A Day With No Glasses, 5x7 Oil

Today I seem to have lost my last pair of 'readers'... OK, I had them on last night and today they're AWOL. So this was painted without any clear vision. Probably why its smudgy looking! I found a pair (stopped at two places on the way home from the studio - they each had every strength but 2.25, which is what I need - I didn't even CARE what they looked like!) in the bottom of my backpack, twisted so the 'arms' were in front - so I can kind of see now - although they're very scratched! Anyway I had this great pomegranate and wanted to paint it so I did (2 for $4 at Whole Foods). Kind of don't like the split background. Should've gone with all yellow-y green.

Cream & Sugar, Oil 6x6

Cream & Sugar, 6x6

$100 + $10 S&H via Paypal

I hope you're all having a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Really, we couldn't have asked for better weather. We had the best ever clamboil and lobsters yesterday. While doing the errands for the Big Event, I stumbled upon this tiny creamer & sugar bowl, in this gorgeous color. I think they looked great on my (only) nice tablecloth, so... with a recovering (from a sprained ankle) puppy in the crate next to me, I sat in the garden and did this.

Thanks for all the interest in the Stacked Bowls giveaway - it's still 'open' till Tuesday night. And welcome to all the 'new' people who signed on as 'subscribers' (on the right hand side of the blog, under the 'Google Groups' sign - as soon as I learn more HTML I'll get rid of that title!).

Ta-Da! Hydrangeas III, Oil 8x8

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Well, back at the studio this morning everything is 'taken care of' (you know what I mean in terms of the little mouse). I think I like this hydrangea the best, or maybe I was just more relaxed doing it. I hope you all have a FANtastic weekend. Clamboil and lobsters at my place tomorrow! :)

Thank God I Don't Have A Real Job....

Because the SMALLEST thing throws me!  This is not a 'Daily Painting' - it's an abstract sunset done a couple of days ago, and it's 11x14, done in acrylics.  My actual Daily Painting is loaded in my camera at the studio, which I forgot when I bolted out the door today.  See.... yesterday there was this ADORABLE tiny mouse in the DRAIN of my sink - hiding there because he (or she) heard me when I came in, and it couldn't get out.  So I left it alone, and washed up in the bathroom sink before I left so I wouldn't disturb it.  Well, today I came in and....hmmm... still there, standing on my chunk of brush soap, EATING it.  It occurred to me - the mouse COULD not get out of the slop sink!  DUH!  How thirsty/hungry must it have been to have been drinking the soap water and eating soap???  So, I made a 'ladder' out of scratched cardboard, gave it a little bit of fresh water in a jar top, and bits of muffin and left it to figure it's way out.  Only it couldn't even make itself eat or drink, it was so sick and weak from the soap!  So as I painted today it slowly DIED - and although I did two daily paintings (the final hydrangea, I promise, and a really different painting after that) I was a little freaked & sad about the (now expired) mouse.  So I ran out (with Paco, of course) and left the camera there.  I'll grab it tomorrow a.m. and post.

AND I'm celebrating - I have my 100th subscriber!!!!  I'm going to have a giveaway next week to celebrate - I'll post a painting and anyone who wants it can email me, I'll put names in a hat and whoever wins gets it for $10 postage.  Yay!!!!  Thank you all, you are amazing!

Blues, 6x6 Oil and a Failure

No time to sign this blueberry painting - I was SPEED painting this morning! Got to the studio early, and by the time I walked Paco, met the other dogs on the bike path, turned on all the fans and opened the windows in the studio, selected the paintings for the Duxbury Midsummer Show (2 larger pieces and 20 BARGAIN priced Daily Paintings), I got down to work. Primed the board with alizarin crimson, sketched out the design - 3 times), blocked in my darks, got paint on the blueberries - the phone rang and it was my son - I needed to come home NOW so he could take me to pick up my car - SO I slapped on the two tones of the shadows, and the yellow background - no time to sign! - and high-tailed it back across the two bridges and home - by 10:45 a.m. OK! Done for the day!

Below is the painting for Outside The Box at North River Art in Marshfield. I really am not happy with it and decided NOT to enter it (sorry Mary C - I'll reimburse you for the gatorboard!). I intended to work 'outside the box' by prepping the surface with a couple of coats of absorbant ground, and doing an acrylic painting with lots of washiness. But an error in drawing led to more layers of paint to fix it, and then all the washes were covered up - so I decided to do it in palette knife (which I dont' usually do, either). Which I ended up not liking. Sorry I yak so much. Thanks for looking, thanks for commenting!

Tweedles, 6x8 oil

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I don't exactly remember where I'm supposed to send this, but I'll do a little research and find out. It was a 'Challenge' for July, which is a month of Dogs, and upcoming is Cats in August. This darling girl is named Tweedles, and she is sweet and lovely, according to Paco, and had to be painted. I'll tell you it's a challenge, indeed, to paint the little rounded chin, and the soft, wrinkly forehead! I didn't really do her justice. I'm trying to focus on one type of painting for this blog - like so many 'successful' bloggers - but I'm having a hard time because to me, painting is a language ... and I guess I have a LOT to say about everything ;0. So, it being Sunday, and a non-work day, kind of, here's little Tweedles. LOVE her! And she's on James Parker's Blog, "Windows To The Words" Blog HERE.

And my favorite part is the black part UNDER her chin!

Thanks to all those who clicked on 'follow this blog', and became 'Followers'! I love that and I love to hear all your comments, too. I'm sorry if my last post seemed like an 'invitation' to the painting Challenge I'm a part of - it's a group of Boston-Area artists who meet on a regular basis who are putting up the Challenge and the Blog. The Invitation was to become a 'Follower' of my blog. Thank you all, you are dear to me!

An Invitation

SOLDHi, everyone! I'm going to stop being shy and ask any of you who are so inclined to click on the ''Followers" button on the right to become 'officially' a follower of this blog. I don't know why I get such a kick out of that, but there you go! As far as I know it doesn't commit you to anything, and you still need to put your email address in the 'Google Subscribers' Box' to get this post in your email as they happen, but... whatever. I'll still appreciate you all even if you don't!

So on to today's painting... I'm involved in a 'Challenge' (a la Karin Jurick) with some pretty fine artists, in that we get 'assigned' an object every month and all paint the object in our own way in a 6x6 format and post them on a blog. This is our first month, and the 'object' is the starfish. It made an appearance in the oh-so-forgettable post with the red bead and white ribbon, as well. I like this one better. When we publish our 1st challenge, I'll give you the blog address and you can take a peek. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Summer Memories, Oil, 6x6

Many, many times while I was painting this today I said to myself: "What was I thinking?" All those 'white' items???? Of course none of them is actually 'white', but a combination of white and different colors. I had a hard time with this one in photoshop - the shell had more bluey grays and the ribbon had a yellowish cast to the dark side. But when I tried to correct for that the background got turquois-y. It leans towards that but is more periwinkle. And here I go with the ribbon again - you'll see lots of them till I feel like I've mastered it. Today's is at least better than yesterday's! The addition of the red bead.... just because I have it!

Demitasse, 6x6 Oil

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This small cup & saucer was a gift from a good friend who visited and haunted the antique shops with me in Warren. I wanted to incorporate a ribbon, but I don't know if it was that successful. I spent so long looping, twisting, draping this foolish ribbon I probably should have left it out. I loved painting the translucent china (it's Limoges - my first!) and the beautiful flowers on it!

Still Life With Wasp, Oil, 6x8

Go with the flow... this morning, after breakfast, I was enjoying looking at the leftover watermelon (I know - leftover WATERMELON?) in the sun, and I decided to paint the plate. As soon as I got set up this wasp or bee or whatever decided this would be HIS breakfast, and no amount of shooing would dissuade him. So... I stuck him in the painting (no, not literally). Such a glorious day, but it turned so windy that in the evening I had to hunt for this painting as it had blown off the front porch where I had left it to dry - it was face down in some grass, so IRL it has bits of fauna sticking to the paint! (which will just flake off when the paint is dry).

What was interesting to me was how light the sides of the melon were that were in the sun - mostly lighter than the plate, and all the colors in the shadow side of the fruit... as well as the plate.

Perfect Day, 11x16, Oil

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While this is outside the usual size of a Daily Painting, I did it in 2 or so hours from life, so I'm including it on this blog. I went to Fogland Beach in Tiverton, on Friday and it was just about a perfect day. A bit of a breeze, and this lady just in her glory in her beach chair. She read, she napped, she waded into the water to cool off, she sipped her iced tea. I think I could correct the folding chair legs & support a bit but otherwise I'm leaving it. Getting a bit crazed about my Open Studio Tour this weekend...
I tried to post this yesterday but Blogger wouldn't take any posts (mine or Paco's) while I was trying. And I wasn't about to let the computer take up too much time while we had sunshine! Hope you all had a good one...

And Ice Cream Castles In The Air, Oil, 6x8

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Today started foggy, rainy and gray. And... then the big dark clouds drifted away and left these puffy, creamy clouds in a beautiful blue sky. So I took Paco out to the front yard and plunked down to paint this little painting from life. One lone sailboat (guess everyone else is at work) danced back and forth in front of Gould Island. After many interruptions (Paco found a dead mouse, he got himself practically 'hung' on his leash, he ran around my easel and toppled it) I finally came up with this. Paying a lot of attention to deliberate brush strokes, color transitions in the water, the sky and the two islands (the big piece of land in the background is Aquidneck Island), and in the clouds. Happy enough, considering how many times I had to jump up...

Off With His Head, 6x6 ) Oil

I had this gorgeous begonia (a different one, but same color as the last post) and I must have been a bit rough with it, because when I turned the light on the 'scene' and backed away - the whole 'head' of the flower fell off! This was try #2, the first was a wipe-off - I couldn't get the red to pop enough. This is better but still, not as 'zingy' as I'd wished. I 'grayed down' the aqua cloth, but I think maybe it should have been lighter, too. Ah, well, hopefully a summer full of begonias await.
Updating (finally) my studio blog and Paco's blog, too, of course!

Tuberous Begonia, 6x6 Oil

Yesterday it was so wet & rainy, I went up to Oceanside 17 Gallery in Hull to paint with my friend Franny Andahazy, and also my friend Jeanne MacFarland. I had a windowsill full of gorgeous red tomatoes and begonias that had had 'mishaps' in the recent storms, with a few aqua bottles, and I loved their color together. So we packed them up and made a still life. I wiped off my first attempt - too many items - and got an order from Jeanne: Do Another One. So I did, but I edited out the tomato, and the recognizable parts of the bottle... for me it was all about that big red flower. Left the background indistinct.

Of course Paco came with, but my daughter Molly picked him up and babysat for the afternoon - while visiting HER friend Molly - thanks to the 2 Molly's for a peaceful painting session. This is Paco with Jeanne in front of the Daily Painting Wall at Oceanside - Jeanne's forearm is next to my painting of a teacup & sugar cubes you may remember! OK. Paco's Blog is updated today, too - 2 posts!

Up To No Good, 11x17 Oil

A little blurry - I will try to replace it on the blog with a sharper photo. Today began with the SUN (we think... we haven't seen it in so long we're not sure...) and soon the western horizon started with a line of clouds, which are now forming the thunderheads that will douse us with rain this afternoon. I was thinking Colin Page again, trying to get the most out of his workshop. I used decisive brushstrokes and looked for nuances and color changes in every shape. Also his sparkle in the water, with a light touch, of many shades of white (yellow-white, rose-white, green-white, blue-white). As the winds pick up the sailboats are having a rough time of it, but this morning was beautiful.

And Paco slept against my ankle so I couldn't move away (or back) without him knowing it. Even though he was too hot and I had to keep wetting him.

Kane's Coconut, 8x8 oil

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As an anniversary treat my husband took the day off and took me anywhere I wanted to go. First stop, Kane's Donuts in Saugus, where Paula and Nina Villanova went and enjoyed the World Famous Donuts introduced to Paula by Katie May McElwain (all bloggers, BTW). We had the pup with us (no pics of Paco there, because the 'gentleman' waiting on us practically growled as Paco cried for me at the door), and I should have gotten a shot of that. All of the donuts looked like blue ribbon examples of their breed. But I am fond of coconut, so I painted one today. If you are ever in Saugus - let me amend that by saying if you are every driving BY Saugus, be sure to stop in and get a sugar fix at this cute little place! Could I have picked a harder donut to paint? But I was channeling Colin Page (not Colin Powell....) and treating the white coconuts as 'sparkle'... all different 'colors' of white dancing on the top of the cake...

Age

Here's how it goes as you get older: You wake to a beautiful, pearl blue dawn, whisper a prayer of thanks, and slide to the edge of the bed to sit up and... DOH! Sizzling pain in your neck, cascading down over your shoulder - for what? One bone in your spine got slightly out of line as you sat up????? So now you can't hold your head up straight, and your whole vision is tinged with red from the pain. Studio? I don't think so! Well, this was my day yesterday, and though I did try to paint (don't tell Tim, I promised I wouldn't!) because I couldn't help it! Nothing worked out that I tried, so I spent the whole day in a beach chair in the garden with ice on my neck, and a steady stream of Advil in my bloodstream. So here's what the garden looks like (from a watercolor journal from 2 years ago - everything's still the same!):
And below a splashy rendition of my beloved geraniums:
And Harry the cat, my special baby, claiming his right to Paco's newest sleeping crate (Harry THINKS he's a Dog Whisperer, but I bet there are those who would disagree!

Cumpcake, 6x6 Oil

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Well, it looked a bit better BEFORE I dropped it and smashed it against the easel and had to repair it! When I was a little girl my best friend was this adorable little girl whose first language was Portuguese. She only spoke English at school, and for some reason she stuck 'm's in a lot of words, one I remember is 'cupcake'. She called them 'cumpcakes'. ;) Hey, she was little!

Anyway today was my first 'real' full day at the studio with Paco. All I can say is I STARTED putting paint on the panel at 4 p.m. There is a video and short take on Paco's Blog.

Path Thru The Dunes 6x8 Oil

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If this looks familiar to my friends, it's because it's a 'work-down' (as opposed to a work-up, where you make a small painting larger). I did a bigger, square painting plein air, in acrylics last year. This path is in Westport, MA, at Horse Neck Beach. It was fun to take the design and crystalize it - make it smaller and more poster-like. I actually like the smaller one better. I'll see if I can find an image (or take a picture) of the larger painting so you can see. Yes, I like painting from life better, but sometimes it's about the design, and the texture of the paint (which I am not sure shows up so much in the photo!).

Yellow Mums, 6x6 Oil

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Finally getting back in the grove and able to paint! Yesterday Mary Sheehan Winn and I painted together and she can attest that painting with Paco is no small feat! I was going to wipe this one off, but now, in light of the upcoming Summer shows and Open Studio Tours, I think I'll keep it. I think it's OK, but not wonderful, there's no life to it. You should check out Mary's at her blog, as well, it's far more of what I originally set out to do, and then ended up tight and boring.

Also - if you're on the Cape anytime now through May 31, please stop by the Cape Cod Art Associaiton, where I'm showing some of my Daily Paintings. Yes, they are priced slightly higher than on the blog ($125 and $150), but that's because of the frame. Below is a shot of the main wall.