My Dear Watson

9"x12"

And it will be available at the Whimsical Women Art Festival in Chapel Hill, NC (at Southern Village) on May 7th.

Hello! Sorry I've been AWOL the last couple of days.... things have been crazy, yes, but I've been slack about all things computer related :( The bright side is that I've been working on these fun silly animal portraits! I'm really ejoying doing some lighthearted, casual stuff for Whimsicals :)

#1206

Pink Bow Tie

9"x12"

And it will be available at the Whimsical Women Art Festival in Chapel Hill, NC (at Southern Village) on May 7th.

#1205

Picture Day

9"x12"

And it will be available at the Whimsical Women Art Festival in Chapel Hill, NC (at Southern Village) on May 7th.

#1204

Beauty Sleep

9"x12"

And it will be available at the Whimsical Women Art Festival in Chapel Hill, NC (at Southern Village) on May 7th.

#1203

Artichoke Heart

6"x8"

click here to purchase

This is an older one that I've always loved, but it's never sold, so I'm reworking it :)

Tequila Shot

3"x5"
click here to purchase

baaaah, bump-ba-dum-ba-dum, HEY, mas tequila!

ok, so maybe the fight song doesn't translate terribly well when you type it out. still.

#1201

Early Strawberry II

5"x7"
click here to purchase

My twelve-hundredth post..... dude.

Happy little strawberry :) I think the composition was largely inspired by that amazing painting Duane Keiser did a little while back, where he started with a painting of a whole tangerine and then peeled it and ate it and painted it at each step until it was just one little segment.... Anyways, that final image was especially cool to me. I think I tend to overfill my compositions sometimes, make the object fill up the frame as much as possible, and sometimes it's better to take a step back, you know?

#1200

Blue and Purple

4"x4"
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Happy little iris.... gotta love springtime, to bring such beautiful things to our doorsteps.

#1199

Self Portrait work in progress

12"x16"

Ah, self portraits..... I'm determined to finish this one, but it reminds me of all the reasons I almost NEVER do them :)

#1198

Eggplant Portrait

4"x4"

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And a pretty little eggplant. I love how gorgeous these things are. They ought to be in season again.... when? A month or two?

Def looking forward to the farmer's market tomorrow. I forgot to paint the gorgeous asparagus I got there last weekend!

#1197

Avacado and Pit

3"x6"

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I'm so happy I have all these reference photos of avacados around. I think.... you know, I think they grow in Florida? So I could buy some more without too much carbon footprint guilt if I find out when the season is....

#1196

Orange Goggles

8"x10"

portrait

Isn't this one just so much fun? Happy and summery.... my beautiful little subject had the best hair, and a wonderful smile, and obviously incredible fashion sense. Turquoises and oranges are a great combination!

#1195

Watching Over

8"x8"

Something just for the Whimsical Women Art Featival (May 7th in Chapel Hill, NC at Southern Village). I always have fun doing different things leading up to that show :)

#1194

Sprouting Garlic

4"x4"

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Springtime is awesome. And there's not many things cooler than a seed- or, in this case, a clove of garlic- sprouting.

#1193

Daydream of Summer

4"x4"

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work in progress

8"x8"

And another start of something interesting. In case you don't watch the weather channel, North Carolina is getting mauled by tornados today, which is totally weird and scary. Thankfully, none of them are anywhere near here (Hillsborough)- Raleigh got beat up pretty badly, but they're about 45 minutes away, and then down east got it hard too :(

So... something precariously balanced seemed appropriate.

#1191

work in progress

8"x8"

Title suggestions.... anybody? I'm really loving the idea.

And whoever reads this - you really ought to check out Sadie Valerie's work. It is breathtakingly amazing. I bring it up with this one because I think she is the artist whose work originally inspired me to work with still lifes placed at eye level, and then I'm sure I wouldn't have posed this shell like this if I hadn't seen her recently completed painting of an abalone shell on her blog- just beautiful.

#1190

Dandelion Puff

3"x6"

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Now this one was even trickier than the last! I'm glad I sat outside and painted them from life.... I finally wound up with a weird grey everywhere, and so I painted whites in really thick and scratched through to the underlayer to create the texture. And then did some tweaking after it all dried. Not my usual process, but it's definitely not my usual subject!

#1189

Dandelion

3"x6"

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I love having a yard! And I can't imagine how any parent could hate dandelions, I know Naomi is having a blast with all the ones here...

#1188

Last Light

3"x6"

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Just something pretty. I'm trying to bring greys back into my work, a post by the wonderful and amazing Loriann Signori got me thinking about their importance.

Oak Leaf

4"x4" click here to purchase Ugh, WHY has the text been acting so freaky on this blog ever since I moved? And now it's acting even worse! Gr....

The leaf is just something I picked up out of the yard- I'm still really enjoying the fact that I can do that now. #1186

Pink Rosebud on White

3"x6"

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Just something pretty, and graceful, and summery.

#1185

Tumbled Shell

3"x6"

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Something else I've been meaning to paint for a while. I love this shell so much, it just feels wonderful and so smooth, and fits so perfectly in your hand.... I just wasn't sure I could show that. You know, cause it's not really the classically shaped beautiful shell....

#1184

Early Strawberry

3"x6"

click here to purchase

These tiny canvases are so much fun!

And I am so happy that new things are coming into season around here :) yay strawberries! I believe I'll be able to get some asparagus next week at the farmer's market, that's something I've been meaning to paint forever....

#1183

Avacado Closeup

4"x4"

sold

Creamy textures are so wonderful to paint, and even though greens can be crazy challenging, I've got a weakness for the ones inside an avacado. It must be the gradient, the way it goes from a cool olivey green at the outside to a wonderful gold by the core....

#1182

Rainier Cherry

4"x4"

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Pretty, pretty gold and crimson cherry, admiring its own reflection....

#1181

Pinecone II

3"x6"

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Fun :) I found this one out at the museum of life and science, whatever type of pine tree in came off of, I know it wasn't the omnipresent loblolly pine. It made a cool shape, again, and you know how fond I am of painting things life-sized :)

#1180

Garlic on Black

4"x4"

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Another on the fun little stretched canvas.... I picked this head of garlic because it was missing the one clove, which made such an interesting shape...

#1179

Springtime Helicopter Thingy

4"x4"

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Any idea what these things are really called? I've got one of the trees in my yard now, and they're so pretty. It surprised me to see that they're all pink and green in the springtime.

#1178

Springtime Bouquet

3"x6"

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Wow, I was gone for a lot longer than I anticipated! Thank you for not abandoning me :)

I have a yard now! It's the first time in so long... I've got the beginnings of a proper garden planted, which I'm so exited about, but as you can see, we also have some gorgeous little weeds volunteering. I was just going to fill the shot glass up with violets, but the others were looking so pretty too... Oh, and I found some great little stretched canvases in 4"x4" and 3"x6", so I'm going to be working on them for a while :D

Three Peaches WIP

Kitten

I really would love to get another cat... a more snuggly, picturesque one, but one that would get along well with Dixon too, of course. Is it weird that I specifically want a more photogenic pet? Maybe that's an artist thing, I dunno....

Waterlight

6"x8" click here to purchase

Something pretty and peaceful.....

I may be dropping off the map for a week or so. We're moving on Saturday, and things around here are getting crazy, what with packing and everything. I'll get all caught up once I can, I promise :)

#1176

Yellow

6"x6"

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A painting of a page out of one of Nugget's books... it's an odd one, yes, but I think I like it. It'd be great on the wall in a kid's room. I'll probably do some more just for her :)

Pink Tulip

4"x6"

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Life is getting crazy... spent most of the day packing, since we're moving in a week. Yikes! So this was a nice calm spot :)

Sunshine Reclining

5"x7"
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Ok, this is just out of my head. It was wonderful and bright and marvelously warm today, and I just wanted to, um.... freestyle something. I think the idea came through pretty well. I wonder how I could get this effect for real, so I could do a hyper-realistic version?

#1173

Cherry Blossoms and Branch

4"x6"

click here for purchase information

And the same idea as yesterday. But with more dramatic lighting, I guess... wonder how something like this would look against black? You'd have to be so careful of the scale, the blossoms are so little, but maybe...
#1172

Daffydowndilly

4"x6"

click here to purchase

Back to simple springtimey pretty-ness.

#1171

Fragility and Reflection

9"x12"

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Manmade/natural, death/hidden potential, reflective/permeable... I think I'm putting more thought into my contrasts lately!

#1170

The South Wall of the Orchard

12"x24"

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I need to find some more produce like this, with the leaves and stems attached! Then I can pose it against beautiful blue skies or transcendent white backgrounds like this.... seriously, anybody out there have some fruit trees I can bum off of?

#1169

Cassia in Profile

12"x16"

nfs

And this is my little sister, again with the right facing profile... I know why this time! She didn't want to pose, so she kept making funny faces ever time she looked at me :)

And this is my sorry attempt at painting her from less than a year ago. Wow! I remember being so proud of this one, too.... I can't believe what a difference a year can make, sometimes...

Brown Eyed Girl

12"x16"

nfs

My tiny princess, who is seventeen months old today. Growing up so fast! I am so in love with the right-facing profile in the portraits I've been doing for myself lately, and I'm not sure why.... Here's a link to my portraits page, if you're interested in seeing other examples, or commissioning one :)

Memory Painting - Marigold

3"x5"
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Something to brighten up this cool, rainy spring day. I'm just grateful it's not snowing here!

#1166

Teabag

4"x6"

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Something a little bit different. The husband was making tea, and I absconded with one of the bags :)

#1164

Golden Pear

5"x7"

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Just reworking an older piece, one I love but for some reason it's never sold...

#1163

Apples Squared

6"x6"

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Back to something a little more still-life-ey. I tried something different with this one, laying down all the paint with a very soft, narrow filbert. There's things I really like about it, and things I hate, but I think it's worth further experimentation.... :)

#1162