Brilliant Minds Think Alike Sunflowers

6"x6" oil on gessobord

$100, For more information or to purchase, click here.

When the rain is falling outside, sunflowers inside are about the cheeriest thing ever! This variety had sort of small compact bloom heads that were quite interesting.   Truth be told, I never met a flower I didn't like! But these were particularly charming!

Flowers For Vincent

8"x6" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

For more information or to purchase, click here.

Winter frequently brings me square head-on into a big artist block! I'm not sure if it's a mental rebellion to cold weather or what. So, I have been toying with some fresh ideas in my studio. One that I've been noticing is a method Julie Ford Oliver calls "fracturing".  It's sort of like 'lines interrupted, with subtractive & additive painting going on'. (I'm sure that clears things up!).  Visit her blog here to see more of this idea.

It's quite different from the painting method I'd comfortably morphed into over the last few years.  I had been using very thick knife work and Henry Hensche colorist theory I had learned from Leif Nilsson and Camille Przwodek, painting directly.  For the last couple years I had really focused on shapes and values.  Julie's method is more of a building up of layers. I'm enjoying this in the studio (hey, I've only tried this twice). But I'm trying to imagine how I'd use it outdoors, when the weather is decent enough to paint plein air. 

I'm a firm believer in all that we learn is cumulative. Building on things we've taken in over the years.  Always tweaking, finding new things that pique our interest.  In visiting museums over the years, I recall two separate retrospectives, one of Monet, and another retrospective of Renoir. Seeing how their work changed over their life-times was quite illuminating to me! It's okay to change...to morph into that next stage.  The thought of it is a bit terrifying ...and yet, quite exciting.  Will I make a drastic change? (I doubt it, yet I never rule out what exploration might bring). 

As an artist, how does change in your artwork make you feel? Excited? nervous? exploratory?

As an art lover or collector, how does change in an artist's work make you feel? Interested, worried, curious, happy?

I wonder if it's my longing for Spring, that always puts me on edge at this time of year? Yearning for new growth, outdoors as well as in my 'art spirit'.  Well, I'm going to keep exploring some of these ideas. Hold on tight!

Geranium Dance Floral ACEO Floral Oil Painting

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1

  This pot of geraniums has been one of my favorites. I've been able to 'overwinter' it in my garage for a couple of winters now. As long as I can keep it from freezing, I know I'll have some great blooms next summer! It is one of the most forgiving, yet extremely cheery plants on my summer deck!

  

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!

Summer Happiness

16"x20" oil on linen mounted on archival board

"Summer is not so much a season as a melody, that tune of contentment we hum as the days begin to beautifully blur." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

Finally, we have reached my favorite time of year. Everything wonderful is starting to bloom in the yard. It's the third summer in our garden, and everything is really reaching a wonderful state of lush! Peonies, Siberian Iris, Knockout roses, catmint; and that's just what's blooming right now. Later there are other rose varieties, hydrangeas, lilies, daisies, black-eyed Susans, and more! After all the still-life florals I painted this winter, it's especially fun to take this outdoors. Out on my back patio, the morning light is wonderful. (well, so is the late afternoon, but that's another painting for another day!). A light breeze to ruffle the hems of the tablecloth is a delight after the gusts of last week. I think this is going to be a good gardening year!

I made a few tweaks on this after bringing it into the studio, I'll need to re-photograph & post an update once I get that done. Thanks for following along with my blog & enjoying summer with me!

For more information about this painting, contact me here.

Japanese Fish Vase

6"x6" oil on archival panel

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."

- Japanese Proverb

It's been a while since I've posted, I've been traveling again. I'm down in FL for an intense week of helping out my mom. So I haven't had much time for painting, or posting work, but I did finish this painting the morning before I caught my flight down here.

"Japanese Fish Vase" is a 6"x6" oil on archival panel that I've painted just for
"Daily Paintworks"- 'The Help Japan Challenge'. This painting is available at auction from their site, and I am donating the total proceeds to The Japanese Red Cross Society. Bidding for this painting starts at $100.

I've always loved pieces of blue and white Asian pottery and china in my home, and came across this unusual little vase last weekend in a wonderful little shop in Manhattan. It's small, roundish shape has a 'goldfish' swimming across the front of it, but it also has two raised faces coming out of opposite sides of the little vase. I knew right away when I brought it home, it would make a wonderful little painting for this challenge!

As of this writing, Daily Paintworks has raised $15,369 in just one week of selling paintings- going directly to help our neighbors in Japan. I challenge you to be a part of this aid as well!!

Spring In Your Step

6"x6" oil on archival panel

"Spring is a heart full of hope and a shoe full of rain."

-author unknown


I got my first shoe-full of rain today, leaving the gym. It was monsoon-like weather, except colder, but to me it did feel like Spring is trying its hardest to show up for me. Lots of melt-off happening, fast-running water every where! Maybe just the thought of it has put a spring in my step? Sometimes it doesn't take much....a small cheery bouquet, a bit of hope, the promise of turning that corner at some point.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $125 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

Full Swing Spring

12"x16" oil on linen mounted on museum quality board

"No matter how long the winter, how hard the frost or how deep the snow, nature triumphs. No season is awaited so eagerly or welcomed so warmly as spring."

-Sheila Pickles

I do hope you've missed me over the last few days! I've been in San Diego with my husband (he's here on business travel). When we were packing for this trip rain had been forecast for both days we planned on being here, so I didn't pack the paint gear this time. But I had the most wonderful opportunity to meet up with some dear friends that were a big part of my life when I lived here ten years ago! It was SOOO much fun to catch up - a lot goes on in ten years time...but funny thing, I think only our children have aged! My friends looked GREAT as ever! Those years seemed to fall away pretty quickly & it was like I had only been gone a short time. Thanks Anne & Wendy!!

Before we left CT on Tuesday, I had just finished painting, "Full Swing Spring", a 12"x16" oil on linen mounted on museum quality board. The days are getting a little longer there finally, and we've had a couple of surprisingly warm days (for late winter anyway). I'm looking forward to a 'full swing Spring' and was just thinking how a visit with dear friends is just like a sunny day in Spring! Keeps you smiling - that's for certain!

For more information about this painting, including pricing, framing, etc. contact me at this link.

Blizzard Buster - sold!

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

"There's one good thing about snow, it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor's."
- Clyde Moore

"Blizzard Buster" is what I'm calling this little gem. It is truly the redeeming part of my day. Earlier in the day during a slight lull in the blizzard, we went out to shovel and clear the driveway. This snow was heavy, wet, and about 18" DEEP! That's an exhausting workout! It was so nice to come in and have flowers to paint. I'm especially glad my flowers are holding up, although the blue agapanthus are starting to drop their little flowerets.

I saw on the news where there is snow in 49 out of 50 states (you lucky Floridians!). Even Hawaii had snow on one of its mountains! Not that it makes me feel any better, but knowing there are flowers at the grocery store, waiting for me to paint is some consolation! What is your blizzard buster?