Sketch to Finish

"Curved Spine"

14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas

$350

click to buy

Here's what I did with that little sketch I posted a week ago. You'd think there wouldn't be too much to worry about, detail-wise when painting a back, but the subtleties are engrossing. And I had so much time to focus on her lovely translucent ears since I had no face to obsess over!

Here's how the painting came together over three hours. Having a preparatory sketch under my belt made the final piece flow SO much more smoothly. I'm a serious advocate of doing as much preparation for a painting as you can...without getting totally bored of your subject. More on that tomorrow!

A Plate, A Love Story

"Amy's Plate"

10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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  Sometimes painting still life is all about serendipity. I haunt thrift stores, gratefully accept donations and loans of lovely little things from friends, and frequently paint my food - but chance is a powerful force in my work, and small romances with objects often bear fruit.

I'd been flirting with this plate - which belongs to my gallerist, and is usually a vessel for opening-night treats - for a while, but found myself awake at 5 am and thinking about it yet again this past Saturday morning. With the addition of a few things from my collection - and some eggs stolen from her family's breakfast - my vision congealed.

 Never discount the possibilities inherent in just showing up prepared to paint. The universe will always supply what we need, as artists, when our eyes are open.

In progress....the block-in

Go Ahead, Indulge...

 

"Have One"

 8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$200

click to buy

The Valentine's day paintings march on! I admit I'm not in possession of a huge sweet-tooth. It's harder for me to sit in front of a still life of something salty and delicious and not nibble. Some artists paint sushi, sardines, even PB&J - brilliantly - but not me. I'd never get past the block-in. I'd be chowing down!

These cherry cordials are actually disgusting. I had to bite into two of them to get the goo to ooze out just right. These are the sacrifices I make for my art.

in progress, not nibbling.

Getting Hungry

 "Baba To Be"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Click to buy

I've been painting chocolates all morning, so I'm extra happy to bring you a healthier piece during my blogging lunch-break!

Baba Ganoush is one of the best ways to eat eggplant, though, if I'm cooking, I'll always go Parmesan! I did eat a few of these in a stir fry, but the rest were thrown away (in a sad, sad, moldy state after their long stint in my studio). 

I love Middle Eastern food so much, but I live in a part of the world that is sadly lacking in good places in which to eat it. The best Hummus in this town is made in my own kitchen! Believe it or not, out here in the Willamette valley the best restaurants tend to be Thai. Moving to Oregon turned me into something of a Thai-food-lover.

Mmm....time to eat!

Sweets For the Sweet

 "Sweetness"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$200

click to buy

 I've been spending my Saturdays happily painting on-location at The Gallery at the Watershed this month, and here is my painting from last weekend. You may suspect what holiday I'm anticipating...

My solo show will be up for two more weeks, and that means two more Saturdays to drop in and hang out with Amy and I. We have a good time.

In other excellent weekend happenings, I was invited to contribute a post about my favorite paintings of 2013 to my friend Taryn's blog The Art Room. She's also linked to my favorite paintings from 2012. Time flies when you're painting up a storm.

Sketching It Out, Part 2

"Curved Spine"

approx. 8.5 x 5.5 inches, oil on paper
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Here's my second sketch, the "rear-view" of the first one, and my choice for a follow-up, more in-depth painting next Tuesday night. Stay tuned for that! And feel free to let me know which you'd have chosen.

Sketching It Out

 

 "Little Lindsey"

approx. 8.5 x 5.5 inches, oil on paper

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The pose at figure painting this week was so great that I just couldn't choose an angle, so I sketched it out. Two small studies later, I've decided which to focus on next week. Tomorrow I'll post number 2, and we'll see if you agree with my decision! In the meantime, they'll both be up for auction on Daily Paintworks, starting at one dollar.

A Treasure Trove

 

"Three Baby Eggplants"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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I was wandering around my local Asian market last week - where I usually stick to the relatively recognizable soy sauce, noodles, and tofu - when I had a revelation: the produce aisle! It was a treasure trove, the perfect remedy for my midwinter apple-and-orange-painting malaise. 

These little beauties were labeled "Indian Eggplants," and were as delicious in stir-fry as they are to my eye. It's cold enough in my studio that some of them are still hanging around, posing. It's cold enough in my studio that my toes are looking a bit purple, too.

Brr!

A Sculpture in Paint?

 "Monumental"

20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

After I got this one home and spent some time looking at it, I realized what it reminded me of: a marble monument - the kind where there's lots of amazing flesh and drapery depicted in stone. I'm always so blown away by sculpture (mostly because I absolutely cannot do it), and I think this is the first time one of my paintings has put me in mind of one.

  The lower body started off a bit too small in my initial block-in, and kind of grew as I painted, ending up with a nice solid feeling. I kept the legs loose and brushy in an attempt to have her face as the focal point. I feel like it worked - even though every time I glance over at this painting on the studio wall I feel like I'm going catch a knee to the eye!

A Star Turn

 "Two Oranges"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

NFS

I spent a delightful day at the gallery yesterday, doing what I love to do most. 

...And by that, I don't mean being a film star. (Though I can't say I mind!)

Here's a clip.

You can see three more snippets of film on the gallery's Facebook page. 

Interested in being my co-star? Drop in this Saturday and chat - on or off camera!

I Run the Numbers

 "The Brown Dress"

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Here it is completed: my first painting of the year. It always feels so strange to create a new desktop folder of paintings for a new year, and file away the first one in that vast empty space. I know it won't be lonely for long - it's time to start filling up that folder!

By my (most-likely faulty) calculations, I posted 81 still life paintings last year, 50-ish figure paintings or portraits, 15 plein air pieces, 2 self-portraits, and 3 portrait commissions. That's fewer still lives than in 2012, but twice as many figure paintings.

Here's an in-progress shot of my studio, my painting, and my friend Farley's painting on the left. See how much more paint he has down than I do? I struggled around with the drawing on this one for hours, but her luscious flesh tones flowed relatively easily.

A Big Fat Happy New Year and Some Paintings Too!

Woah, it's 2014! I spent the last few weeks of 2013 putting finishing touches on my solo show, and then jetting off to sunny Southern California for Christmas with family. 

I did, of course, manage to hastily apply some paint here and there.

These portrait sketches were done at some point during the craziness. They are both about 8x6", oil on Arches oil paper.

 

Just after the New Year, I was thrilled to wake up to this lovely article about the show, and The Gallery at the Watershed.

And I began the year on an excellent note, painting a model in my studio with good art friends. Here's a detail shot of the nearly-finished piece.

 Now I'm off to the gallery for some First Friday Artwalk fun! I'd also like to announce that I'll be gallery-sitting every Saturday this month, so if you'd like to see my show, and maybe test out how much I really resemble that self-portrait of mine, stop by!

Keeping You In the Dark

 "Flicker"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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Last one from my recent foray into the darkness. 

Although I'm in denial, I think I heard somewhere that there are only 10 shopping days left until Christmas. Fear not! You can still order my 2014 calendar, get it on time, and save 50% with the code 50OFFPRODUCT. 

Now, if anybody needs me, I'll be hanging my show. 

☺

Star Light

 

 "Star Light"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Available, click to buy

The glowing candle shining through this glass jar was the spark that drew me into this composition, but as I worked my way through the painting, the golden light-shape on the little orange rapidly became the "star." I love the loose hazy quality of low-light atmospherics, and the challenge of reigning myself in as I capture them.

Not getting too detailed, looking closely but not so closely that I strangle the gloomy potential of a scene like this is a challenge and a joy.

Day and Night: A Two-For-One Blog Post

 

 "Day Light"

12 x 9 inches, oil on canvas

click to buy

"Night Light"

12 x 9 inches, oil on canvas

click to buy

SEO be damned! I couldn't resist posting these two paintings together. The brilliant snowy light pouring through my (freezing, garage-studio) windows was too amazing not to capitalize on, and the early darkness too absolute not to cheer up with some votive candles.

I've forgotten how thrilling candlelight can be to capture in paint. A warm undertone and thin paint on the cast lights are the keys to capturing the effect.

Look for more candlelit paintings of these humble, beautiful objects from me in the next few days!

These paintings, and practically everything else I've painted this year will be on view and available for purchase at The Gallery at the Watershed, beginning Tuesday December 17th. Please email Amy, my fabulous Gallerista, if you'd like to inquire!

Garlic, Snow, and Ice

  "Garlic Braid on a Tea Towel"

16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

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Another painting of my glorious Thanksgiving garlic braid.

If you're like me, you've had it up to here with snow pictures on Facebook lately. At the expense of boring you with yet another diatribe on local weather conditions, I will say this: I have been snowed in for the past three days, and am now iced in. I live in a city that doesn't plow or salt the roads - also a city with some pretty serious topography - including my neighborhood, which is basically a hill on a hill.

What I'm trying to say is, I'm going crazy! Thank god for home studios.

And just in case you aren't fed up with snow pictures....

At least someone's happy about it!

Looking Back and Looking Forward

 "Christmas Clementines"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

click to buy

I love the combination of oranges, cranberries, and gold. It's a combo I've been wanting to revisit since I first tried it two years ago. Time flies!

(...And speaking of...)

 Hanging day for my show at The Gallery at the Watershed is one week from tomorrow! Please do plan to join me for the opening reception on Friday December 20th, at 7 pm.

Snowed In

"Christmas Cuties"

10 x 10 x 1.5 inches, oil on cradled birch panel

click to buy

Santa's elves threw up all over my living room over Thanksgiving weekend, and mother nature followed up with a whopper of a Pacific Northwest snow storm in the wee hours of this morning. There must be ten inches out there as I type! Good thing I've got plenty of these little oranges (and toilet paper, don't worry) stockpiled: I don't think I'll be going anywhere for the next day or two!

I grew up in Ohio, where this kind of snow would be just another winter day, ho hum. In Eugene, Oregon it's Armageddon. They don't do snowplows or salt on the roads here, so when the white stuff happens, we just stay home. 

And I'm not complaining! So many gorgeous ornaments to paint. Thank you, little elves!

 

A Lady Never Reveals Her Age...

"Self Portrait at 34"

18 x 14 inches, oil on canvas

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Here I am. I was motivated to paint this by the sale of my last self-portrait, which was painted ten months ago, and much has changed since then. One thing that hasn't changed is the fact - and I freely admit it - that I painted both from photographs.

I don't paint anything from photos....except commissions from afar, out of necessity - and self-portraits, also out of a strange necessity. You see, every time I've painted myself from mirrors in the past, I've been intensely frustrated by the sole response: "It doesn't look like you!" Well, no kidding! I'm a highly asymmetrical person, and what I see when I look in the mirror is (thankfully) not what you see when you look at me. As true to the reflection as I get, as good as my drawing skills become - if I'm looking in a mirror, my self-portrait will not ring true for you. I kind of like the fact that my self-concept is based on a reflected image that only I see, and it isn't the one I paint, it's only for me.

The worst criticism I've gotten regarding this painting - and it's been seen in my studio by several close friends now - is that I look sad.

A Looser Look

 

 "Lindsey, Loosely"

14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas

click to buy

Here's my second painting of this model. Two very different approaches, I know. I didn't walk into the session consciously thinking, "Tonight I'm going to keep it loose!" It was just the mood I was in, I guess.

At the model break, I was offered some encouraging words by the palette fairy:

 

(Another reason why joining a painting group is a really good idea!)

 Here's our lovely model. You can see that I really didn't do her beauty justice!

From sketch to (sketchy) finish:

The holiday sale in my Etsy shop is still going on. Save 25% on your heart's desire - or a special gift for the art lover on your list - with the coupon code BLACKFRIDAY. 

My best friend Gabriella is also offering an exciting deal this month: 20% off and free shipping. I think of her paintings as yoga for the eyes - relaxing and yet invigorating. Let me know if you agree!