Marks and Strokes

Black Gouache

2011-11-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

"Orchids"
gouache and colored pencil
8" x 14"

I like the dramatic look that a black background can give a drawing or painting. One of the drawbacks to colored pencil, though, is the time and effort that goes into creating a really dark background. This is my first effort at using gouache and colored pencil together. I first drew my composition in lightly with graphite. Then I painted the background with black gouache. Finally, I used colored pencil to "paint" in the orchids. This was done on illustration board. I really liked the richness that the gouache gave to the black background and the time-saving. (It went much, much faster than colored pencil would have.) The only thing that I didn't like was trying to draw with colored pencil on the illustration board. It just didn't handle as well as the Stonehenge paper that I'm accustomed to drawing on. Next time, I might just get brave enough to do the entire painting in gouache...

More Pansies

2011-11-08T17:01:00.001-08:00

"Pansy Bud 3"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pansy 4"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Consequences of Success

2011-10-07T14:07:00.001-07:00

"Pansy Bud"
oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
5" x 7"

"Pansy Bud II"
oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
6" x 6"

I painted the first painting shown here earlier this week. The second one was painted yesterday. When I got finished with it, I was saying to myself "Wow! Did I just do that?" Apparently, the stars lined up right - I chose the right background color and got the colors and contrast right, capturing the sense of brilliant light on the flower bud. In case you can't tell, I'm very pleased with this last one! Yes, my reference photo was good, but trust me, the painting ended up being better than the photo.

I suspect that I'm not alone in my initial reaction to success. Whether it's producing a better-than-my-average piece of art or winning an award, my first thought is "Yay!", but the second thought usually is "Will I be able to repeat this, or better yet, top it?" As artists, we want to believe that our best work has yet to be created. It's a paradox - we strive to produce our very best painting and always hope that the particular piece we just completed wasn't it.

Success can sometimes make you feel that you are at a good stopping point. I must admit, I haven't picked up my paint brushes today, choosing instead to putter around some and do some housework that was easy enough to ignore earlier this week. But, I know that I'll be back at it - I must, it's what I do. And I think for the moment sadly on the death of Steve Jobs this week. Now there was a man who never let past success keep him from pursuing future successes! Thank you, Steve, for your example to us all.

Return to the Dark

2011-10-02T19:34:00.001-07:00

"Quince"

oil on linen panel
7" x 5"

I came across this quince fruit at my local Wal-Mart supercenter. I really liked the bright yellow-green color of it and thought "This will look great on a pink background." I was so wrong... It didn't look good with any of the pastel colored backgrounds that I've been using lately for my small fruit paintings. So I returned to the use of a dark backdrop and that worked to make the color of the fruit really stand out. I had fun with the box as well - see the nail head on top? That was my favorite part of the whole painting to do!

More Fruit, Including Pluots!

2011-09-30T17:42:00.000-07:00

"Flavor Grenade"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pluots on the Block"
oil on linen panel
5" x 7"

"Gala Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

I've fallen behind in my posting - here's some work from this past week. The fruit in the first two paintings are two varieties of pluots. "What is a pluot?", you may be asking. According to Wikapedia, pluot is the tradename for complex hybrid crosses of plums and apricots. (They are more like plums than apricots - the crosses which result in fruit more similar to apricots are naturally referred to apriums.) And yes, the variety name for the first one is "Flavor Grenade". I didn't think that I could improve on that one, so I used it as the title. You can now rest easy today - you've probably learned something new even if it is rather useless info!

More Fruit

2011-09-23T08:21:00.001-07:00

"Granny Smith Half"

oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my newest fruit painting...

Coffee Break

2011-09-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

"Coffee Break"
oil on canvas
10" x 10"

My newest painting - I had a lot of fun painting this one. I've painted donuts before, but the spoon was a new experience for me as well as the overhead view of the coffee cup. I was particularly proud of the subtle cast shadow on the surface of the coffee. Can you see it?

More Fruit, More Color

2011-09-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

"Plum Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Peach Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my two newest fruit paintings. I am really enjoying playing around with the different colored backgrounds. I'm not sure what else to say... so, I'm off to paint some more...

One and a Half Pears

2011-09-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

"Pear"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pear Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Two new small alla prima paintings from this week. I'm really enjoying playing around with the color in the background on these. I bought a package of pastel colored card stock at my local Wal-Mart. I'm simply using the sheets of card stock behind and underneath my subjects. I particularly loved how the cut pear looks with the blue background. I think that I'm just getting started with these!

Painting What I Know

2011-08-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

"Sunny Side Up"

oil on canvas
5" x 7"

Now that I've finished up my cat paintings, I'm returning to still life. I want to spend some time, though, exploring other subjects besides the pottery and fruit that I use so much. The art books always encourage us to paint what we know and I decided that one thing I know quite well is food, breakfast in particular. (I could eat breakfast three times a day and be quite content.) A couple of years ago, I stumbled across Oriana Kacicek's blog. She is a very talented daily painter who often uses food as her subject matter. One of the things that I really like about her paintings is her color choice for her backgrounds. Visit her blog and you'll see what I mean.

Last of the Cats

2011-08-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

"The Lawn King"
oil on canvas
8" x 10"

"Esmeralda"
oil on canvas
7" x 14"

Here's my last two cat paintings for the animal rescue event at Artifacts Gallery. These paintings as well as other animal (and non-animal) art will be offered for sale at this Eureka Springs gallery during the month of September, with 15% of the sales going to an animal rescue organization. Please visit their website for more information.

The kitten in the grass was a particular challenge. My reference photo of the kitten was taken at our local humane society. The little tyke was posing on carpet. I wanted to place him in a backyard setting, so when I got home, I borrowed one of my daughter's stuffed animals and took photos of it "posed" in my backyard. I was a bit intimidated when I started tackling the grass in the painting. I tried not to get too obsessive-compulsive on the grass details since the kitten needed to be the focus. All-in-all, I'm pleased with how it came out.

Cats, Kittens, and More Cats!

2011-08-05T15:42:00.001-07:00

"I'm Listening"
oil on canvas
8" x 10"

I'm taking a break this month from drawing and from still lifes by painting cat and kitten portraits. Artifacts gallery in Eureka Springs, AR, is hosting "Artifacts for Animals" during the month of September. I'm joining with some other artists to contribute 15% of the sale price on our work to selected animal shelter and animal rescue groups. I decided to focus in on kitty cats and took several reference photos from our local animal shelter (The Humane Society of Independence County). Our local shelter has an overabundance of grey striped tabbies, so I've turned to friends and family and the public domain to get a more varied supply of reference photos.

The way that the contributions will work is that there will be a list of organizations and the person purchasing the work will be able to select which group they want to benefit from their purchase. The plan is for all of these animal paintings to be on Artifacts' website so internet sales will be possible for individuals who would like to make a purchase, but can't make it to Eureka Springs.

Below is another painting that I've completed for the show. I'm having writer's block on the title other than the obvious "Butterfly and Kitten". I welcome title suggestions! This little guy, by the way is at our local shelter waiting for a home...

"Butterfly and Kitten"
oil on canvas

14" x 7"

Serendipity

2011-07-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

"Still Life with Pebble"

colored pencil
12" x 12"

Here's a new colored pencil work, just completed earlier this week. My dictionary defines serendipity as "the making of pleasant discoveries by accident". When I was setting up this still life, one of the little flower buds got knocked off and landed about where I've placed the small pebble. Although I had a very formal composition in mind when I was placing my objects, I noticed the flower bud and liked what it brought to the composition. I switched it out with a small, red pebble which now has star billing in the title.

Since my last posting, I've learned that my colored pencil work "Red Pears at Play" has been accepted into the 6th Annual Juried Exhibition of the International Guild of Realism. This year's show will be held at the Sage Creek Gallery in Santa Fe, NM beginning September 30th.

Also, I have a colored pencil drawing ("Pears and Squares") in the 2nd Annual Spectacular Colored Pencil Exhibition at the Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. This show is sponsored by the Oklahoma District Chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America. I learned recently that I won third place in this show.

Back at Work

2011-07-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

"Creamer and Shells"
graphite and colored pencil
5" x 9 1/4"

I'm back at home and back at work now after vacationing in Charleston last week. We had a great time visiting our son. I was able to drag my husband down to the historic district one day and visit several art galleries. The highlight of the day was visiting Robert Lange Studios. I've admired his paintings for quite some time and it was wonderful to see them in person. There are several other great artists in that gallery including Ali Cavanaugh and Kerry Brooks.

Above is my latest little colored pencil. It's another experiment of using graphite and colored pencil together. I tried seven ways from Sunday to get a good photo of it. This was the best I could do, but it really doesn't show off the subtle colors in the shells and pottery very well.

"XOX Stack"
oil on linen panel
7" x 5"

Sold

If you've been following my blog, then you know that I've started doing some of the Daily Paintworks Challenges. I've missed out on several of the latest challenges, but this is one that I did for the Balance Challenge.

New Work, New Gallery

2011-06-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

"Mangoes and Pitcher"
colored pencil
14" x 14"

Here's my latest colored pencil drawing, just finished up this morning. I've had this pitcher for a couple of years and this was my first time to use it. I really enjoyed drawing it - makes me look forward to getting to those other pieces of pottery that I have which are also waiting for their debut in a still life setup. I've been taking a bit of a break from art lately. I've been enjoying some time with my youngest daughter before she heads to Thailand for the rest of the summer. I won't be back to work full time until July - other relatives are dropping in and we've got a visit planned with my oldest son.

I am pleased to announce that I am now represented by Artifacts, a new gallery in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The gallery has been open for a couple of weeks, but the ribbon cutting and opening reception will be Friday, June 10th from 6-9. I'll be in attendance along with most of the other artists. If you are in the area, drop in and say hi! If you are in Eureka Springs the next day, stop by 83 Spring Street Gallery where my daughter Allison will be having a show of her small works.

"Hairy" Painting

2011-05-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

"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!

2011-05-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

"Turnip"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Sold

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

2011-05-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Mango and More

2011-04-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

"Mango"
oil on linen panel
4" x 6"

"Monday Morning, 7:40"
colored pencil and graphite
10" x 16"

At the top is a little oil which I did today. I painted it from life, with just natural light from the window falling on it. (Yay for no thunderstorms today!) I was pleased with how it turned out.

Also pictured is my latest drawing. This one is colored pencil and graphite. I set this one up on a Sunday evening with a strong light on the left side of the still life. I was intending to do it just in graphite. Early the next morning, I happened to walk into my studio and literally caught my breath - there was a soft light from the window falling on the cups and linen. That's when I decided to try this in graphite and colored pencil and try to capture the soft subtle lighting and color that had so taken me by surprise.

Challenges

2011-04-26T10:50:00.001-07:00

"Keeping in Touch"
oil on linen panel
7" x 5"

Sold

I mentioned in my last post that I am wanting to do more daily paintings, partly due to being inspired by the Daily Paintworks site. On the DPW site, they are now posting weekly challenges for artists to encourage us to try something new. This week's challenge was to paint the above lady. Artists who do the challenge can post their work to the site. It's fun and educational to see so many different interpretations of the same reference photo. This was my first attempt at figure painting - I've done some figures in pencil, but never paint. It was fun (until I got to her hands!) Click here to see all the different paintings of the "NYC Lady Challenge".

I also mentioned in an earlier post about my framing mishap with some recent miniature work. (I picked out frames which ended up being too big for the requirements of the show that I was going to enter.) I've decided to offer some of these pieces on ebay. Click here to see my ebay auctions.

And if you are wondering when I'll post a new drawing - it will be tomorrow. I just finished up one today but still need to get photos of it.

Little Flower, Big News

2011-04-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

Lenten Rose II
oil on canvas
6" x 6"
SOLD

This is a small painting of one of my favorite little garden flowers - the Lenten Rose. I've been inspired by the Daily Paintworks site and am determined to paint on a regular basis. I do enjoy taking a break from my larger drawings to do these little paintings. I'll be offering them on ebay as I get them done.

I received some big news a few weeks back that I hadn't posted in my blog yet. As I shared last fall, I was a finalist in The Artist's Magazine's 2010 competition. A small handful of finalists are selected to be featured in the magazine's Competition Spotlight throughout the year. My colored pencil drawing Red Pears at Play was chosen to be in the June 2011 issue of the magazine. Click here to see it in The Artist's Magazine's blog.

More Waterlilies

2011-04-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Balboa Park Lily 2
oil on canvas
24" x 18"

I've had a severe posting lapse. My apologies. Above is another, larger waterlily painting which I painted last month (or maybe in February? - time flies). This one will be in the May Realism show at M. A. Doran gallery in Tulsa.

While I've not been posting, I have still been making art. I painted/drew four miniature works last month. I was doing them for a particular miniature show in Washington state which takes place later this month. Unfortunately, I didn't pay close enough attention to the show requirements. After I got them back from the framer's I realized that all of the frames were a tad bigger than what the rules allowed. Shucks!

Finished!

2011-02-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

Pomegranate and Pitchers
colored pencil'
18" x 34"

If you heard a shout about 10:00 on Monday morning, it was me yelling "Done!" I started this large drawing back before Christmas. I had to set it aside over the holidays and just started back on it about two weeks ago.

It's now on to the other two works in progress that were put away before Christmas as well. Neither one is as large as this one, so hopefully I'll be posting again in the near future with another completed drawing.

Pears, Singled and Paired

2011-01-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

No Fun Being a Single Pear

graphite

8" x 12"

This is a new graphite drawing that I just finished up. It bears a striking resemblance to a previous drawing of mine (The Crush) because this setup came from the same "photo shoot". I don't think that I will ever get tired of drawing pears. There's just something about their shape that really appeals to me.

Back to Work

2011-01-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

Balboa Park Lily

oil on canvas

8" x 16"

Well the holidays are over and I'm back to work now. We had a great Christmas with a house full of kids. Four young people pretty much fill up our three bedroom home, especially since one of those bedrooms doubles as my studio. I got some painting done, in between the cooking and eating. Above is my latest painting. It is from a reference photo that I took way back last May when my husband and I traveled to San Diego. While he was stuck in meetings, I did some sightseeing which included a trip to Balboa park. Unfortunately, the Botanical Building was closed while I was there, but the lily pond in front of the building was in full bloom. I hope to do some more paintings of the waterlilies from there - I took lots of photos (love those 4GB SDHC cards!)

I just heard from the National Association of Women Artists that my graphite drawing The Crush was selected for their National Small Works Exhibit which will be in New York City next month. One of my goals for this new year is to create more graphite works, so this is a welcome "green light" to my plans.

Red Fruit for Christmas

2010-12-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

"Cutwork and Pears"

oil on canvas

10" x 10"

"Red Plums"

oil on canvas

5" x 7"

Sorry to report that I still have no new drawings to post. Work is progressing slowly on the three that I have going on right now. What can I say? I have been happily involved in Christmas preparations and celebrations. In the last week though, I have done the two paintings shown above. I just realized that both paintings involve red fruit - it is Christmas time after all!

My two college kids are coming home later this week. My daughter is bringing a Japanese friend with her to stay with us through Christmas and my Navy son will be coming home next week as well. There's a very good chance that this could be my last post of 2010. So just in case it is - Merry Christmas to my readers and may you all have a Happy New Year as well!

Hands and Heart

2010-11-18T12:53:00.001-08:00

"Heart and Hands"

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

I'm still painting as you can see. Being basically a still life painter, this is my first attempt at painting flesh tones. It was a challenge - fun though, once it started to look convincing. I'm especially happy with how the thumbs turned out. I think that I caught the essence of the pressure point where the thumbs meet.

The reference photo for this was some hand poses that I took of one of my daughters awhile back. Three of my fours kids will be here for Thanksgiving. I think maybe we'll have some more hand modeling while they're here. I'd like to do more of these!

Pink Shell Painting

2010-11-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

"Pink Shell"

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

On eBay: click here to see listing

I haven't posted in a little while because I haven't had any new completed drawings/paintings to post. One reason(excuse!) is that I've been out of town some and haven't been able to do as much work. A second reason is that I have three larger drawings in progress at the same time right now. I'll try to get some work-in-progress photos posted next week. In the meantime though, I took a break from drawing last week to paint this shell.

I've listed this little painting on eBay. The galleries that I am in right now generally would rather have larger over smaller paintings/drawings. I enjoy doing a small work from time to time though and so thought that I'd offer a few on eBay and see how it goes. I've sold some work on eBay in the past and if nothing else, it's one way to clear out the studio a bit!

Pear au Naturel

2010-10-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

"Seated Nude"

colored pencil

10" x 7"

Well I'm back from a little fall vacation and back to the drawing board as well. As you can see, I'm still playing around with the personable pears. Some of these smaller drawings that I've been doing lately will be headed to M.A. Doran's gallery in Tulsa for the December Small Works show.

I really need to start painting more! I think that I spent as many hours layering the back ground on this small drawing as I spent on the pear and board together. Those nice smooth backgrounds are definitely quicker to do with paint than with pencils. Hmmm... mixed media would be one solution. Perhaps I just need to play with those gouache paints some more...

Our vacation, by the way, included a trip to the Grand Canyon where I took many pictures. I keep taking landscape pictures and drawing still lifes. Some kind of disconnect, perhaps? The solution could very well be just more hours in the studio so I can do it all.

Pears - the Personality Fruit

2010-09-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

"The Crush"

graphite

8" x 10"

I first fell in love with pears as a still life subject many years ago after seeing Martha Alf's work. Pears have remained my favorite fruits to draw. Their shape gives them a greater ability to pose and take on a personality.

I showed this to my husband last night after I finished it. I said, "Look - I drew a portrait of you and me. Can you guess which one is me?" He correctly identified the left hand pear as me. See - you just couldn't do that with two apples!

When Dark Gray Becomes White

2010-09-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

"Dream of Gardenias"

oil on canvas

10" x 8"

This is my newest oil painting. I took this reference photo way back last summer and have been meaning to paint it. I got the neat reflection of the flower by using a black cloth for the foreground and background with a glass panel on top of the cloth. I wanted a nice dark subtle reflection instead of what a mirror would have produced. It always boggles my mind on how dark the reflection really is in a situation like this. Those lightest "whites" reflected in the glass are really quite dark.

Just to show you what I mean, I made this little color swatch below in Photoshop.

The two gray rectangles are the same color. In fact they are the color of the lightest gray in the flower's reflection in the painting above. When I first painted this the other day, I didn't go quite dark enough on the reflection. The painting looked alright, but not what I was hoping for. I went back the next day and repainted the reflection, pushing the values even darker. I'm glad I did - the end result was certainly worth the extra time I put in. I gotta admit it - I'm very pleased with this one!

Gouache Made an Oil Painter Out of Me

2010-09-16T11:16:00.001-07:00

Apple Pyramid
oil on canvas
12" x 12"

I'm having a little break from drawing. Recently, I had the good fortune to come face to face with a Daniel Tennant gouache painting, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow". It was absolutely gorgeous. It got me to thinking about gouache, which is an opaque watercolor medium which is know for it's ability to produce brillant colors and fine detail. So, I up and ordered some to see if I'd like it better than oils. After one afternoon with gouache, I'm feeling a renewed kinship with oils. Yeah, I know Rome wasn't built in a day - I'll keep playing around with gouache. Half a day should certainly not be the basis for throwing out what, in the hands of many other artists, has proven to be a wonderful medium. I just couldn't get the right amount of water in my mix. Either it was way too runny to cover the paper properly, or when I had a mixture that covered well, it simply dried in 15 milliseconds. On looking back, I admit part of my problem was probably my frugality. I was just not squeezing a goodly amount of paint out of those expensive little tubes to properly work with.

To comfort my self esteem which had taking a slight beating that day, I pulled out my oil paints the other day and painted the apple painting shown above. I'm starting to think about holiday small work shows that will be coming up in December. This painting is on a gallery wrapped canvas which I didn't want to frame, so I painted a little black and gray border to give it a more finished look.

Fried Green Tomatillos?

2010-09-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

"Two Tomatillos"

graphite

6" x 8 1/4"

We left our vegetable garden at the old house when we moved. We've had a garden every year for the last 15 years, but no garden at the new house. I don't think that we'll start one next year either. I've got to admit it - the weeding and watering, not to mention the chiggar infestations were getting a little old. I'll miss my asparagus bed come next spring I'm sure, and I have been missing my fig trees. I'll definitely try to get some new fig trees going here, but I think that the farmer's market will be able to supply all of my fresh vegetable needs from now on.

Each summer, I usually cook fried green tomatoes every so often. With no garden and therefore no green tomatoes on hand, we haven't had fried green tomatoes all summer. So, when my husband spotted some usually large tomatillos at a local grocery store, he got the idea that we should see how fried green tomatillos would turn out. When the tomatillos didn't get fried right away, I carried them off to the studio and did this little graphite drawing. This afternoon, I finished the drawing and so fried tomatillos were back on the menu. We fried them tonight, and I just have to say I'm glad I drew them first so it didn't end up a complete waste! Just for the record - fried tomatillos are much more tart than tomatoes and pretty much turn to mush on the inside when you fry them. Maybe I can find some green tomatoes at the farmer's market next summer.

Battenburg Lace and Hydrangeas

2010-08-31T14:03:00.001-07:00

Tea and Hydrangeas

colored pencil

18" x 18"

I finally finished this one up. After all those little petals, the battenburg lace was an absolute joy to draw. It's kind of funny, I guess, but I've been drawing still lifes with lace in them for 20 years now and this was the first time that I drew battenburg lace. It won't be the last. I've got a cedar chest full of laced edged scarfs in my studio and this is the only piece of battenburg lace that I own. Hmmm...guess I need to go ebay shopping!

Hydrangea Work In Progress

2010-08-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

"Tea and Hydrangeas" - work in progress

I thought that I'd post a picture of my progress on the hydrangea drawing. I'm hoping to finish the flowers tomorrow and start in on the tea cup. I'm really looking forward to getting to the bottom half of the drawing - there's lots of battenburg lace down there. I'm looking forward to drawing the lace. It'll be a welcome change from those flower petals!

I was very pleased with how the silver bowl turned out. The bottom half of the bowl is reflecting the cloth. It should make more visual sense once the cloth is evident in the drawing. I just really enjoy drawing round things - guess that explains why 95% of my still life setups have fruit or round pieces of pottery in them.

Good News

2010-08-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

"Red Pears at Play"

colored pencil

This is my first post in quite a while. We have successfully moved and are enjoying our new home. I am spending some time in the new studio, but have no new work to post just yet. I did hear from the Artist Magazine a week or so ago, that I was selected as a finalist in the still life category of their annual contest. One of my drawings from earlier this year (shown above) was my entry in the contest. Winners have already been selected and notified, but we'll have to wait for the December issue to learn who they are. Being a finalist means that my name will be listed in the December issue (no image of my work though). I also will receive (drum roll....) a frameable certificate! Being named is definitely better than being unnamed - I'll just literally have to go back to the drawing board and try for better next year.

Stuff and More Stuff

2010-06-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Up From the Earth"

10" x 8"

colored pencil

Here's a small colored pencil drawing that I just finished. I had started on it much earlier this year, but it's been sitting in a drawer until I pulled it out last Friday and started back to work on it. My larger hydrangea drawing is on hold until we get to the new house. The move starts next week and I'm trying to get really serious with the packing. I've discovered that I really should clean out cabinets more often than just when we move. It's kind of amazing to find how much of the same exact stuff you can end up with. For example, way back in the kitchen cabinets, I found three boxes (800 count each) of toothpicks. I've made a mental note to never buy toothpicks again. We have enough to last a lifetime. And in the bathrooms - would you believe that we have 7 bottles of sunscreen?

Moo-ving Right Along

2010-06-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

"Just a Little Bull"

8" x 10"

oil

OK - Well I couldn't resist using "moo" in my post title. We are moving right along. We survived the huge yard sale. More stuff sold than I really expected. Needless to say there was still quite a bit left. We'll be moving to our new house in about three weeks if all goes accordingly to plan.

I've also been moving right along getting ready for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute show that's coming up in July. Above is my last piece of art for this show. I'm glad that I agreed to participate in this exhibit. It's been good for me to do something besides still life. I think that I may do some more landscapes once we get settled in the new house. For now though, I just started a new still life. Hydrangeas, lace, and a silver bowl... I may end up tearing my hair out by the time I get all those little hydrangeas petals done... we'll see.

A Break From the Mess

2010-05-24T08:07:00.001-07:00

"Farmers' Market Breakfast"

colored pencil

10" x 12"

My house is a total wreck right now. We are preparing for a huge yard sale that will be this weekend, followed by, hopefully, a move to a new house in a few more weeks. So, I'm wading through 15 years of accumulated clutter in hopes of not taking it with us (except, of course, for the clutter which is natural to any still life studio).

Above is my newest colored pencil work which will be in the Arts in the Air show at Petit Jean in July. This is the show with the agricultural theme. I took a few artistic liberties since no farmers' market around here is going to have strawberries and pears at the same time. They look good together though, don't they? I really enjoyed loading this one up with color. The canteloupes had me a little worried at first, but they settled down and behaved. It was a bit of a challenge trying to get the right color on them.

New Landscape

2010-05-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

"Summer Sky and Hay Field"

colored pencil

18" x 12"

I just finished this landscape this week. It will be in the Arts in the Air Exhibit at the Rockefeller Institute in July. I'm already working on a breakfast fruit still life (cantaloupes and strawberries - yum) to be in that same show.

It may be a week or two before I post more. My husband and I are headed to San Diego next Monday for a week. When I get back home, drawing will have to go on the back burner for a little while. We just sold our home and have bought another. I must declutter after fifteen years of living in the same place. We shall be having the yard sale to end all yard sales in about two weeks.

Post Workshop Painting

2010-04-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

"One More Week"

oil

12" x 6"

I mentioned in my last post that I attended an oil painting workshop this past weekend. If you wondered why I didn't post any paintings from that workshop, it's because they weren't very good. I came away with knowledge rather than finished paintings. In fact, my eldest daughter, upon seeing what I had done over the weekend, exclaimed "What happened, Mom? You paint better than that!"

One of the things that Tim emphasized at the workshop was to have a focal point in the painting. Try to make the focal point stand out by, among other things, using lots of detail there and less detail in the rest of the painting. Above is a painting that I did yesterday. It's very different from how I usually paint - I usually try to get every scrap of detail that I'm able to paint. In this, I picked the blackberry that's in between red and black to be my focal point. I painted it with lots of detail and left the others less defined. That berry was actually ripe in my reference photo, but I thought to make it stand out more by making it to be the only in-between color. I did paint the leaf up above with quite a bit of detail because I liked it - probably not a legitimate reason, but there you have it.

This painting is a lot different than what I normally do, but I kind of like it.

Apples and Lace

2010-04-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

"Apples and Lace"

graphite

20" x 11"

Here's the graphite drawing that I mentioned in my last post. I did get it finished last week, I just ran out of time to get it photographed and posted. I left town last Thursday to attend an oil painting workshop given by Timothy C. Tyler. We were in a beautiful location up on Petit Jean Mountain at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute and had a great time the entire weekend. I am now determined to paint with a lot more paint and really work on those lost edges! I hope to post something soon that is simply oozing with paint.

More Flowers

2010-04-19T09:11:00.001-07:00

"Petite Bouquet"

10" x 8"

oil on linen

Here's another flower painting that I finished last week. I've been waiting for it to dry enough to spray varnish and then get a photo. It's off to the framer's tomorrow and then off to Tulsa the next week for the Contemporary National Realism show at M. A. Doran Gallery.

I'm busy working on "agricultural" art right now for a show at the Rockefeller Institute in July. Getting close to being done on a fairly large graphite drawing of a basket of apples with one of my favorite drawnwork scarves. Lots of intricate lace work on the scarf. It seemed like I was on the home stretch, but I made the mistake of measuring last night. I have about an 8" x 8" square left to draw. That's 64 square inches - now it seems like a lot. I'm determined to finish it by end of day tomorrow though...

Another Mini

2010-04-08T18:37:00.001-07:00

"Three Pitchers"

oil on panel

2 5/8" x 4 3/4"

Here's another miniature painting that I finished earlier this week. I forgot to get a photo of it before I framed it. That little discolored looking edge on the bottom left-hand side is the shadow from the frame. I tried to really get detailed with this one. I had a magnifying glass in one hand and paint brush in the other. Not an easy way to go about it! If I do many more of these, I think that I'll have to purchase a magnifying glass on a stand.

2010-04-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

"Lenten Roses"

oil on canvas

6" x 6"

Here's a little oil painting that I did earlier this week. I've had this Lenten Rose growing in my flower garden for a few years but this is the first time that I've used the blooms in a still life. It blooms so early in the spring that I sometimes miss noticing it altogether. I guess the plant is maturing because it had a lot more blooms on it this year than in years past. They are sweet looking little blossoms, a bit on the shy side (they seem to be looking more towards the ground than the sun for the most part.) They are definitely not a boisterous flower like the daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips that are also blooming away in my yard right now. I've been told that they are called "Lenten Roses" because they bloom during Lent. I'd like to think that they also earned that name due to their meek and mild manner, reminiscent of our dear Savior.

Float Trip

2010-03-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

"Float Trip"

colored pencil

10" x 15"

Here's the drawing that I mentioned in my March 2nd post. It's finally finished and I'm glad. This started out fun enough, but I have to admit that I got a little stir crazy working on the background of ripples, reflections, and distortions. I think that on my next "typical" still life I'll enjoy the boredom of drawing the flat toned background that I usually have.

I've been invited to participate in the Winthorp Rockefeller Institute's "Arts in the Air: Bountiful Arkansas" art show. The theme of this year's exhibit is "Garden and Agricultural Art". The show is in July. I've got to get busy - I'll need five drawings/paintings by then featuring scrumptious Arkansas produce. I'm thinking strawberries and cantaloupe right now...

Some Itsy-Bitsy Stuff

2010-03-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

"Ten Little Piggies"

colored pencil

1 1/4" x 2"

I recently made the acquantance of Lynn Ponto-Peterson, a great wildlife and miniature artist. She encouraged me to try my hand at some miniature work. Above is a colored pencil drawing that I did of my daughter's toes. Besides just being small in size, a miniature painting or drawing is usually required to be at least 1/6 scale of the object being portrayed. I had first done "Ten Little Piggies" in oil as an ACEO (2 1/5" x 3 1/2"). That seemed small, but not small enough to reduce my daughter's petite toes down to 1/6 scale, so I did this smaller version in colored pencil.

Below is my attempt at a miniature in oil. I had used this same reference photo of mine for a large colored pencil drawing (20" x 28") about a year and a half ago. (The colored pencil version can be seen on my website.) I really liked how the small version in oil turned out. I'm planning on getting a few more of these done soon and try my luck at a miniature show. I'll get back with you on how that turns out.

"Trimmed in Red"
oil on panel
3" x 4"

Finally Spring

2010-03-23T12:47:00.001-07:00

"Happiness"

colored pencil

9" x 12"

I got sidetracked from the colored pencil drawing that I was working on. Daffodils finally began blooming in my yard two weeks ago. I set up this little still life, including a glass "Bluebird of Happiness" that I purchased last year from Terra Studios. (Terra Studios has been making these little birds since 1975! http://www.terrastudios.com/ ) I usually don't have so many different colors going on in one still life, but I loved how the little striped kitchen towel repeats all of the colors from the bird, flowers, and nectarines.

Newest Work

2010-03-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

"Red Pears at Play"
colored pencil
16" x 20"

Here's my newest large colored pencil drawing. I've been doing a lot of painting in the last two months and so slowed down some on the drawing. I kind of drug my feet getting this one finished up - I think that I was intimidated by that red striped cloth although it turned out not to be too bad. I came up with the name "Red Pears at Play" after my oldest daughter stuck her head in the studio door one night and exclaimed - "Oh, it looks like the pears are having so much fun."

I'm working on a very different sort of colored pencil drawing right now. It's a scene of two leaves floating downstream. It's been a challenge - all of the abstracted ripples and reflections. I can only work for about an hour at a time on it and then I start feeling like I need a straight jacket. I hope to finish it later this week and will post when its done. Guess that makes this a teaser post!

2010-01-04T12:54:00.000-08:00

"Young Stripes"

graphite

16" x 18"

Well, Christmas and New Year's Day have come and gone. We've had some very happy holidays here at our house. All four kids were home for Christmas, including my eldest son who is in the Navy. I've been getting a little art done, but now am ready to get back into the full swing of things, so hopefully I'll be posting more often. I realized that I never posted the completed drawing of the young zebra that I was working on back in October. It's been finished and sitting in a drawer for awhile. I finally got around to getting a picture of it.

"Pitchers and Pears"

colored pencil

12" x 24"

I recently received word that my colored pencil drawing "Pitchers and Pears" was juried into the 52nd Annual Delta Exhibition. The Delta will be held at the Arkansas Arts Center from Jan 29th to March 14th, 2010. The juror this year is Chicago Art Institute Curator Martha Tedeschi. She will be giving a lecture this Thursday night (Jan 7th) at the Arts Center in Little Rock. I hope to attend as long as the snow flurries in the weather forecast don't get too deep.

Christmas is Just Around the Corner

2009-11-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

"Christmas Peppermints"

oil on canvas
12" x 6"

Now that Halloween has come and gone, we're suppose to be focusing on Thanksgiving as the next approaching holiday. However, every mother knows that in reality there's only a few milliseconds between Halloween and Christmas. Above is a small oil that I did last week. It'll be in the December small works show at the M.A. Doran Gallery in Tulsa. I bought several of these 6" x 12" canvases. I like the long format and am looking forward to doing some more compositions to fit.

I've continued doing more little ACEO's this week. I'll not post them all on this blog, but will be offering them on ebay. Just do a search on my name or look for seller drawntoart if you'd like to see them. I'll leave you with one graphite ACEO that I did the other day -

"Mushrooms"
graphite
3 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Itty Bitty Paintings

2009-11-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

"McIntosh Apples"

oil on canvas paper

2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

"Red and Green Apples"

oil on canvas paper

2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

"Cheesecake"
oil on canvas paper
2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

I laid down my pencils and picked up my brushes for a change of pace this last week. As a result, I had a great time painting some little ACEO cards. ("ACEO" stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. ACEOs are the size of a baseball card. They are a fun, easy and affordable way to collect original pieces of art.) I got inspired by looking around at some of the great ACEO art offered on ebay. Yeah - there's tons of not-so-great stuff there, but there is also some really good work if you look for it. Just do a search for seller "alabama_artist" or seller "thisthatthose" for two good examples.

While you're there - here's a link to my own seller page ("drawntoart")

Drawing with Silver

2009-10-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

" Windows to the Soul"

silverpoint

3" x 9"

I've made a couple of out-of-state trips since my last post. That's put my zebra drawing on hold since it was too large to travel with me. So, I decided to work on a small piece while away. I didn't get much time to work because of having such a great time visiting family, but I did manage to get this little silverpoint drawing done. The model is my youngest daughter. I liked the idea of cropping in close to emphasize her eyes. I also liked how the silverpoint gives the drawing a hazy, ethereal feel. I'm looking forward to seeing how this drawing evolves on its own as the silver tarnishes.

Working on Stripes

2009-10-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Work in progress - graphite

Here's what I've been working on, on and off for the last week. I've done a lot of colored pencil this summer and I've been really wanting to take a break by doing a graphite drawing. My daughter and I visited one of those drive-through wildlife parks back in August. I took lots of pictures, especially of the zebras. We learned that you really can't grasp how big an American bison is until one is standing in front of your compact car and scratching his chin on your windshield wipers.

The Next IGOR Show

2009-09-25T12:08:00.001-07:00

"Pears and Squares"

colored pencil

13" x 26"

I just heard last week that this drawing of mine made it into next year's International Guild of Realism Show. The show will be the fifth annual juried exhibition of the International Guild and will be held next February at the J. Willott Gallery in Palm Desert, CA. I'm honored and thrilled to make it once again into a Guild show - this will be the fourth time that work of mine has been included in an IGOR show.

The International Guild of Realism was founded in 2002 with the purpose of advancing realism in fine art and promoting the careers of representational artists. You can learn more about this excellent organization by visiting their website - http://www.realismguild.com/

Smaller stuff

2009-09-22T09:05:00.001-07:00

"The Sentinel"

colored pencil

12" x 8"

"The Guardian"

colored pencil

7" x 12"

Here's my latest two colored pencil drawings. Both of these will be in the December small works show at M. A. Doran Gallery in Tulsa later this year. I seem to have been doing a lot of these complementary color schemes in my still life setups lately. I found the little upright English pitcher in "The Sentinel" on ebay earlier this year and had been looking forward to drawing it. At first I tried putting some purple plums with it, but that big orange spot in the middle of the purple flower just kept saying, "No! More orange, please!". So, I remembered the little orange clementines in my fridge, placed them there, and threw up some blue fabric on the wall behind my setup. And voila! Here it is.

Rethinking it all

2009-09-16T10:21:00.001-07:00

Simple Pleasures

Colored Pencil

20" x 20"

It's been five months since my last posts. For those of you who may have been following this blog and wondering what became of me - well, I've been right here all along. I simply haven't been painting and since the original idea for this blog was to follow my progression from pencil artist to painter, then there wasn't anything to blog about.

Turns out, I still love having a pencil in my hand. I've continued to grow and develop as a colored pencil artist. I continue to be amazed and inspired by what other colored pencil artists are achieving in the medium. I also have been missing my first love - graphite. I still hope to master oils, but I've realized it's going to take more hours in the studio since cloning myself is still not a viable option. I'm just not ready to give up pencil!

So, with that in mind, I've renamed my blog and plan for this to be perhaps not a daily blog, but it least a weekly blog of my efforts as an artist. Note the name "Marks and Strokes" - I'm leaving the studio door wide open. Pencils or brush, I just plan to continue to follow my vision and create.

2009-03-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

"Sunset/Sunrise"

Colored pencil, 6 3/4" x 10 1/2"

Here's a landscape that I did recently. I bought a little Canon SD camera last year. I have a larger Canon Rebel digital camera that I use quite a bit, but I wanted this little digital camera because it fits nicely in my purse. Although I fit the category of "stay at home mom", it seems that I'm on the road a lot. I've really enjoyed having my little camera handy to grab pictures like this when I come across them. I'm getting a stockpile of landscape photo references. This little drawing was fun to do. I think that I'll be doing more landscapes this year thanks to my little Canon.

I just learned yesterday that I've been selected as one of the artists to display work at the Rockefeller Institute's Arts in the Air Exhibit this coming May. The exhibit will be held at the Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain here in Arkansas. I'll have around six works in the show including the landscape pictured above.

Repetition with Variation

2009-03-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

"Asian Pears and Lace"

colored pencil, 8 3/4" x 12 1/2"

Here's my latest colored pencil drawing. In my original setup for this drawing, the lace was on a white surface - another cloth, I believe. Once I started on the reds and yellows of the pears though, I realized that I wanted more of those colors in the drawing. A cedar chest in my bedroom provided the inspiration to finish out the drawing. I really like how the wood repeats the pear colors (though not exactly) and makes the lace stand out.

Has It Really Been Nearly a Year?

2009-03-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

Arrangement in Blue and White

colored pencil

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly a year since my last post. In my defense, all I can say is that this time last year, I was preoccupied with plans for my oldest daughter's wedding and my youngest son's high school graduation. Much has happened in the last year. I've done a lot more drawing, but I'm ashamed to admit that my painting fell by the wayside for much of this last year. That being said, spring is in the air, the trees are budding, and I feel the desire to turn over a new leaf and attack this painting thing again. I know that January 1st is suppose to be the time to make new resolutions, but I've always felt more like actually doing so when spring rolls around.

Above is one of my more recent colored pencil drawings. This one was juried into the International Guild of Realism's 2009 show which was just held at Weatherburn Gallery in Naples, Florida. I am quite happy to report that it won the 2009 Best Drawing award in that show. It was a real honor just to get in the show - the award was a very thick layer of icing on the cake! Here's a link to see all the award winners as well as the entire show on the Weatherburn's site: http://www.realismguild.com/UpcomingExhibitionWeatherBurn2009.html

Bear with me... now that I've ventured back into blogland, I'll do my very best to start posting regularly. Any of you out there reading this are more than welcome to post comments. (Otherwise I feel like I'm just talking to myself!)

I just finished up a smaller still life with asian pears - still need to get pics of it but should be able to post it tomorrow.

Post Spring Break

2008-03-31T16:46:00.001-07:00

"Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake"

oil on canvas, 5" x 7"

Click here to bid

"The Red Vase"

colored pencil, 7" x 12"

It's been awhile since my last post. My only excuse is that I've had two spring breaks in a row. First week was my college-aged daughter's spring break. She's getting married in May, so we were busy with wedding "stuff". This past week was my two high-schooler's spring break. I did get some artwork done though, as evidenced by the two pictures above. I probably won't get too much painting done in the next month or so - I'm busy getting colored pencil work done for some upcoming shows.

Spring at Last!

2008-03-15T09:52:00.001-07:00

"Spring Beauty"

oil on canvas, 8" x 8"

Spring seems to have finally arrived here in Arkansas. Daffodils are all over the place and bluebirds are anxiously inspecting our three birdhouses. Wednesday afternoon the temperature reached 80 degrees. It's hard to believe, but my kids actually missed two and a half days of school last week due to snow days. Arkansas weather! I grew up in Arkansas - I can remember as a kid hearing the old folks say "If you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes."

Pitchers and Pears

2008-03-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

"Pitchers and Pears"

colored pencil, 12" x 24"

Not much painting going on this last week because I was finishing up this larger colored pencil work. I really enjoyed drawing the colors and textures of the various pitchers. I have several shelves filled with ceramic items in my studio, but am filling the need for MORE... unfortunately, when I get that feeling, I usually end up spending hours and hours on ebay looking for more stuff...

Star Fruit

2008-03-06T07:40:00.001-08:00

"Star Fruit"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, 5" x 7"

Click here to bid

Paint What You Love!

2008-02-28T15:52:00.000-08:00

"Donut With Sprinkles II"

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6", $100

I've heard it said that you should paint what you love - I guess that's why I keep painting donuts! My model actually had more sprinkles than this, but at some point enough was enough.

Winter Sycamore

2008-02-26T05:50:00.000-08:00

"Winter Sycamore"

Oil on canvas, 7" x 5", $50

There's a recreation complex close to my home that has a walking/jogging track all the way around it. About midway around it is a grove of sycamore trees. On the pretty winter days when I jog there (I only jog on pretty days in winter!), I'm always struck by the beauty of the white limbs against the clear blue sky.

Completed!

2008-02-24T07:05:00.001-08:00

14" x 16 1/2", colored pencil

Here's the colored pencil drawing that I've posted "in progress" pictures of a couple of times. It's now completed and only waiting for a name. Usually I have a name - often before I ever put pencil to paper. This one has me stumped though - I'm pretty ambivalent about all of the obvious names for it (Mangoes in a Box, Boxed Mangoes, Mangoes and Box, etc.). I've thought about calling it "Side by Side" or even "Head to Toe" since the mangoes are turned in opposite directions. Any suggestions out there?

Apples in Oil

2008-02-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

"Apples III"

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8", $100

It's kind of strange - I very rarely have apples in my colored pencil still lifes, having a decided preference for pears. And yet, I seem to keep painting them in oils. When I first started painting in oils, I had trouble with red - it seemed like the shade I wanted was always elluding me when I mixed the paints. So, I kept doing still lifes with red objects to force myself to get it figured out. I'm pleased with these apples because they came out "spot on".

Another Donut

2008-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

"Sweet Heart"

Oil on canvas, 5" x 7", $60

Ready for Spring

2008-02-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

"Sunlit Tulips"

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

Details, Details...

2008-02-12T05:59:00.000-08:00

"Last Glass"

Oil on canvas, 7" x 5", $150

I recently purchased several Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II brushes in itty-bitty sizes. I decided to put them and myself to the test and see just how much detail I could get into a 5" x 7" painting. Above is the result - I did it all in one day (yesterday), but it took a major part of the day to accomplish. I'm please with it as well as my new brushes.

Work in Progress, Continued...

2008-02-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

I've been back working on this colored pencil drawing of two mangoes nestled in tissue paper in a cardboard box. As you can see, I've finished up the second mango and have started in on the tissue paper. I'll save the bottom edge of the box and the black background below it for last - mainly so I don't have to worry about smudging the black into the tissue paper areas along the bottom.

I've included a close-up photo of the top right-hand corner so you can see the wax bloom that has started in the black area. "Wax bloom" occurs when a lot of pigment is burnished into an area. After a few days to a week or two, some of the wax will migrate to the top, giving dark areas a cloudy look. I'm not worrying about it now. Once I'm finished with the drawing, I'll carefully polish the black areas with a soft clean cloth which will remove the top coating of wax. Then I'll spray the entire drawing with a fixative. The fixative spray will keep the wax bloom from reoccurring.

Clementines

2008-02-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

"Clementines"

Oil on canvas, 5" x 7"

Sold

One and a Half

2008-02-04T06:18:00.001-08:00

"One and a Half Apples"

Oil on canvas, 5" x 7"

Sold

Red Heart

2008-02-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

"Red Heart"

oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

And yet another donut - I'm still having fun painting these - I just don't know how many more my waistline can take.

Work in Progress

2008-01-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

One of my intentions when I started this blog was to post work-in-progress photos of my larger colored pencil paintings. I've been remiss in doing that and what with the new year and all, have added that to my to-do list. So here is a photo of a work in progress. It's two mangoes lying side-by-side in tissue paper in a corrugated cardboard box. This one is larger-than-life (14" x 16 1/2"). Down on the bottom left-hand corner you can see how I'm building up the dark background - first with a layer of Tuscan red, followed by dark green, and then a final layer of black burnished on top. The tissue paper will be a light blue color to play off of the orangey-red of the mangoes. I want to get the dark, rich colors of the mangoes established before I render the tissue paper.

Another Sweet Heart

2008-01-30T20:06:00.001-08:00

"Red Striped Heart"

6" x 6", oil on canvas

I went back to the bakery for more heart shaped donuts. This time they had red icing instead of pink. I had bought a set of these cool deco shaped plates last year at a flea market. The set was in assorted colors - blue, green, and yellow. The yellow's not working with this donut series, but I do like the iced donuts against both the blue and green plates.

Donut Hearts

2008-01-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

"Donut Hearts"

Oil on canvas, 5" x 7"

Here's another painting of these delicious looking heart-shaped donuts. Who needs a box of chocolates for Valentines Day when you could just have donuts? (Don't forget the coffee!)

Donut Love

2008-01-25T15:04:00.000-08:00

"Donut Love"

oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

SOLD

Apparently Valentines Day is right around the corner... Wal-Mart's bakery had all of these delightful pink iced heart-shaped donuts for sale this morning. I couldn't resist putting one on a green plate for this still life.

Still Feeling Blue...

2008-01-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

"Mangoes on Blue Cloth"

oil on canvas, 7" x 5", $100

I enjoyed painting the blue cloth in the last still life so much that I decided to use it again. Here it is with two mangoes. I really liked the composition on this one and how the colors turned out. It seemed more interesting to set it up with the light coming from the back-right side and having the shadows come forward.

Gold Nugget

2008-01-18T19:29:00.001-08:00

"Gold Nugget Squash"

oil on canvas, 7" x 5"

Yesterday's painting - I picked up three of these Gold Nugget squashes a few weeks ago because the color and shape seemed interesting. Since they're winter squashes, they've been content to sit around on a studio shelf without spoiling and just cooling their heels until I got around to them. Seems like I've been on a complementary color kick here lately. The orange of the squash was elusive to capture, but I think that I got pretty close. It was a relief to move on to the cloth which I had fun painting. I went with a very dramatic black background. I really like how it makes the squash and cloth colors pop.

Hide and Seek

2008-01-16T07:26:00.001-08:00

"Mango Hide and Seek"

oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

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Daily painting from Monday - I had a darker background on this originally, but the mangoes were a little too hidden, so I lighten up the foreground and background this morning and I like the effect much better. I meant to save the original photo of the painting with the darker background so you could see the difference, but alas I overwrote the file after I took the second photo... You'll just have to take my word for it that it's improved.

Blushing Apples

2008-01-11T11:13:00.001-08:00

"Golden With a Blush"

colored pencil, 8" x 6 3/4"

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Here's a small colored pencil that I just finished up today. Did you know that golden delicious apples are really more yellow-green when the grocer first puts them in the produce aisle? As they ripen, they turn more and more yellow. That makes the color seem like a moving target when you let a couple of days go by between the start and end of the drawing.

More Pears

2008-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

"Red Pears III"

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

Slices and Sticks

2008-01-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

"Slices and Sticks"

Oil on canvas, 8" x 6"

I'm back to painting after a little break over the holidays. This is a not-so-subtle use of complementary colors - oranges slices and cinnamon sticks on a blue plate. By the way - what title sounds better? "Slices and Sticks" or "Sticks and Slices"? Either way sounds like an advertisement for some new kitchen gadget. This one really strained my nearly non-existent title creating skills. I'm entirely open to other title suggestions...

Flying Pig

2008-01-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

"Flying Makes Me Happy"

colored pencil

8" x 8"

Here's a small colored pencil drawing that I finished a few days ago. I found this cute little pig manikin at an art supply store last month. I bought it for my daughter for Christmas because, not only is she an artist, but also a student at the University of Arkansas, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks (woooo-pigs-sooie). So how could I resist giving her her very own pig manikin? I borrowed him back right after Christmas to do this little still life. He looked so happy on his pedestal! I wanted to make it look like he was flying, so I put a blue sky with stenciled clouds in the background and added a couple of Monopoly hotels so he could feel like he was really high in the sky.

Spiral Repeated

2007-12-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

Orange Spiral II

colored pencil

Here's a colored pencil that I finished a few days ago. I did this half peeled orange in oil about a month ago. I had taken reference photos of it with a linen cloth as well as just sitting on top of a chest of drawers. The oil painting did not have the cloth in it. I decided to do it bigger and with the cloth for the colored pencil drawing. I used lots of colors in shading the cloth - blues and purples, yellows, and reds. I really liked how this one turned out.

51st Painting

2007-11-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

Orange Spiced Tea

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Bosc Pears

6" x 6"

Orange Spiral

7" x 5"

Autumn Gourds

6" x 6"

Here's four more of my latest paintings. I counted up yesterday and found that I had just completed my 51st painting for this year, 32 of those since August when I started this blog. I'm enjoying the immediacy of the oil paint. I've spent years doing colored pencil drawings where just a monotone background color involved five, six or more layers of pencil. It's quite refreshing to mix paint, think "that's the color I want", and then paint it in one layer and be done. All of these oils that I've been doing have been alla prima. The spontaneity of putting down one layer of paint and having a finished painting is such a change from the colored pencil work. (At least the way I do colored pencil.)

With the new year approaching, I'm conscious of the need to look down the road and decide where I want to be a year from now. I'm a realist at heart and the paintings of other artists that really cause me to swoon are not spontaneous alla prima paintings. Nope, it's those meticulously done works involving underpaintings and layers of color. So, I'll still do some small daily paintings, but I think that it's time to start some larger paintings and explore the challenge of building up a painting in layers. How much different can it be from layered colored pencil drawings? I guess I'll find out.

Pink Ladies with Parasols

2007-11-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

"Fish with Lemon"

6" x 6"

"Pink Lady with Parasol"

Click here to bid

Here's the latest two paintings. The "Fish with Lemon" painting is the last one of six that I needed for a holiday gallery sale in Oklahoma. It's at the framer's now, going into a sweet little shadowbox frame this week. I picked up the first four paintings from the framer last week. These small paintings look great in little black shadowbox frames. The cost was a pleasant surprise also! After years of having graphite and colored pencil drawings framed, it's nice to be able to pay just for the frame - not extra on glass and matting.

The apple painting is now on ebay. I had the idea of parasols and pink lady apples last summer. I searched all over our little town looking for drink parasols and found none. That could be because I live in a "dry county". "Dry county" is a term which causes some confusion among folks who move here from out west or up north. It doesn't mean that we get little rainfall but rather that the sales of alcoholic beverages are banned. I finally thought to go to ebay in my search for drink parasols and was able to purchase one gross (yep - 144) of the little umbrellas for about $8 including shipping. 144 is excessive - I could have gotten just a dozen for around $4 including shipping, but I've never been able to resist a bargain... To continue the story, I finally had my little parasols and guess what? The local grocery store no longer had pink lady apples. Finally, two months later, they're back in the stores and my Pink Lady with Parasol idea has finally come to fruition (yes - that was meant as a lame pun). By the way - anyone need a drink parasol???

Still Painting

2007-11-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

"One Was Green"

oil 5" x 7"

"Peaches and Raspberry Tea"

oil 5" x 7"

"Gardenias in a Sake Cup II"

oil 7" x 5"

Goodness ! It's been over a month since I posted anything. I didn't stop painting - just stopped posting (shame on me). Above are a sampling of what I've been up to. I've gotten the opportunity to show my small paintings in two different galleries and also one holiday sale, so I've been very busy this last month - I've painted at least a dozen small still lifes. I'm having a lot of fun and can see myself improving so I'll stay at it. I've only shown three of my latest paintings up above - more are on my website if you'd like to see them. I'm going to try to get back in the routine of posting new paintings here. If you visit this blog and enjoy seeing these paintings, then please drop me an email or leave a comment. I must confess, one reason why I haven't posted in a month is that I feel a bit like I'm talking to myself...

Peeled Orange

2007-10-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Peeled Orange

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Mature Nectarines

2007-09-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Three Nectarines

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Here's the latest daily painting. These three nectarines (bless their hearts) have been patiently waiting around in the frig for better than a week. There was a fourth which my daughter sampled the other day. She threw it out after a couple of bites because it was too mushy. Fortunately, these three still looked good even if they are past the crisp stage. I keep buying fruit to paint and then getting distracted with other subject matter. The fruit bin in the refrigerator has been slowly filling up with an assortment of fruits in various stages of ripeness/decay. My family is well-trained after all the years that I have been doing still lifes. They pretty much always ask before they eat whether or not the fruit is for consumption or art. Who could ask for more consideration than that?

Playing Around with Water

2007-09-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

Lotus Flower

4" x 5" colored pencil & wax pastel on paper

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About a month ago, I ordered a set of Neocolor II wax pastels as well as some colourfix paper, neither of which I had worked on before. The Neocolor II pastels are watersoluble wax crayons and colourfix (for those who don't already know) is a pastel and "multimedia Artist's paper". Anyway, what with going out-of-town 6 times in the last 5 weeks, I just now got around to playing with the new materials. It's going to take some more getting used to, but I do love how the Neocolors "pop" when you add water. I guess it is fitting that my first subject with the watersoluble colors is a water scene.

I'm Back...

2007-09-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

Gardenias & Raindrops

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It's been about a week since my last post, and a busy week it was. I'm back from a great trip to Rhode Island. Besides snapping lots of pictures at my son's Navy class graduation, I also got some great pictures of downtown Newport and the ocean. Some of those shots will hopefully become paintings in the next few weeks. Here is yesterday's painting - two gardenia blossoms with a few raindrops.

No Time to Sit Awhile

2007-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Blue Chairs

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While I was in Hot Springs two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to act like a tourist and wander around bathhouse row with a good friend of mine. It was a nice sunny day and the old historic bathhouses were looking lovely. I took several pictures. This painting is of some wonderfully blue chairs that were on the veranda of one of the buildings. I hope to do several more little cityscapes from my reference photos, but they'll have to wait until next week because I'm headed out of town again today. It's off to Rhode Island to witness my son's graduation ceremony of his Navy ODS class. Fingers crossed for good weather and camera in hand (not to mention, heart swelling with pride) - here I go...

Apple Pair and the Bosque

2007-09-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

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I'm back at home after my fourth weekend in a row out-of-town. My life is usually of the home-body variety, but we've just had an usually active month. This past Saturday night, I had the pleasure of attending the Bosque Conservatory Art Classic show in Clifton, TX. The pleasure was greatly enhanced by getting to see my 20-year-old daughter, Allison, win second place in the drawing division of the competition. It's a mother's right to brag, so I can say that Allison is an extremely talented young western artist - you can see her artwork at http://www.allisoncantrell.com/. The Conservatory Art Classic show was very impressive. I had seen the works accepted to the show online before we went (click here to see the show online), but I've got to tell you, the online images don't do a good job of reflecting the quality of this show. If you get a chance, do see this exhibit in person.

Above is my daily painting from yesterday - I should say "nightly" because I did this one last night after we returned from Texas. I'm teaching a one-day colored pencil workshop next Saturday and this was a little setup that I did in preparation for that workshop. Although I had already done the still life in colored pencil, last night I decided to do it in oils as well. It seems there should be some benefit in doing the same still life in different mediums, but as I was finishing up last night at about 11:15, after a 10 hour drive back from Texas, I just couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Gardenias and Green Thumbs

2007-09-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

Gardenias in Sake Cup

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I once had a green thumb. Mine turned brown after the kids were born. I think that there was just a limit to how many young growing things I could take care of. I was reduced to keeping mother-in-law tongues, aloe veras, etc. - you know those plants that you can't even kill with plastic explosives. I got to the point where I actually felt guilty when I purchased a new living green thing because I felt that I had just committed it to death row. Now that two kids are grown (I started to say "practically", but they would take offense at that) and the other two are in high school, I have hopes that my thumb may turn green once more. I bought a prayer plant a couple of months ago and placed it above the kitchen sink so it would hopefully be watered occasionally. It not only is still alive, put also putting forth new leaves on a regular basis. Perhaps it has an edge over my past victims since it folds its leaves in prayer each night.

The reason this gardenia painting is causing me to muse about my brown thumb is because gardenias always remind me of my dad's green thumb. A few years ago, he found a mangled gardenia boutonniere in the street in front of his house. I say mangled because it had been run over by at least one car. He took it into the house, removed the floral tape, and placed it in a cup of water. A couple of weeks later, it had rooted, so he planted it in a pot. To this day, it lives on his patio, growing larger each year, and enjoying a new life that only its Maker and my dad would have known to be possible. And my dad knows exactly how many blossoms it has each summer. Now that's something only a retiree has time to do...

Late Delivery

2007-09-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

Asian Pears and Redwing Pitcher

Colored pencil, 21" x 14"

I think I know something of what those momma elephants must feel when they finally deliver the baby and end that two-year pregnancy. This one hasn't actually been on the drawing table for two years, but it has felt like it at times. At any rate, I finished it last night, and since I haven't painted yet this week, I thought that I'd post this colored pencil drawing. It's back to the brushes today after I take this puppy to the framer's. I have a show coming up in October and this is the last colored pencil work that I needed to go in that show. Yes - it is cutting it a little close since this is mid-September, but I work best when under pressure...

Two for One

2007-09-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Chocolate/Vanilla Donut Pair

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I'm back from a very fun weekend in Hot Springs. My daughter (Allison) and I, along with a good friend of mine and Allison's future mother-in-law, attended the opening reception and awards ceremony of the Diamond National Juried Exhibit at the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs. Awards were broken out into three divisions - watercolor, 3-D, and "oils and other mediums". Allison's graphite drawing "Spin to the Left" won second place in the "Oils and other" category, and my colored pencil drawing "November Roses" won first place in that same category. Needless to say that made a fun night out with the girls all the better!

Posted today are two little donut paintings that I did last Thursday. I liked the "yin and yang" idea of the chocolate and vanilla donuts, so I decided to do them similarly on two separate canvases as a little diptych and list them on ebay together.

Halved Peaches

2007-09-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

Halved Peaches

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Here's Tuesday's painting. Yikes! Here it is already Thursday and I've only gotten one painting done this week. I've to hit the brushes this morning because I leave early tomorrow morning for a "girls weekend." My daughter, Allison, and I were both juried into the Diamond National Juried Exhibit which starts tomorrow night in the great spa city of Hot Springs. Hopefully, I'll have another painting or two to post on Sunday afternoon. Check back then...