Midwinter break, YIKES!

My kids were on break last week. So I didn't get much work done and no painting photographed for this site. My goal this week is to catch up!

A little something...

pure fun.

love the spring colors

It's fun to work with a lighter palette for spring. The challenge to still life is to take the time to move the elements until you're truly inspired. It's so easy to think "oh, that's good enough", but I find when I stop there it's a dissapointment. This painting comes close to inspiration but not quite all the way.

Think Spring!

It's funny, I tend to want to skip the last month or two of winter and head right into spring. Guess I'll just have to be patient...

SOSF

I received a lovely package from Australia, sent by my new SOSF friend. Can't wait to try out the cake recipes.

Thanks so much!

Thinking Spring!

I have to say I am a painter inspired by the seasons. What's new at the florist, grocery or growing in the yard, are strong indicators of what will be in my paintings.

Primroses are everywhere and spring is on it's way.

Studio view

I've been missing for a few days, blogger was not able to upload images, and since this in an art blog, it was a bit of a problem.

This photo is a corner of my studio, I love to see other people's work space so I thought it would be fun to share mine.

Illustrating

Looks like I'll be doing some illustrating in the near future. I love January through March, the wet gray weather means lots of studio time!

After painting, reading is probably my favorite winter activity. Over the holidays I reread Dickens Christmas Carol, lovely language in his work.

Work in progress

This is a bad photo of a painting I'm working on. The goal I have at the moment is to allow my darks to be thin and build up the lights. I love to see an artist brush work but don't want to have an entirely impasto style. Always experimenting!

Happy morning...

Hooray for the new year. I intend to concentrate on good news this year, with that in mind, I am excited to say the Kaewyn Gallery, in Bothell Washington is now showing a few of my paintings in amongst the other lovely art there.

It looks like it may be a lovely day, there is some blue sky peeking out from behind the clouds. I will spend the day painting and catching up on the laundry and other house chores. Get a little jump on spring cleaning.

Oregon Coast

I'm still experimenting with the glazing process and mediums. The more I work with the mediums the more I feel that they should be used very sparingly, always considering the lean to fat rule.

testing

Spring painting

Here's something new, inspired by the beautiful trees that will flower in this area in April and May. The irony is three inches of snow fell last night, so we have a winter wonderland outside. The kids are home from school, we get snow so seldom that most people don't know how to drive in it. It will be a perfect day to paint in the studio.

Passing Time

2006 was such a strange year, some of it was wonderful, some not so good. Now we are into a new year, I am very curious to see what it will bring. I could wish for a more comfortable time, but then I might miss out on some exciting events. The bottom line is, a life is most rewarding when we can keep our eyes open on the roller coaster, even occasionally put our hands in the air and feel the exhilaration.

Happy New Year!

Hooray for the New Year!!

To everyone who visits this site, thanks for checking in once and a while. I'm a sporadic blogger at best so you're awfully patient if you keep coming back.

Hmmm, I wonder what this new year will bring. Lots of painting, that's for sure. It's amazing to me to have finally discovered "that thing" that feels truly mine. Now if I could figure out a way to convince the elves down at the corner cobbler to come my way and keep things tidy and food in the cupboard life would be much easier. As that is very unlikely I'll continue to juggle things to the best of my ability, which much like my blogging can be sporadic at best.

Dashing through the Snow

Another fun little painting based on vintage Christmas Cards. I love taking a break from "serious" painting to have some fun.

Today is my long teaching day. Spending with my students is so enjoyable. We talk and laugh while we paint and hopefully learn. It's such a pleasure to see them leave at the end of the day with a smile and the sense of accomplishment.

stormy weather

Well, we had a doozy of a storm. We lost electricity sometime Thursday night after going to bed. When we woke the house was pretty chilly and completely dark. I immediately lit some candles and went into Alaska mode; blocked off the doorways to the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace. After a couple of hours it was nice and toasty and the sun had come up. We spent the day reading and playing games, I was able to paint in the studio for an hour or so before it got too cold. The really fun part was experimenting with the fireplace as an oven. We roasted hot dogs for lunch, then I made a sort of stew out of Healthy Choice TV dinner and added vergies and potatoes for dinner. It was actually quite good. The sun sets around 4:30pm these days so at about 4pm I realized I'd better get things organzied before the dark. I lit candles everywhere and we settled in for the night with more reading and games. All in all we had a good experience but when the lights came on just before sunset the next day I felt relief.

Let it snow...

I did a fun little snow scene to get into the holiday mood. It's inspired by a vintage Christmas card from the turn of the last century. It's nothing spectacular, but sure fun to paint.

Scooter

This is a painting of our dog Scooter at the beach this summer. He's a funny little guy, keeps us all smiling.

I haven't been at the easel for a couple of days, it's beginning to get to me. Can't go for more than one or two days before withdrawl sets in.

Visited the site of an amazing artist recently, his name is Jon Foster. Google him, he has a spectacular talent.

study in blue, white, and burnt sienna

This painting is almost finished. I like the way the light is hitting the objects, but I'm not too excited about the compostion. It's rather dull. Composition in still life is of utmost importance, a weak composition will turn out a weak painting, which this is. A very good exerice in limited palette and values though.

Snow!

We had a terrific snow fall this week. Very exciting for everyone. Three days off from school for my kids and lots of snow and computer time for both. I was able to finish this painting of the San Juan islands, it's a scene from the ferry ride from Anacortes to Orcas Island, one of my favorite places to visit in the summer. I'm relatively happy with the way it turned out. Landscapes are a challenge for me, I'm glad to be getting a little closer to the feel I want.

work in progress

Thought it might be fun to show you all my messy desk. It never fails, I just get the place tidy and the tornado hits again (me with a paint brush, students, dogs...) and it's right back where I started.

new images

These are paintings I have recently finished. I am particularly happy with the gourds, such fantastic shapes to paint.

There's an amazing feeling when I finish a painting and know that the adventure is about to begin again, maybe it's "0ld" age but the process of painting is now as exhilirating as the result.

New Painting

I'm experimenting with the new techniques I'm learning. The question is how to combine glazing and darks that have the thin layers, and the more direct method I'm used to . Very exciting to learn new things!

updated work in progress

update on works in progress

Finally I am ready to begin the glazes. It's very exciting to see these progress.

new painting

another work in progress...

venetian style painting

another work in progress...