Tuxedo Bunny, 5x7 Inch Acrylic Painting by Kelley MacDonald

Isn't he adorable?  It's a companion piece to Honey Bunny, for that special little girl.  I have to say I love, love, love painting eyes, and glass.  :) 

I'm also thinking of changing the background on Honey Bunny to this color - too 'matchy-matchy'?  What do you think?

So much is going on - lots of deadlines.  I'm happy with them, though.  I'm enjoying my commissions, too, and only have a couple more.  Spring is the beginning of Plein Air painting, too.  And I'm thinking of putting together a Painting Safari Class - where we meet at a different location every week, with a demo, instruction and a critique if desired.  Anyone interested?  Let me know.

Patchwork Fields, 6x6 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$100  & $10 S&H

Click HERE To Purchase

Things are starting to green up…. we are barely out of winter, but lots of budding going on - HOORAY!  There are farms around here, and I love the patchwork look of the fields as they get ready to dress for 'the season'.  Soon there'll be corn, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, hay… all kinds of things.  And I don't know about you, but I. Am. Ready.

I did my first plein air piece today at the beach.  It was a total failure, but it didn't matter because I WAS OUTDOORS!  I've spoken to folks who say this winter didn't seem so bad to THEM.  Oy.  They are welcome to my world, where I spent half the winter shoveling and re-shoveling paths for the dog.  Or whole evenings trying to convince him that there is NO grass available, as he gets more anxious as our evening walks progress.  Days where it was so cold IN THE HOUSE that I couldn't paint.  Just crawled under blankets with the dog and cats.  Yes.  Now we will have heat and ticks and mosquitos…. but I'm feeling grateful for this gentle warm up.

Angel Of Healing Love, 5x7 inch Mixed Media Painting by Kelley MacDonald

SOLD

I know there are some hearts out there that are hurting, and when I was painting this angel I thought two things: 

1) She looks like she's strewing love, a healing love, as she swings by, and 

2) I can make this even better for someone by absorbing the shipping cost.  So… my contribution to a healing heart.

In the photograph the weave of the canvas looks so prominent.  In person, it is less so.

I love her little purple and blue flowers in her hair, too. :D  Have a lovely weekend!

Favorite Jelly Donuts, 6x6 Inches Oil Painting

$100 & $10 S&H 

This is "The Daily Paintworks Challenge" for this week!  Carol Marine asked me to come up with a 'challenge' and... OK, it's paint your favorite donut~ (*wink*wink*).  I must be really missing the Donut War with Susan Roden, no?

I invite all artists out there to do their darndest, and post their efforts on the Daily Paintworks Challenge Page!  The bottom donut in my painting, btw, was filled by a joker at Dunkin's - they put the jelly in on the flat part of the donut that sometimes happens when 2 donuts stick together - looks like a bulls eye!  Where was Quality Assurance?  

Donut War Day! Take THAT, Susan Roden! Oil, 6x6 Inches

Donut War, Donut War... No Backing Down!  Take THIS jelly, Susan Roden!  In real life, this painting has less 'florescence' on the left side of the jelly.  As I didn't see it till I got home from the studio today, I can't re-shoot the image.  Truly, I think this is one of the best 'portrait' of a jelly donut I've done.  I was so totally into the Zone, and the jelly seemed to turn into 3D before my eyes!

I have some news!  My blog and art have been reviewed by Tony Moffit of Art.Blog.Critique!  You can read it HERE. Then 'like' or subscribe to get each new one.

Also.... a new Smile for you

Click HERE for the auction site.

This was especially difficult because, well, teeth.  Do I need to say more?  Also this model's skin and lips were the SAME value!  Just a mild color change.  Learning, learning, learning...

Tower Of Olives, 8x6, Oil

SOLD

I was going to do a stack of donuts for the Daily Paintworks Challenge this week.  Oh, sure, at first it was all 'teacups and plates' in my mind, but then I thought "Wait... I could do a stack of DONUTS!"  Of course I stopped at a new DD's, with the skimpiest frosting (see my other post about WHY people order frosted donuts) I'd ever seen.  Still, I thought, I could make it work.

I put down a jelly donut (properly 'encouraged' to give up a little jelly), and topped it with a Strawberry Frosted, then took a bite out of a Boston Cream (this was a sacrifice - they are one of my LEAST favorite donuts!) and put it on top.  Zooomed all the way in with my viewfinder and was SO excited about this until... all of a sudden... PLOP - SCRABBLE - gulp, smack, gulp ... the top two donuts had SLID off the bottom one!   And my trusty Studio Pup was on them like a fly on watermelon!

So... without further ado I slid a bunch of olives onto a skewer.  Stuck the skewer through the top of a box, and set the light up.  Olives were a TON of fun :) The skewer tilts a little but, but that's OK!  Find the Gin & Vermouth!   I'm going to do more!

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!

Carol's Challenge 5x7 Oil

$100 & $!) S&H

This is my entry for Carol Marine's new Daily Paintworks Challenge.  I've only painted a car a couple of times before and I find them so difficult!  My very first painting workshop was with the late, great, Charles Sovek, and when I told him I was not fond of painting boats he said "Then you should paint cars - a LOT of cars!"  Very funny.  But he was, of course, right.  There are some very, very fine submissions to this Challenge, which was only posted a couple of days ago.  It will be very exciting!

Also, my very own, Boston-based Challenge group has posted our monthly response to the topic of... WINTER.  You can imagine we had a lot of reference materials....  check it out!  Below, my submission for that!