Thursday, October 24, 2013

Water Lily II

This is a little 8x8 oil on canvas board.  I have a real soft spot in my heart for Water Lilies and every now and then feel compelled to paint another one.  So there you have it!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

This is an 8x8 oil on board reflecting 'just another window' you might see while visiting France.  I never get tired of their wonderful planter boxes and decorated entrances.  It's especially refreshing for me since I have a major black gardening thumb.  My latest potted herb plants just croaked - again. 

Monday, September 23, 2013

Molly's Spa Day

Molly had a big spa day and I thought she was so cute she needed to have her picture on the blog.  She received another excellent report card and a big bag of treats for being so good - not to mention she smells pretty good too!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

French Door

This is an oil painting I did while at Dreama's workshop in Kentucky.  I'm trying to capture the essence of the scene without too much detail and keeping my colors clean.  Like I've said before, the French and Italians like a pretty entrance full of beautiful plants to welcome each person thru their door.  Funny, I rarely ever see anyone attending their plants, they just seem to magically be there in full bloom for the viewers enjoyment.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Rooster Proud

I happen to love roosters.  They are, well, sort of cocky.  I like the way they strut their stuff.  This guy just said 'I'm proud to be me' so I painted him.

12x12 Oil on Board


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Abstract Still Life II

This abstract was painted right after the one posted below.  I think I was in the same frame of mind and had our own little conversation going. 

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Abstract Still Life I

I've been playing with my watercolor abstracts again.  I've just completed 2 "still life" paintings (16x20) and this is the first of the two.  This one incorporates watercolor, oil pastel and watercolor pencils.  I really enjoy painting this type of work.  I paint and the painting talks back to me.  It's sort of like a conversation in color. 

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Southern Spain

This is my last little painting of Spain (5x7).  It's just another scene we walked by while on a stroll one day in Mijas.  It was meant to capture their love for colorful potted and blooming plants.  This town was extremely clean.  It looked like Mr. Clean had just visited right before we got there.  Loved that place.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Decorated Donkey - Mijas, Spain

I'm still posting my recent travel paintings.  This sweet face was one of the donkeys that were lined up and ready to take tourists on  little rides around town.  They were so sweet and just loved having their noses petted.  We couldn't resist them but we sure smelled bad for the rest of the afternoon!



Sunday, July 28, 2013

Positano Hotel, Italy

This is another tiny travel painting from Italy.  It's that wonderful little town on the Amalfi coast called Positano.  This scene is part of the entrance to a beautiful hotel that had rooms overlooking the ocean.  Fun day, great memories. 

BTW, all my little travel paintings are now on exhibit in the Chase Bank Building at 700 Lavaca in downtown Austin.  The lower level is called the Corridor of Arts.  I am exhibiting with 5 other Kindred Spirits who I travel with.  We can walk by each others paintings and know exactly where it was painted.  There are several paintings from our recent Hawaiian vacation together and each and every one is different and unique to the artist who painted it. 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Read

Here's something different.  This is a watercolor I recently painted for an upcoming GT Library exhibit.  It's hard to really see the calligraphy detail in the painting but it contains some of my favorite books and was motivated by my love for reading.  I like to throw out a curve ball every now and then.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Osprey Nest - Lake Sam Rayburn

This is the first painting I did after my return from Kentucky.  It's a large Osprey nest straight out in the water from our lake house.  It's close enough for me to watch the action with my binoculars.  I've been watching it for months now.  There are two babies and a very attentive Mama.  I've seen the male fly in with a large rat in his claw for dinner. . Nice family.  The 'babies' are getting rather large now.  I wonder how long they are going to hang out at home. 


Sunday, July 14, 2013

Maui Sunrise

I just returned from a great trip to Kentucky for an oil painting workshop with Dreama Perry.  It was a very long journey, 1070 miles by car, but well worth the time and trouble to get there.  I will be using a totally different color palette I learned from the workshop that is includes very bright cheerful colors.  We stayed in a town called Paris which was just beautiful.  There were huge thoroughbred horse farms with rolling lush green pastures all around us.  It was so green and lush it almost hurt your eyes.  They have obviously had a lot of rain and it was like being in another world.  We were lucky enough to be invited to one of the oldest horse farms in Kentucky while there.  We were able to tour the owner's home and see their operation.  This is the time of the year when the baby foals have just arrived.  We watched a couple of them run and buck in the pasture and it was a beautiful sight.  Their land and homestead date back to the Civil War.  So much history and such a rare treat to be able to visit with them.  I'm off to start painting with my new color palette.  I hope to have some new paintings showing my new lessons soon.


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Black Sand Beach - Maui, Hawaii

I'm posting again before leaving town for Kentucky.  Phew - I'm just a traveling fool.  My BFF Rae and I are hitting the road first thing tomorrow morning to head to a 3 day workshop in Paris, Kentucky.  Yes, there are good painters there.  We will take an oil workshop from Dreama Tolle Perry; whose work I greatly admire.  So I'm leaving you with another one of my recent travel paintings of a black beach I've visited many times over the years when on Maui.  It's still the same and that pleases me very much.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Old Maui Church

I am just returning from the lake house but have been painting.  I did a series of little travel paintings from Hawaii and Spain (5x7's).  This one is a little old church we passed while driving around on Maui.  It caught my eye when I first saw it and decided right then it would become a little painting. 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sam Rayburn Sunset II

This is the last sunset painting I have right now.  But never fear, I'm headed that way tomorrow and will just paint some more.  Meanwhile I'm working on some small travel paintings.  I'm trying to paint a few from Hawaii and Spain.  So much to paint, so little time . . .
This trip to the lake will be an extra adventure.  I'm taking the dog and cat.  The cat has never gone anywhere (except to the vet a couple of times) and it will be quite an experience.  I have a little "kitty downer" pill all ready for her.  Hope it works!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Lake Rayburn Sunset

Another peaceful sunset from the lake house.  I was walking back up from the water early one evening and caught this angle.  This is a more "normal" sunset on a hot day without any prior storms.  I'm currently working on a group of little 5x7 travel paintings.  I leave this Wednesday for a week at the lake so I guess I'll be painting more East Texas sunsets!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Lake House Sunset

As most of you know, we recently purchased a little lake house on Lake Sam Rayburn.  I do a lot of sitting on the back deck watching the sky and water.  On my last visit I brought some 8x10 boards and started painting sunsets.  This one was after a big storm.  The lake went from glass in the morning to surfing waves in the afternoon.  That particular storm had 30-40 mph winds and it was pretty exciting to watch.  After it was all over, the sky lit up in oranges, yellows and magenta.  BTW, this is an oil painting.  It's the first one I've done in over a year!  I'm trying to get used to working with them again.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hotel Palm - Watercolor Sketch

Back at home base in Spain (Costa del Sol) I sketched a palm tree in bloom right off the balcony.  This is the last sketch I did while on this trip.  I guess I spent too much time running around taking photos and jumping on camels.  Since my last post I've returned to our new Deep East Texas lake property on Sam Rayburn. I've finally moved in all the furniture and pretty well have it livable now.  It's available to enjoy some good fishing and painting time now.  Stay tuned for some sunset paintings I did while I was there a week ago.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Camel Ride - Morocco

When the opportunity presents itself to ride a camel . . . once again, you just do it!  I was so excited to jump on this camel (without the aid of the foot stool) that I ended up bruising the insides of both thighs.  But hey, it was all worth it and I got on in one flying leap.  The bruises have just healed so all is good.  This was so much fun but I did smell at bit like camel the rest of the day.  Oh well.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Moroccan Restaurant Photos

This is a a photo of my friend Char who is also an Austin artist.  We are in the Moroccan restaurant and are at the end of the meal drinking our mint tea (which BTW was really yummy). We are all sitting on comfortable raised floor pads and we had just scarfed down a wonderful authentic meal.

When you're in Morocco and you are asked to join the band . . well you just do and enjoy it.  Do you see the guy in the upper left hand corner lifting his little red hat off his head?  Guess where he's going to put that hat??



Yep!  Right on my head.  Gotta love it!!!

Fat Cat-Watercolor Sketch SOLD

This is another small watercolor sketch I did in Spain in a town called Fuenirola.  None of us could pronounce the name of the town correctly so we kept calling it the "Fu-nor-rela" town.  We laughed every time someone tried to talk about the town because absolutely no one could pronounce it correctly.  Anyway, there were all these lovely fishing boats and lots of cats along the piers.  I noticed they looked very fat and happy even though they were all feral cats.  I liked this one because he had a pretty cool attitude so he got painted.  I ended up selling the sketch to someone who came by our little art show the last night we were in Madrid.  I almost forgot to post the Moroccan restaurant so I'll do a double post tonight.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Kasbah Woman/Morocco - Watercolor Sketch

Another brief interruption.  I went to our new lake house over the Memorial Day weekend, so now I'm back to posting the Spain watercolor sketches.  One of the great side trips I made on this trip was to Morocco to visit the Kasbah.  What an experience that was.  All the women with their head coverings and not many who wanted photos taken of their faces.  In almost all photos I have the women have turned their heads or bowed their heads to shield their faces.  This sketch was of a typical scene along the narrow alleyways in the Kasbah where people sold fresh baked goods.  Someone reached out from a doorway while our group was walking by and handed us a hot loaf of this bread and we all tore it apart and shared it.  It was wonderful.  On this particular day we went to an authentic Moroccan restaurant for lunch and were entertained by a belly dancer and musicians.  There were so many wonderful things for sale in the market place, but we didn't have much time to shop that day.  There was so much ground to cover going thru the streets, plus lunch and a special rug tour. Tomorrow I will post a couple of photos from that special lunch.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mijas, Spain - Decorated Donkeys

 This guy is waiting to give someone a ride around town. 

How could you not love this little guy?  They were all so festive and seemed to like the extra attention they were getting from me petting their noses.  Just precious

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Cocina Door - Mijas, Spain

Well I'm back from a wonderful time in Spain.  The first part of the trip was in the southern most part of Spain referred to Costa del Sol.  It's right at the southern tip of Spain.  The hotel overlooked the beach and boardwalk and the breaking waves could be heard in the room.  There's nothing that puts me to sleep faster than listening to the ocean.  The first day trip was to a little town called Mijas.  It wasn't very far from the hotel and had wonderful white buildings, decorated donkeys and great shopping.  The above door is a small watercolor sketch I did from this town.  I'll post a photo of one of those adorable donkeys tomorrow.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The Genius

Sorry I've been gone for so long.  I've been traveling again and just returned from a great trip to Hawaii with 4 wonderful artist buddies.  We visited Maui and it was truly paradise.  I think we traveled every square inch of the island and made sure we got to do a horseback ride and swim in one of the Seven Sacred Pools.  I now have hundreds of reference photos to paint from when I settle down in my studio.  In just over a week I'll be hitting the road again with more art friends to visit Spain.  This year is a very busy travel time for me and I've loving every minute of it.  Unfortunately, it's cutting into my painting and posting time.  Ha  The above painting won PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD at the 5th Annual Imagine Art Event.  What a fun surprise that was at the end of the evening when the votes were finally tallied.  Thanks to everyone who voted for my painting.  It is currently on exhibit at Texas State University, Round Rock Campus, 4th floor until May 16th. 

Monday, March 25, 2013

Oasis

I apologize for the long posting gap.  I've been busy with other art exhibits and purchasing a small lake property in East Texas - another story.  This is my painting that is currently on exhibit at this year's 5th Annual Imagine Exhibit at Texas State University.  It won third place and I was thrilled.  It's mostly watercolor but has some acrylic and ink.  This exhibit will be up and available for public viewing Monday thru Saturday until May 17th.  It's a fantastic exhibit and worth your while to make the trip.  The 3rd floor is all photography and the 4th floor has paintings and sculpture. 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Announcing - Retro Series - SOLD

This is the third painting in the retro series. You know this stuff really isn't THAT old is it??

Monday, January 28, 2013

The State - Retro Series - SOLD

Another icon from Austin.  This is the second in the series of retro paintings for Steve.  11x14 Acrylic on Canvas

Friday, January 25, 2013

Radio - Retro Series - SOLD

I did a series of 4 retro paintings which all sold to my favorite collector . . . .Steve!!  You rock!!!  I thought it would be nice to share these with others.  This is acrylic on 11x14 canvas.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Violin Floral

I painted this watercolor from a photo of a floral arrangement from last year's Imagine event.  We are sneaking up on this big event so everyone please mark your calendars.  Friday night, February 22nd at 7:00 pm,Texas State University, Round Rock Campus (Off University Drive which is the same as 1431).  It will be a huge gala and everyone who attends has a wonderful time!!! 

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Tsunami II - Collage

My artist buddy and partner in crime Rae decided I needed to rename this diptych to Tsunami.  So I have renamed them.  This is the second half of the duo.  Textured collages do not show up well in photographs so these need to be viewed in "real life." 

Monday, January 7, 2013

Tsunami I - Collage

Happy New Year everyone.  I hope you all had great holidays and are getting back to the regular world.  I've been working on a large collage that I ended up not liking.  I decided to split the composition and turn it into a diptych which I preferred much more.  So this is part one of my latest abstract.  I think my mind is still on the Italian coast although I had nothing in mind when I started these.  This work is constructed with all hand painted papers, some pencil and oil pastels.  Comments are always welcome.