So this face belongs to my friend Dean. My best friend Jill took the photo in the early 70's. In this shot he looks a little like Horshack in the TV show Welcome Back Kotter. This is face #12 in my series One Hundred Faces.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Face Number Twelve
So this face belongs to my friend Dean. My best friend Jill took the photo in the early 70's. In this shot he looks a little like Horshack in the TV show Welcome Back Kotter. This is face #12 in my series One Hundred Faces.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
One Hundred Faces #11
Friday, December 11, 2015
One Hundred Faces with Character
This is a friends Golden Retriever who spent the Fourth of July rolling tennis balls into their swimming pool and then retrieving them! When I placed this panel up on my counter to dry, my own dog began growling at it. She was upset that I had brought a strange dog into HER house! I wish she were my only art critic!
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Face Number 9
Monday, December 7, 2015
One Hundred Faces
Friday, December 4, 2015
One Hundred Faces
This painting is part of my series of One Hundred Faces, painted on 6 x 6 panels. I have a long way to go but I wake up excited to paint each morning!
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
One Hundred Faces
These two paintings are part of my series of One Hundred Faces, painted on 6 x 6 panels. I have a long way to go but I wake up excited to paint each morning and after my pause in painting, it is very lovely to enjoy the process!
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Faces With Character
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Delightful Faces
I have hit a plateau in my painting for the last few months and whenever that happens, I find it helpful to do something else that nourishes my soul. By a plateau, I mean that I feel like I can't find anything inspiring to paint, I don't know if I even remember how to paint and I will probably never paint again. But I know that feeling and I also know that it will pass with time.
Then I realized that I needed an "assignment". You know, something to paint and learn from. I love painting people and animals so I decided on collecting 100 photo's of "faces". There are two online photo archives that share photography with artists for free that I use. One is Morgue File which is a strange term but they have high end photo's that are free to both businesses and the public. The other is Paint My Photo which is a gallery full of both photo's and artwork. The photo's are taken by both professional photographers and world travelers with just their cell phone. After just a few days of collecting photo's from these two sites and my own photo's, I have close to 372 photo's!!!
I decided that I would paint from one of these reference photos every day that I don't have something to paint for a show or a commission was so freeing. Mostly because it's both fun to paint again and it doesn't have to be perfect!
If you look at the two photo's above, you will see that the upper one is the original, cropped to fit a 6 x 6 canvas panel. The second one is one that I have played with in Photoshop and "posterized". It gives me an idea of interesting colors to add while I am painting. I used the same method for my Portal Series of windows and doors.
My regular photo of Elvis |
See how it takes a fine ho-hum photo (these are both mine) and gives it a certain zing that makes it fun? So much richness and pops of color!
Elvis - my chicken with a hairdo and attitude! |
I have four paintings that are finished from this last week and I started one today that I ended up wiping the paint off the panel at the end of the day because it just was turning into mud. But I am excited to start a new one tomorrow! I will post the finished ones on Sunday! Stay tuned.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Pathway to the Beach is Through the Forest!
In September I spent three weeks at the family cabin in Lake Tahoe and it was so relaxing! No cell service, no TV, no interruptions (except for the occasional bear, coyote or deer in the surrounding forest)!
Just time to paint, read, paint, go to the beach, paint, relax.
I'm loving my "new" outdoor studio.......
I was working on the above painting "Pathway to the Beach" and also my online challenge of 30 Paintings in 30 Days which were "Portals" - windows and doors.
Pathway to the Beach - 30 x 40 |
It is hanging at the Marilyn Citron O'Rourke Art Gallery in the Benicia Library. Hope you can drop in and see the various delightful paintings done by the group of painters I belong to Bay Area Studio Artists!
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Sneak Peek
Suzun Almquist hanging our signage |
A new show is now hung at the Marilyn Citron O'Rourke Art Gallery in the Benicia Library - Light to Dark.
Above is the main wall where three paintings display a high-key "light" painting (by Marcy Wheeler), a balanced medium painting (by Joanne Taeuffer) and a low-key dark painting (by Sharon Tama).
The group of women who I paint with BASA - Bay Area Studio Artists, just hung the show on Friday and will be open to the public through November 19, 2015.
Hope you can drop by and enjoy the art!
Sunday, October 4, 2015
BASA Show at the Benicia Library Oct. 10 - Nov. 19
Thursday, October 1, 2015
14 Paintings in 30 Days
The month of September was full of learning and letting go. I have been in the Sierra's for the last three weeks and thought I would have oodles of time to paint since some of that time I was at the cabin alone.
Number One - I went to a larger size canvas. In January's online challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days, I used 6 x 6 panels and this time I was using 8 x 10. Just that little difference made for a longer painting session.
Number Two - I used my own photographs for the most part instead of an artist's rendering which is what I did in January. With the photograph I had to make my own decisions as to how I perceived the image.....this took longer than the artist's rendering where they have already made most of the decisions for you, like cropping, composition, coloring, etc.
Number Three - In January I was very disciplined about having a daily painting schedule. There was something about being in the mountains this time that made me think....."I'm on vacation and there will be plenty of time later."
Number Four - Was about cutting myself some slack and being proud of what I did accomplish in 30 days. I have 14 new paintings that I would not of had otherwise!
I still intend on doing my 30 paintings but now on a more leisurely schedule. I'll keep you posted!
Monday, September 21, 2015
Challenge - Day 20 &21
Day 20 is from a photo I took last Fall in Paris at Momartre.
Day 21 is from a hotel we stayed at in Bordeilles with a Roman bridge next to it. Beautiful place. The window is from the dining room.
I have been in Tahoe and without cell service so I am painting a lot but can not post often. It's beautiful here!
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Challenge - Day 13
This green shuttered house was painted while relaxing with family and friends in Lake Tahoe! Day 13 of Leslie Saeta's online challenge of painting 30 Paintings in 30 Days.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Painting Challenge - Day 10, 11 & 12
Day 10 of Leslie Saeta's online painting challenge 30 Paintings in 30 Days was of a small window in a house in the French Pyrenees. Friends of ours own this house and barn up in the Pyrenees near the town of Banca. What I found interesting about this window was the little hole in the shutter and the sliding cover. The window faces the barn and I imagine the farmers wife yelling for her husband to come in for dinner through the little hole during a cold winter snowstorm.
Day 11 is of a charming yellow door with wonky stone steps leading up to it with a beautiful climbing rose on the wall nearby.
Day 12 is of a row of windows with light green shutters and window boxes full of a jumble of flowers tumbling out. Location is in Dinan France.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Challenge - Day 7
Day 7 - Dinan, FR |
Sorry if you received two posts today as I forgot to publish Day 6 on time! So it is officially one week into this challenge and Day 7 is of two lovely shuttered window where the late afternoon sunlight is casting long shadows across the stones and the white shutters. I love how "wonky" and ancient everything feels!
This is Day 7 in Leslie Saeta's online challenge 30 Paintings in 30 Days.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Challenge - Day 5
Day 5 - Dinan, FR |
My husband and I have traveled to this little town in France several times. Dinan is a walled Breton town with many half-timbered buildings along cobblestone streets. I enjoy sitting along the river bank sketching the delightful town & her people.
This is day 5 in Leslie Saeta's online challenge - 30 Paintings in 30 Days.
Challenge - Day 6
Day 6 - Lamon, Italy |
Ten years ago I was fortunate enough to visit where my grandparents came from in Northern Italy. It is quite common in those areas to see this type of shutter on windows. Many times there would be an elderly woman watching the activity on the street or talking to a neighbor through them.
This is Day 6 of Leslie Saeta's online challenge - 30 Paintings in 30 Days.
Friday, September 4, 2015
Challenge - Day 4
Day 4 - Santa Fe, NM |
Several years ago I took a workshop with Carol Marine in Santa Fe, NM with fellow painter Nancy Hartley. Early one morning I walked around town and snapped some photos of doorways and windows. Amazing colors around that area of New Mexico!
So this is Day 4 of Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. My theme for the 30 days is Passageways.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Challenge - Day 3
Day 3 - Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume |
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume is a small village in Southern France near Aix-en-Provence and is known for it Basilica which has relics of Mary Magdalene. There were some beautifully painted buildings near the Basilica and when I spotted this one with the linen outside airing, it reminded me of Italy. I love how part of the scene is in shadow while the rest is flooded in bright sunshine!
This is Day 3 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days online challenge!
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Day 2 Challenge
Day 2 - Saint-Cirq-Lapopie |
Saint-Cirq-Lapopie is named one of "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France" meaning it's one of the most beautiful villages in France. It's a quaint little village in South-Western France in the Lot area. My husband and I traveled there just last Fall. I have several windows from this charming little village!
The archway going into Saint-Cirq-Lapopie |