Dec 6, A Commission!

Hmmm, it is tricky to post commissions right now-  I'm thinking I'm not blowing a surprise here!  I'm not sure my blog is that widely followed... or my Facebook page either!  I do love the eyes and eyebrows on Manni here!

Oh, and I also have to sadly announce that we are cancelling our Dec 11th Corrigan Eclectic Art Market due to a family health issue~

Pass that word around!  And I can possibly squeeze in one or two more commissions!  Or you can gift a gift certificate and I can get it done AFTER Christmas!  Wahoooo!

8x8 acrylic on wood

Manni!

 

Dec 3, Otter Dinner

 I couldn't think of a clever title for this one-  let me know if you come up with a better one!  We had a great time at the Minnesota Zoo the day before Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving eve?) with our little tribe of 12 year olds, and I love the otters, sea and river versions!  It's the water reflections I love the most...

This one will be with me tomorrow at Art At Ramsey!  Come see it and me!!! 1700 Summit Ave from 10-5!

16x8 acrylic on wood

$256

click here to buy!

Nov 30, First Snow Fall

 Wow!  It's been a busy weekend! I hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend!  It was restful and creative and full of 12 year old boys at our house!  I'm painting some wonderful commissions and getting ready for my three final events of the season- I'm sending a pile of work to the Bloomington Art Center for their Gifts in the Gallery event, Dec 7-21!  And this Saturday I'll be at Art At Ramsey in St Paul from 10 to 5 with a pile of other fine artists, and we'll have our last event of the year at Corrigan Eclectic in Rosemount on Dec 11th from 11 to 4!

Here's a deer painting I've not posted yet!

12x6 acrylic on wood

$165

click here to buy!

Nov 26, A Commission!

 Lucky me! Getting to paint these critters!  Thank YOU all for sending them to me!

You can still get in line for commissions, and I can possibly get them done by Christmas, though my deadline for guaranteeing that has passed, though I do have a Rush fee, if you really REALLY must have it!

I can also create a personalized gift certificate for you, if you want to gift a commission to a special someone~

Let me know what I can do for you!  Happy Holidays!

6x6 acrylic on wood

Spoken For!

Nov 23, NOT a Commission! "Otter Thoughts"

 Sometimes I'm able to paint for myself! I'm not always painting for other people- though really, I do realize how incredibly fortunate I am to be the person who LOVES to paint other people's pets!  It is something I'd wanted to do badly as a teenager, and I did do it badly! ha ha- no, I probably wasn't that bad, but as a teen, you do look at the minutiae and not the big picture so I was using pen and ink and drawing every last hair on those beasties, I tell you. I even went and sketched at the New Zoo, when it opened in 1979, drawing those sweet little Asian otters in the Tropics, getting all the hair but not a lot of the anatomy correct...

This is the river otter at the MN Zoo- no longer called the New Zoo, but I still think of it that way.  I'm hoping we get a chance to get over there this week!  I need to do some more larger otters, for my show at the Convergence Gallery in January!

12x6 acrylic on panel

$165 

click here for purchase info

Nov 17, Another Commission!

Oh, and there's a few spots left in my One-Day Painting Classes!  Sign up and bring a friend!  Limited to 8 people, and please be vaccinated and masked!  Wahoo! 

This is a sweet little kitty commission!  I've still got space for a few more!  But you gotta get em to me SOON!

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold!

Nov 12, Charlie Girl, A Commission!

 We had Night On The Town down in Rosemount last night, and I sat at Corrigan Eclectic with my mom and my sister and some members of the Rosemount Area Art Council (RAAC) for a kinda open house thing amongst the local businesses. But not having done this before, we didn't realize it was more of a bar hop, with wine and beer and "20% off!" signs at the businesses- and we were also one of the only places that required masks, which was a bit awkward... unfortunately.  

We did get a few lovely people through, and I was able to talk to a number of them about the "Deer Friends" exhibit, and it was sweet to see so many people out and about!

And I'm hoping to get a few more pet portraits from this anyway...

This is Charlie Girl!  Did I mention I love black dogs?

I think she's heading to family in Ireland...

sold!

Nov 10, "At Lake Hiawatha"

So I'm a member of "Outdoor Painters of Minnesota" or OPM and every so often I like to put a piece in one of our shows, and so we have a show at Frameworks Gallery in Highland in St Paul right now and I just dropped this piece off last night.

I got to sit (well, stand really) at Lake Hiawatha this Sunday morning to paint this- and it is really a lot harder to paint outside somewhere than you might think.  First, OUTDOORS is BIG. Really big. So big that you might have a hard time deciding what it is that you want to paint. And once you think you've decided, your brain might work against you and decide it doesn't want to stick to THAT spot, but keeps moving your eye over until you realize you are painting something that wasn't in your original plan...

Anyway, it was fun, and I think it worked out alright, and its got a nice shiny gold frame on it so that's something!

At Lake Hiawatha

20x16 framed

$700

You can buy this at Frameworks or click here and I can ship it to you after the show comes down!

my setup at the lake~ can you tell?

Me and the painting!  Do I match?

Nov 5th, A kitten commission!

And here's another one!

I'm sad but kinda glad I'm not doing HOMEvember this year- I love having a daily challenge to paint something, and homes is a really fun topic. But this winter, with Corrigan Eclectic and our Art Markets and the "Deer Friends" Opening tomorrow, I'm a bit overwhelmed!

So send me your commissions!  I'm glad to do those!

8x8 acrylic on wood

and sold!

Aren't those eyes amazing?

 

Nov 4, And another commission!

 So, yes!  It's that time of year, and yes, I am happy to paint your pet for you!  Or your house, or somewhere you vacationed and had a great time! 

I love doing these! Just send me an email and some photos!  Here's my price list for you- it will be updated in January!

"Cinco"

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Nov 3, Deer Friends is this SATURDAY! 11-4!

 I hope you can make it on Saturday to come see our show and shop at our Art Market! I've really been excited about these deer and Gina's photos- they look so good together, and I didn't take any photos of the gallery when I was down there yesterday- poop-

Anyway, come on out! Here's a link to it for you~ 11-4 on Saturday at Corrigan Eclectic, 3065 145th St W in Rosemount!

AND I'm posting a few small One-Day Paint Your Pet/House Workshops at the Ivy~ you're among the first to know, so sign up now! They are great gifts for the Holidays and you can take a friend! More info here~

This sweet little pumpkin will be at Corrigan Eclectic for the "Deer Friends" show!

12x6 acrylic on wood

$150

click here!

Nov 2, A Commission!

It's Election Day! I voted this morning-  at my polling place, the local high school, there usually isn't too much of a line, and I've heard that in Minneapolis its been a record year of people voting early!  Well, we'll see what happens!

And this is a commission!  I'm having so much fun with these!  There's still time for you to get yours done!

6x9 acrylic on wood

$185

sold!

 

October 25, Backlit Doe

 I'm amazed at how busy I am, though yes, I do realize why. I'm doing too much again. But it's all so fun!  How do you stop? And it's getting to be the holiday season as well, which means lots MORE stuff going on!

Speaking of which, we will be having an Art Opening on November 6th at Corrigan Eclectic (3065 145th Street West in Rosemount MN 55068) from 11 to 4pm for the fantastic and much anticipated collaborative show we've titled "Deer Friends"!  The photos and title are by amazing photographer Gina Easley and the paintings are all by me, using Gina's photos as references.  I'm super excited about this show and have been painting these deer since 2019 and have been wanting a show of them for at least as long. But COVID and restrictions have made it difficult until now!  So if you are free and not far from us, please consider this a personal invitation!  We'd love to have you!  And this painting will be there~ though you can buy it now and I'll mark it sold but I'd still like to have it in the show~

16x12 acrylic on canvas

$385

click here!

October 20, Camp Road

 So this is a bit overlit in the photo, but this was my landscape demo last Saturday and you never can quite tell what it looks like until you get home later and look at it. So I really wasn't sure I liked it, until I looked at it today. And then I liked it!  but I don't think the photo is good... 

But anyway!  I still like it!

20x10 acrylic on linen

$400

click here!

Good lord, it's already the 19th! Ack! A commission!

 Yup! Getting lots of stuff done, including my sales taxes for the 3rd Quarter of the year! I think people often don't realize how much behind the scenes work there is for an artist who is actually trying to make enough money for it to count as a business and not just a hobby... there's a lot of paper work!  And yes, technology can make it easier, but it also always just requires time sitting and crunching numbers.

So thank you everyone who helps me keep this as a business and not just a hobby!

Here's a commission I'm working on- I'm nearly done, and I LOVE this one!

20x10 acrylic on wood

sold

October 15th, It's FRIDAY!

This time of year feels harder, in a lot of ways... I'm tired. I need naps. In the summer it wouldn't bug me at all to be up past 9:30 at night, but now, I need to be in bed if not on the way. I'm sure it's the cooler weather and the waning light, and looking into that big, black tunnel of unknowns coming at us through the winter. How hard must it have been in the past, when your life depended on one another, and the harvest, and stocking up for the winter and all that. No time for frivolity, not a lot of time to sit still, until that was all there was to do-

Hmmm. So then, in the winter, you recharge and play violin, and draw, and sew clothes for one another, and maybe paint...

Yup!  take a nap and then paint-   and I do think laughing helps a TON. Maybe I should become a comedian. 

So I have a lovely big show coming up in January at the Convergence Gallery through Artistry, and we're starting to collect images for it. These are a couple otters that may show up there!  I need to get to the zoo and take some more photos!

9x12 acrylic on wood

$275

click here!

6x12

$144

click here to buy!

October 13, Lighten Up!

I had an absolutely delightful Live Painting Demo at the White Bear Center for the Arts last night!  It's been a terribly long week after a long weekend, and I was a bit concerned about the rush hour drive and heading home in the dark, but I was thankfully not at all worried about the painting part of the demo!  And it was a total hoot!

I think I've realized a while ago, that if I know I'm good at something then I should just push that a bit and relax into it- like I know I love to paint so I can feel pretty comfortable standing up in front of people doing it. I also know I like to talk to people and have them talk to me while I'm painting, so if I can meet them ahead of time and make us all more comfortable, it will be even better. And so I got there early and was able to meet Rhana (I think- actually, I think that's wrong-  I wish I'd written her name down!  I remember best when I write it out- I know there was an R and some As....) who was setting me up with an iPad to show on the big screen behind me so the viewers could see exactly what I was doing- and that made me feel more relaxed because there was someone helping, and then people started coming in and they had name tags on because they had to register (I LOVE name tags!!!!!) and so I was able to introduce myself and call on them by name, which was just FUN!  And so we were waiting a minute at 6 for everyone to show up and I pulled out my silly tiny joke book that I got at St Mark's Scholastic Book Sale back in 1997 or something like that and told dad jokes til we were all laughing,  and then I went ahead and started.

I had wanted to paint a 16x20 but the iPad would't show that big a piece, and I wasn't sure I could get through one in an hour, so I went with this one of one of Gina's deer that I had already painted once smaller (in a 6x12 that sold FAST after posting!) and that helped- dang, and everyone was just so delightfully chatty, especially the twins, Noelle and Nanette (I think) and when I invited them to scoooch up closer to see better, they were all happy to! The only thing that could have made it any better would have been a glass or two on wine...

Anyway, this is an awfully long post- Here's the painting and I'll continue tomorrow!

8x16 acrylic on wood

$260

click here!

October 11, A Commission!

 It is the season for those commissions, people!  If you're hoping to have a special painting done for your special someones, get your info to me ASAP!  I'm working on a few now, but can squeeze in a few more!

And THANK YOU everyone who came out this Saturday for our October Corrigan Eclectic Art Market!  It was SO sweet!  Having all the bay doors open and people drop by all day was just so lovely~

Our next one is Saturday November 6th, and that one is ALSO an ART OPENING in the front gallery!  I'll be showing my best and newest Deer paintings as well as some of the amazing PHOTOS that inspired them by my friend Gina Easley, who is an artist photographer! So it's a DUO SHOW!

More info about that soon!

Meanwhile, enjoy this house~

6x9 acrylic on wood

sold

October 6, A commission

 So we are happy to invite you to come visit us at Corrigan Eclectic this Saturday, between 11 and 4pm where we will be set up with our art and many other artists' work for your holiday shopping pleasures!

And it is because I've been working on this that I've been neglecting this blog!  I am so sorry!

I spent last Saturday morning sitting at Breck for the Blessing of the Animals and our Homecoming celebration, and as usual (except for last year!), I sat and painted people's pets and stuffies for about an hour, with my delightful and talented colleague, Carol Grams and one of our incredibly skilled Upper School students, Amira!

These are some of my images- I'll post more tomorrow!  I had WAY more stuffed animals than real ones, and I also had a long line so really, these are 10 minute sketches, outside, with acrylic on black paper and not a lot of time!

Great as an exercise!

September 30, Her Presence

 It's still busy around here, and we've got the October 9th Corrigan Eclectic Art Market coming up!  It's 11 to 4 on Saturday the 9th, and we've been planning this one and there are many fantastic and unusual artists coming~

 And TOMORROW is OCTOBER!!!!

Holy fall whizzing by!

I do have more paintings to post- it's just finding the time to post them!  Crazy ain't it!

12x6 acrylic on wood

$150

click here to purchase!