Gifts, Wrapped - A New Favorite

Congratulations!

16x20, oil on canvas, $525

This one is just happy, happy. Thanks for looking!

An Experiment: 1 Image / 4 Mediums

I’m crazy about playing with… working with… playing with different mediums. Sometimes this propensity worries me (ok, I'm a worrier).  I recently challenged myself to an experiment. Compare and contrast by recreating one image, four ways, using three mediums I know plus one new one.  I wondered – if I did them all quickly, back to back – would the experiment reveal one or two that could be abandoned?

I wanted the image to be simplistic/illustrative and I figured whimsy would be my saving grace.  To that end, I used a silly drawing and painted all three canvases hot pink before starting. Click on any of these to see larger images.

1. Acrylic.  Energy.  I’ve enjoyed using acrylics in the Paper Dolls series, either in the women themselves or as the background for women painted in oil.  Acrylics present my biggest challenge for loosening up.  I tend to fiddle.  I love that acrylics play so well with others and they dry deliciously fast.  But, for the sake of this experiment?  Yaaawn. 

2. Paper.  Possibly my favorite.  I think it’s the graphic qualities – the images within the image – that lure me back.  And it brings out the hunter/gatherer/collector in me, too.  That aspect is like a bonus.  It’s impossible to be tight with paper – I just have to let those details go and that feels healthy.  Focus on finding the values.

3. Oil.  A dear, old friend.  I forget how great it is that oil paint doesn’t dry fast. So lenient and forgiving. I love the smell of linseed oil and the excitement of mixing colors in oil – so different from all others.  Oil is comfort paint, like Southern cooking.

4. Fabric.  The Johnny-come-lately.  I’ve wanted to try creating an image with textiles for some time.  Truth be told, I come from a long line of quilters and I sometimes dream I have a quilt inside me.  I flirt with tutorials and articles and many small projects and even a few larger ones. But I had never tried actually sandwiching a front and a back and a piece of batting and then quilting and binding.  Yikes.  This one’s like an overgrown potholder. Truly heinous.

~~~

I considered throwing in a watercolor at the end but I was bored with the experiment idea.  The pitfalls of artistic infidelity are not lost on me but will I throw a medium out?  Doubtful!  They are all just too much fun and one inspires the next!  What can I say?  I like what I like.  Happy creating and thanks for visiting.

Does "Plein Aire" Include My Dining Room?

Shelf Life: Top Left

10x20, oil on stretched canvas

sold

An old wooden chair upholstered in a re-embroidered fabric with inset mirrors, the Bibles and Books of Common Prayer belonging to at least 3 generations from our children back through our parents, P.G. Woodhouse, Molly Ivins, and an ancient little Texaco Home Lubricant oil can. I think this one is my favorite so far - I enjoyed finding the purple in the shadows. Maybe it's time to switch rooms. Or even houses... I'm starting to dream about the shelves of my family and friends.

Continuing With Shelf Life Series

Shelf Life: Top, Far Right

10x20, oil on stretched canvas

sold

An old and crumbling wooden Santos I brought home from Guatemala, Robert's Rules of Order, Austin's Landmark Art (Vikki Loving), a 45 of Why Can't We Be Friends (S. Allen/H. Brown, Far Out Productions, 1975), and a shallow, black Pre-Columbian bowl leaning in the back (250 a.d.). Plus some other stuff that doesn't mean as much to me... but might to others. I love these still lifes that have been just waiting, patiently, for me in the next room. I got so excited when I did the first one that I forgot to underpaint the panel. I just grabbed it and started drawing and was painting before I realized - yikes - I'm painting on white. It was okay... not difficult but, for me, yawn, uninspiring. Ahhhh, turquoise. Wish I'd thought to paint the walls in our house turquoise before painting them Naples yellow.

Knock, Knock, Who's There?

Digging Lemons

16x20, oil on canvas

Streeeeeeetch.
Yaaaaawn.
Whew, it’s good to be here. Thank you, Faithful Followers, for your patience with my recent sabbatical. I really appreciate your emails and inquiries, notes and concerns. It feels great to be missed. If we’re to be perfectly candid with one another, I took these last weeks off to….well….to party. I’ve celebrated the success of some grand organizations plus 2 happy and healthy schools, an engagement, a bachelorette, Easter Eve, many birthday parties for friends and family plus one of the milestone varieties for yours truly, the end of two athletic seasons and the beginning of two more, and such successful committee work… honestly, you just can’t imagine. I was briefly pulled back into the vortex of a former communication’s design career and I was part of the mother of all garage sales. Lots of time with Mr. Right and the kiddos. Lots of time with my Twisted Sisters. It’s been a good month!

I’ve gotten to do a bit a painting and will share those as soon as I reconstruct my outdoor photo station. In the meantime, this was one I forgot to post from Laurel’s still life class this spring.

Just Grab a Kid and Go

On the Tarmac, Cozumel

8x8 oil on canvas

NFS

When our kids were younger, our family plus three others (college girlfriends a.k.a. some of my beloved twisted sisters) vacationed on a beach together for a week every summer, for 11 straight years. We were a small band of travelers in the beginning - 8 adults plus a couple of toddlers, give or take the odd visiting grandma or friend - and one of us moms was often sporting the maternity bathing-suit look. Eeeesch! We ventured no further than big, rambling houses on Texas beaches in the early years.

Our Lavagirl was the last baby born and once she turned 2, we all turned our eyes South of the Border - to the land of white sands, turquoise waters, and the all-inclusive resort with its endless buffets, spirits, activities, and housekeeping. By that time we numbered 15, plus or minus. And during those weeks, all the kids had 8 parents and the livin' was easy. My little traveling companion in this painting isn't mine but she sure felt like it. I'll never forget her fashionable turquoise straw cowboy hat that summer.

Just Time for a Sketch: Happy Hour

Happy Hour sketch

8x8, oil on canvas

I did this quickly from a photo I found on the website WetCanvas. What a great resource for us artist-types. This girl looks like she could be one of my twisted sisters. Have a great weekend!

Bliss Following Indeed

Self Portrait with Freesia

12x16, oil on canvas

$190, email for info

Well, I wiped this one so many times that, by the end, "Self Portrait with [Full-Blown] Freesia" might have been a more accurate title. The longer those poor flowers sat under the light, the bigger they got. But what a beautiful morning of painting: in my newly spiffed-up studio space, The Penthouse Radio, surrounded by windows, and the snow falling outside for hours with flakes the size of salad plates, piling up on the palm trees around the pool. And later, watching school-got-out-early teenagers Sharkboy and Lavagirl catching snowflakes on their tongues just beyond my windows. How great is life?

Settling in to My New Old Space

Still Life in New Studio

9x12, oil on canvas

$125, email for info

Let's get back to the 'how lucky am I?' catagory. I casually mentioned to Mr. Right that I'd like to reconfigure the "art room" and create a more functional painting studio space. Just pillow-talk really. We chatted about this idea and that... more storage here, a place to put paintings there. Then one day last week he twinkled his nose and Shazam! I'm in new digs! I won't spend a bunch of time explaining his studio solutions but, suffice to say, Mr. Right can make a project happen!! Naturally, this led to much cleaning, sorting, tossing, etc... It feels great!!

The Sunshine Award, alla prima

Is There a Title That Doesn't Include a Tequila Reference?

16x20, oil on canvas

email for info

This was my set-up in Laurel’s alla prima still life class last week. We’ve been learning different blocking-in techniques – this one is used by artist Kevin McPherson and it’s my favorite. Our classmate Stephen Parker explained this method quite eloquently on his blog - click on his name for further reading. I’m sad that class is coming to an end.

The For the Love of Art show at Austin Art Space kicked off to great crowds at the reception Friday night and will continue through February 27. There are wonderful artists represented in the show - visit AAS website for days and times. Also… hee, hee, hee… I got a small mention in a Daily Texan article yesterday.

Finally, my thanks to my artist/classmate/inspiration Trish Siegel who has given me the Sunshine Blog Award for creativity and positivity in blogging. Funny, I thought that blogging helped me stay positive and creative – not the other way around. Plus, as I travel through the blogosphere, “meeting” other creatives and being influenced and informed by them, I find you get so much more than you give… no matter how much that is. In that spirit, I will pass along the Sunshine Award, with my gratitude, to 12 other artists who contribute mightily to my creative life – go check them out!

1. Ann Gorbett
2. Ann Rogers
3. Carol Nelson
4. Claire Carnel
5. Dana Cooper
6. Dreama Perry
7. Leslie Saeta
8. Liz Holm
9. Liza Hurst
10. Mary Sheehan Winn
11. Susan Carlin
12. Vicki Shuck

The rules for accepting the award are: put the logo on your blog or within your post; pass the award onto 12 bloggers; link the nominees within your post; let the nominees know they have received this award; link to the person from whom you received this award.

Class is in Session

Thanks for the Compliment

12x12, oil on canvas

$165, email for info

This is from last week's alla prima still life class. We are learning different methods available to start an alla prima painting --- last week was value blocking, starting with a very dark-valued neutral. I completed this very quickly and really like the resulting freshness. I learned a lot - squint, simplify, paint shapes not things, squint again. Check out my classmates great take on the same set-up - for Stephen Parker, click here and for Trish Siegel, click here.

Chocolate is One of the Basic Food Groups, Right?

Whatever, Cocoa

12x12, oil on canvas

$165 - SOLD

(doubleclick for larger view)

This was super fun... even if my marshmallows look [a bit] like sugar cubes. It's good to take a break from produce painting. Plus, I had an aha moment this week and took the beautiful powder blue pashmina from around my neck and draped it into the lightbox. Such a relief from the tried-and-true khaki. The blue scarf was a gift from one of my twisted sisters... hope she won't mind. And the title? Well, I have another friend who is uber-spunky and - when perturbed - holds up her outstretched arm and hand, dismissing her offender by saying, "what-ev-er, Coco." She's 3.

Hope You're Enjoying the Leftovers

Pumpkin Pie

12x24, oil on canvas

sold

We had a glorious Thanksgiving. In the truest sense of the holiday, all 20 'feasters' contributed food or spirits and we ended with a bountiful spread. Lavagirl picked up the torch her Grandmother always carried and continued a well-loved tradition of chocolate cake. Our now-sixteen-year-old Sharkboy has been making the pumpkin pies in our family since he was a kindergartener. He long since stopped needing my help with that project so this year I painted the pie. And doesn't it all -- the stuffing and the cranberries and the mashed potatoes -- taste even better two days later with a paint brush in your hand?

Searching for the Gravy Boats

Preparing the Feast

18x18 oil on canvas

Painting stripes again - this is a remnant from a quilt top my mother-in-law made that I found among her things recently. Luckily we're having a crowd for Thanksgiving - the perfect excuse to use a few of her fall decorations. It was challenging to get the fabric to "sit down" rather than float above the table and I didn't even attempt the fabric patterns fearing I would get much too tight and fussy. Now, put away those brushes and go rattle the pots and pans. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

How Do You Spell R-U-S-T-Y?

Earning My Stripes

8x8, oil on canvas

email for info

After 2 weeks of not painting I can quickly see that practice, practice, practice is the order of the day. The experts say painting stripes is a great exercise in finding and relating values. It feels great to have a brush in my hand.

I want to say thanks to all of you for the care and friendship you've shown during these past weeks. Each email, card, visit, hug has been such a genuine comfort and we are blessed to be living amongst you.

The Passing of One of My Favorite Artists

The Homemaker

18x18 oil on canvas

A remarkable thing happened Tuesday – we lost two beloved family members. Mr. Right’s treasured great-uncle passed away about lunchtime and, by the following morning, we lost Mr. Right’s mother. These two were always very close. She was the daughter her uncle never had. When talking to other people, they referred to each other as Jean and John but when they were together it was Unk and Little Girl. She was only 67. He was 103.

From the time she and I met twentysomething years ago, we clicked. We had a lot in common, over and above loving her son. She was an exceptional combination of mother and friend – a twisted sister of the highest sort. There was never more than a pinch of the stereotypical mother-in-law-ness. She and I always had a pile of something – books, magazine articles, projects – we were saving for the other one. I loved it when she visited for a weekend – even better when she stayed a week.

She was an artist with a rare, natural sense of color and design that cannot be taught or learned. She sewed – everything from quilts to Christmas dresses to diaper bags to altar cloths. She could make lace. She was a talented mosaic artist and she painted anything and everything that didn’t paint her first.

What fun she and I had painting a set of bar stools together – they’re good-looking: Oriental rug colors with leopard skin seats and corded tassels draped on the backs. And the week we decoupaged the bookcases onto the door of Mr. Right’s “secret room.” And the days we spent setting up nurseries.

She was an artist in her home as well. A 1964 home economics graduate, she was the definitive resource on recipes, holiday décor, laundry, etiquette, the proper pairing of shoes and bags, and what one should and should not wear before Labor Day. She advised countless nervous brides for her church. She made Unk a batch of his favorite ginger Christmas cookies and packaged them in the same treasured box every year since…well… forever. I can’t dream how many of our phone calls began with me saying, “Now, how do I make….?” A visit to her home was always warm, comforting, and inspirational.

She was the family historian. She tracked the genealogy of every piece of furniture, war relic, cup and saucer. She was the type who could put her hands on the fabric scraps left over from Mr. Right’s 3-year-old Tigger costume. Give her 24 hours and she’d have them sewn into a quilt. She framed family photos and wrote the names and dates on the back. And so, it was no challenge this week to find the photo of her with baby Mr. Right shown in the painting. Nor the photo (left) of her, at 1 year old, with her beloved uncle – circa 1943. Via con Dios, sweet friends.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Playing With Knives

8x8, oil on canvas

email for info

Confession: I occasionally paint with palette knives rather than brushes but I've never posted the results. I love how loose it feels to paint with a knife and the rich impasto texture. Knife painting is a great exercise in values and colors, reminding me to be deliberate with each and every stroke. There are two contemporary artists I especially admire who paint exclusively with knives and I just had a very enjoyable cup of coffee this morning while perusing their blogs. Check out Ann Gorbett and Leslie Saeta. As a result, I am emboldened to post this redhead I painted a few weeks ago. Have a great weekend!

DSFDF: Now I Can't Get This Song Out Of My Head

Up On The Roof

8x16 oil on canvas

$165 - email for info

This is my submission for Karin Jurick's latest DSFDF challenge. Click here to follow along as she posts the works of other artists and here to read about her project and my previous entries. I never thought I'd paint rooftops (thank you, Karin!) and struggled with color choices. Karin had advised to treat the shapes abstractly. Then I remembered receiving Pantone's Spring 2010 Fashion Color Report -- click here to read more about that. These colors have such great names: Fusion Coral, Eucalyptus, Pink Champagne, Dried Herb, Tuscany, Aurora. I chickened out before adding Tomato Puree and Lilac to the painting... and now I wish I had. I have a twisted sister who always says, "in hesitation all is lost." I might go back and add them. Thanks for looking!

A Lesson in Foreshortening

Cute Glasses

Reclining Nude in Mirror

11x14 oil sketch on canvas

Foreshortening is a technique used in drawing to make three dimensional objects appear to be realistically receding in space on a two dimensional surface. Thus, in the pose above, the model's left foot is actually a bit larger than her head.... or at least that's the theory. In practice, it's a whole 'nother story. Yesterday, I overheard a fellow warrior say that a teacher had once told him to forget learning to draw with correct perspective and just draw. Draw. Draw. Draw. Draw. Perspective will come in its own time. Luckily, I love to draw but, gee whiz. Not to put too fine a point on it but, could anyone get back to me with exactly when "its own time" is?

Step One: Tone Canvas the Color of Teacher’s New Sneakers

Wipe Out

12x12, oil on [pink!] canvas

A cosmic question directed to creatives: what “tricks” do you use to clear artistic hurdles? Thank the dear Lord for girl friends, teachers, and new shoes - that's all I'm saying.

Art class this week was a “wipe out” for me. Meaning, I just couldn’t get the composition onto the canvas; I would draw, then wipe out, draw - wipe out. Over and over. The still life set-up was lovely – an eggplant with a fetching stem, a few curly squash, a pretty blue plate. Yet even with my trusty viewfinder, moving the tableau up, down, left, right - there was no success. Naturally, the more I tried, the more daunted I became. As luck would have it, I had planned an early lunch right after class with two of my twisted sisters. And, proving what a small town Austin really is, two more appeared at the table next to us. Serendipity. And so, surrounded by BFFs, my bruised self-esteem was soothed and my resolve strengthened. (i.e. dog/bone)

I will tame this blasted composition, I determined. My favorite part of art class this week? Laurel’s new lipstick-pink Converse All-Star sneakers, definitely. Ahhhh, a virtual panacea. Inspiration: check.