Draped Reclining Nude Pastel Painting, 13" x 11"

"Draped"

By now you probably think I've lost my mind. This is a pastel done of the same figure I've been working with. I've changed the colors quite a bit here and played around in layering and glazing some pastels. I had some 2 ply cotton rag sitting around the studio and although it's not generally used for pastels, I realy like it because it allows me to layer lightly and glaze one color over the next. Look at the cloth and the bottom of the painting, for instance. See all those lovely colors playing off each other? You really can't get that with a lot of the newer pastel papers on the market. They're very good for handling a lot of the medium, but they don't allow you to put light layers on like this. I'm beginning to see the merit of working in a series because it actually has been giving me quite a few ideas for other works I'd like to try.

Pastel Landscape of walking path, 18" x 24"

"Summer Gold"

Not a new one. This piece just brought back summer for me. Won't be long.

Reclining Nude, 11" x 14", Oil on Canvas Panel

This is a favorite theme of mine by now. I've done it in a couple of sizes and have been searching out color schemes. I recently purchased about 20 frames in standard sizes and this one looks great in a plein air mahogany frame. As I have a large studio tour coming up in the summer and also hopes of gaining entry into the Belvue Arts Museum Fair or Belvue Arts Fair, I'm trying to build up inventory. This is for sale, but you'll need to e-mail me if you're seriously interested.

On another topic, I've discovered something that surprised me about myself. I started as a serious realist painter in pastel and gravitated to oils a couple of years ago as a primary medium. Even when I started this blog, I was heavily into sharp realism. I've noticed that when I look back over my work and how it has evolved over the past two years, I find that I have made a foray into the arena of impressionism or expressionism. I'm still heavily representational and still interested in realist work, but something has shifted. I'm presently attending atelier with Tenaya Sims, a remarkable realist painter who studied directly under Juliette Aristedes and also teaches at Gage in Seattle. I feel very honored and awed to be under his tutelage and have to smile at the new quandry I find myself in. Tenaya seems not to be bothered by any of this indecision or vascillation and reassures me that it's all the "same" in the bones. And this I agree with, but I'm still wondering what the next few years will bring in my development. Should be fun to find out. Stay tuned.

Yellow and Pink Roses Oil Painting on Gallery Wrap Canvas, 8" x 10"

"Jeraline's Vase"
SOLD



From the macabre to the romantic. This has been a strange week. This little pink vase was a thrift shop find by a friend. I never used it because, frankly, I couldn't figure out how. It's kind of small to hold a lot of flowers or even a bud or two. But I found it worked very well as a complement to the pink and yellow roses. I love this bright little piece. Hope you do too!

Graphite Drawing of Skull on Vellum, 12" x 12"

"Bob"

As part of my homework for atelier, I was supposed to practice doing head layins. I was also supposed to practice taking my layins through various stages. I reasoned that with time being what it is for me, that practicing on a skull would kill two proverbial birds with one graphite stone. So I picked "Bob" off the shelf and here's what came of a full day's work. OK. It's not a painting, but it did take me the day so it's what goes on the blog today. Tomorrow a painting. The photo doesn't do it justice as the camera picks up every flaw and the graphite is much softer in appearance on the paper. Follow the steps below from a not very good layin to a not too bad tonal drawing. I really need to impove my layins. I working on it. Sigh. Paint is so much easier.
Oh, Bob got his name from a skull in the "Dresden Files" series. Those of you who know, know.

Market Scene of Seller and Watermelon, 8" x 10", Oil on Canvas Panel

"...and I have watermelon!"

SOLD

The studio is still freezing and inaccessible but I cleared some of the mess away in the dining room and struggled through this painting of a fruit seller. I did this from a photograph I took a few months ago in Spain. Out of a 100 that I took in that dark market, this one was the best. I simplified things a bit but, overall, it's pretty close to the exciting color and action that was going on in that day.

Oil Painting of Lillies in Cut Glass Vase, 11" x 14", Oil on Canvas Panel

"Lillies in Cut Glass"
sold

Things haven't changed much since I posted a couple of days ago. My studio is still freezing and things are difficult to get to. But today, despite it all, I put on my heavy coat, went into the freezer and pulled out a few supplies. I had a hunkering to paint lillies. Maybe I'm just praying for spring but it felt right. Hopefull somehow. When I was in Europe a few months ago, I purchased a red wool scarf that I've been wanting to use in a painting. The designs on it are quite elaborate but I felt they would detract from the simplicity of the flowers, so I didn't put them in. But the warm red tones of the scarf acted nicely to set off the cool whites and lavenders in the flowers.

I had to paint this in my dining room and despite the inconvenience and mess, it was comforting to have my husband a few feet away watching an old John Wayne movie while the cats played at my feet. The light wasn't the best for photographing this but despite that, I think the photo still conveys the overall warm feeling of the painting. Enjoy.

Taking a few days from the easel here. Simply cannot work with the construction going on. My studio is 35 degrees Fahrenheit and everything is inaccessible. I have an easel in my dining room, but it's proven to be an untenable situation with no place to actually put set ups without locking the cats up for 8 hrs at a go. A huge back order of supplies arrived with no place to put it and so now even that space is unworkable. Things promise to be a bit more organized after Tuesday so hopefully, I'll be able to get some work done by then. Please stay tuned and thanks for checking in.

Charcoal Portrait of Man wearing old hat, 18" x 24", Charcoal on Paper

"George"Currently NFS

George is my painting/drawing buddy. He runs the life drawing group that I have met with every Tuesday for five years. We've sort of grown on each other. I like to think of his wife, Janet, as a friend too. One day our model failed to show and George modeled for us. We couldn't get him to take his clothes off though.

Landscape Painting of Walking Path in Morning, 5" x 7", Oil on Panel

"Morning Fog"

ALSO AVAILABLE FRAMED - EMAIL ME FOR DETAILS
It was truly beautiful yesterday. It was sunny and the temperature was a warm 45 degees. The sun actually warmed my face. It almost felt like spring. So I went home, dug through all my photos and came up with one from last summer. I remember this day. The fog was just lifting and the sun was shooting through the trees onto the path. The bugs were just starting to buz and the breeze was sweet with salt air off straits. Take heart, it's just around the corner.

Figure of Asian Woman Reclining, 5" x 7", Oil on Panel

"Letting Down Her Hair"

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $69 USD plus $8 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

I started ploughing through my collection of photos today. I have hundreds of models I've worked with that never see the light of day. That's because they often don't catch the light or ambiance I'm after. As I take dozens of each pose just slightly different, that amounts to a lot of unused photos. I decided this pose of Julie would work pretty well. I wanted to try some ideas I had on color temperature. Overall, I like the way it came out. Some things I think warrant changing but I think that I may do a larger piece of this same pose. Any thoughts?

Figure Painting of Young Woman in Soft Light, 9" x 12" Oil on Linen Panel

"Angie II"

This smaller piece was done from the same reference material as a much larger version, but here I was playing with the temperature a bit and also changed some of the colors. Not sure I'll use linen again for small pieces. While I enjoy the texture of the canvas, it tends to soften the edges on small pieces too much for my liking. While I can work around this with thicker paint and sometimes do, I didn't want hard edges except in a few places where thick paint just got in the way of flow. Paint and learn.

Antique Asian Vase and Magnolias Oil Painting, 9" x 12

"Matinee"Currently NFS

Ho hum. Another Sunday afternoon. I'm going to be focused over the next few months in turning out some work for the summer festival season. If you see something without a price but have an extreme itch to own it, send me an email and I'll let you know if I can part with it. I try to make nearly everything available for sale but this sometimes works against me and I end up with nothing available and having to scramble to get work together. I intend to be unruffled and ready by the summer season. Yeah, right.

Pastel Painting of Approaching Storm over Farmland, 11" x 14"

"Storm Watch"This painting is framed and matted to 14" x 18"
Please email me if you are interested in purchase.




Where I live, there are a lot of open fields. We're facing the Strait of Juan de Fuca with our back against the Olympic Mountains. Although the weather changes frequently, because of the mountains, we are saved from the worst of the rain that blesses the State of Washington. However, the combination of sea and mountains makes for some pretty dynamic weather effects. One of my favorites is when the sky darkens with heavy clouds and the sun is low enough to shoot underneath lighting up parts of the landscape. This happens here quite frequently and I paint it whenever I can. While not as dramatic as some I've done, I enjoyed the quiet atmosphere of this piece. There is something exciting about to happen, but the land the is waiting and watching. Nothing stirs.

Asian FLoral of Two Red Poppies, Oil on Panel, 5" x 7"

"Two Poppies and a Chinese Vase"

Today was just a crummy day. I was tired after my long haul back from my Seattle based atelier class (three 1/2 hrs) the night before I had to get up early to clear the studio and set up for teaching. The class was good but I finished tired and then after lunch couldn't get myself moving again. I was just brain dead. Nothing inspired me and I seriously considered just fading into the couch with a good book. But guilt, the driving force behind my self discipline, got me moving -- trudging actually. As I set this still life up, the lamp came apart and hit me in the head, I turned too fast and knocked the newly primed board off the easel, knocked over the space heater and scared the bejesses out of my cats! I need to take a copy of this post and pin it to my studio door. One of the things I should know about myself by now is that the discipline of focus on a painting will usually chase the cobwebs and fatigue away. I felt abut two hundred percent better about half way through this little. And now I'm fully recovered - well about ninety percent. I'm going to make dinner, try not to have an accident, and then fade into the couch with a good book. Guilt be damned.

This painting is also available framed. Email me for details.

Peonies and Green Apples Oil Painting, 9" x 12", Oil on Panel

"Peonies and Yellow Apples"

I recently finished a commission of peonies and had so much of the color left on my palette, I decided to do another peony painting. I just couldn't see wasting all that luscious pink paint. The apples were green originally but I liked them better as yellow. They were left over too. Not anymore...I just ate the last one.

Dogwood and Chinese Apples Oil Painting, 5" x 7"

"Dogwood and Chinese Apples"
SOLD










I recently sold a small nude to a collector and framed it for her in one of these hand finished frames. It looked so good that I decided to offer them as an option on some of my other pieces. This little floral was so charming, I decided it needed its own little frame. The painting is available both with and without the frame. This frame is available for all my 5" x 7" pieces.

Oil Painting of Antique Vase with Yellow Flowers, 9" x 12" Oil on Panel

SOLD

I actually painted two paintings today but decided to rework the other a bit in the morning. I was striving for just the right tone in the background here and more texture on the vase.

Peonies in Asian Vase, Oil Painting, 18" x 24"

"Full Bloom"SOLD

This is a recent commission I completed just yesterday. I really enjoyed getting my teeth into something big again. The painting was done in layers for the most part although there are some wet-in-wet worked areas. My collector loves it and that's what's most important. Hope you enjoy it too! To see how this painting was done, click here.

Figure Sketch, Charcoal on Paper, 24" x 36"

"Anna Dreaming"
SOLD




What a great day. I woke up feeling totally exhausted after a very late night having worked until midnight. But despite feeling dragged out, the day went pretty well. I worked on my commission painting and really brought it to a great place. For those of you who are following my
teaching blog, the painting is really looking up. I changed quite a bit since my last post early this morning. However, I've decided to wait until I'm finished with the painting to post the rest of the lessons. Don't worry - I'm documenting every step! The reason for this decision is that I feel it is important that my customer be the first to see the finished painting. After all, it is for her. However, once she's approved the piece, I'll post the last two lessons.
So getting back to today...I got into the studio at 8:00 AM and brought the painting to it's resting place for the day and then realized that I still had shopping to do for my class next week and won't be able to do it between now and when I leave. So I cleaned up my palette, grabbed my purse and ran out the door. Three hrs later I'm back, but pooped. I just had time to dash off this figure sketch from an earlier one done in class. So my "daily" obligation is met and I can relax tonight. I won't be publishing again for a few days as I will be attending atelier in Seattle and won't return until Tuesday evening. With teaching on Wednesday and homework, my studio is disarray from the construction, it may be Thursday before I post again. Have a great week!