Up NOrth Painting~

 Yep! I'm up north a bit, painting and working with kids! Got some pups around here to paint so that helps too, and there's always the beauty of the lake to pull me in. This painting is from a cloudy sunset- and all that color is true! The sunsets are amazing up here!

It is pretty chilly up here too, which I absolutely love, except for those few minutes between taking clothes off and getting into the bed, and that other time of getting OUT of the bed and into clothes in the morning!

And just as a little reminder, SEND ME YOUR DOGS!  I'm still looking for a number of dog photos for my July 30 Dogs in 30 Days project!

Wahoo!

Evening Light

9x12 acrylic on wood

$215 

click here to purchase!

June 10, Boris

 Yes, another commission! I seem to love fluffy fur... it's really fun to paint. With the black ground I paint on, it's painting in the highlights for the most part! Not a lot more to worry about!

Love it!

Oh and if you want to learn how to paint from me, I'll be offering some classes in July, just one day 2.5-3 hour classes on how to paint your pet! 

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold!

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June 7, Another Pup!

 I''m collecting photos for this July's 30 Dogs in 30 Days project and I'd love to paint YOUR dog too!

This was a commission for a friend to give to a friend, and I'm told was very well received- I can't quite explain how much it means to me to feel that a painting of mine can help breach a gap and heal a little love~

It's pretty cool...

12x14 acrylic on wood

sold

Another Commission!

Okay, so sometimes I fall in love with the pet I'm supposed to be painting, just from the photos, and this is definitely one of those....

Can you tel why?

Those large, liquid eyes, piercing you with love (and probably a desire for bacon) and that fluff, and the sweet little nose...

Just all of Hubert is extremely loveable!

BUT you can have your OWN painting of your OWN beloved pup and I can paint it this July for my 30 Dogs in 30 Days Project!  More info HERE!

6x6 acrylic on wood

spoken for!

 

Sydney! A Commission!

 Hey y'all! I'm just about done with school for the year, and getting ready to start lining up DOGS for 30 Dogs in 30 Days! If you have some dog pics you want to send me, now is the time!

This was a commission I finished up a little bit ago- I am so lucky that I truly enjoy painting commissions! And this one was SO fun- something about that gaze, those ears, that lip....

I'm so lucky~

10x10 acrylic on panel

sold

May 13, Bella and Jack, a Commission

 Yes, I love to paint, and I love to paint animals, so I am really lucky that the combination of both of those results in plenty of commissions!

It means I get to paint what I love, AND I know the artwork already has a home!

This is Bella and Jack, an incredibly sweet pair of doxies~

9x12 acrylic on wood

sold

May 2, Art4Shelter!

Friday night was the annal Art 4 Shelter fundraiser for Simpson Housing Services, and I was live painting there along with my fellow artists Barrett and Jennie who were also the artists who were with me in 2018!  It was super fun, I was able to get two paintings done and both were bid on and claimed!

The first painting was from a photo I found on insta-  I need to write to the person and let them know I painted it! The dog is just so sweet and silly and I loved all the fluff!

And the second is an otter~

And there were SOOOO many people!  I really hope we did well!  Steve is retiring, the guy who has led so much of the work to get the new shelter built over by MIA, and it is beautiful. It's just so hard in the world right now to know what to do next, what can help, and things like this make me feel like I am actually doing something to help, even in just a small way.

April 29, Mincing Steps

 Yes, another spanish goat.... my brother just got the greatest photos of these!  He and my sister in law are great hikers and on this day they went on a 14 mile hike through the Spanish hills where they were staying and saw all these goats... I loved this one's step and that lifted foreleg!

24x36 acrylic on canvas

$1750

click here for purchase info!

April 27, Spanish Wall Walker

 Man, i meant to be posting WAY more than I have been!  Sheesh- 

This is a goat from a photo my brother sent to me while wandering in Spain back in March- I was fascinated by the shapes of her (or him... don't know why but she strikes me as more feminine... how do you sex a goat anyway?) and the spaces around her, and by those crazy clingy sticky hoovies!  Look at how she's standing sideways!  Oh and the eyes too!  SO cool!

I'll either have her with me at the Sculpture Park Art Fair at the Walker May 9 and 10 or I'll be hanging her at Diamond's for May-june!

24x36 acrylic on canvas

$1750

click here for purchase info!

April 8, Spanish Goat

 I'm getting the 30 Cats over to Diamonds this afternoon to hang them for the month, so if you're in town, feel free to come on by!

This goat is from a photo my brother Tom sent a week or so ago when he and his wife were rambling around Spain. They are true adventurers... finding out of the way places and hiking for 14 miles up and down stony areas, taking amazing photos so I don't have to. And that's where these goats were! 

I loved this one, those toey-hoofies clinging so well to the rock~

And the big sky above~

12x24 acrylic on canvas

$576

click here for purchase info~

April 5, Sea Otter Life

Here's an Easter Otter for you! This is a lovely large one I painted in Grand Marais at the end of March, during my residency with Michelle Miles at the Art Colony. I am still obsessed both with otters and with water reflections and how to paint something nebulous and ever changing...

The nose and head of this otter look a lot like a capybara to me, something with the shape of her nose. I also love that paw just lifting from the water, and the creamy colors of the rocks behind her, and something about that calm look in her eye...

Oh and the whiskers!

Gotta love those whiskers~

24x30 acrylic on canvas

$1440

click here for purchase info~!

April 4, Cutie Patootie

 I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, playing a bit in Florida with Duane and Max, and my uncles' generosity... but this is a little pup from my Grand Marais Adventures! I'd taken this photo a long time ago at LOLA in our neighborhood, and just love that little face, and the earnestness those eyes are looking at you with....

8x8 acrylic on wood

$175 

click here for purchase info~

March 31, Oliver the Guinea Pig!

 I had a request for just One more critter for the month, and because Beth has been a fantastic patron and because she sent SUCH a cute photo of her Oliver, here he is!

I LOVE those little toesies!!!!

6x6 acrylic on wood

sold!

March 30, Sargent Hunter Hartmann

 I just got back from my week up at the Art Colony- I'll start posting those paintings this week, actually...

And Michelle was with me up there- she has been a part of this amazing cohort of women artists who annually work at the Art Colony together. We were begun as a group gathered through artist and poet and one of the original WARM artists, Elizabeth Erickson. She guided us as a part of the Women's Art Institute and gently nudged and poked and prodded us into developing skills and seeking further knowledge about our chosen media, as well as exploring other subjects and tools. She was an incredibly generous soul, very quietly but strongly spiritual in her own living. 
So we continue as best we can.

And this is Michelle's sister's cat, who carries a very strong name for such a strong face.

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

March 29, Daisy's Cat in the SInk

 This is my friend's daughter's cat, in her sink, quite conveniently waiting for anyone wanting to wash their hands or brush their teeth... she's got such gorgeous fluff!  I'm sure she left some fluff around to make it interesting...

6x6 acrylic on wood

gifted!

march 28, The Roosevelt Pigeons for Principal Ledesma

 Max is a junior at Roosevelt High School, which is also 3 blocks away and contains a multitude of simply amazing, generous, thoughtful, considerate and kind humans including the legendary Principal Ledesma, who somehow manages to do his job and be everywhere at once!  He is at games, plays, choir recitals, picnics, breakfasts, and he's great at posting about how incredible his students and staff are. This painting is from a photo Principal Ledesma posted of the two pigeons who are living on the roof of the school, and he's named them after the assistant principals, Lucas and Gonzales.  And since I seem to be on a cat mode, I thought a bird or two could be fun!

11x14 acrylic on canvas

on hold

March 27, Smokey~

 Here is Smokey, from Christine for Anja's birthday, with a story about Smokey written by Anja~

"Smokey, a 21-year-old Chartreux with a dense blue-grey coat, golden eyes, and a calm that never left her. An angel who followed one like a loyal shadow through the highs and lows of life together, always appearing at one's side, steady and present, a gentle constant through every season.

That gentleness had a story behind it. The Chartreux is one of France's oldest natural breeds, tracing back to at least the 13th century. For generations, Carthusian monks at the Grande Chartreuse monastery near Grenoble shaped these cats into what Smokey was — resilient, patient, intelligent, and almost meditative in spirit. Smokey embodied all of it. And like those original monastery cats, no mouse ever escaped her. That same stillness could shift, in an instant, to lightning-fast precision.

At 21, she was the equivalent of a centenarian — and not a single year showed in her spirit. No drama. No fuss. Just unconditional dedication, morning after morning, night after night.

She proved what centuries of history already knew. Graceful, devoted, and deeply loving — right to the very last day."

6x6 acrylic on wood

sold

March 26, Izzy for Jesse!

 And this is Izzy, who was Jesse's cat when my friend Lissa met him, and so this story is in her words- and they are the lovely people who found and raised our Pipin for us!  Excellent cat fosters!

"Izzy was Jesse’s cat before I met him. When I came into the picture, he would wake me up at 5:30 every morning as per the pet psychic he thought that was the only time we had together. Lol! She told him that wasn’t correct and after that he really blossomed.

He was my outdoor gardening buddy hanging out under large rhubarb leaves. You could flip him on his back and clip his claws. Very malleable kind of cat.

He was really the easiest and the best! Such a snuggler!!

  

He was the best at taking any sort of affection that was given to him. My son would drag him around upside down and would purr the whole time. He loved having his tail pulled and would ask for it.

He was also the best mouser ever!"

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold!

March 25, Max's Marvelous Mustachios

 I did have a scheduled creature for today but I haven't gotten the photos yet so I'm jumping ahead to this one, which is actually a photo I took of my sister's giant cat Max, who is a huge personality, and i loved his whiskers in this!  It is a large painting, 24x24 so the mustachios have an even bigger impact in person...

And I am sending out a reminder about my Paint Love Six-Week Session starting on April 11, Saturday from 9:30-12! Because you KNOW you want to!!

24x24 acrylic on canvas

$1152

click here for purchase info~

March 24, Miko for Chloe

 I'm up in Grand Marais at the Art Colony painting for a week- glad I have some cats to concentrate on because, as usual, I'm all over the place and not sure what I really want to paint, and I have a new passport and want to go up to Canada since I haven't been there in forever, but I'm a bit nervous and haven't left yet and now i'm afraid i'm going to need a nap before I go because I've been up since 6:30...

Fudeg-

And this is Miko, my nephew's girlfriend's cat, which is sweet because he is pretty allergic to cats! Though I do think he likes them...

6x6 acrylic on wood

spoken for