Yellow Green, Blue Green

4 x 4"
oil on Ampersand Gessobord
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I'm having trouble thinking of something to say about this little painting. I'm pretty much having the greatest weekend ever - for no reason at all. Hope you all are having a great one, too.

Sunflower

5 x 7"
oil on panel (built-in hanging slot)
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There are sunflowers blooming up and down the street this week. They all seem to be watching each other from their respective yards, maybe planning where they will spread their seeds for next year's blooms. All the sunflowers in our yard are "volunteers," and if we hadn't uprooted many of them in the earliest stages of growth, we'd truly have a forest of sunflowers out there right now.

Orange Flowers in Green Glass no. 2

5 x 7"
oil on Ampersand Gessobord
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My sister found me the second green bottle at a thrift store while she was visiting. I was delighted. She's a champion thrift store shopper - a talent which I thought only encompassed designer clothes, but now I know it also extends to awesome still life objects.

Pocket Painting - Green Goblet

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I got these tiny little canvases on a shopping spree at Art Media in Portland. It's a really nice art store in a cool neighborhood. The garden is still going nuts here, and I picked up some new colored glass over the weekend, so I expect to be busy in the upcoming days.

Portrait of My Sister

8 x 10"
oil on Ampersand Gessobord
Price on Request

On the second morning of Jessie's visit, I attempted my second portrait sketch. This one came out much better than yesterday's, which is lucky since I painted it over that one!

This afternoon we are all going to the Oregon Country Fair - a truly wierd and wonderful time should be had by all!

Portrait Sketch

8 x 10"
oil on Ampersand Gessobord
NFS

This is a sketch of my sister Jessie, who is visiting from Chicago this week. She was sewing while I painted this, and moving around somewhat - a challenge I usually love, but in this case, the perspective got a little messed up. Oh well. I like it.

Self Portrait

8 x 10"
oil on Ampesand Gessobord
Price on Request

When I paint self-portraits, they always turn out looking either mad or sad. My expression in the last one I did (which is now my profile picture) has been described by people who know me as "harsh." Well, it's been said before by better artists than me: it's pretty difficult to look in the mirror, paint, and maintain a benign expression for several hours at a stretch - let alone smile! So, if you think I look a bit sad in this rendering, keep in mind that it's 95 degrees here today and my studio is in the attic - you'd be crying too!

Speckled Lily

5 x 7"
oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
$40
$5 s/h

Here is my Tuesday morning painting. I've been working on a large double-portrait this week, and I've also given myself an assignment of doing a Sargent master-copy - at least of the hands in this painting. So, back to the easel!

Independence Radishes

10 x 10"
oil on panel
$50
$5 s/h

I have learned about more kinds of radishes since I started doing these small paintings than I ever knew of before. At the farmer's market this weekend, these were laid out in huge colorful pyramids, and labeled "Independence Radishes," I'm assuming in honor of the holiday. An online search turned up nothing for "Independence," only a variety called "Easter Egg" radishes, but Easter is long gone for this year, so I suppose this was just an example of farmer's market marketing.

Yellow Lily

5 x 7"
oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
$40
$ 5 s/h

More flowers from the yard. So far I'm having an excellent long weekend. Hope you all are too!

Happy Fourth of July!

"Barack Obama no. 3"
10 x 10"
oil on panel (built-in hanging slot)
click here for purchase information

A little something patriotic today. Enjoy the fireworks...and the hot dogs....all that good stuff.

Christmas in July no. 2

4 x 4"
oil on ampersand gessoboard
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I was having so much fun yesterday with the ornaments that I did two paintings in a row. The light was slowly changing, so this one came out a bit darker and more contrasty than the first. I've been having zero luck with ebay lately, but that's no reason to stop trying!

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas in July

4 x 4"
oil on ampersand gessoboard
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I can hardly believe that it's July already. Pretty soon I'll be starting to get ready for Christmas! For the past two years, I've been employed making Christmas decorations for corporate spaces. It's very different from home holiday decorating - for one thing, the ornaments don't have sentimental value (and most of them are held together with hot-glue and florist's wire.) I've decorated everything from small desk-top trees to 40-foot-tall atrium trees. When you're working on a tree that tall, you know someone's going to be suspended from the ceiling! I've never been that person, but last year I did get to ride around in a cherry picker in a torrential downpour. Which I enjoyed. I know, it's perverse.

Cherry Sprig

5 x 7"
oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
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I got the idea for this painting while I was doing the dishes. The reason I was so responsibly cleaning the kitchen on a Saturday morning was to make room to prepare a veggie platter to take to a friend's graduation party this evening. At most parties in Eugene, you can expect to find a lot of vegans, so I try to stick to things like that. Problem is, so do most people. Long story short: I will be eating lots of vegetables and hummus tonight!

Pocket Paintings - Pink Lilies

Pocket Pink Lily no. 1
4 x 4"
oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
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Pocket Pink Lily no. 2
4 x 4"
oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
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Orange Flowers in Green Glass

5 x 7"
oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
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You know, we found this green bottle in the garage, caked with dust and spiderwebs. I wonder what it was originally for... It's getting a second (or third) life in my studio now, that's for sure.

Pink Lily

8 x 8"
oil on panel (built-in hanging slot)

Daily painting number 70.

Little Orange Flowers

6 x 6"
oil on panel (built-in hanging slot)
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Wow, four flowers paintings in a row. Hope I'm not getting boring! Anyway, these are Osteospermums. (Osteosperma?) I like the dark violet center surrounded by a ring of light lavender.

First of the Lilies

6 x 6"
oil on panel (built in hanging slot)
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This is the first Lily to open in the whole yard. I've been watching a large pink one by the front steps starting to color up, but then I noticed this little one just outside my window this morning, fully open.

I really like the orange/green combination in this painting, by the way.

Purple Flowers

5 x 7"
oil on gessoboard
$40
$5 s/h

I love this little bud vase. It's perfect for all of the tiny but beautiful flowers that are all over the yard right now. There isn't really anything in the painting to show scale, but I'd say it's pretty much life sized at 5x7.

Calla Lily

5 x 5"
oil on ampersand gessobord
$40
$5 s/h

In The Garden

6 x 8"
oil on canvas on panel
$50
$5 s/h

It's a perfect day here today. It really does rain just as much as everyone says here in the Pacific Northwest, but the summers make it worth it.

Little Green Elephant

5 x 5"
oil on ampersand gessoboard
NFS

This is actually a painting of a plush stuffed creature made by my sister, Jessie. She made it for me, so I thought I would return the favor by giving her something to remember it by. If you would like to see a side-by-side comparison of the real vs. painted elephant, click here. To visit Jessie's delightful plush-making blog, click here.

Thanks for looking!

Rooster Egg Cup

8 x 8"
oil on panel
$65
$5 s/h

I think I am so drawn to this funny egg cup of my mother's because it reminds me of a children's book I loved when I was young - Friends, by Helme Heine. I think the illustrations are so great.

Japanese Doll

5 x 7"
oil on gessoboard
NFS

This is a doll my husband's grandmother brought back from a trip to Japan. We were in southern Califonia last week sorting through some items from her estate, and I got to bring this little treasure home.

Three Eggs

5 x 5"
oil on gessoboard
$50
$5 s/h

Blue Flowers

6 x 6"
oil on gessoboard
$50
$5 s/h

I'm back! It feels good to be painting again, even considering the phenomenon that I've seen referred to as "cold starts," meaning the first painting after a hiatus isn't usually the easiest you'll ever do. I had to wipe this one down once, but I'm okay with that. When a painting just isn't going right, the only way I can salvage it is to wipe it down. I tell myself that it's saving me much more aggravation - not to mention further wasted paint - to start over fresh. And I'm almost always right! I love being right.

Little Figure Painting

8 x 10"
oil on bristol vellum

This is a quick little painting I did about a month ago. I was very interested in those weightlifting gloves that night for some reason...at the time I thought they were quite cute, but now they make the painting look a little strange. What would you call this? "Weightlifter by the Fire?" "Cozy Winter Evening With Weightlifter?" Or maybe, "Shirtless Biker Boy?"

I'm still in the process of tearing my house to shreds in preparation for moving. I miss painting, but I'll be back to it early next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

From My Sketchbook

I'm packing up my house to move this weekend, so daily paintings are on hold temporarily. I'll try to post some images from my sketchbooks, and possibly some older work - problem is, I seem to have misplaced my digital archive! Grrreat....

Anyway, it's kind of hard to photograph a sketchbook page, but I always like seeing what other artists have in theirs, so hopefully you will enjoy some excerpts from mine.

Finished Portrait

8 x 10"
oil on gessoboard
NFS

Here is the finished portrait. You can see the initial sketch here. I'm happy with the way this turned out. The photo reference was pretty good for being a candid shot, and after some initial fumbling around, I feel that I nailed the likeness.

Portrait Sketch

2 x 3"
oil on Arches watercolor paper
NFS

Cat Nap

6 x 6"
oil on gessoboard
$50
$5 s/h

In my house, we pretend that cardboard boxes were not invented to package, ship, or store things. Instead, they are beds for cats. Fredo always finds a way to make a cardboard box look so comfortable...