This is Red Dog, for my dear friend and artistic colleague, Michelle~ there's a lot of facial anatomy going on here in this one! That wrinkled brow and concentrated look are a wonder of contrasts.. and I'm still not sure about the background color, so I may be going back into this one-
However, the day calls and I needed to get this started and posted before I run off to the Crafts Cabin for my morning of pottery with kids!
Wahoo!
Okay, this is one of those dogs that just about painted himself! I see the photo and I'm thinking "this is the most adorable face I've ever seen!!!" and the paint just knows where to go!
Here's what Donna says about this sweet pup!
"Linus is a 9 month old mini Bernedoodle. He is bouncy and friendly and loves nothing more than to be with his family and friends. He is just what the doctor ordered when winter hit and the pandemic was still a long way from over."
There were a few photos of this guy, and I had a hard time picking which one I wanted to paint. And I ended up going with this one because he is just so freaking cute. I think it's the wide open eyes...
I do hope to post these a little earlier in the day- I'm working on that for tomorrow morning. It's always tricky getting into the routine at first! I hope to do most of my painting in the mornings so I can post before noon!
Wahoo!
Yay! I am starting the "30 Dogs in 30 Days" Daily Painting Challenge to myself NOW! And this is Lily the Hammer! I can see why~
Some dogs really fit their names, and this has to be one of those~ It feels like she could hammer you with that nose at any old suggestion, though I also think she must have a great sense of humor~
Oh and I've made some adjustments to the Official List already- stay tuned!
Another one from Grand Marais- maybe it's the diagonals? I just love the contrasts of this environment! And being at camp is more of an all-day adventure than I'd quite realized... there isn't as much free time as I'd anticipated, and so painting isn't all that easy... and it is exhausting, quite honestly, so I'm in bed pooped by 9 or 9:30, and then up at 6:30. And when storms come through (as they have twice this week now) everthing gets disrupted and it's All Hands On Deck to make sure the kids are safe and all stuff is tied up and sea-worthy! And it was really wild to live for three days without power. Really hard to paint in a cabin under cloudy skies. Very little light!
But I am getting the dogs in a line, and will be sending out the Official List tomorrow! Still have some spaces left! Wahoo!!!!
This is another 6x12 of the Point~ I love that water!
We are in Grand Rapids MN, and had a severe storm come through on Monday evening and we've been without power and internet since then. Though since we are a camp for boys and girls and a number of the cabins have no electricity and the kids aren't supposed to have devices, the inconvenience is only for the adults!
So I came in to town and am at the local Caribou Coffee on the internet here~ such is life, and the sacrifices we must make!
I'm getting my list together for the Official List of 30 Dogs for this August's daily painting challenge and there's still time to get a dog in! Wahoo!
Hopefully we'll have power tonight!
I'm painting a few more of these smaller long ones, because my gallery in Grand Marais, the Yellow Bird, has been selling them and need more! And I love this view- you can sit by the lake and every single morning is a different experience.
I guess that's kinda like life, isn't it? Every day is a different experience. You just have to pay attention.
I am so appreciating the "Camp" experience. I do carry my phone around with me all day, but I am not on computer unless I am up here at our cabin in the "High View". And not having the device open in front of their faces means the kids are a bit stunned at the massive amount of human interaction they are being forced to have. And it is so great!
Every morning they jump in the lake, for a "Dip", and every evening too! And then all day they are running around and walking around and in the woods and up the climbing wall and just moving all day long. It's amazing! I'm loving it!
Though I have to admit that the limited internet connectivity is wreaking havoc on my daily blog posts...
This one is from Sunday!
We are here in the woods. The air quality isn't good everywhere in Minnesota right now, but it feels like this much green is filtering the bad air for us. I'll do some paintings of the green around me too, because I think everyone probably wants some green these days...
And it seems too, that where it is green, the rain goes. Like a little atmospheric thing of like attracting like, you know? Which is why I really think EVERYONE should plan another tree in their yards! EVERYONE. And if you have room, plant two! Or be like our friend Andy in Grand Marais who is planing his entire front yard in various pine trees. He doesn't need a front yard, he says, and they provide so much for wildlife as well as a screen for him and wind protection. We need trees.
Even lakes need trees.
We had an incredible opportunity to spend some time as a family up north this summer, at Camp Mishawaka, and this is the dock. We were supposed to be up here last summer for two weeks, but because of Covid, camp was cancelled. Happily, we were invited to pop up here and hang out for a few days last August, so we could see what the place was like. Max loved it! He caught fish, we saw an otter, I painted some trees...
This year we are here for a month, and it has just started. Wow. I have been WAY walking my 10000 steps a day PLUS, and we are on the move every day from morning til night. It is beautiful and green, and we have Bunny up here too, and Duane is King of Crafts for the Boys Camp, and I am Queen Of Crafts (or maybe Witch, if you are a Terry Pratchett reader!) for the Girls Camp. Max is embedded in his own little squad of boys and is loving it and growing daily. We get glimpses of him here and there when he charges in to give Bunny a tumble and a squeeze!
I'm painting too, and this one is a plein air of the dock from Tuesday night~ been a bit busy! And I'll be painting the first 15 dogs from up here! I've got a studio space set up in our cabin. I'll send pics of that too.
AND lucky us! My niece Melissa and her new husband Josh are housesitting for us while they wait for their new home to be move-in-able! Whew!
I started this painting last night when we got here, to Camp Mishawaka, and I finished it tonight. It's not of this lake that we are at, right now, but of my favorite spot in Grand Marais~ and it was a foggy morning on the 4th of July and there were a lot of people out already when I took the photo at 6:30!
And I painted another one on the lake, watching the sky change color, sitting on a dock that slowly turned blue with the setting of the sun. Love it!
So this is Dior~ I painted her a while ago, and it is an example of when the client needs to be clear about what they want-
I didn't see the ribbons in the photo, so I painted Dior without ribbons first~
Okay, shoot, I can't remember how big this one is, and it's at the studio... I'm going to guess its an 8x10, though it may be a 9x12 or 11x14, which means you may be getting a bigger painting for the price of a small one, maybe...
And I have to say, wow. I like to be busy and involved and to have lots of stuff going on and the past year and a half has been really hard for that, and things are starting to really pop now! We had so many fun things happening recently, like my birthday (THANK YOU everyone who came to that!!!!!) and then we had a family gathering because my beloved uncles were in town, and then I went and made boots in Grand Marais (thank you ANDREW and thank you SUZANNE!) and then we had an incredible amazing unbelievably story-book like Gallery Opening!!!!
So thank you!
And this painting is for sale as an 8x10, regardless of how big it is! Wahoo!
This one is from the morning of the 4th of July, and it was foggy and cool, and probably the start of the Canada wildfire smoke... beautiful, but then you think about the atmosphere and get a little bit sad...
I do love the arrangement of rock and water and tree, and the diagonals created by their convergence.
And today is our BIG DAY!!! We have our Opening of Corrigan Eclectic today in Rosemount, MN! Come on out if you are in the state! We're open from 4 to 8 today, and then from 11-5 tomorrow!
And I will have this BRAND NEW painting with me there! You can buy it now and pick it up, or I can mail it to you if you can't make it out-
It's from this summer's trip to Grand Marais and from Cobblestone beach, the one with the really big round stones so it's a little tricky to walk on... our dogs don't really like that beach! I think it hurts their feet...
Not sure about the spelling of that title but I really like it! And I intended this one to be rather layered, with sky, water, waves, rocks, all that...
Love it!
I'll have this one and a few more super recent paintings with me on Friday in Rosemount for our Corrigan Eclectic Gallery Opening, so come and check them out. We'll be there Friday from 4-8 and Saturday from 11-5, with lots of family friendly fun stuff happening on Friday!
This is another one painted on a magenta ground instead of a black one. Its fun to switch things up sometimes, and try something new. Not that this is new... but sometimes I need to do something different to see what else I'm capable of. You never know unless you stretch yourself~ and only you can know if you've stretched yourself to your fullest capability!
Anyway, I'm rather pleased with the waves and foamy bits on this one!
So I just got home, and unloaded the car myself while my 12 year old son continued a game he was caught up in on the kitchen table, telling me loudly about it in excitement (at having someone who would actually listen, partially). Suitcase, bags, jugs of water, that kind of thing, and I think you may know I was up at the Northhouse Folk School in Grand Marais since last Wednesday, making boots with Molly Grant of Cordwainer Shoes (I made a pair of Pathfinders two years ago, on my birthday and had such a great time!). Having already taken one class with Molly, I knew it was a full-day commitment, and that it was also physically demanding- especially the lacing of the sole to the body of the shoe. As a matter of fact, I think I was so tired yesterday as I did the final few holes at 5:20pm (class goes from 9 to 5, but Molly is always in by 7:30, and usually is still there til 6pm...) that I'm lucky I thought to walk back up the hill to my friend's house where I was staying, much less remember to take a photo or two...
As I just mentioned, I was invited to stay at our friend Andy's house, after we saw him in March when we were up earlier in the year and I was talking about the class and finding a place to stay. And he was serious! So I had a great, quiet, cool, beautiful (did I mention Andy is a wood worker and carpenter?) place to stay, and it was so... so... soothing. Like taking a deep breath. Well, like sitting by that big lake and not thinking about anything.
And this is the painting Andy liked. So it's still up there!
SO.... yes there's a lot of things I should be doing, but my internet is really spotty where I'm staying and I've been busy every day making boots with Molly Grant of Cordwainer shoes! I have also been squeezing in some painting time every day and having a great time in Grand Marais with old and new friends. And here's some photos of what I've been doing....
They are a bit reversed....
So this is from a couple weeks ago, when I sat painting at Paradise Beach, carefully burning my legs while Duane went looking for agates and Max flopped around on the rocks, throwing some in occasionally... it was great!
I'm back up at Grand Marais now, without my boys, to make BOOTS at the North House Folk School and it has been a gas so far! I'll post some photos tomorrow, but right now I'm a bit pooped and will be heading up the hill to figure out my supper~
Yay!
Oh and its been a while, so I'll make this one an auction! Usually this size would be $256, so I'll start it at $50~
It was painted while sitting on the beach, observing the many different colors the water makes as it moves and the light shines through it~
Hee! Yes, I love dog butts- there's something about the symmetry of the hindquarters that appeals to my sense of balance, I think... sure, that's it. It can't be that I love the tails, the hocks, the ankles and pawpads. That I am entranced by the swinging of those doggy hips, the swaying of the tail, or the fact that most often that is my view as I take our three dogs on our daily morning trot.
Yup. Gotta love a dog butt!
And I think I posted this one before but it wasn't complete then. And now it is!
So DO send me your dog photos for the 30 Dogs in 30 Days Project! Oh and you can also catch some of my pet portraits at the South Hyland Pet Hospital in Bloomington, if you happen to be in the area, as well as at Poppie's on Grand Ave in Saint Paul! Now that people are vaccinated and out and about, I thought I'd mention some places you can see my paintings!
