started to fall around here, I went around and collected a bunch of leaves. I took tons of pictures, but for some reason just wasn't getting any traction with the idea of painting them large in oil as I have before. So I tried them in gouache, and I love how simplified they are, and yet they still read as leaves! Like magic.

Little Leaf Buddy

Click Here to Bid (28x24in. - oil on gessobord - starts at $1!!)

I have quite a few larger paintings taking up space in my studio that I need to move before I can do new ones. This is one of some fall leaves from Oregon that I did using brushes, palette knife, squeegees and a roller. I can't wait to see what leaves fall here in Montana! Bidding for this starts at $1. It's not framed, but it will need one. Shipping is FREE within the US. Here's what it might look like in your house. ^

Laughing with Leaves

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

An artist friend of mine, Julie Douglas, recently published a wonderful book called "Notes from the Atelier - Practical Steps to Successful Observation Drawing and Painting."

I haven't read the entire thing (because it's BIG and chock full!) but what I have read so far is wonderful! So if you or someone you know would like to learn to draw and/or paint (most of the exercises use watercolor), or need a refresher course, and can forgive Julie (British) for spelling the word "colour" wrong ; ), consider this book. You can't go wrong. (read more reviews...)

Walking in Berlin

sold. (6x6in.)

This is another scene from Berlin. It was the end of fall there, and the last of the color was still clinging to the trees. On this day the sun was peeping out here and there from the clouds, making for a kind of surreal feel to the city.

Leaf Chief

sold

Fall might be my favorite season. Although I usually say that about whatever the current season is. : ) But I do love the leaves. They are like nature's confetti. I managed to catch this one before it got soggy from the rain.

"Fall Colors" & "Bartender's Beetle" - SOLD

Click Here to Bid

This is the first of my paintings from my trip to Lost Maples last week. We tried to get there when the leaves were peaking with color, but we missed it by a few days. Apparently the conditions (dry & windy) blew most of the leaves away early. We still saw some color but it was tough to find.

Below is the REAL final painting from my recent trip to Arizona with James Coulter (see his blog for his paintings from this trip). It's a nocturne from Jerome and I sold it on the spot, to the owner of the beetle, Jennifer, the bartender from the Spirit Room. She came out and said "it's so cute - it's my car!!" Thanks for the photo, Jennifer!

sold