Yellow Water Pistol

5"x7"
click here to purchase
I'm sure I would have something to say... but I have to put the very small owner of this water pistol to bed :)

Wooden Train Car

5"x7"
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I could be wrong, but I'm guessing this is one of those toys that EVERYONE had. Brings back good memories, huh? I'm looking for the rest of the set now... actually, I think a dog ate about 1 1/2 of the pieces years and years ago, so maybe I'll need to find a new one....
#1734

Chocolate Truffle in Gold Paper

5"x7"
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Nummy :)
Also, how have I never heard of the blog Painting Stuff to look like Stuff before?!? So funny, I love it- especially the interview with the amazing Sadie Jernigan Valerie :)

Tricolor Marble IV

5"x7"
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Another marble.... seriously, how could I resist that shadow? It's amazing! And it just took me for freaking ever, but I believe I've finally worked out the best places for figuring out natural light still life setups in this house.... if you ever wonder why artists don't like moving or change, that is probably on the list, lol!

Three Marbles

5"x7"
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So.... if someone else sets up the still life arrangement for you, does that make the resulting painting a collaboration? If so, this is a collaboration with my little one- she does so love to play with marbles!
#1731

Red Boots

5"x7"
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Discovery of the evening: it is impossible to type while singing along to The Joker.
Also, I am so grateful to have amazing friends who take beautiful pictures of their beautiful children :)
#1730

Crepuscule

5"x7"
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My little girl again :)
I am so in love with how this one came out! The lost edges, the balance of values... and of course she's actually wearing clothes, and white dresses are a lot of fun to paint.
#1729

Into the Forest

5"x7"
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Bet you can't look at this one without smiling! That would be my pride and joy, frolicking at the edge of the woods at dusk....
#1728

Autumn Leaf II

5"x7"
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Happy Autumn Equinox, everybody!
#1727

Autumn Leaf I

5"x7"
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So.... what do you think? Definitely a change in pace for me, not so much the subject matter as the technique, but I totally think it worked! And it's fun, which is always a perk. Required a bit of cleanup, of course, but it's apparently a great way to get natural-feeling speckling.... I wonder how it would look on a painting of an egg?
#1726

White Calf

5"x7"
sold
I really wasn't sure what to call this one.... she was one of those half-grown calves, you know, since it's so late in the summer, but for some reason "White Heifer" just didn't feel right, lol.... especially since there's something that feels almost magical about this painting. Must be the time of year seeping into my work :)
#1725

Little Dancer

8"x8"
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Inspired by Her Tiny Highness's class at Ninth Street Dance... she's having so much fun with it!
#1724

Nautilus Shell

6"x8"
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I wanted to post a step by step thing with this one, but blogspot is being stupid and giving me grief about uploading images again :-/ Still, I managed to get this one through, and isn't it pretty? I definitely want to paint it again, larger!

Nursling

8"x8"
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I donated this one to a great cause... if you're interested, stop by and bid- it is only at $25 at the moment!

Espresso Cup on Grey

5"x7"
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Is it weird to have a painting all about "shades of grey" at the moment? lol.... I just wanted to have some fun with a semi-monochromatic daily!
#1721

Figure Sketch

5"x7"
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It's just been one of those days, hasn't it? But at least we have this lovely result out of it :)
No, I'm not going to make a habit of posting nekkidness, so please don't report me- weekend traffic is slow here on the blog, so hopefully it'll be ok. Really, I know you've had days like this too!

Tippy the Little Owl

9"x12"
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Just another silly thing, to kickstart your weekend :) I just got the flyer for the Whimsical Women Show in the email today, and I'm so glad I'm already working on my whimsical paintings!

Yellow Submarine III

8"x10"
sold
Yay, robofishes! And the baby never took a nap today, so excuse me, I've got to go get her to sleep....

Queen Anne's Lace

6"x6"
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La, la, la la la la, la, lalala laaaaaaa....
(that was the Smurf song, if you're wondering. no, I don't know why either. lol...)

Pink Frosting

6"x6"
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Just something sweet for you Tuesday night... I had a lot of fun painting the frosting on this one!
#1716

Avacado Half VI

5"x7"
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Another avacado... they're just so irresistable. I guess all us artists have certain subjects we just come back to again and again!
And happy Monday to all- the Tiny Princess had her first dance class today, and loved it! The teacher was great... which is important, because teaching a dance class full of toddlers is worse than herding cats. Or worse than I believe herding cats would be. Definitely worse than herding chickens, which is something I've actually tried and do not recommend....
#1715

Tiny Marble on Brown

4"x4"
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I tend to want to paint things just as big as I can on any given canvas.... so every now and then it is fun to take a big step in the other direction. Isn't this just the cutest little thing? Broke out my smallest brushes, and just had some fun with it!
The only downside to painting marbles is that Her Highness tends to run away with them.... but this was an exceptionally easy still life set up to recreate, once she I traded her the marble I needed for one of the others in our collection!
#1714

Self Portrait in Silver Spoon II

5"x7"
sold
It's been a very strange day, so a very strange daily painting seems like a good idea :) I really like how the light from the window reflected off the spoon in such a curious way!
#1713

Little Apple

6"x8"
sold
Thinking... thinking.... nope, nothing to say. Just one of those days.
On the other hand- look, a cute little apple!
#1712

Cup of Tea VI

5"x7"
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.... really zoomed in on it this time... the shadows, the delicious depth of the colors on the tea, the unexpected little details on the teabag.... I love how much I learn through daily painting!
#1711

Cup of Tea V

5"x7"
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Yesterday it was all about the shadow- today it is all about the shiny! Just look at the glow on the gold trim of the teacup :)
#1710

Cup of Tea IV

5"x7"
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I figured I had so much fun with the squash blossoms, maybe I should hit up the teacup again just for good measure- still using the same reference photo and canvas size! It is amazing how much visual richness and opportunity there is, even with restrictions like that :D

Squash Blossom III

5"x7"
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And I enjoyed yesterday's so much that I decided to try it again! They just have the most marvelous textures, don't they?

Squash Blossom II

3"x6"
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Another squash blossom- my last one sold, and then I got more inquiries about it!

Cantaloupe Slice and Reflection

12"x16"
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Just something nummy. It's from the newsletter too, I just had to share it on here as well, because it's so irresistable and orange  :)

Late Summer Studio Newsletter

 Adrift

18"x24"

 Blue Water and Fog

8"x16"

Surfacing - Green Water

12"x12"

I got my studio newsletter out today! And these three paintings were in it, along with a couple more that blogspot refused to upload... I've got them all up in *my Etsy Shop* if you want to head over and take a look :)

Rather proud of myself for getting so much accomplished today!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Blue Moon :)

WIP

I have the most beautiful little sister.... can't wait to see what this one looks like when it's finished! And hopefully I'll be posting dailies again soon... well, but next week anyways :)
Actually, I just relisted a very pretty dandelion painting on etsy, if you're craving a dailies kind of fix, instead of a work-in-progress one!

WIP

another early-stages painting of a lady swimming.... this was actually from about a week ago, I'm hoping to share several summery paintings like this at the end of the week!

Cow in Profile

5"x7"
click here to purchase
Allright, this is the last cow for at least a few days, I promise! Mostly because I'm really, really busy working on some other very exciting and lovely paintings.... maybe I'll do a step-by-step on one of them for a little while. You know, until I can share the completed paintings themselves with you :)
In the meantime.... mmmoooooooooooo....
#1702

Head On

5"x7"
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Yesterday's little calf's mama. Unlike her baby, she was completely unfazed by my inexplicable presence and bizarre attire...
#1701

That Age

5"x7"
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Wow. I can't believe this is post number seventeen hundred!
For this huge and remarkably even number, I present to you a half-grown calf giving us a "what the heck are YOU doing?" look. Admittedly, I was wandering around in her field in flip flops, hauling around a digital camera and sneaking under fences... ok, maybe the look was justified....
#1700

Fruit Tart IV

5"x7"
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Something nummy for your Saturday :) I got some other really amazing stuff from the farmers market... but honestly, potatoes and scuppernong grapes just don't scream "PAINT ME!" like fruit tarts do. All the colors, all the shiny....
I like the off-center composition, too. Sometimes it's fun to do it right in the middle and as big as you can, but I really like sliding it up and showing more of the shadow and a hint of the reflection, too.
#1699

Antique Wrench and Tricolor Marble

5"x7"
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I'm sure you recognize these characters! I've been doing some cleaning up in the studio, and re-found my awesome antique monkey wrench :)
#1698

Fairytale Eggplant IX

5"x7"
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The other little bitty eggplant like this I got at the farmers' market :) This one exhibited a remarkable capacity for balancing!
#1697

Fairytale Eggplant VIII

5"x7"
click here for purchase info
Cuteness :) There's something so irresistable about tiny eggplants like this... like they're little gnomish bowling balls in funny green hats.

Mischief

6"x8"
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I love doing little portraits like this! Isn't she beautiful? Little halo of baby curls, and a pink bow....

Eggplant Couple

5"x7"
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Three cheers for anthropomorphic vegetables! Really, though, I am loving this one :D

Eye III

4"x6"
click here to purchase
I did this one for the Daily Paintworks Challenge! This week the idea was to use complementary colors, and Her Highness has mixed my paynes grey and my phthalo blue together, so I used transparent red iron oxide and a little bit of quinacridone magenta.... pretty :) I really love the negative painting around the eyelashes...
Still mad at Blogspot, though. Uploading images is not going smoothly... though still more smoothly than switching to Worpress. I think.
Hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday night! Almost time for True Blood!

Cup of Tea III

5"x7"
click here to purchase
Ha-HA! Triumph!
I can't take the credit, though- I was still completely stumped as to how to get the rubber ducking pictures to upload, when the husband swooped in a did something to the security settings and now it works! Yay!
I'm off to add the appropriate image to yesterday's post, now :)

Cup of Tea II

Or rather, this is where Cup of Tea II WOULD be if blogspot wasn't being ridiculous and not letting me upload images. It's been doing this for a few days now, but I could "solve" it by logging out and logging back in.... unfortunately, that's not working today :(

Etsy, on the other hand, is working fine- here's a link if you want to see the pretty new daily painting! Yesterday's sold within an hour of posting, which always makes me happy!

Now, is anyone else having this problem? Can you tell me how to fix it? Or is it time to abandon blogspot for wordpress like everyone keeps telling me to do? I don't want to, but if I can't upload pictures with blogspot because of some malfunction on their part, then there's no point in having an art blog with them....

(it's actually tomorrow now, and the husband seems to have fixed my issues with blogspot for the moment. so I came back to share the pretty painting!)

Cup of Tea I

5"x7"
click here to purchase
I think I'm going to try an experiment! It's been a while since I did any paintings of teacups like this and I wanted to revisit the theme, but with a twist- I'm going to stick with just one reference photo for several paintings, see what I can do with cropping, rotating, different colors, all that fun stuff :)

Cherokee Purple

5"x7"
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My friends, I present to you the most delicious tomato on earth.... the Cherokee Purple!
Really. These things are goofy looking, and bruise if you so much as look at them hard. But if you want to make gazpacho or a bloody mary, or just tomato juice, THIS is the heirloom tomato to get. Nugget and I made a last-minute non-spicy salsa with them one day, and I kid you not I drank the juice out of the bottom of the salsa bowl!
They're also lots of fun to paint. I don't get to break out the alizarin crimson very often :)
#1689

Persimmon VI

5"x7"
click here to purchase
I love painting pretty rounded things, there's so rewarding! And a persimmon too, such a wonderful glowing orange color.... just because hints of fall seem to be coming early this year :)
Like right now, it isn't even hot outside! Of course, it's like 100% humidity without even a breath or air moving, but still....
#1688