Old Man I

8x10 acrylic on stretched canvas

Those of you not married to artists should be grateful for certain things. You've never had to pull over on the side of the highway in the middle of a road trip because the artist just had to take reference photos of something. Your shelves, walls, corners, and floors aren't hopelessly cluttered with things that might someday, somehow, in someway be useful for a painting. And you've never had to spend as much time with the movie on pause as you did actually watching it because the artist wanted to sketch something on screen. This is from Hitman :)

#821

Striped Eggplant

8x10 acrylic on stretched canvas

Went a bit bigger than my usual daily to try and tackle a strpey vegetable.... my idea was to paint the surface itself, and then glaze and scrumble the highlights, shadow, and reflected light. Never a dull moment around here!

#820

Persimmon IV

6x6 acrylic on stretched canvas

Yes, persimmons are a fall fruit. But I was digging through some reference images on my now-resurrected computer (yay!) and just had to paint this. Aren't the colors awesome? I love orange and lue together :)
#819

Klimt Study II

5x7 acrylic on canvasboard

Was looking through one of my books on Klimt and saw a sketch of his, one of those study-of-a-young-man sort of things, and I really wanted to give it a shot- I don't think I've ever tried a beard before :)

#818

Little Black Dress

5"x7" acrylic on canvasboard

Just having some fun :) Kind of a contorted, but interesting....

#817

Red Pear V

6x6 acrylic on panel

...really, really, really red, in this case. I exaggerated a bit, but I enjoyed it :)

#816

Crescent Moon

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

Sorry about not posting last night, everyone.... Darling Husband was doing some kind of fix-it on my computer that meant it was engaged in internal ruminations and not talking to me all evening and through the night- or at least until the little nuggetness and I went to bed at 2 am. She's a bit of a night owl. But a happy night owl, so it's cool. And so, a nocturne....
#815

Ocean and Clouds

6x6 acrylic on stretched canvas

.... ok, not too creative with the title today, but still. Tried to stay loose and impressionistic with the sky, and I really like the way it feels. Kind of like it was done with pastles or something.... loose layers that work together, you know, hopefully, eventually, creating a finish like Monet's pieces with that wonderful dense crustiness....

#814

The Raven

5x7 acrylic on panel

He was perched on the corner of the local Dunkin Donuts, and I thought it'd make an interesting picture....

#813

Black Cat, White Scarf, reworked

12x24 acrylic on panel

Went back over a lot of this one.... it's a lot "cooler" now, overall. And I think the stripey tights a just a spark of whimsey, I like that. But the chin is weak, there was this reflected light from the scarf and I couldn't quite get it. As I was working on it I realized that covering her legs compltely made a kind of hands-and-face triangle of interest, what with those really being the only colorful areas, and I think that makes it stronger. And all that thinking probably means that I am overthinking....

#812

Mother and Child

6x6 acrylic on panel

warm fuzzies :)

#811

Nude on Turquoise

5x7 acrylic on panel

Hahaha, I'm caught up for the moment! Update on my computer issues: Mark plugged my external hard drive in to this computer, so that should help till the new whatevers get here so he can finish making it all better....
As for this, I know it's a big change in subject matter from what I usually post, but I quite enjoyed painting it, it's a usful challenge, you know? Hope you like it too!
#810

Naomi Nursing

A weird closeup of my perfect little angel :)

#809

.... a couple of sketches

#808

MY COMPUTER DIED

.... and therefore things are on hold for the moment, so far as posting goes :-/

In related news, we are moving April 1st (and I'm going to have most of a bedroom to use as a studio, instead of part of a dining area!), and going to the beach for a few days the next week..... so I'll be checking in, I promise. And I also promise that I'll get all caught up on posting along with the checking-ins.

Winter Light

.... something that I'm trying to decide if it's done or not. I'm leaning toward "Kellie, if you're not sure that it's done, then it isn't". Gr.
#806

Lemon IV

6x6 acrylic on stretched canvas

Pretty, sunshiney citrus. I'm so glad spring finally seems to be here!
In other news- I am going to be doing the Durham Art Walk (in Durham, April 17th and 18th), the Whimsical Women Art Festival (in Chapel Hill, May 1st), and the Festival for the Eno (in North Durham, July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th). They are all wonderful events- if you haven't ever come before, you really should, and I would love to meet you! The Durham Art Walk and the Whimsical Women Festival are both free events, too....
#805

Doggy Rattle Sketch

sketchbook

Happy with how this turned out- I'm going to have to try a real suspension like this! And I've had a few people say I ought to put my pen/ink sketches up for sale.... honestly, I'd love to but wouldn't feel right about it, mostly because they're done with a cheapie bic and I doubt that's an archivally approved sort of product. Really weird question: Are there any nice art pens out there that draw like the cheapie bics?

#804

Horse Sketch III

sketchbook

Thanks everyone for helping me decide on which sketch to base the next painting of Naomi on! There were votes on the poll, comments on the blog, comments on the blog feed to facebook, and I feel great about this- getting started today! Now, paintings either wrap up really fast for me or take a really, really, really long time- we'll see which this is :)

#803

Cherries III

5x7 acrylic on panel

click here to bid

Had sooooo much fun with the colors on this one.... well, with the color. Red. Sometimes they just paint themselves, you know?

And here is my little grown-up girl, now also known as The Tiny Destructive Force, who is five months old today:I suppose it's possible I'm a little bit biased, but she is the most perfect thing ever, and I am enjoying every minute :)

#802

Strawberry

6x6 acrylic on panel

Well.... I was at Whole Foods yesterday. For several good reasons, none of them involving strawberries, but I just couldn't help myself- they looked so delicious and perfect and summery, you know? Or maybe it was this wonderful springtimey weather going to my head, who knows. Either way, I am so wanting to do this again- except bigger. A bright, juicy, sunshiney strawberry about the same size as my head. What do you think?

#801

Self Portrait in Spoon

5x7 acrylic on panel

Something a little different for post #800! (wow, that's a lot of painting....) Now I could be mistaken, but I stalk a lot of blogs, and I don't believe I've ever seen a self portrait done in silverware before :)
And so far as blog-stalking goes, the head count is up over 200 at http://allartblogs.blogspot.com/ . It's really nice to see just how much new posting is happening....
#800

Kitten Sketch

sketchbook

What it's like to be inside my mind: this is someone else's cat, not my Dixon. Because he's solid black and therefore, at least to my mind, really freaking difficult to draw or paint, except as a sort of graceful outline. I've thought, many times, that I'd like to get another cat, just so I'd have one around that you could easily see shadow and form on! Madness....
#799

Apple

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

And more springtime :) Yeah, apples are hardly spring-ey, but the way grocery stores are sometimes it seems like everything is seasonal, you know? Very proud of myself for including the yellow and green bits on this apple- I'm usually quite intimidated by the thought of painting that sort of variegation, but this came out really nice! Oh, and there's a lot more finger painting in this one- remember the gladiola sketch a little while back, when I realized how much more intense the colors feel when you finger paint them? I guess it's because of just how thick the paint goes on..... difficult to get detail, but great for color and touchable-seeming surfaces.

#798

Wine Sketch

sketchbook

Dude, spring has sprung! Mid to upper sixties all week, the sun felt wonderful today.... the cat is driving himself crazy running in circles, and the baby is putting up ever more decisive objections to clothing. Apparently the little nudist takes after me after all :)

Naomi Sketches

one:two:

three:four:

five:

sketchbook

Ok, folks, I need your help here- please vote for which sketch you think makes the best composition! I really want to do a portrait of Naomi in this sunhat, but I think I might be too overwhelmed by the cuteness to figure it out, even though they are just super-rough value sketches....

And the drawing for my painting giveaway was today! The prizewinner is Liana Holt, and she has requested one of my tea paintings :) Thanks everyone for playing!

#796

Two Plums

6x6 acrylic on panel

And back to fruit. A bit looser than my usual, but the colors are perfect and juicy and I didn't want to risk them with further fiddling, you know?

#795

Pink Rosebud

5x7 acrylic on panel

And more reworking :)

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There we go. I let the tiny human help at the keyboard for a second, she insisted. Goodnight!

#794

Two Irises

5x7 acrylic on panel

Reworking an earlier daily. I should do this more often!

#793

Pink Icing

6x6 acrylic on panel

.... so far, so good- no snow yet. And some silly sweetness as a painting.

#792

Magnolia Sketch

sketchbook

.... what I've always called Japanese Magnolias, and what folks north of here just seem to call magnolias. But since we're apparently entering another ice age (the weatherman is calling for snow again, incredibly enough), I figure I'd better get used to the new world order :-/

#791