Dandelion Clock and Harlequin

This is a piece I've done for the Whimsical Women Art Festival in Winton Salem next Saturday- I am so excited about it! I'm also super excited that it seems that my 'whimsical' style and my super-realistic style are starting to think about converging. Yay!

If you would like to come to Whimsicals, here's a link that should help with directions. It's a totally awesome time every year- I always love it :)

White Wine

8"x10"
$100
click here to purchase

Something nice for Friday night :)

A Sense of Peace

12"x16"
$280
click here to purchase

And for this one my cousin Anna posed.... painting the waterdrops was so cool, and then the play of light right there at the edge of the water, and honestly I think the thing I enjoyed most was her eyelashes :D

#1403

Floating

18"x36"
$650
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Or if that's not in the budget, I am still leasing paintings. Or doing payment plans on them. Any non-dailies, you know :)
My cousin Erin posed for this, because back in the summer I got obsessed with doing some paintings of people in water.... still obsessed with the idea, actually, and I'm definitely going to continue to play with it. It's a shame that paintings take so long to do, getting this beautiful summery piece completed in November, but that's the way it goes... it still makes me super happy, seeing it :)

#1402

Blown Away

6"x8"
sold
And I really, really went in for the particular with this one. It makes me happy :)
#1401

Dandelion Puff III

6"x8"
sold
Wow, how did I get to post number 1,400 already? Dude.
I tried a different approach with this one than I have the last two times I've tried to paint a dandelion seed head thingy- this one is more about the particular- you know, like this exact one and not just the idea of a dandelion puff- and less about the overall impression, like I was trying to capture. I think I like this approach better :)
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Golden Evening

6"x8"
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Ok, I am absurdly proud of this one. Especially the pole with the little transformerey things, and the power line... and the little yellow diamond of a sign that tells you that the other road is a dead end. And the way that the light, for whatever reason, brightens right there in the middle of the painting... *happies*
#1399

opening at Benjamins Vinyard in Saxapahaw, NC

trying again :D

Trying the landscape thing again- and I think I'll like this one even better. I was near a crossroads, but not too near, and I was trying to make that apparent without actually showing any road, you know? And of course it's the really cool long shadows from the nearby trees catching my eye again :)

Long Shadows

6"x8"
click here to purchase
I like this system! You know me, I have to have multipls layers of paint on a piece before I feel good about it, but getting the idea one day and polishing it in the studio the next is a lot of fun. Don't worry, it's still just $20 like all my 'dailies' :)
#1396

plein air attempt

This is my first ever attempt at painting a landscape while sitting out in the landscape... lately I've started realizing that landscape are something I ought to learn to do. If nothing else it'll improve my eye for color! I snapped a photo too, though, and I expect I'll finish this little guy up tomorrow. It was the idea of those long shadows cast across the cut-down cornfield, kind of disappearing beside the soft curve of a, um, mini-hill....
#1395

Two Golden Leaves

12"x16"

And it will be available shortly. How on earth did it get to be November already? Really?

Tomorrow I'll be driving out to Benjamin's Vinyard in Saxapahaw, NC to set up my paintings there as a solo show for all of November and December! I'm super excited about it- this is one of my brand-new paintings that will be included in that show. The opening is on Saturday from 2-5 if you're in the area- I'll be there with all my beautiful new paintings, and would love to meet you!

Four of a Kind

11"x14"
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These apples probably look familiar, if you've been following my work for a while... but the idea of including one of my mirror balls in the mix is new for me, and was so much fun to paint! It also gave me the title....

#1393

The Golden Hour

11"x14"
click here for purchase information

Allright, I believe the new blogger thing to be a vast improvement now that I've figured out a few things... still a lot to learn, though. Like where the button is that centers text.
But isn't this just the best little painting for the early winter we seem to be having? You just want to warm your hands holding them over the painting itself. Love it :)

#1392

Raven's Feather

Um. Trying the new blogger interface, mostly because it wouldn't let me post otherwise, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Right now I can't figure out how to do the linking thing to my etsy shop, so that if you're interested in owning this painting you can just click on it and go straight there.... blarg. I'm sure it;s an improvement, but I do so hate change.
But the painting, on the other hand... do you see the moth on the box? and the way the feather is hovering in front of the whole thing instead of resting inside the composition? so much fun :)

Three Trees

9"x12"

Something along the same lines as yesterday's post. It's so much fun to do color washes and just fiddle around like this! I just don't feel challenged enough by it to paint like this all the time, you know? Still searching for some melding of my disparate styles :-/

#1390

Lone Tree

12"x12"

Something for the Whimsical Women Fall 2011 Art Festival... November 19th is coming up fast! You know, I really like the way the pigments interact with this one... I'll have to try something similar again...

#1389

White Crane

6"x8"

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Something just a little bit different. I think it looks like it's about to fly away :)

Hot Tea

6"x8"

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You know, I've been trying and trying to do a teacup daily lately... and failing and failing. Which is not encouraging at all, and leads to more failing. So finally I just cropped the living daylights out of a possible composition, and it totally worked! I particularly love the steam. So now I have something to look forward to this winter- trying to get some reference shots of people breathing in the cold, that little plume of breath... though at the same time I hope it doesn't actually get that cold...

#1387

Fading

6"x8"
sold

Once again I want to say I loooove living somewhere with a yard. And trees. Trees that I can steal leaves off of to paint. It's awesome. I do wish I'd had some masking tape somewhere in the house, though.... you know how other daily painters will hold a leaf or something up with masking tape to paint like this? Yeah, I love that. But the only tape in the house is duct tape and like 3 inch wide packing tape... so not the same look.

#1386

another sketch of Cara

I love drawing Cara! And painting her. The whole curly red hair thing, and of course the awesome pre-raphaelite profile.... or maybe more like Sargent's Madame X? Lovely, anyways.

#1385

Sketch from the Farmer's Market

Just a doodle.... I love the big sunglasses girls have been wearing the past few years. They're awesome. What're they called? Aviators?

#1384

Spice Jar

6"x8"

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Oh my gosh, this is such a fun way to do paintings! You know what tickles me the most about this one? The reflected lights, there, above the silver lid- see the kindof concentric ellipses there? *happies*

#1383

Lady from the Market

#1382

Chubby Cheeks

Just a sketch of a little girl I saw at the Durham Farmer's Market :)

Ballet

6"x8"

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I love how vivid this one is! I mean, it really looks there, you know? And besides, these little ballet slippers are always a joy to paint.

#1380

Beaver Skull

6"x8"

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Enjoyed painting yesterday's skull so much I tried it again with a different one. It is amazing how graceful bones are, this sort of minimalist beauty....

#1379

Cat Skull

6"x8"

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I'm sure I shouldn't be selling this for just twenty dollars, but.... well, it's a daily painting, and those are the rules I made up for myself. Its not the skull's fault that it's so interesting I spent too long working on it :) As a matter of fact, I really loved doing this painting- the overhead view, kindof the trompe l'oeil effect.... lots of fun!

Charcoal Sketch

Charcoal Sketch

Cow in Blue

6"x8"

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Something.... silly, I guess. Definitely carrying over from the whimsical stuff :) And just having fun with colors.

Firefly

It is Naomi's birthday! I can't believe that she's two years old- so grown up and perfect and wonderful :) And, of course, she's the inspiration for this painting. Which is also for Whimsicals, like the one from yesterday.

Crescent Moon

Something small (8"x10") for the Whimsical Women Art Festival this fall.... it'll be on November 19th in Winston Salem. It is a show I really love, and doing different stuff just for it has such a cool effect on my other paintings....

detail, WIP

It's official.... carnations are RIDICULOUSLY difficult to paint. But the good news is that they're going much better than they did the last time I attempted this composition :)

detail of a WIP

I'm getting a little obsessive with this one :D It's of my cousin Anna floating in the Eno River... there's something really peaceful about the whole idea...

Sketch of Naomi with a sippy cup

An attempt at drawing my tiny princess in charcoal.

Sketch of Cara

Just working on my drawing.... there's not enough hours in the day lately for all the painting I need to get done, but I want to keep sharing here on the blog :)

Lemon Slice

4"x4"

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A subject I've painted before, but I always come back around to it.... there's something really nice here, you know? I guess because we've got a sort of natural geometry all laid out, but in a nice foodie way- totally different from if I was painting a cross sections of some kind of seed pod, you know?

Oh, and I meant to mention this yesterday, but November 5th is the opening for my solo show at Benjamin's Vinyard in Saxapahaw, NC- if you're anywhere nearby I'd love you to come! And yes, I'll be sure to take pictures :)

Avacado

4"x4"

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No explanation required- just numminess.

My Camera

6"x8"

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A little bit of weirdness in the time-space continuum here, as I do a portrait of the camera I use for taking pictures of all my references and of my artwork too :)

Bird on a Wire

6"x8"

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Yay, I finally did a moon that I am happy with!!! Which is good, because I'm working on a larger painting, "The Lightbringer" which totally would benefit from the inclusion of a full moon....

Fleur de Lis

2"x3"

click here to purchase

There little ones are so stinking hard to get a good photo of! Grr.... I might go back to normal sized dailies once I've used up this round of tiny canvases, we'll see. But if you're thinking about getting this one, be assured, it's much prettier in person :)

Skybox

8"x8"

click here for purchase info

I just realized that it's October. How the heck did THAT happen?

At any rate, Naomi's little red plane is blithely flying across the little blue box of sky, and all is well with the world :)

inspiration strikes!

8"x8" WIP

... now I just have to pull it off. From my imagination. I really need to go out to my parents' house and build some proper boxes....

#1362

almost there.... and yet not quite.

8"x8" WIP

This is proving to be one of those oddball paintings, where it feels good but there's no 'pop' or something... it's just leaving me flat. Any bright ideas floating around in the ether?

White and Gold

6"x6" click here to purchase

I enjoyed yesterday's so much I just had to try it again! And if you're a painter, wanting to work on your grasp of lost and found edges, fish are a great subject. Also, the colors.... so magical. Maybe because they feel shimmer-y?

#1360

Fishy Fish

6"x6"

click here to purchase

This one was amazingly fun to paint- totally worth being looked at like I was nuts for standing in the pet store taking pictures of the fish :) It is also Nugget's current absolute favorite painting, and the forst one she has provided a title for. Since I usually don't like titling my paintings, that may be the beginnings of a trend :)

The Close Up

4"x4"

click here to purchase

Me, my brother, and of course Her Tiny Nuggettness went out to Benjamin's Vinyard, and across from there we saw a horse, which led to walking over and feeding him some grass and taking lots of pictures.... one of which inspired this :)

#1358