Jar Of Joy, 5x7 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$100 & $10 S&H

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I really changed gears last week.  It turns out there is so much wattage necessary to get ready and have an Open Studio that afterwards I was the equivalent of a wet noodle - could hardly paint!

But this little charmer made me smile when I painted it.  Something about the blue and yellow - always a favorite of mine... 

And then my class gave me a charge, on Saturday.  We chose squares of colors which were face down on a plate - cut from magazines.  When we got 5 or 6 we taped them to the side of a piece of paper, then set about to exactly come up with that color.  You might think this is easy - you would be wrong!  But it was fun and challenging, and then we were ready to get to our little still lives... and I took the bit again to dive into painting.  Good thing... I have the OTHER Open Studio coming up in a few weeks!!!

I promise I will start a newsletter soon, so every post is not filled with updates, but I was so thrilled to hear that 3 of my paintings were accepted into the Small Matters Of Great Importance Show at the Edward Hopper House in New York in August.  Here they are, below:

I'm crossing my fingers that my framer got the frame right - I wanted a floater frame with a gold liner.... 

Joyful, 6x6 Inch Oil Painting of Forsythia by Kelley MacDonald

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 There's something about Forsythia that lifts the heart.  Those cheery yellow bushes reaching for the sky, and the vibrant blue of a Spring day provides the perfect backdrop for these symbols of new life.  I can never fathom the urge to crop them into little rounded bushes, because what I love about them is their reckless reaching out, the irrepressible nature of their outstretched limbs.  

Which, of course, I cut and put in jars and vases around the house!

So... a new spring, a new season, and new and interesting things to come, for each of us.

If You Can Stand Another One....

ANOTHER floral painting! As I was packing up to leave the studio I looked at the tulips from yesterday, and 'saw' a new composition.  They'd sat and gotten 'comfortable' under the light, and were opening up a little, and I painted them with a light lilac background.  Now I have my 5 floral 12x12's for my submission.  And now I think.... "they'll HATE floral still lifes!"  Maybe I should put older work in! Deciding what to submit to juries is the hardest thing.

Rununculus and Ribbon, Oil, 10x10

I'm working on some slightly larger pieces for another submission (I know, stop me NOW!).  I'm trying painting my Daily Paintings in a slightly larger format - on gessoed wooden panels.  I think it's the right thing for right now, I felt so happy painting it.  I love painting on the hard, smooth surface, and the brushstrokes lie visibly on the gesso.

Oh, my Fortune Cookie did sell at auction for the Z Gallery fundraiser for Habitat For Humanity in Haiti.  Thank all of you who came out!

Yellow Mums, 6x6 Oil

SOLD

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.

Yellow Gerbers, 6x8 Oil

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More Gerbers.  I find I like their shapes as well as their intense colors.  I put them against a dark chocolate brown background to make them stand out.  The cloth they were resting on was a warm white - I don't know if it came out that way in the photo.  I think I'm definitely buying PhotoShop!  The program that came with my mac is great for storing, cropping, etc., but for quick resizing and color matching, I don't think you can beat PhotoShop.  I used to have it on an older computer (isn't it amazing how quickly we burn through computers?), and I can't even remember which one!