Tuesday, December 29, 2009

"Downtown" - SOLD


This is another large acrylic painting (18 x 24) with some copperleaf. The photo barely shows the leaf, but it shows in real life. This is my version of an abstracted skyline. It could be NYC, Minneapolis or any other city you see.

THANKS AGAIN STEVE. THIS LOOKS GREAT IN YOUR LIVING ROOM.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

"Different Strokes Portrait" - TRADED


There is an online painting group called "Different Strokes From Different Folks". Every month there is a photo submitted and posted on line. Painters from all over the country interpret and paint from that photo. Then all the work is posted on line. For the month of December, we were asked to submit a head shot photo of ourselves. Our photos were sent to other participating artists (who we didn't know) all over the country and they painted from that photo. So this lovely gal I just painted is another artist (I don't know) who may be painting my portrait. I have posted the photo of her below so that you know what she really looks like!!


Unknown artist photo UPDATE: The artist is now known! Meet Kris Wood. I feel like I know her quite well after studying her face for hours while painting her. She's a fellow artist, art teacher and Sooner fan (which I will not hold against her). We have agreed to trade our finished portraits with each other. This turned out to be way more fun than I could ever have imagined.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Molly Update


This is Molly running across the living room after her first bath. She is actually moving quite fast. I took several photos that showed no dog - she's that fast!


She may look like an innocent puppy just sitting there. But this little girl is very smart. She is always studying her surroundings and learning at lightening speed. She has only been with us for 1 week and today we only had ONE "accident" in the house. That's amazing. She's very clever and extremely bright. She has already done her homework on the cat and knows just how fast to run by her and the exact distance she needs to be from those dangerous claws!! We're so proud of her!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

"Galveston Boats" - SOLD


Thanks Cheryl for purchasing "Galveston Boats" - I know you are sick and tired of the cold and snow in PA! May this warm your heart a little. It will be there before Christmas.

Meet Molly



Meet our newest family member, Molly!! She's a 10 week old ball of fluff (Yorkie). It's been a little over 2 years since we lost our other 2 dogs, and we felt it was finally time to add to the family. She's smart, full of energy and learning how to deal with Sweetie Pie (Godzilla cat). So far the cat is still ruler of the household.

Friday, December 18, 2009

"Colors" 3 - SOLD


I've been laying low for a few days because I had another heart "issue". I had to have more stents added and now have a total of 5!! I've been feeling just a bit "glued" together. Today I'm back painting because it is for the most part stress free joy. We adopted a Yorkie 10 week old puppy last night and I'm trying to get her settled in while keeping the cat from delivering claw hooks and jabs. It's been an interesting morning!!!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

"Ad Man" - SOLD


I really enjoyed this fun painting. Thanks for the opportunity. I wonder how many people will recognize the back of your head!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

"Metals Abstract 2" - SOLD


This is a large one - 18 x 24 acrylic. I've photographed this painting 4 times and each time it looks totally different. It's extremely difficult to get an accurate photo because of the shine thrown off from the copperleaf. I think the overall colors are a bit dulled in this photo, but it's the best I can do with the equipment I have. I also couldn't decide which direction to post it. It can be vertical or horizontal, upside down, etc. It's about to drive me nuts, so I'm posting it and moving on . . . .

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"Metals Abstract 1" - SOLD


I decided to experiment with mixing metals with acrylics. I used some copper leaf on the canvas and followed with acrylics. This is another one of my tiny pieces - 4x4.

Monday, November 23, 2009

"Horse of a Different Color" - SOLD


I got to thinking about Cowboys the other day which reminded me of horses . . . so I decided to paint a horse. Even though I used to raise Quarter Horses, I've always like the sculpted shape of Arabian heads. This was also a color mixing experiment. I used only the 3 primary colors plus brown and white to paint this. It was a challenge mixing the colors, but fun all the same.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

"Strove, Italy"


Every year we drive to the quaint town of Strove. There's a wonderful restaurant there which we can never remember the name, so we call it "yellow chairs" restaurant. Everyone knows where we're going. This is a building we pass on the way to the restaurant. We arrived when the shadows were good, so I decided to paint it. Please remember that there are 4 of us exhibiting right now at the Daily Grind Coffee House in Round Rock. It's in the strip center next door to Bank of America at Great Oaks & 620. Please stop by if you can.

Friday, November 20, 2009

"Big Brother Watching" - SOLD


Here are 2 varieties of apples. I forgot the name of the one on the left but it tasted better than the 2 on the right. Yes, I ate my set up again when I finished painting it.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

"Sunkiss Melon" - SOLD


This is a new type of melon I found in the store the other day. It's kind of late in the season for melon, so it must be shipped in from some exotic place. Decided to paint and eat it. I will let you know if it's any good.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

"Blueberry Surprise" - SOLD


Still thinking about food, but got carried away with this one. It's still part of my mini-series, but reflects a different mood swing. Thank you Tom in Massachusetts - Hope you enjoy this little painting.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

"Bosc-a-nova" - SOLD


I think I've been watching too much "Dancing with the Stars". For some reason these two pears looked like they were ready to start a dance together.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

"Veggie Bowl"


This was a painting I started in Italy and finished this weekend. I had it all blocked in, but had not gone back to put on the final coat of paint. I painted this on our second rain day before we used the ingredients to make dinner later that night.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

"Triple Peppers" - SOLD


I think I'm through with the peppers for awhile. These will be cooked soon and will be gone. Think I'll start another abstract series. I have one of my friends in town from the Italy trip and we have been in my studio for the past 2 days painting. Needless to say we are having a wonderful time.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

"Triple Gold" - SOLD


This Saturday my traveling buddies will be gathering at the lake to have a Italy reunion. We will all bring a favorite Italian dish, great wines, deserts, share our photos and just reminisce about great times. These peppers are going to be part of the dish I'll bring. One of my favorites; Italian Sausage & Peppers over penne pasta.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

"Kissing Pears" - SOLD


I've been doing a lot of grocery shopping lately and have decided to start painting some of my purchases. With the current prices, they may now be considered valuable items. I had to paint the red pears first because they are extremely ripe and need to be eaten immediately.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

"Big White Pumpkin"


I actually painted this a long time ago, but because of what day it is . . . you know . . .
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

"Monteriggioni Church"


This is a partial view of the large church located in the walled town of Monteriggioni, Italy. This is such a quaint little town completely surrounded by high rock walls with lookout posts at the very top. The entire town is located on the top of a hill so they had great views of any enemies approaching. Now it's full of restaurants, gelato stores, art, gift shops and actual residences. We definitely enjoyed our time spent here.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

"Man in the Hat"


Not for Sale. I took a one and a half day workshop a couple weeks ago with Joe Fettings. Anyone who has taken his workshop will recognize this guy. The students all painted the same image with the same basic color combinations. We were learning how to lay down layers of watercolors and blend. Even though we all painted the same subject, at the end of the day, we all had different individual paintings. Each person's "style" came through on every version. Fun class, but very exhausting. It's tough bending an old mind in new directions.

Friday, October 16, 2009

"Fruit & Veggies"


This is another watercolor sketch I did one day when we had a big rain storm at the Villa. This particular day we were planning to eat the eggplant and use the cucumber in the salad for dinner. I decided to paint this before they were gone. I had to slap hands twice to save the bananas before I completed my painting.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

"Villa Next Door - II" - SOLD


Last year we stayed at the villa behind the one we stayed in this year.
Last year I set up an easel one day and painted the "The Villa Next Door"
and that's the villa we ended up staying at this year. This painting is
a plein air painted from our front porch view looking in the same
direction as last year, but seeing yet another villa next door. I wonder
if this is a form of painting destiny. Think maybe this will be the
next one we actually stay in next year???

9 x 12 Oil on Canvas



THANK YOU TERRY & JAMES. MAY YOU ENJOY A LITTLE BIT OF ITALY WITH YOUR NEW PAINTING!! This is the community pool at the villa compound. Everyone staying
here has access to this olympic size pool. There's a cabana and bathroom
off to one side and is also surrounding gardens and stunning views.
You can swim some serious laps in this pool.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

"Villa Gardens"


This is a watercolor sketch of the villa patio next door. I was looking for a shady spot to sit and decided to do a quick sketch of this view. I tried to do at least one quick study of something every day.

Preparing for the Sunset


This is just one of the nightly sunsets we watched from
the rock wall.


Below is preparation for watching the sunset. Wine at hand,
snacks at the ready - just watching and waiting. We came
in for dinner after the sun completely disappeared behind
the distant hills.



Left to Right: Diane Peters, Courtney Brown, Carol McCollum, Rae Andrews, Eileen Pestorius

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

"Italian Hay Bales" - SOLD




THANKS JAMES & TERRY! HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS. This is a painting I started in Italy and finished at home. These hay bales were just down the road at the bottom of the hill from our villa. We decided they needed to be painted and several of us painted our version of this scene. It was fun comparing our different interpretations.

Traveling Partner


This is my traveling buddy, Rae Andrews, who's a super artist and best friend. We've had many road trips together, but this was our biggest one to date. This was taken at one of the many great restaurants we tried along the way. As usual, we are toasting another wonderful day in Italy!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

"Castillina Storefront"


This is a watercolor postcard I sketched while sitting at a sidewalk cafe sipping wine one day. The town was Castillina in Chianti and whenever our group got separated, we'd always stop outside a cafe and sip wine. Eventually, we'd all find each other and continue sipping.

Monteroso - Cinque Terre


This is the town of Monteroso, where we stayed while visiting Cinque Terre. We got off the train and walked to our hotel, dragging our suitcases behind us. We loved this town with it's many great restaurants, old town, hiking and beautiful water. We ate dinner at one of the sidewalk restaurants and immediately thereafter, jumped in the ocean for a refreshing end to the evening.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

"Sunflower II" - SOLD


This little watercolor was done from one of my photos taken in Italy. We missed the huge fields of blooming sunflowers, but I snapped a photo of this big one in a local gelato shop. I enjoyed looking at the sunflower while eating yet another Pistachio gelato.

Villa View


This is a piece of the view off the front porch of our Italian villa. This is the scene we woke up to every morning. Later I will post some of the spectacular sunsets we watched every night looking out in this same direction.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

"Garden Flowers"


Well, I'm finally back from Italy and what a trip it was!!! Three glorious weeks in Tuscany with a side trip to the Italian Rivera (Cinque Terre). I pretty well shot the month of September with travel, but it was all worth it. This little water color sketch was done one day from a couple of flowers I picked from the garden at our Villa in Tuscany. I will try to show a few of the photos along with my painting dabbles as I begin posting again. I did miss everyone, hope a few of you missed me too!

Travel Buddies


These are my traveling buddies. From Left to Right: Rae Andrews, Me, Eileen Pestorius, Courtney Brown, and Carol McCollum. Taking the photo is Diane Peters. I'll sneak in another photo of Diane in a later post. We are all fellow artists who regularly paint together at home and if we're really lucky, get to travel abroad once a year. We toasted many many glasses of great Chianti wine together in appreciation of each and every day, sunset, meal, painting, gelato and anything else we deemed worthy.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

"Cochran House" - Study


We braved the 100+ degree heat the other day and went downtown to plein air paint this old mansion. It's one of Austin's treasures and a great place for events. They are also very "artist friendly" here. The curator was gracious enough to come out and bring us cold water while we were withering on the vine.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

"Italian Architecture"


Last year I snapped a photo of this building in Italy. I can't remember what town this was, but I liked the way it looked. Since it's only a couple of weeks before I leave again for Chianti country, I'm trying to get my head back into the country. Ciao!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"Colors" 2 - SOLD


I finished this companion piece to "Colors 1" last night. It took me a couple of days to get the mood back. As you can tell by the number of posts this month (or lack of) I'm not as available for painting right now. I'm getting ready for my annual trip to Italy and will be gone most of the month of September. I will paint while there and hopefully have a batch to post when I return. I want to thank everyone who follows me and are moved enough to leave me comments on my work. You all don't know how much that means to me to hear from you - it's the force that helps keeps me encouraged and moving forward. Thank you!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

"Colors" 1 - SOLD


As most of you know, we are in the middle of a horrendous heat wave and drought. I painted this one on 2 consecutive 105 degree days. I had no preconceived image, rhyme or reason, just pure mood/feelings are expressed. Quite a change from my previous 2 paintings!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

"Galveston House"


Before the hurricane, we'd run down to Galveston a lot. There are so many old charming houses there. This is one I drove by on the way to lunch one day and just loved the place. I snapped a photo and am just now getting around to painting it. I've got to get back, but will probably wait until this horrible heat wave is over.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

"Going" - SOLD


This was painted alla prima (all at once) and took 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was attempting to lay the paint down quickly but accurately. My natural tendency is to keep going over my paint work with additional adjustments. I was attempting to force myself to lay the paint down and LEAVE it alone. Sounds easy, but it's not.

Friday, July 31, 2009

"Mountain River" 9 - SOLD


Ok - this is it - the whole enchilada!! This is the total 9 piece puzzle that about drove me crazy to paint. I attempted to post the 9th piece by itself along with the entire piece. Don't know if it worked or not. If not, the 9th piece is the upper right hand corner.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

"Mountain River" 8


One more after this and the entire piece is DONE!! This is the center piece in the top row. Maybe we've all been concentrating on water (or lack of it) lately and we were finally blessed by some desperately needed rain today.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

"Mountain River" 7


Here's the top upper left hand corner - the only piece without any water. I will photograph the final 2 pieces tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Mountain River" 6


This is the far right side of the center row. I finished the final pieces on this today. Whew, it took a lot longer than I though it would to do this project. When I get to the 9th piece, I'll show the entire project photographed as one.

Monday, July 27, 2009

"Mountain River" 5


This will be the very middle canvas out of the total 9 pieces. Hopefully if all goes well, I will complete the final 2 pieces tomorrow. I want to send out a big THANK YOU to Rebecca at The Home Spa who sold my "Lone Drifter" painting today. You have been a tireless supporter and I appreciate all that you've done.