"Decorating by Candlelight" Christmas ornament oil painting holiday xmas art gift

 

6 x 6"

oil on canvas

$100

click to buy

While "Decorating by Candlelight" doesn't necessarily sound like a fire-marshall-approved activity, I've certainly begun my holiday decorating. Basically, I pull a huge plastic bin of ornaments out of my garage and dump them all over my studio. Then my daughter comes in and helps distribute them in totally random locations throughout the house. Like under her bed, and in the cat food bowls. Ah, Christmas!

Because Zazzle always has killer deals this time of year, I ordered myself some calendars. I'll have them for sale at my Oregon Art Supply show and painting demo next Friday, and it's also good to have some last-minute gifts on hand, right?

more pictures here

   I'm really happy with the quality of the printing, and the shipping couldn't have been faster. It reminds me of a joke we used to tell about a chinese-delivery place growing up: you hang up the phone and the doorbell rings!

"Dana" female figure painting nude portrait woman girl

 

12 x 16"

oil on canvas

N/A

I felt pretty good about this painting after the first sitting, but a couple of days went by and I wasn't so sure. I think of this as the "morning after" effect. How many of us have had the experience of working late in the studio, feeling like a total rock star, only to wake up the next morning to find a disaster on the easel?

Before the second sitting, I sanded down my painting. This smooths out any chunky brushstrokes and just generally prepares the surface to be reworked. Plus, you get to inhale all kinds of rare minerals. Cadmium, anyone?

"Persimmon and Christmas Ornaments" not my most original painting title to date, but hey.

 

6 x 8"

oil on canvas

Sold

December is right around the corner, which sounds kind of depressing right this moment, but on the bright side, another First Friday Artwalk will soon be upon us! I'll be all over it, with a show of new paintings at Oregon Art Supply, where I will also be painting live in the store all evening. In addition, I'll have several pieces in Eugene Storefront Art Project's winter invitational at 224 E. 11th. Plus, I have my usual great stuff at Imagine Gallery, and if after all that, you still don't think I run this town, why not stop by Noli Italian Cafe for dinner? The pasta is spectacular. And I have 15 pieces on display.

Don't say I didn't give you advance notice: make plans now to come downtown next Friday evening!

"Persimmon Harvest" fruit persimmon apple pomegranate still life oil painting

 

8 x 10"

oil on canvas

Sold

Wow, there's been a lot going on this week. All of it good! On top of the Thanksgiving celebration/my husband's birthday festivities, I got invited to be on the radio last Tuesday! It was really cool to see the recording studio and meet one of the dj's that I listen to in my studio almost daily. I was kind of nervous, but I ended up having fun. Just don't make me listen to it! It's ten times worse than having to hear your own outgoing voicemail greeting, plus it lasts for seven minutes. Here's the link, if you think you can take it.

"Ripening Persimmons" art still life fruit bowl original oil painting one dollar auction

 

oil on Arches Oil paper

6.5 x 9.5"

Sold

      I was skulking around an art supply trade show on campus a few weeks ago, mostly dropping my name in various door-prize boxes (but not winning anything, for the record), when a friendly Canson paper rep offered me some samples of their new Arches Oil paper. "Do I have to gesso it?" was my first, skeptical response.
     "Nope."
     "And it won't buckle?"
     "Nope."
     Thinking, 'Yeah right, buddy," I took the proffered samples.
     I taped the paper to my drawing board, as you can see here:

  

     And it didn't buckle! End of story. For more info on this new paper, and it's secret-non-buckling-sauce, go here.

     How do you feel about paintings on paper? Do you think they are inherently less valuable than those done on canvas or panel?

It's beginning to look a lot like...Thanksgiving

 

"Poinsettia and Pomegranate"

11x14"

oil on canvas

$200

click to buy

How many people have you heard say "I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week" today? Well, make that one more, because I'm a bit incredulous myself. In fact, it kind of feels like we're about to skip straight to Christmas with all the holiday cheer in the air.

I haven't gotten into the studio this week, and Tuesday's figure painting night was a total bust (no pun intended, ok maybe a little one), so the painting I'm sharing today is actually from two years ago (speaking of time flying), but hey, it's a fave. And it's so not seasonally appropriate.

If you're in Eugene, or coming in for the holidays, you are in luck! I'm going to be all over this town for the next couple of weeks. The annual Maude Kerns Art Center member show opens tomorrow night (reception 6-8 pm, 11/16), and I gave The Eugene Weekly a few quotable lines in honor of the occasion. I got a sneak-preview of the show, and it's phenomenal, so even if you can't come out tomorrow, try to see it. This town has so many talented folks!

More on the rest of my upcoming adventures as an artist-about-town to come.

A screen shot teaser. Go here for the whole story!

"Tawny" nude female figure painting portrait woman girl oil on canvas

 

8 x 10"

oil on canvas

$200

Available in my Etsy shop

I painted this last night while listening to election results on my headphones. I had fun playing town crier, keeping everyone in the studio updated, since no one else wanted to paint and listen to political commentary. For some reason, I concentrate really well with talk-radio in the background. 

Below is my progression. You can see that I started out intending to keep both hands in the frame, but had to lose the lower one during hour 2 because I'd drawn the torso too short. It was either chop off the hand or repaint the head smaller, not exactly a difficult choice, since I was pleased with my rendering of the face at that point. Next week I will try to get both hands in.

 

The DPW auction to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy has raised almost $5,000 so far, and I'm proud to be part of it. My donation auction ends tonight at 6 pm PCT. Please place a bid, if you can, and support the American Red Cross. Thanks!

"Two Matches" still life candle flame fire lemons daily painting oil on canvas

 

8 x 8"

oil on canvas

Sold

I had to revisit this setup. I couldn't stop looking at those spent matchsticks lying next to the other objects and thinking they should have been worked into the painting somehow. I sized up to an 8x8" canvas and zoomed out just a bit to slip them in. 

A mention of the presidential election seems almost unavoidable today, and I've succumbed to the coverage as much as any American. My studio days are passed listening to NPR, and while I've never consdiered myself an activist, I had a lot of fun painting this guy four years ago.

I'll be painting a portrait of some as-yet-undeclared candidate tonight at the Art Center, and live-updating it on Twitter and FB, though I'm sure my efforts will be absolutely swallowed by election results. I can't complain - I'll be glued to my headphones.

"Candlelit Quartet" still life daily painting candle flame original oil on canvas

 

6 x 6"

oil on canvas

$100

click to buy

I'm convinced the color palette for this one was subliminally inspired by the view from my studio window today. Wet leaves, green shifting to yellow to rust red...forest-green fur trees and their greyish-lavender trunks, everything damp damp damp. I'd supply you a real picture to go with that mental one, but I'm a little bit camera-challenged right now. I need Santa to bring me a really gorgeous (or just reasonably attractive) digital SLR this xmas!