I do have so many paintings that do not get posted here~ some sell before I remember to take a photo, some are painted as part of a series and a new series happens before I get them posted, and sometimes life just gets in the way and I don't get done what I'd intended. Ah well.
This is a sweet kitty painting from one friend to another, and I'm so pleased with these eyes too!
I've painted this cat already, but it just didn't look right- as a matter of fact, I tried and tried to fix it, but nothing worked. Thank god my cousin (second cousin actually, but who's counting?) who had asked for it, was honest enough to tell me that it wasn't quite right. Now, I do know that a few people do actually read these posts (thank you! and I'm feeling well, thank you!) and I want to tell you that any artist who creates work for you would prefer to know that you like the work and will be hanging it on your wall and appreciating it for the rest of your life, or until you move and pack it into a box and forget about it for a while, but at any rate you do really LIKE it, or maybe possibly even LOVE it. What I'm saying is do NOT lie to an artist and tell them their work is great if you really don't think it is.
We can tell when you aren't telling the truth. Just like a kid, when you say "oooo, that's a lovely little house" and then they say "it's a rhino." They know you were lying.
And besides, it helps us to know that our gauge of good and bad is still working. So. There'e this cat. Who has green eyes. and Really light fur. And I'm trying to paint him on black. Which is really difficult.
SO, I decide to paint him on raw wood instead after sealing it of course because I am not a newbie.
I like this version better. I may go back into those eyes yet, because they are amazing, but I'm not sure they are done yet.
This is one of the best parts of my job- getting to live with the art! And this one is a delight~
thank you Elizabeth!
Here's another plain air I painted a week ago, up in Herbster.... how can you not love that name?! I suppose I should look into it a bit more and see what it actually means... or whose name it is..
Anyway, it's another one I had fun with, and I'm happy to have painted it! And I'll post those commissions I worked on in my hospital room over the weekend soon too~ really, it was somewhat of a big deal, I suppose, to have been in the ER and two nights in the hospital, and I'm going to see my Doc on Thursday to check my sodium levels again to make sure I'm okay, but I felt fine the next morning and was sure I'd be allowed to leave, and when they said I had to stay another night, oooooo... that was sad. But I already talked about all that.
I think what I find the most valuable in this lesson is that when I felt like I was ME, I was fine, even if I had to stay another day. It was Saturday night when I didn't feel at all like me, that was hard. I don't like not feeling like me.
And painting is a part of that!
So is laughing, and silliness- so here is a joke for you! This made me laugh out loud-
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Control Freak. Now you say "Control Freak Who?"
I've been wanting to paint this wolf since we took the photo last March I think it was? Maybe February, before lock-down started, and we went on a family jaunt to the MN Zoo, and went along the Minnesota Trail which is where I get most of my wildlife photos, and Duane takes the best ones. It's the light in this one, and that one foot, just slightly uplifted... It was such a joy to paint.
And I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out into the heat yesterday to see us at Dock6 Pottery! It was actually really fun to see people and to get set up together as a family, and we did well at the sale, despite the excruciating heat. One the down side, I am at Abbott Hospital for observation after experiencing some scary and strange symptoms yesterday after we took down the event and Duane and I figured it was Heat Exhaustion so he took me to the ER and they've been very kind and pumping me full of sodium and phosphates and I've been bored silly so Duane brought me my laptop and my paints and I've been working from my room here. Kinda a mini-vacation, I suppose... Do just make sure you are taking care of yourself in the hot hot days. I've been amazed at how serious they say this could have been... and I was drinking water all day yesterday! I just didn't eat enough... And I'm fine now! I'll be home tomorrow!
SO we are getting really excited and geared up for our Family Pop-Up-Art-Shop tomorrow at Dock6 Pottery!!! I do hope you are able to swing by! We'll be there from 10-3pm, Duane and Maxie and Me!
I'll have this painting along as well, though if you really love it you could buy it now and beat the rush!
I'm particularly in love with the purples and yellows in this one- that was an amazing morning, back in March! what an incredible lake~
So, yes, there is a blue version as well. I'm not sure anyone other than me would know what I see but this is it~
Minnehaha Creek, and there's these bits of blue---- do you see them?
Another plein air one!
I thought maybe you'd enjoy seeing another bit of Minnesota water... this is Minnehaha Creek, right where Nokomis Ave crosses it, and where I really enjoy sitting and painting the water. I'll have this one with me at Dock6 Pottery this weekend for their first Pop-Up Art-Shop! 4206 East 34th Street, right across from Turtle Bread~
We'll be there, all of us, me and Duane and Max, this Saturday June 5th from 10 to 3, selling our wares! Come buy something and squirt us with water- it's gonna be a hot one!
Isn't water an amazing element?
Or you can buy this one now and I'll mail it to you!
This is another plein air I painted in Herbster this weekend- dang! Itt was just such a treat! And I'll be painting a few more of the kayak trip in the slough... which I do not know how to pronounce... I'm wondering if it is related to the work Loch at all... hmm
Anyway, I like this one. I'm going to make it an auction, just for some more fun! Hey!
Oh my goodness. We just spent a weekend on the south shore of Lake Superior, and it was beautiful. I've been stressed (really? Who hasn't?) and we left on Saturday and I kept falling asleep in the car, and when we got to our friends' house, I was still pooped and ended up napping even more. I think that's my stress reaction- to get tired and need sleep. Sometimes a nap can heal it, but this was a much deeper tired.
And then, there was the lake.
And it just stayed where it was, and changed constantly.
Dang.
I do hope that you are having or are heading into having a lovely relaxed down-time kind of weekend. As a teacher, this weekend always represents the ending run of a long year, and this has been one of the longest I can remember. The kids are excited and crazy, the teachers are exhausted and overwhelmed with end of the year stuff, and I count my blessings as an art teacher who has her own room and can spend her time spinning through the masses of items and materials in there at this time of year.
It's all good.
Really. And this is the last of the little pile of paintings I did sitting in front of the patio door on that Monday morning a few weeks ago, as the lake breathed the morning air back at me.
And yes, here is another of the Sealed-Raw-Wood Plein-Air paintings from May 10th, and there's one more I'll post tomorrow. The idea of painting Plein air is to try to capture that moment in time, which is what most artists are attempting to do when they paint a scene or anything based on reality. Time keepers, time treasurers, time freezers? I'm not sure but we'll find a good name!
Wow! I got such a lovely response yesterday on Instagram about The Pink Line- I may have to do some more of those on sealed raw wood- big brushes, baby!
This one is also from that series, painted looking out at the lake from our deck at the East Bay Hotel~ the light is always changing. Living by a lake must be a magical experience...
On our last morning in Grand Marais, I spent some time painting a series of small Plein Air Paintings on our balcony of Lake Superior. I had intended to spend some time doing Plein Air the entire week and it is amazing how time disappears on you when you think you've got a lot of it... that's another thing I'd like to tell a younger self... there's just not as much as you think! Don't you dare be bored!
Anyway, this is the last one I painted, trying to get that faint pink line on the horizon. This is painted on a 6x12 raw wood panel that has been sealed before painting so the pale wood shows through instead of my usual black.
This is a commission I've been working on- did I mention how much I love painting black animals? This magnificent creature was so fun to paint, and I had a hard time figuring out the background that would best fit her majesty. I think this one is the perfect answer. I included an earlier background below~
Oh and the "30 Dogs in 30 Days" project will be set in August this year! So do start thinking about your dogs and send me your photos!
Wahoo!
I painted this for a demo in class this morning, letting my students choose which photo they most wanted to see me paint. We were looking for something with a lot of green, and as I painted this, I don't know that there's as much green as I thought... and I was wanting to paint some water since that's what I'm obsessed with at the moment. This is a photo from 2017 in England, visiting friends for puppet stuff, from a walk along the little river in Hebden Bridge near where the workshops for the Hebden Handmade Parade were being held, and I've always wanted to paint it! So YAY!
I do think it feels "right" for my memories of the day and the place. That's the fun part about painting- you're trying to suggest an emotion or memory, I think, rather than an actual depiction of the photo.
I like it!
This one is another exploration of the color of water, and especially that greenish tint it has over the rocks. There isn't a lot of seaweed around here, the water is clear, so the color must come from sky reflections and the depth of water. And when the sky is overcast, there's a lot of grey~
Good thing I like grey~
I titled this one "Rocks Under My Feet" because they are there and are what holds me up even though it might look like I'm standing on the water.
My son got his first COVID shot today, and was just asking me if he still has to go to school tomorrow...
God, I love that kid so much! He's 12, as of March 31, and he's been saying recently as well "I thought I was still ELEVEN!" I'm not sure where the confusion there lies, except that it has been a crazy year well worth forgetting. Though we can't do that because there's been an awful lot of glory as well~
Ah controversy~ what would life be like without a little drama now and then?
Like a sunset, with dramatic clouds, and a blast of light streaming down the waves...?
This is a little view of my favorite (land) model but from the other side, in front of the East Bay Hotel.
I'm rather taken by the funky clouds streaking across the sky....
I'm making this one an AUCTION! for FUN! Because I'd like to actually sell something this month!
Wahoo!
And with auctions, you can usually get them for less than the actual value, so keep an eye out!
This is a 9x12 of our little pug Bunny, and I currently have it up for sale on my Art-A-Whirl Store! This is a weekend long event that has typically been the start of my Art Fair Season, and this year I am not going to be anywhere in person again, and so I have opted for the On-Line Store version here! Most of my work has a sale price on it, for this weekend ONLY so take a look! This painting is usually $216 but for this weekend only it is $175!
I don't know if you are around pugs much, but they are utterly charming little beasts, and we are all enamored with our Bunny. I love painting the little cuss. She's lying on top of our kitchen heating vent in this painting, and in a sunny spot, so she's getting warmed from all sides at once. That's why she's smiling...
Can you tell?
This one is still from March, because I haven't had the time to take all my newest paintings' photos in good light yet, and plus it is really hard to get back into the groove when you've been gone for five days. Especially when you haven't gone anywhere in over a year. And when it's the first time you have been away from your best friend and your son in over a year. And I missed our pug too...
So anyway, I'm happy to be home, and I'm still fascinated by water and all its colors and I hope to continue to play with the colors I love, and I had Duane take a photo of me holding this painting so you could get a sense of its size...
Thank you!
