Study of Black Velvet by Andrew Wyeth

12x24 acrylic on hardboard panel

click here to see the whole thing

A detail of it, at any rate. Still behaving myself with this blog and the whole nudity thing :) I love his work so much... such a shame he died, though 91 years of a wonderfully prolific artistic life... thats a good chunk of time. Hope we all get the same, right?

Blue and White

12x12 acrylic on cradled hardeboard panel

available at auction

at the Durham Art Guild 2/7/09

Yay, Friday! We have a bigger, non-daily painting tonight, lots of fun with glass and delicate spring flowers and all that :) Dont forget about the painting giveaway- the drawing is Monday night! Just email me to enter, and tell me your favorite previous painting or your favorite theme. Muah!

#396

Orange Segments

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

available for $45

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Went with a more traditional setup on this one, I suppose... feel like I learned a lot, I have to do that more often :D

Daffodils V

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel

available for $45

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Sunlight and springtime tonight.... have you ever noticed how it seems like the paler daffodils bloom first? And then the narrow, intense yellow ones, and then the funny ones with the ruffly complicated centers and orange stripes.... those might be fun to try this year :) Of course, Id have to do those in a more full-frontal way, instead of focusing on the wonderful profile like I usually do.... hehe, full monty daffodils... ok, dork moment officially over. Bedtime, now. Love to all!

#394

Wedding China

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

nfs

Yay, sparklies!

And one week to go on the painting giveaway- so next Monday night is when we do the drawing! Once again, email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to enter, and let me know which previous painting is your favorite, or what your favorite subject matter from me is :D

#393

Apricot and Windowsill

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel

collection of Eileen Bookman

Yes, I know, more apricots. Theyre just such a wonderful color, I cant help it :D Trying to really capture the translucency here... and now Im about to run out to Twisted Sixs with my Pookie Bear to get our new tattoos done- muah!

#392

Apricots

18x18 acrylic on stretched canvas

available for $180 + s&h

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Yep, you read that right- 18x18. The apricots are as big as my fist, its really kind of wild... set up in a narrow stip of light shining through the curtains *happy*

In other news, it is Sunday night, and nothing this weekend went according to plan, but thats ok, really. Might be some kind of weird mental hangover from being in the middle of a book on Buddhism, Im not sure, but I try not to argue with anything that makes me a little more sane :) Hope everyone has a beautiful Monday!

Daisies and Coffee Glass

8x8 acrylic on stretched canvas

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Beautiful Saturday night, and only ten days left till my giveaway thing! Email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to enter... of course.... and give me a hint about the subject matter you enjoy or which previous painting was your favorite :)

#390

Dahlia and Raku Bowl

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

collection of Marilyn Dayton

Ah, Friday night, having fun. Civilized temperatures have returned, and if I can get some sunlight tomorrow Im thinking about taking a trip to Duke Gardens and seeing what plants are under the impression that a snowy middle of January is springtime :) If rain, well, yoga is always a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning....

#389

Shadowline

8x8 acrylic on stretched canvas

not available at this time

Id forgotten how much I love painting apricots- such beautiful colors! And right now Im watching Bones.... Booth and Bones (FBI agent and forensic anthropologist) are pretending to be russian knives throwing circus actor people. Its really rather painful to watch, but I just cant stop.... oh my word, he just conked her on the head with a giant rubber mallet....

#388

Cherry Blossoms and Shadow

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel

available

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Heres a new one for you: sleep sketching.

Last night I woke up convinced I had just dreamed up the most wonderful painting idea, but I couldnt remember what it was, and for some reason I was cold, so I just snuggled down next to my Pookie Bear and fell back to sleep. Much to my surprise, this morning there was a rough sketch on one of my new hardboard panels! Ill let you know if it pans out ;)

In other news, less than two weeks to register for my painting giveaway! Email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com , and tell me what subject matter you most enjoy/which previous painting is your favorite. Please play!

#387

Whelk

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

available

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Stayed home in the snow today, and will probably be waiting for it to get above freezing tomorrow before I get up the courage to go to work (its not so much the snow and ice.... its the fact that, while Im sure I can avoid all those inanimate objects out there.... Im not so sure about my ability to avoid the other drivers).... and following my usual infallible logic (phe-he-he) Im presenting you with another bit of summertime.

Another thing.... Ive noticed other bloggers doing giveaways periodically, and I believe Im going to join in on that fad. So, painting #400 will be free to some lucky soul, shipping and handling included. Email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to enter.... and give me an idea for the subject matter, or tell me which previous painting you particularly enjoyed. That way the lucky winner, selected at random on night #399, gets exactly what they want.... and I get some feedback (yay!) and some email addresses for my monthly newsletter (bwa-ha-ha-ha!).

#386

Abalone

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel
available

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

A cool, cloudy Monday, looking at a chance of six inches of snow tonight- very odd, we havent had a good snow in years. So I picked out a shining, iridescent bit of summertime for you all :)

#385

Study of Wilted Tulips

11x14 graphite and acrylic sketch on toned paper

From what I understand, my love of wilted flowers is odd.... like bordering on morbidly emo peculiar. But they make such pretty shapes, and theyre so wonderfully, translucently delicate, so Im sticking with my belief that they are beautiful and perfectly paintable.

#384

Sketch of Sally

11x14 acrylic sketch on toned paper

More doodling and having wonderful fun with foreshortening and colors :) Rest assured, I am working on some *real* stuff... but for now I am going out to play with some friends. Sparkles, sunshine, and Satuday nights!

#383

Your face will freeze that way

11x14 sketch on toned paper

Just a doodle, having some fun. And now Im off to hide under the covers until civilized temperatures return- because this is insane, we didnt even get above freezing today! Ugh. I am now the proud founder of the Hibernating Humans Movement, those of us who believe that it would be a wonderful idea to just sleep all winter :D

Problem is, the all of the members would really rather just move to the tropics :/

#382

For Two

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Happy fun with colors. And the first time Ive ever tried to show the inevitable puddles, too :)

And just in case anyone out there is thinking about getting internet service.... once again, dont use Clearwire! Theyve now moved up to endless collection-type calls, demanding money for services they did not provide. Ugh.

In other news, its Thursday night- happy almost-Friday, everyone!

#381

Slanting Sunlight

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel

collection of Catherine Ziehl

And I am in fully silly mode for the evening, and should not be typing. Promise. In fact, I believe this is typing itself. Yep..... As. We. Speak.

Hehe. No, its cool. Everyone have a wonderful night~

#380

Tulips and Windowsill

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

collection of Catherine Ziehl

Well, today took an unexpected turn for the worse. As you can see, here I was, painting away in my happy-happy place. And then I decided to go to Raleigh for a figure drawing class thingy, since I love them and they are usually included in my happy-happiness. So I get there, and the artsy gods are smiling upon me- not a crowded class, good lighting, absolutely amazing model. And then Moderator the All-Powerful turns the radio on.

To NPR.

So first its all these women talking about how woooonderful it is that Obama got elected and how ammmmaaaazing it is and how historic-with-a-capital-H. How its empowering-with-a-capital-E and how theyre teaching their kids all about how woooonderful and ammmmaaaazing it is. Inauguration was used, oh, every fifth word or so. Almost as often as Historic.

I know, I know, he isnt white. Get over it. I mean, why are we taking our intelligent, well-spoken, accomplished president-elect and acting like the only thing that matters about him is an accident of birth- namely, the color of his skin? Ugh.

So that goes off, and I try to reclaim my happy-happiness. The model strikes a particularly fun pose, and its beginning to work.

And then the NPR special comes on- guess what, folks, the rest of the evening is going to be elevator-music jazz! The one brand of music that reduces me to tooth-grinding and involuntary full-body seizures... for the first song I was struggling not to claw my eyes out. Instead, I made spitballs out of my sketching paper and stuck them in my ears... to no avail. When I realized I was actually sketching faster in an attempt to make the time go faster so I could leave, I realized I was being even more insane than usual.

Left early. Very very sad. But now I am home, and I am all better, and on Sunday I will go back to my usual class... the silent one :)

#379

Cosmopolitan

4x4 acrylic on hardboard panel

contact me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

This one.... happy. Alcohol and pretty colors and all that. The drink itself is the infamous Cosmopolitan, made of vodka, sweet vermouth, and cranberry juice.... and here its made of translucent layers of Hansa Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Alizarin Crimson, and Ivory Black. Too much fun :D

#378

Ballet

8x8 acrylic on cradled hardboard panel

available for $100

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Ebay is a wonderful thing. Along with blog-stalking. Oriana Kacicek does the most beautiful paintings, among them some truly wonderful portraits of her various ballet slippers.... Inspired by them, I went on ebay and got some used pointe shoes (right. me, ballet? funny. my cat would be better suited to the task.), and this is our current result. Three cheers for modern conveniences! And much love to you all :)

#377

Tangerine and White

8x8 acrylic on cradled hardboard panel

available for $100

email me at kelliemarianhill@yahoo.com to purchase

Wonderful, beautiful Saturday. Hope tomorrow is just the same :)

And just a heads up... I think this may be The Week of the White Tulips or something.... got a whole bunch of perfectly gorgeous ones at Whole Foods today. Very inspiring.

#376

Figure Study

11x14 dry media on toned paper

nfs

I believe Ill give in to general readership opinion and start putting the title of the piece at hand in the little -Title- section, instead of all bold and centered beneath it.... instead of something silly or random or semi-descriptive. I can save all that nonsense for this part down here ;)

#375

low sunlight....

Blue Evening

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel

collection of John Brown

More step-by-steps, and fun with my favorite teacup against a Prussian blue background. And I hope everyone was safe on the road today- seems like the whole world has lost its mind! I was driving into town and the traffic report came on. For the first wreck, a guy had rearended another car... and then took off running through the woods. The second wreck led to a fistfight that was still going on on the side of the road. There was a deer wandering around one section of highway impeding traffic.... and all the lights were out for a whole section of downtown. Madness.

And then we come home, and take a deep breath, and focus on something peaceful and quiet. Happy thoughts out to everyone!

#374

halfway through the week....

Cherry Blossoms and Japanese Teacup

5x5 acrylic on hardboard panel

available

Took process pics on this one, and figured I would share- its always something thats fun to see, right? Hope youre all having a wonderful night!

shadows and reflections

Espresso in Grey II

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel
collection of Erin McCusker

Never ceases to amaze me how many shades the eye can pick up, all that variation between black and white.... truly wild. And the sparkles, those are always a good thing :D

#372

having too much fun

Egg V

5x7 acrylic on hardboard panel

available on my eBay

collection of Erin McCusker

Just tickled with this one- I love it how every now and then you can be painting and painting, just trying to get down whats in front of you and not sure if its working at all.... and then you sit back and somehow its just there. The bubbles in the bottom of the shell, especially, but also the way the puddles of egg white kind of tier, and the way the yolk is partially submerged, you sit back and it already exists there on the canvas, and you leave it alone for a while and come back and refine it, make it brighter and truer, and then it really is right, you know? Great feeling.

#371

more Caravaggio

Study of the Angel from Rest on the Flight into Egypt
by Caravaggio
11x14 pen and pastel on toned paper

Continuing from last night, which is a wonderful thing.... wishing I could come up with something witty or at least somewhat entertaining to say, but Im afraid Ive been more than a bit off lately. Im sure that will turn around, but until then Im afraid it will be a more boring version of me sitting here typing every night. Bear with me?

#370

studying and being good

Study of a Madonna and Child by Caravaggio

11x14 graphite and pastel on toned paper

My Pookie-Bear got me a big wonderful coffee table book on Caravaggio for Christmas, and this piece really just jumped out at me.... now I guess Ill get back to reading it :D

#369

Friday night :)

Iris and Shine

8x8 acrylic on cradled hardboard panel

collection of the artist

Not a good picture of this one at all.... and as I am running out the door like five seconds ago, I will have to get you a bright shiny new image of it tomorrow. As it stands, though... all the pretty shinies, you know? Love it. Hope you all have a wonderful first-weekend-of-the-year!

#368

*I did get a new image up. Much better :)