Indecision

                                 6x6

The DPW Challenge this week is another of my favorite type; "find the painting" in the photograph. Although the photo depicted a lively cafe scene, I was drawn to the girl with the hand raised to her hair. I also liked the way the backs of the chairs "framed" her in the space.
I joined the "Santa Rita Art League" so that I would have a place to paint. Today was the first day I took advantage of it, and I think I'll like it. My frames arrived today too, so I'll be shipping off my little paintings to the Edward Montgomery Fine Art gallery in Carmel. I hope they sell quickly and the demand will be there for larger paintings. Cross your fingers for me! Also, this weekend is the 11/11/11 event at the Seattle Design Center. Ticket Sales are looking good and I hear the exhibition looks awesome. Heavy art week for me!

Watching and Waiting

                                                 8x6 Bid on this Painting
This is a conceptual composition for a larger painting that I am doing as a commission. As I was looking at the photograph supplied by the customer (a wonderful photo taken in Rome) and pondering the possibilities, it occurred to me that some of my fellow daily painters might enjoy this challenge. I submitted my idea to the Daily Paintworks team, and it was selected for this week's challenge. I find it very fun to see what other artists come up with, given the same material to work from. It's exciting and inspiring!

Sorting Seaweed

                   SOLD
When we were in Thailand in 2009, I took this photo of a young girl sorting seaweed. In actual fact she was wearing a dark shirt and light shorts, but that didn't work as well for the painting. I have painted her before, but I wanted to see how my "lessons learned" in daily painting have affected my painting style. I worked hard to try to get the values right, knowing that when I added the highlights the forms would read correctly. That kind of sums up my "new" approach- and I find it works well on figurative work as well.