"Hairy" Painting

"Steady Gaze"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my newest little painting. This was done for the Daily Paintworks Weekly Challenge. It's been fun to do these challenges each week. As a still life artist, it's good to get out of my comfort zone and try something different. I have drawn cats before, but never painted one. It was a little "hairy" at first, trying to decide how to start. I finally decided to start with the eyes after getting a loose sketch down. It was fun to "brush" on that fur! Ok.. .enough puns for now...

Paint Your Veggies!

"Turnip"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

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This is a little oil that I did yesterday for the Daily Paintworks Challenge. This week's challenge is to paint a vegetable from life. I really enjoyed doing this one. This was my first painting after taking Jonathan Aller's online lesson mentioned in my last post. It was a bit more challenging since I was working from life instead of a photo, but the principles of paint application were the same.

I received good news this past weekend. My colored pencil piece, Cherries, Grapes, and Plums (pictured above), is in the 122nd Annual Member's Exhibition of the National Association of Women Artist currently on exhibit at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery in New York. I received a letter Saturday informing me that it had been awarded the first place award in the works on paper category.

Continuing Education

Pear
oil on canvas
7" x 5"

A few weeks ago, I ran across the blog of artist Jonathan Aller. I really liked his alla prima paintings, so when I saw that he was offering an online painting course, I sent an email to find out more. To make a short story even shorter, I just did his first lesson this week. It consisted of painting the above pear in six steps. Jonathan provided written directions outlining the steps as well as videos showing him painting the same subject every step of the way. As I completed each step of the painting myself, I sent him a photo of my progress and he gave me feedback on how I was doing. What I really liked is that he uses a painting method that is very much like drawing. Now, how cool is that?

Tea and Hydrangeas
colored pencil
18" x 18"

I'm very happy to announce that my colored pencil drawing, Tea and Hydrangeas, has been accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 19th Annual International Juried Exhibition. This will make my third CPSA International show to participate in which means that I'll be awarded signature status. The show and convention will be held in Dallas in July.