Telephone Challenge: Help Me Choose!

I'm involved with a 'challenge' with 9 other artists, and this month our task was to paint something with a 'telephone' theme. I had a zillion ideas, then ran out of time. Tomorrow I'll show you my 'idea' page in my sketchbook, but tonight I just need some votes on which one I'll submit. The top one, "Stuff My Cell Hears...", is acrylic, with collage (that ran... which is one reason why I usually stick to 'regular' painting..) and the bottom one "Never Without The Blackberry..." is regular oil. It started OUT as an acrylic painting, but all of a sudden the darks started feeling sticky, and I realized I'd loaded an oil paint onto my acrylic palette... eeeks! So I took it to the studio today and re-did the painting in oil. So... help me out, please, and tell me in your comments which I should submit to the Challenge. People in the challenge thought I was the 'uploader' this month and sent me some really wonderful paintings, and I think I was intimidated!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, and are sufficiently 'stuffed'!

Girlfriend Drink, 6x6 Oil

Girlfriend Drink, 6x6

$100 + $10 S&H via Paypal

This painting of a Cosmo is going to the Oceanside 17 Gallery for their holiday tree of 'festivities'. So it will be available only there. I find that lots of time this is the choice drink of 'girlfriends' - I actually prefer the lighter pinky ones, but the only recipe I had came out like this. I'll take any advice on this!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone. I sure have a lot to be thankful for, and one of them is all the friends I've made through my art. You enrich my life in so many ways. Enjoy your holiday!

Saturday from 5-7 I'll be in Newport at the DeBlois Gallery on Belleview Ave for the Opening of the holiday show. I'd love to see you there! And a big THANK YOU to all of you who made your way to the North River Holiday Sale! I'd love to see images of my paintings in their final homes when they get there!

Who WAS That Woman? And More

This painting was done about 9 years ago - before I started painting with oils. I've always loved cacti, and I think it's a half-sheet of watercolor paper.

Below are the two paintings that I got in to the Small Wonders Exhibit at the Maryland Federation of Art. They will hang till December 25. The Blueberries painting has sold, providing it comes back from the show.

Also till after Christmas these two below will be offered at the Portsmouth Art Guild's Holiday Show, in Portsmouth, RI. Sorry for the glare on the bottom photo. I thought it was clear, and now I can't re-take it till the show comes down.

Painting Workshop

I just wanted to share with all of you the news that I'm giving a

Painting A Day Workshop January 16 & 17, 2010

at Oceanside 17 Gallery in Hull, MA. The hours are from 10-4 each day, Saturday and Sunday. I'm going to open it to all levels of ability. I will be demo-ing in oil, and have the most knowledge about that medium, but all mediums are welcome, and will benefit from the workshop. I'll have a handout for you to take home, too. Daily Painting improves your work no matter what your skill level! If you want to move your art forward, you should give it a try! And there's a whole community online for support and encouragement.

The price is just $175 for the workshop and the gallery owner, Franny Andahazy, is giving a 10% discount to anyone who signs up BEFORE November 30th. Contact her for deposit/payment info. Hope to see you there!

p.s. This photo is from the night BEFORE my Open Studio, when I was flat out exhausted, so please excuse the tired face!

Sweet Time Of Year, Oil 6x6

Sweet Time Of Year, 6x6

$100 + $10 S&H via Paypal

Very glare-y, will repost when it is drier! This goes into the category of "What Was I Thinking?" ONE hershey kiss is hard enough to do - try a dozen, seen through glass..... I probably won't have a post tomorrow, because I'm giving a talk today on "My Life As An Artist" - scary, huh? I'm carting two huge bins plus 2 display easels and 2 outsized paintings to do it.. and I should have left already, only I still need to shower! I'm just going to take this afternoon to breathe, and maybe get my house in a little order... This painting is the last one for the DeBlois Gallery, showing in December.

Berry Good! Oil 6x6

Berry Good! 6x6

$100 + $10 S&H via Paypal

Another for the DeBlois Gallery's Itty Bitty Holiday Sale. I love painting raspberries, I don't paint the individual 'globes' on them, even though I just noticed it LOOKs like I do. I just dab varying lights of red on top of the darks, and the highlights on these babies are actually blue/gray and then the lightest of blues. I love how the shadows actually reflect a little of the hot reds as the light bounces through the clear red of the fruit!

I have two things I'd like to announce - 1) I just dropped off 20 little paintings at the North River Arts Society in Marshfield, MA (Old Main Road, right off 3A) where they will be part of the Holiday Sale THIS Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 and 22. 10-4 are the regular hours. Those in the 'know' show up (and pay $15) for the 'Early Bird' hour, from 9-10 on Saturday, they get to scope out the deals from all the fine artists in the South Shore Area. In the past I've put older pieces. This year I decided to put mostly current pieces in, at a reduced rate (it IS a fundraiser for a fabulous art association!). So they are less than the Daily Painting ordinary price. If you go, I guarantee you'll go again next year. I saw some amazing things dropped off last night. Oh! And on the stage there are larger paintings at great prices, too!

And 2) (still with me?) I encourage you to take a look at a blog that is relatively new, from an award winning artist who is colorful and fun, and was inspired by Julie and Julia, to blog 365 Flowers, in a very creative way! Her name is Sally Dean. Check it out....

Herd Of M and M's, 6x6 Oil

Another NFS, scheduled to go to the DeBlois Gallery Itty Bitty Holiday Show.

After the show $100 + $10 S&H, via Paypal

After I painted this (and I thought I would lose my mind painting these tiny candies) I stepped back and thought it looked like a herd of M&M's - probably escaping their fate in my studio!

I had a sleepless night last night agonizing over this show. I ordered frames ($$!, you know how it is) and then before I went to bed I decided to read the prospectus (always a good time to do it, after you've started painting for the show and have ordered the frames!). The outside dimensions cannot exceed 36". OMG! I'm over - I'm WAY over!!!! Couldn't sleep. Got up before dawn and was scouring the internet for tinier canvases and frames... then around 7 a.m. I looked again, and this time I used the calculator (yeah, I'm mathematically challenged, that's right!) and... um... all my hysteria was for naught. I'm UNDER the limit. Do you ever do this to yourself?

Figs, 6x6 Oil

SOLD
This one is NFS (not for sale) because it's part of 4 paintings that will go to the DeBlois Gallery on Belleview Avenue, Newport, RI, for their Holiday Invitational Show next week! There will be 4 of them. I'm honored to be invited to join these fine artists!

After the show (Jan 1, 2010) this is $100 + $10 S&H via Paypal.

Another mouse incident in the studio cut short my painting day.... I had somehow gotten cad red all over one hand (now I was wearing gloves but...) and the pumice soap was not doing the trick (fast enough) so I grabbed my bottle of vegetable oil (which I had lost the cap to) and saw something bobbing inside the botle....something kind of round... with legs and... a long tail... A poor field mouse! What a horrible way to die! I couldn't paint any more. I mean, I'm the one who blares my horn when I see hunters' pickup trucks parked on the side of the highway... I figure if I save just ONE deer or duck by startling it.....

Autumn, 8x8 Oil

SOLD

Conor's (my son) beautifully glazed bowl, a leaf found while walking Paco, and an apple - all remind me of this season. I love this support - it's Gessoboard, as opposed to yesterday's 'Martooni', which is on a canvas panel. For some reason I just love the paint sliding around on this smooth surface. How about you? What supports are your favorite?

Martooni Time, 6x8, oil

ETA - this is the 'new' photo

What a horrible photo! Tooo much glare! Not enough contrast. I'll re-post it on my blog tomorrow, but I didn't bring my camera to the studio today, and when I got home it was dark, and really hard to capture. I think I'll try this again, because I do love trying to paint clear 'things' (glass, water, etc), but I think maybe I'll lower the viewpoint and use a brighter color as a background, and put a STACK of olives in the 'martooni'.

$100 plus $8 shipping and handling, email me at kcareymac@hotmail.com

Little Gould Island Plein Air, 6x12, oil

SOLD

Today was a gorgeous November day. The morning was all misty and atmospheric, and since I'm home-bound today, I thought I'd take Paco for his first real plein air session and trek over to the beach and paint the misty island in the river. Let us just say right here that Paco is a BELOVED pet but I was ready to put him on a bus after one hour. I walked carrying my heavy backpack, french easel, 2 leashes (one long, one short), a box to take the painting home in, Paco's best 'baby', water bowl and water for him, and HIM on the leash. First he 'helped' me unload the backpack (as the wind took the paper towels, the little canvases, the palette, then when we got settled down he picked up his waterbowl and shook it (yeah, I hear you all sniggering) all over my BACK (I was sitting at a picnic table, and he could scamper up on it). While I was replenishing his water he sneakily took my best brush and sat quietly under the table till I heard the big CRUNCH, (yeah... now I'm using language that cannot be put in a blog), then, when I thought he had settled down with his Baby, I hear plastic and see that he's unearthed some plastic ties and was gobbling them. Ok, maybe he's hungry, so cookies. Err... not so hungry, but found some nice, petrified dog poop buried in the sand to snack on.....

I finally hauled him & the painting home, nothing like painting under pressure! And let's just say he has a LONG way to go to become a plein air dog. Maybe I should bring his crate (which, BTW he only goes into at night to sleep)???

Clover, Queen Anne's Lace and An Award!

Clover, Queen Anne's Lace, 6x6

$100 + $10 S&H via Paypal

This is 6x6 inches, and is a cluster of more 'roadside weeds' that Paco and I find on our walks, Clover and Queen Anne's Lace. The photo's a little dark, I'll replace it when I get to the studio on WEDNESDAY! (Sometimes life gets in the way... will try to paint at home tomorrow). In the meantime, look what I got! p.s. I don't know if the font on the rest of the post will look OK - it looks kind of LARGE even though I adjusted it already!

Creative Blogger Award

Thank you, Marie Theron, for this award! Marie is a very creative Blogger who lives on the west coast of Africa. The wonderful thing about the blogsphere, well, one of the wonderful things, is that you get to 'virtually' meet people from all over the world, whom you may never have come in contact with otherwise. And the art you can see - every day! Well, I urge you all to visit her blog: http://artistmarietheron.blogspot.com. for some reason the hyperlink wouldn't work for me.

Well, now I'm supposed to reveal 10 non-art things about myself (you get enough of these awards, and there's not much people won't know about you!). So here goes:

1. I'm studying Qi Kung (the healing exercises of Tai Chi), and really am enjoying it.
2. I love to hang out in cemeteries. As a child we lived near one and I love reading the headstones and getting to 'know' the folks that have gone before.
3. As a child I was.... precocious - got my mouth taped shut with masking tape, got locked in a closet (for eating someone's gold crayon - there's a story there), got seating in a high chair facing the class in kindergarten... I was a regular Chatty Cathy (remember that doll?).
4. I was unable to have pets as a child, so I used to collect and 'befriend' pussywillows. I used to name them, take them to school and line them up on my desk, etc.
5. I would wear jeans every single day and for every event if I could.
6. I'm a shoe junkie.
7. I actually stop breathing (and get lightheaded) in art museums. My husband thankfully keeps and eye on me and nudges me, reminding me to breathe. I know, lame!

OK!~ Now for passing on this wonderful award! To the recipients: just list 7 things about yourself (non-art related) and then kindly pass on the award to 7 deserving bloggers! Here goes, check these guys out:

1. Sally Dean, who has just started her blog about 365 days of flowers,
2. Dean Grey, for his beautiful art, beautiful thoughts, and his willingness to share his journey, though it is not easy right now.
3. Christine McCoy, because you just never know what's going to show up on her blog, and her figures inspire me.
4. Dreama Tolle Perry - just look at her paintings... you'll understand.
5. Elizabeth Seaver, who is a master at mixed media, and truly a fun-minded artist!
6. Amy Hillenbrand is an artist who mainly does interiors for this blog - so beautiful, you just want to step into them!
7. R. Garriott, who not only delights the viewer with wondrous paintings, but generously shares tips for working artists!

Snowman Fun! 5x7 Oil

Snowman Fun, 5x7

$100 +$10 S&H via Paypal

Today I had a lot of fun in the studio. Paco was being the BEST studio friend, and things were just 'working' with the paintings, you know? I heard that we may get snow - and although I don't really believe it ( I mean I was wearing no jacket, just a sweater today), I thought I'd celebrate by painting this little guy. He 'walks' when you wind him up. Fun!

Cairn II, Oil, 6x6

SOLD

OK, you rock lovers! Here's another cairn from my Briggs Beach rock collection. The color is a little washed out in the photo. I am buying Photoshop Elements for Dummies, and am going to take a few days and LEARN it. I love to pile these rocks. This was a pile of little stones - which I knocked over just after I finished the painting (thank goodness it was AFTER!).

Time for Decaf (Red Rose), 6x6 Oil

SOLD

This is another of Conor's handmade mugs, perfect for a nice big cup of tea. I put down a piece of chocolate colored fabric, and it was tooooo dark. But with a bit of lavender cloth underneath, it worked. Or at least I think it did!

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.