Cherry Blossom Avenue

                                         6x6 Bid on this painting

I had some time to kill between appointments on Capitol Hill, and it was a gorgeous day, so I went for a walk. The cherry trees on 12th and Denny were just gorgeous, so I decided to paint them as my entry to the DPW Challenge.

Daydreamer

"Daydreamer" 24x24

I've been working on some larger paintings and haven't managed to do little ones as well. This one is based on a 6x6 I did over a year ago. I have been using much thicker paint lately and trying to concentrate on making the paint itself interesting. It's been quite enjoyable painting this way, and I'm liking the results.

Late Night Snack

"Late Night Snack" oil on 3/16" plywood; bid on this painting

This week's Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint the contents of a refrigerator. Since I enjoy painting figures, and I'm working on abstracting backgrounds, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to do both. I tried to create interest in the paint color and texture, and provide just enough "information' for the viewer to know what's going on.

Ryan gets a baby sister!

Ryan at age 1.5

Today Ryan got a baby sister. Lauren Alexis was born this morning and weighs a healthy 7 pounds 14 ounces.  She has long, delicate fingers and toes. You would think that means  she could be tall and thin. Not a chance. Unless something freaky happens she's destined to be short like the rest of us. I say "us" and I'm only the step grandma- yet the theory holds.

I LOVE the photo of Ryan that inspired this painting. It's sweet yet not cloying and I love his stuffed animals joining him for the bedtime story. I was most challenged by the hand in the foreground, but I found that once I got the values right and "cut in" the background , the hand magically appeared. And the dimples helped. It's all abut including just enough "information". Sometimes I "get it"; sometimes I don't...two steps forward, one step back.... Painting wouldn't be so compelling if it were easy.                              

Lady in Red

Lady in Red 29x22.5

          I have been making a real effort to add interest to my paint texture and color. Part of what this entails is applying LOTS of paint. I used nearly a whole tube of red on this one. I have to say, though, it was fun pushing all that paint around. This is going to Alki Arts Harbor Steps gallery, along with a couple other paintings that I will post soon.                                        

"Contemplation" 12x9

I have been very busy painting, both creating new ones and reworking others. I really like this painting, but decided it needed more color punch. The biggest change is the color added to the background and to the edge of the woman's clothing. I like the way the white line zig-zags through the composition.                        

Embrace

"Embrace" 5x7 oil on gesso board

This week's DPW Challenge was to paint a statue. It's a great exercise in concentrating on values and subtle color variations. I chose to paint a portion of one of the many wonderful statues in Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway.

Foot Bath

"Foot Bath" 8x6 oil on Gessoboard

I'm back from Arizona, and happy to be painting again. This is my entry for this week's DPW Challenge. I have been eager to see whether all my work with ceramic glazes in the past 4 months will affect my painting. I really think it will! I'm trying to get depth of color and avoid muddy neutrals. I'm also (always!) trying to paint loosely and with expression.

Time to leave Arizona

This is my latest yard art: a totem surrounded by a flock of birds. My concept is that the totem will sit amidst a field of bear grass surrounded by a flock of about a dozen birds that will poke up at varying heights. I'm having a lot of fun making and glazing the birds. We will leave Arizona in 2 days, and I will truly miss the clay studio. This year I have made such strong connections, largely through my work with the glazes- and simply by being there a lot and getting to know people better. I have been asked to teach a class on glazing next year, and I plan to do lots of reading and studying this summer so that I will have more than just the knowledge I gained through my experiments and tests. I absolutely love the glazing aspect of the clay work, and I'm one of the few who does. Most people are intimidated by it and disappointed in their results. It is so rewarding to me to have a hand in making people happier with the end product.

So....I have been thinking about painting again. I'm interested to see whether all my work with glazes will have an impact on the way I paint. I plan to get back to doing the Daily Paintworks challenges, but probably not actual daily painting. I have a commission to paint a fairly large Southwest landscape, and I need to supply some new work to my galleries, so I will be busy with that. In addition, we have a large remodel and a new granddaughter coming up this spring. Busy times ahead. All good stuff.

Primitive Pot

Here's another of my clay creations. I get as absorbed in clay as I do in painting! I went on a wonderful 8 mile hike today (that's right; no clay studio today!) I will be there bright an early in the morning. Lots of ideas brewing in my head....

Tall Ceramic Box

I'm still having a blast in the clay studio. Lately I have been making boxes of all varieties. Last Wednesday I did my first raku firing. It was pretty exciting! The flames, the smell, and the sometimes surprising results. I was quite happy with the way my pieces turned out. I will post a couple of them later. The box shown above is glazed with high fire glazes. It looks in the photo like there is a white line going daiagonally near the bottom. That's a reflection; the line is actuaIly the same clay as the other lines..  have joined the glaze committee, and have been having a lot of fun trying different combinations. I think it's the painter in me that is drawn to this part of the process. Many of the clay studio HATE glazing because they can ruin a piece they spent lots of time getting to that point. I aim to remove some of the mystery and help people get more satisfactory results.

Hello from Arizona

I know this is primarily a painting website, but I hope you will be open to seeing some of my clay art. That's what I do while in Arizona. This "horizontal totem" or "clay prayer flag" installation is my latest project. It certainly adds some color and interest to our front entry. I find myself getting very involved in the glazing aspect of the clay studio. Most of the members hate glazing, as they are overwhelmed by the options and the unknowns of the process. Probably because of my painterly leanings, I love the glaze process, and I'm trying to understand it so that I can help others to feel some control and some joy in glazing their pieces. I'll share some of my "vertical totems" with you in future posts.

I miss painting, but I can look forward to returning to it in a few months. In the meantime, I love clay. I'm so fickle!

Last Painting Until February!

                               "Above and Beyond" 30x48

It's time to put away the paint brushes and start thinking "clay". We leave tomorrow for Arizona, where I spend a lot of time in the fantastic clay studio 5 minutes drive from our house. It's kind of refreshing to switch art forms for a portion of each year. I always feel a tinge of regret at leaving the one and excitement in anticipating the other.

Awhile ago, I painted a restaurant scene from a high perspective- not quite as high as this one. There's something that thrills me about the unusual viewpoint; it's challenging to paint and it takes the scene out of the realm of the ordinary.

I plan to check in to Daily Paintworks and my fellow Bloggers to see what's happening during my hiatus.

Contemplation

                                                     12x9  

This is the style I wish I could attain in all my paintings. I like the way the light shapes move through the darkness and I'm happy with the loose rendering. The paint itself is thick and thin- lots of variety. Why can't I do it every time?????

Deep in Thought

                                                      7x5; SOLD

The Daily Paintworks Challenge this week is to paint an "emotion" . This is a bit of a cop-out, since the emotion suggested is pretty much up to the viewer. If a boy is alone and quiet, is he deep in thought? Sad? Bored? Angry? The viewer must decide.

Lady in Red

                                              30x24

This painting was done in a workshop I attended last month. The assignment was to work with a complementary palette (red and green) but I also was playing with the juxtaposition of thinly painted and more thickly painted areas. I've always liked paintings that were part drawing, part painting (Toulouse Lautrec comes to mind) and this has some of that flavor.

Bulbous

                                   6x6

This weeks challenge on DPW: Paint a light bulb. I decided to pair the bulb with a favorite little black vase that not only is "bulbous" itself but helps to create some more interesting shapes.

Morning Outlook

                                                             18x36

This is a rework of a painting from my workshop earlier this month. There were 2 figures (from models) and I was happy with the guy but not the girl- so I nixed the girl and replaced her with a scene from a Diebenkorn painting. I really like this piece; I think I'll keep it.

Too Soon for the Spoon

                                    6x6  SOLD

Entry #2 in this week's egg painting challenge. This is such a great exercise in seeing all the subtle gradations in color that define the delicate eggshells and the gelatinous egg whites. I threw in the spoon for contrast.

Awaiting Company

                                       9x12


I got a hankering to try something new (for me). Normally I would want to place a figure n the scene, but this one seemed complete as it is.

Egg For One

                                    6x6  SOLD

This is my entry for this week's challenge. This is probably the third time I've painted and egg and shells, and I know this is better than the last ones. The power of practice....

A Plum Among Them

                                    6x6

This may be the most items I've ever included in a  composition. I remember awhile ago Carol Marine did a number of them from much more distant perspective. The simplification required grows enormously the further away you get. Now that's a challenge! This was hard enough....well, maybe I'll try backing off further.......

In a Mason Jar

                                     6x6

The lid on this jar was hard to paint! It rather looks like the whole thing, plate and all, are flying across the picture. Does that make it dynamic?

Shine Your Light on Me

                                   6x6

Red Onions are some of my favorites, to paint and to eat. I also love this color combination!

You Glow, Girl

                                          6x6

The DPW Challenge this week is the "Complement Me" Challenge, courtesy of yours truly. We did something similar in the workshop I took a couple weeks ago, and I found it pretty useful The idea is that you take complementary colors and you can use one in it's full range (in this case the red runs from red-orange to ted-purple and the other (green in this case) you can only mix with white and with the reds. The result will be a cohesive complementary color scheme.

Three Lemons on Blue

                                        6x6

One of my favorite compositional tools is combining shapes of similar color to make new shapes. There are essentially only 2 colors in this, but I think it works pretty well. I love this little green bottle.It may just be my new favorite prop.

Life on the Streets

                                        5x7  SOLD

I haven't really been away from painting. I took a 5 day workshop at the Gage Academy and aside from a short lecture period, painted all day every day. I can't way that I learned a lot of new things, but sometimes the knowledge creeps in unexpectedly. I can say that I loved it!

This little painting is for the DPW challenge and is derived from the photo posted by Carol Marine.

Red Truck

                                     6x6 SOLD


This has been a really busy day, but I managed to whip out a little 6x6 entry for the DPW Challenge. Tomorrow is the first day of my 5 day painting workshop at the Gage Academy. We also have out of town visitors- 4 people- staying with us for a couple days and 12 people coming to dinner on Tuesday evening. Fortunately, my husband is an excellent cook, so he is in charge of planning and (partially) executing the meal. I am REALLY looking forward to this workshop and hope that all the distractions won't , well, be a distraction.

A Bouquet for Today

                                     24x30

Another market painting....I was drawn to, yet intimidated by, all the flowers. I wasn't sure how to use them in the composition to enhance yet not overwhelm the picture. I also wanted to have the focus on the man's activity rather than his face. I think the glove helps to do that.

Lunch Break

                                     20x24

Another of my Pike Place Market paintings. I was attracted to the warm dark colors of they interior as they contrasted to the brightness outside.

Custom Set

  

(4) 6x6 paintings

I'm having a blast painting some larger pieces based on photos i took at the Pike Place Market. Meanwhile, however, I got a commission to paint 4 coordinated pieces to hang in a dining room with new iris colored carpet! Doesn't that sound luscious? I toned the panels with what I deemed to be "iris" and went to town. The customer had some paintings in mind, and also requested citrus and glass. I sure hope she likes them!!!!

Pike Place Produce

                                    24x30

I'm having so much fun with these market paintings. It's a huge challenge in simplification and controlling values. With this one, I was intrigued by the way the produce and the shop seemed to frame a bright little window of activity. And I loved the guy's striped shirt.
I took about 50 photos at the market a few weeks ago, and only 4 or 5 seem to be suitable for paintings. I think it may be time to go snap another 50.

Fruit Concentrate

                                       6x6

I have a commission to paint 4 little pieces for somebody. She selected 3 existing images but for the 4th she wanted citrus fruits and glass. I love the way the glass makes the colors bounce around- the lemon is doused in green and orange, the lime's shadow gets a hint of red, and the orange is touched with green. Because her carpet is "iris" and in order to unify the colors, I started with a purple blue background on all 4 paintings.

Balancing Act

This is the 2nd of the two 30x40 paintings that are going to Carmel. I really love the feel of the outdoor cafe scenes.

I haven't been doing daily paintings for some time. It sees that recently my painting is broken up into spurts of furious, obsessive painting- and then no painting at all. Tomorrow we are leaving for a 4 day camping trip with friends, and then 4 days after we get back buy husband will leave for a week. I smell a furious painting session coming on....

We are in the process of exchanging an apartment building we own for one that has an owners unit atop 4 1 bedroom units (close to downtown Seattle- yeah!). Our plan is to completely remodel the building, starting with the exterior and our unit. One of the bedrooms will become my studio. I am concerned about lighting as I am not happy with the lighting in my current studio. I welcome any suggestions, regarding lighting and anything else. I want the most awesome studio I can get within the limitations of the space!

Cafe Troubadour

                                   30x40

This was a composite of several photos. I have painted the violinist several times, but the weirdest thing happened. I was perusing the original photo (taken by a friend) and I thought I saw whiskers, so I enlarged that section and sure enough, my girl is a guy! Who knew???? Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. I was attracted to his/her body language and that's pretty "non-gender" (in this case, anyway....)

The Lady Can Sing

                          16x20

More jazz....I gathered these figures from 3 separate sources. It seems that in most actual "gatherings" one or more of the figures aren't animated enough for me. I want "gesture"- especially when there's movement involved.

Jazz Club

                                    24x30

My gallery in Carmel has sold 2 paintings and he wants more! I'm furiously painting to get them to him in time for summer vacationers. As in most tourist towns, his business tapers off in the fall and doesn't pick up again until spring.

Pike Place Fish

                                 24x30

I'm working on some larger paintings of the market. The challenge (as always) is to simplify, especially when there is so much activity and color.

Monorail at Mercer

                                        12x12

This is the third of the three "Seattle" paintings I've done thus far. I delivered them to Alki Arts today. I wanted to do a view of the space needle that was not commonly seen. I stood and waited for the Monorail to come by so that I could get that into the picture too. I wish the sky were this blue today!!!!!

                                  12x12

Another painting from my day at the Pike Place Market. These guys were taking advantage of a lull in the action to do a bit of chatting among themselves.

More Fish

                                    12x12

I walked all over downtown one day last week taking photos, most of them at the Pike Place Market. It was a busy day with lots of tourists. Out of about 60 photos maybe 6 were good reference material for paintings. Thank goodness for digital!

Limey

                                        6x6


The DPW Challenge this week is to paint something that was a gift. This gravy boat was a gift from my niece, Tara. I think it is a lovely shape, and I have thought numerous times about painting is- so I finally did!

Regatta

                                          24x30

I wasn't sure how I could depict the people in the boats without getting into too much detail, so I waited until I was well into the painting before I tackled it. Then I filled in a loosely shaped section with mostly darkish neutrals and cut into the shape with mostly sky colors. I pretty much got the effect I wanted.

Make Way for the Dark Horse

                                           8x24

Another sailboat painting. I took 5 sailboat paintings to Alki Arts last week. Tis the season.....

Not For the Faint of Heart

6x6

The Daily Paintworks Challenge this week is "stripes". So here you have it: stripes. I fas feeling an urge to use lots of color (maybe following the last post's pale palette?) Note the reflection of the blue/purple glass in the base of the cup at the left. These are the kinds of things that excite me in a still life. Often I don't see them at first, but when you're looking really really closely at all the colors, they reveal themselves. 

Egg Cup, Egg, Cup

This is my first post with my new IMac. Our old PC got so bad that I wasn't able to post, and then I downloaded a Blogger app to my IPad and did a post that was less than satisfactory. Hope this works better! There certainly is a learning curve involved when switching from PC to Mac and I hope in the end it's worth it.

So....this is the first still life I've done in awhile. I'm really happy with the color combo. I've been trying to paint with a lighter palette. That's not to say I'll give up on my beloved deep color and high contrast. I just want to be able to create strong compositions and interesting paintings that are in a higher key as well.

Red Sails

I've been going to town on these sailboat paintings. I want to explore the abstract qualities of the sails as well as capture the movement.

Pop Pop Pop of Yellow

I don't know what I did, but I messed around a bit and got the page to come up properly. Hope I can do it again . Anyway, this is the first painting I've done in about 6 weeks. It's posted on Daily Paintworks in the "Yellow" Challenge. We were down in Arizona, and LOVE the clay studio there, so I decided I would take advantage of that great facility and abandon paint for clay. That way I'll never tire of either one. Here's a pic of one of the totems I made.

I'm now excited about getting back to painting. I have some ideas brewing, and I think I will be doing mostly larger paintings, along with the occassional small "daily" paintings. It's good to be back in Seattle and back to blogging.