30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 9 & 10

I picked up some copper, silver and rich gold paint by Gamblin and I wanted to see how these metallics interacted with each other and with non metallic oil paint by the same manufacturer, in this case, cadmium orange.  These were done on stretched canvas.

Peppermint Pillows is a Holiday Treasure

 This little guy has been accepted in to the Holiday Treasures show at the Debra Huse Gallery on Balboa Island.  It is 3"x3" and it will be framed and hanging on a Christmas tree.

229 Marine Ave

Balboa Island, CA 92662

opens

Thursday, December 5th

http://www.debrahusegallery.com/debrahusegallery/EVENTS.html

Balboa at Topaz revisited

Balboa at Topaz, pt. 1

On Halloween I had the opportunity to return to the same place on Balboa Island I had painted in August. I decided to paint the scene with the bouy on the other side with my real focus being on the water.  Thursday morning was slightly hazy the distance with a huge portion of the water just shimmering.  I am not done with this piece so stay tuned.  When I am not painting outdoors I have been indoors getting some entries ready for some upcoming shows I hope to get into.  Stay tuned for that too!

Peppermint Pillows

Peppermint Pillows

Oil, 3" x 3" on gesso board.

This is another piece that I hope makes it into a show. It is really small! I used a #2 flat brush for the entire painting.  The one benefit to painting candy is that the family gets to eat it afterwards.

Undead Aesop

"Undead Aesop"

Oil, 8" x 10" on canvas.

$125.00 

Click here to purchase.

Like my last zombie portrait, this also began as a replication of the face of a full-body Velazquez painting of Aesop, of fable fame. Since I was only focusing on the head and face, most people who saw it thought it was a woman. Although my replication actually looked like the Velazquez, I decided the portrait would make an excellent monster. Since Velazquez painted a large number of interesting people with interesting faces, I hope he would approve. I love making the monsters.

Elephant Marching 2x2

So my husband brings me this adorable 2x2 inch canvas he finds at the art supply store and he says he wants me to paint something for him.

"Well, what do you want me to paint for you?" she asks innocently.

"An elephant."

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Oil Painting of Elephant on a 2"x 2" canvas.

Mr. and Mrs. Duck -SOLD

We are fortunate to live by a lovely lake.  Although it is a lake constructed by human beings, it manages to attract an abundance of bird-life.  These ducks are among the many we look forward to seeing along with their ducklings later on in the year. The browns and blues work well together be it on land or see or duck.  So glad we got a bit of orange in here too thanks to the duck's legs!

Purchase this picture here.

Day 25 -- Pretty in Pink and Orange and Yellow

I found some tiny canvases at the art supply store and had to get one.  This painting is actually on a 3x2 mini-canvas.  The vivid colors drew me to this wonderful flower.

See the Challenge

I know it has been a while but after a hiatus, I am back in time for Halloween with Portrait of a Zombie! This started out as a replication of the face of a full-body Velazquez painting but it never looked quite right.  At the time I remember joking that I should just take masterpieces and make them look like monsters since the painting, on its own, seemed to be heading that way. I stopped working on it in frustration and let it sit for a year and a half. Recently, after watching the 50th show on Halloween this month, inspiration took hold and I took out the Velazquez and decided to really make it a monster.  Working on this painting the second time around was a blast and I have to say I absolutely love it now!  I can't wait to see what comes next.

Clouds #1

I have so many photos of clouds that I have been dying to paint but haven't until now.  We have a long, green corridor in the new part of our building which my co-worker has dubbed "The Green Mile."  I was granted permission to hang my work there and when I mentioned it to my co-worker, she thought that maybe other artists we work with would like to hang their work too.  We got permission to open it up to other artists and my co-worker has now dubbed the space The Green Mile Gallery.  I decided on the loose theme of "Clouds" for our first exhibit so that I would have an excuse to do this piece.  I am really looking forward to the announcement going out this week in the office because I can't wait to see what my co-workers will come up with -- so many of them have secret lives as artists.

Super Giant Flower!

Super Giant Flower with Super Giant Flower Power!  At my fabulous workshop we had an activity where we were each given a photo of a painting to duplicate with a hitch. We went around the room with brushes and painted on each other's paintings for a few minutes.  It was scary at first and then became more and more fun the further along we went on each person's painting.  I ended up with an amazing 6x6 flower, full of the energy from everyone that painted it.  I loved it so much I wondered what it would look like bigger.  Above is the 18x24 version I did this weekend.

Fire Goats of Laguna - Stage 2

I started by adding some terra rosa on to the canvas and then over that I blocked in the large areas of color which you see above.  However, you will see a small area of rose color in the middle.  I love this color so much that, even though it was not a large area, I just wanted to do a light wash with the color to see how it would look.  What do you think?

Manet's Peonie

     
For the past three years I have been instructed in the ways of drawing and painting via the Great Masters. This particular piece is the lower portion of a larger painting of Manet's titled Vase of Peonies on Small Pedestal.  Zeroing in on one portion of the painting allows you to get into Manet's mind and analyze the color, strokes and amount of paint that the artist used. Knowing how Manet did it put's additional tools in this artist's tool box.