Mints On Pink, 6x6 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

SOLD

I had the most fun in the studio today.  For some reason there was NOTHING else (well, housework, yeah, but that'll be there beyond death, you know?) to do today, so Paco and I slipped off to the studio. I worked on EIGHT paintings.  Paco chased a patch of sunlight, and could not understand why it kept moving, and he'd have to go find it again to take another nap (this is so very unlike him - so DOG-like, to sleep on the floor... I think it's his first nap on the floor EVER).

And then I am still determined to work on figures, and I am my own free model...

And I definitely see improvement - although isn't it funny how cross you look when you paint yourself!?!

Moi, 4x4 Inches, Oil

NFS

Trying to catch up on my Hilton Head Gang Mugshots, and you don't think I filed them anywhere, do you?  So I'm back to Week 5, which just happened to be me.  And I'm going to forgive myself for the butcher jobs I did on my friends I've painted previously, as painting this face I know so well was SO hard!  I got the right side better than the left, who knows why?  Maybe it's because of that strange arched  eyebrow.  Or the ear.  

Another tip:  This was done in Karin Jurick's method - painted on gessobord, with black matte Rustoleum sprayed on it.  BE SURE you let the rustoleum dry completely.  I did not, and the paint wouldn't lay down on it, and kept getting gloppy.  3 hours on this one, and it was either say "I'm done!" or take a flying leap out the 2nd story window.  I chose to be finished....  Here's my 'blurb':

Kelley “MacGrins” MacDonald is the next notorious member to be sought.  You may think her smiling face is harmless...until you see your smiling mug on one of her blogs.  She waltzes in to a room, a beach or an event, smiling and acting all “I’m your friend” and then shoots at will.  She doesn’t leave until she has captured every available smile.  When ready leave the island...Suspiciously...her little red sports car was missing...she left Hilton Head in a newly acquired Jag shouting “Girls Just Wanna Paint!”  She drove up the coast stopping along the way to visit accomplices.  She has hideouts everywhere.  Beware the smile...

If I Had A Halo... 6x6 Inch Acrylic

I'm humming "If I were a rich man.... yabba dibbi dabba... "  See., the Daily Paintworks is sponsoring a Challenge, a sort of unconventional self portrait challenge.  I was roaming the house, looking for a hat, when I saw my 'halo' (yeah, I have one... don't you?) and decided to paint myself wearing it.  Well, one wing led to another... you get the drift of what happened when I put the halo on!  So here I am, ageless, thinner, and looking... well, like I don't believe the story you're telling me!  How'd this happen?  Too much time alone, I guess :)

I didn't paint over the Mothers' Day weekend, I gave myself the gift of family and friends.  Friday night I attended and Opening of a show in Norwell, MA at the James Library.  A number of my friends were in the show and my husband and I made a night of it.  We bought a gorgeous painting of birch trees by Valerie Vitalli, (and here I'd LOVE to put in a link to her amazing work, but .... we're waiting for that web site to show up!).  I think on Facebook I'll post a picture of it.  ('friend' me if you want to see!)  I think, actually, that artists buy a lot of art.  I know I'd love to fill my house to the gills with fabulous paintings.  They never get 'old', every viewing of them reveals more... and they make you happy!  Win-win-win!