Butterfly

oil on canvas panel 4x4 inches

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shipping available after Aug. 9

Here's the second of three finger puppet paintings. The saturated color and plush fabric was so fun to paint! We're on our way to Glacier National Park today. Spent the whole day driving and have one more day to go. I'm hoping to find time to paint and post if there's wi-fi. This will be our first visit there and we've heard it's beyond beautiful, so we're really excited!

Something Fishy SOLD

oil on canvas panel 4x4 inches

This is a little finger puppet I've had for years. Bought him/her? and two others when I was teaching elementary school. While painting I kept thinking about all those women news anchors getting their lips plumped with collagen! The plush material is fun to try to capture.

Scramble Ready -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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No shipping until after Aug. 9

Most days this scene is part of my morning routine. Still thinking yellow and blue, the egg yolk fit the bill, and luckily the brown with blue is another favorite combo of mine. The fork was added for line amid all the round shapes.

Lemon SOLD

oil on canvas panel 4x4 inches

Today I'm posting from Panera Bread where the soup and sandwiches are yummy and the wi-fi is faster! Yay! I guess I'm on a yellow and blue kick with my paintings. The garage sale lemons are heading toward the juice 'em stage while I try to squeeze in a few more lemon paintings. (Oops, unintentional pun there!) This nice clean blue is Twhite, thalo blue and ultramarine. The shadow has more ultramarine, a bit of cad orange and much less Twhite.

Cherries & Bits -sold

oil on canvas panel 4x6 inches

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Shipping available after Aug. 9

These little canvases are so fun! The lemon wedges are leftovers from a barbecue now a bit dried and shriveled after hanging around in my studio. I grabbed a handful of stuff, released them onto the blue cloth, and painted it as it landed. The green thing is a curled lemon leaf. Yesterday our router went out so we have no internet. I'm posting from a neighborhood Starbucks. Yum! A new router is coming on Tuesday so I may not be able to post 'till after that. Starbucks drinks are great, but the wifi is slow!

Floater Frames

"Flute Commission" is off to Oklahoma dressed up in this floater frame from King Of Frame. I discovered these high quality wood frames a few months back, and have been using them almost exclusively since. The advantage is that none of the painting image around the sides is lost under a standard frame edge. This particular frame is "La Paz Dark With Silver." It also comes in La Paz Dark with gold, which suits most of my work. I carefully paint the edge of the panel with archival black gesso then mount the panel right into the frame. If you're purchasing one of my paintings, now you can receive it suitably framed and ready to hang.

Primary Shine SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

Time for something bright and shiny. To the right of this set-up and out of view, there's a white cloth with more lemons and cherries on it. Although not really important in the painting, you can this reflected in the upper right part of the bowl. This painting feels like summer to me.

Lemons & Cherries SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

While walking my dog I was lucky enough to find a neighborhood garage sale offering these big lemons with stems and leaves. First paint 'em, then lemonade. A few paintings back I really liked the deep red cherry color on the brown cloth, so thought I'd try it with the lemons. Getting the shadow side of lemons dark enough and the right color is tricky. That stem sticking off the edge and the fold there were both deliberate. It keeps the eye from going right off the painting with the horizontal edge of the table.

Boulder Bay & About "Plein Air"

oil on canvas panel 9x12 inches

For this, the last of my studies at Big Bear, I started at 4:30 pm. Boulder Bay is probably one of the most beautiful scenes at the lake. The conditions were changing very quickly. For the last forty-five minutes I was literally blinded by the light off the water, and had to try to remember what it looked like when I started. The wind increased too, which set my teeth to chattering and the rest of me shivering uncontrollably. I should have known. The lake is around 7000 ft. elevation, so I learned to bring warm gear next time, even in July.

The current issue of PleinAir Magazine contains a thought provoking article by executive director of the Irvine Museum, Jean Stern. Titled "Plein Air Painting: A Vehicle, Not a Destination, the article contains some history of outdoor painting, but more importantly the argument that these little studies should be just that, studies for larger studio works which properly portray nature's majesty and grandeur. Makes a lot of sense to me. If you're an outdoor painter, you should read this article. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if you do.

Tree Study

(Bottom is yesterday's post, photographed in a different lighting situation. Does it look better?)

oil on canvas panel 8x6 inches

This tree is my next little study on the second day painting at Big Bear. I love trees. Been known to hug 'em. The first two studies were similar scenes, so I wanted to mix it up a bit and do something simpler. Not sure it turned out simple, but it was a good experience. I used a round brush, thin washes of paint and held the brush way at the end for more gestural strokes. Different and fun.

Meadows Edge

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

Meadows Edge Picnic Area had everything for a great morning painting session: shade, solitude, water, trees and even a low wooden platform for my gear. I decided I had tried to paint too fast the day before, so made a point to slow down and just enjoy myself. I toned my canvas with red, decided to leave out some bushes and grass clumps, and mix calmer greens. The long grass in the foreground had been trampled flat and shone in the sun. Not sure I captured that, but I had fun trying. I laid the painting on the wood platform for the photo...instant frame!

Grout Bay, Big Bear Lake

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

About mid day yesterday I found a picnic spot on Grout Bay. I loved how the water had dark areas with reflections and light blue areas. Surprise, surprise...these areas kept moving every few minutes depending on the wind. I did a lot of wiping as I painted, but had a great time.

Cypress Point, Big Bear, CA

Wildflowers are blooming! These look like sweet peas.

oil on canvas panel 8x10 inches

Wow! There is so much to paint up here at Big Bear Lake. Got to the lakeside fairly early and the sun was still low, backlighting this beautiful cypress. There are some aspects of it I like, but I still have a lot to learn. While I'm painting I often think, "Isn't this just a gigantic still life? You can paint still life, why can't you paint this?" The weather's in the 70's, I'm not even being eaten by bugs or bears. There's no excuse. I've GOT to learn to simplify. I know it, but can't do it...YET.

Vino Berries & Grapes SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

Strawberry season is winding down, so I thought I'd paint a few more. With the reflective bottle, this one qualifies for the Daily Paintworks challenge posed by Abbey Ryan. Tomorrow I'm heading up to the mountains for a few days of plein air painting. Hope I get a few good paintings, and hope the wi-fi works!

Lacey- Dog Portrait Commission

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

SOLD

Here's the fourth dog portrait for my friend, Gwen. This is Lacey's expression when she's waiting for you to throw her ball. If that doesn't do it, she'll spin around in tiny little circles 'till you just can't resist her cuteness. To see Gwen's other dog portraits, go to "labels" below and click on "dog portraits".

Crimped Cad -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x4 inches

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A couple years ago I bought a tube wringer supposedly to get the last blob of paint out of each tube. Seems now more like a toy. It's so fun to crimp every tube in the house, paint or toothpaste...(hey, what other tubes can I find?) I'm sure I'm not the only painter who loves her equipment. Carpenters are in love with tools, cyclists with their bikes and gear, etc, etc. Sometimes when I go into my studio I feel like a kid going in to play with my toys. Just look how pretty that tube of paint is!

Studio Stuff

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

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The Daily Paintworks challenge this week is to "paint what you paint with." I've painted these objects before in various paintings, so I decided to include them all. After fiddling around with the arrangement for a while, I defaulted to probably my favorite, the good old cruciform design. The dark background was chosen to show off the metallic shine, white and pure color on the tubes.

This painting is available at Vander Molen Fine Art, Arcadia, CA

Fruit & Ficus

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

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Well I'm very glad to be back in my studio today. Here's a painting I did just before my break while the brown drapery was still up and the ficus still fresh. Today I "painted what I paint with" in response to the current Daily Paintworks Challenge. It's a humid 100 degrees outside, and I felt so thankful to be in the air conditioning painting away! I'll post that one tomorrow.