This Is What I Do When I'm Bored....

Paint really bad self portraits!  Seriously I don't know what's up with me, I was all excited to go to Duxbury, MA to the Art Association to drop off paintings for their juried show (which I've only gotten into ONCE).  Then I came home and was all set to do a little daily painting, but instead I yanked out a 14x18 canvas and started a self portrait.  Guess I want to do more people, and don't have much luck getting friends and relatives to sit for me.  Also I know I won't get upset when I give myself weird lips or hair, and so I relax more.  This is my painting shirt that is known to some as my 'clown shirt', as it has lots of colors in it - actually I bought it for Tim and he took one look at it and said "I think you bought this for yourself..."  **grin** I guess I really did because I wear it ALL the time!  Any self portrait shows coming up?  I'm ready!

Isn't it funny how you always seem angry in self portraits?  I'm going to try try try to do a jolly one!

Damp Day, Acrylic 5x7

A few days ago when the air was heavy with moisture and the sky was hazy, the Edna Mae, a fishing boat that 'lives' across the street and down a little ways, was heading out.  It was approaching Gould Island, and I snapped a photo (no, it wasn't a plein air painting!).  I have a few art errands today, so probably won't get to the studio, but I painted this little painting of the boat and the island.  On the Island blog, I'll post the photo as well.

New Feature

This is KIND of a Daily Painting.  I did paint it today, but it's larger, an 11x14 painting of Gould Island, the one across from my house.  It's in the Sakonnet River, with Tiverton on one shore, and Aquidneck Island on the other (Aquidneck being much, much larger than Gould).  A funny thing is, and hardly anyone I've spoken to in this area is aware of, there's another island called Gould Island on the OTHER side of Aquidneck Island.  How could these people not notice this?  well, my little island is affectionately known (in my father's world) as 'Rat' Island, since viewed from a particular place it looks like a rat.  Anyway I'm planning a new blog, which will be linked from this one, all Gould Island, all the time.  Paintings, sketches, photos, and I'm hoping to do it for a year.  Stay tuned!

Not TODAY's Daily Painting...

Beach Rock Eggs, Acrylic 12x6

I did this painting last week, thinking of the 'Seeing White' Show at Gallery 297 in Bristol, RI (this one got rejected.... it's OK, my 'Pearl Onions' got in).  I collect egg shaped rocks that are pure white from the beach I go to in the summer.  Then I put them in tall vases.  I don't know why.  I'm thinking of breaking out this summer and collecting pitch black rocks that are flattened ovals, and doing the same (glass jars).  Then there are the speckled rocks, the smooth dark gray rocks with rings of white shot through them.... this is why I loved having little boys who loved to collect rocks.  When we moved from Pembroke, MA to Hingham we had interesting rocks lining every windowsill, and some in book cases, in boxes, in jars, cans..... well, we didn't take them to the new house, and I MISSED them!  

Instead of a Daily Painting today I did a bigger, 18x24 oil painting of a Red Jeep, see it (and the other stuff I'm doing) at http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com/. 

Strawberry Jar, 6x6 Acrylic

SOLD

There is an upcoming show featuring the color RED for February, and I've been thinking of what to enter.  At the studio (no, I didn't photograph it yet) I'm working on a fairly large (for me) painting of a little red sailboat being 'guided' by a little boy.  Hoooo-boy - can I pick a complicated subject?  Let's just say it may not get finished!  Hopefully this will be a good workweek and I can post some photos in my studio blog, too.  I bought this little jar of strawberries because it was so beautiful.  I can't imagine that they taste so good, but I decided to take a shot at painting them today.

I used a black 'box' like a lot of the daily painters do (I think Carol Marine and Jeff Hayes and Shawn Kenney use them), with a directed light.  I'll admit it's easier when everything else in the world is taken out of the picture.  Let me know what you think of this.  I liked that it was glass, and then the berries with their luminescent color under the glass, and then - seeds!  Thanks for looking!

White Sangria, Oil, 6x12

I apologize for the bad cropping job - I'll try to re-crop it & post it later.  This is from Spain, the most delightful Sangria I've ever had (not that I've had a LOT of it!).  There is a show about 'RED' coming up, so some of my new paintings will be visual thoughts about that color.  This cherry in the bottom of the glass, I thought, deserved some attention.

Winter Walk on the Sakonnet, Oil, 5x7

This painting was from a photo I took on a very cold December evening across the street from my house.  The whole sky was salmon and the water reflecting it was the same color.  The river was as still as a lake - so unusual, and the reflections of Gould Island were beautiful and rosy.  People walking their dog on the beach I thought I just have to paint this.  It was such a perfect winter evening, and so typical of this area.  You feel like the whole world is pink, and it has a bit of magic in the air.

So glad to be painting again.  December had personal issues which kept me away from the easel, not to mention wanting to not mess up the holidays by being AWOL to the family.  Back in the saddle, now!  Happy New Year to ALL of you!