Roadside Trees #7, Sunset on the Way Home

I have to say I love painting trees.

As I've let more than a few clients who commissioned paintings of houses know what I am doing is painting the trees and sky around your house, not necessarily YOUR HOUSE.  I think this love and awareness came from my first purchase of a REAL piece of ART, from an actual gallery.

Back in 2001 I was in Grand Marais at the Sivertson Gallery while taking a workshop at the Art Colony and I absolutely fell in love with a painting.  I couldn't stop looking at it.  The depth of emotion I felt while engaged with it was immense-  I misread the title, understanding it to be "The Love Tree" rather than "The Lone Tree" and that was what caught me.  I related to this tree, blasted, alone, dry, yet with leaves still attached with hope and expectation~  I'd just come through my divorce which left me relieved and vulnerable, sad that lives couldn't be fixed, carefully hopeful that better things would be on the horizon.  I wanted this painting to be a part of my life.  And I wanted the actual painting, the real thing-  a replica just wouldn't be the same.

So I asked about purchasing it and was told I could pay an amount every month and when I'd paid it off I could come pick it up, with no interest!  Wow.  I could OWN this piece!  It was reasonable, even generous on the part of the gallery, and so I bought my first piece.  I saw it in May and paid it off by November.  A friend accompanied me back up North to pick it up, and I've been very happy with it since.  You can see it at the bottom of this post~

As a matter of fact, this initial collection of art brought the realization that it was possible and that art CAN be in MY home....  I am not sure why this hadn't occurred to me before then, maybe somehow I felt I would never be able to afford art from a GALLERY, because that was outside my realm.  I now know MUCH better!  If you love a piece of art, just ask!  Most galleries and artists are very willing to work with someone if they love something.  I've been delighted when people want one of my larger works, and am always very happy to accept payments and sometimes even trades.

And I have been painting again!  Took a few days off last week-   this will be the last auction of the year!
Here is my tree for today~  It's the way looking at trees makes you see the sky that I love-  and that looking close enough to paint means I am really looking closely-  I see the real colors then!  So many possibilities!

6x6 acrylic on panel, click here to BID!

 And here is Faith Lowell's "Love Tree"~

My sisters and mom have also collected Faith's work, and Beaner even arranged for us to meet her at her house a few years ago.    There is something luminous about all her work, and it is the trees that I am the most drawn to~

Parkway Evening Drive, Winter

Wowsers!  I hope you've been having a lovely break from everything too!  I finally decided I'd better sit down and get back to all this or I'll forget how to do it!
SO, before the new year starts, I just want to thank all of you who have followed and supported me this year in growing this artistic life of mine!  I have to say this has been an amazingly successful year for me and my family, and I am excited about what is coming up next as the new year dawns!  I'll be contacting people about lending me back 8x8 portraits from past years' "30 In 30" projects for a group show I have coming up in Feb and March at St Kate's, and my mom and I have a show in Hudson in March of our Irish paintings, and I will be continuing the bi-weekly auctions after Jan 5!  I will also be offering Wed night Painting Lessons starting Jan 22, contact me if you want in, and I'll send out more about that later~

For now, I have this lovely scene from my daily drive around Lake Calhoun~  Max and I figured we actually go past four lakes on our way to school every morning!  And I think this is Calhoun....

9x12 Acrylic on Panel, ready to hang!  $160!  Buy now by clicking HERE!

Calhoun Snowy Pine

Cripes!!!!

Alrighty-  this is a quickie-  a snow covered tree, on my way home, Lake Calhoun near 36th Ave and the Lakewood Cemetery…

It's a little one, 5x6, acrylic on panel!  You can bid for it HERE!  Yay!

Another Bear for auction!

Wow what a busy weekend!  holy buckets!  I need the weekdays to REST!  So the gathering for my opening at Rye last Thursday went well, and I wanted to thank all of you who intended to come but then e-mailed me to let me know you wouldn't be able to make it!  I was able to spend some time with a dear friend I don't get to talk to enough, and when she left at 5:30 I was wishing I'd made the hours 4 to 6, instead of 7…

SO instead of sitting by myself nursing a glass of wine for another hour and a half, I bravely (and I DO mean bravely-  can you imagine how much courage this took?!?)  picked up my box of cards featuring my artwork and went around to all the tables and introduced myself, saying, "I am having an Art Opening and thank you for coming, and since you ARE here, I wanted to thank you by giving you a card!"  whew!  This was so great because people were very kind and lovely and I got to talk about my work and explain what I am doing and chat with people I might not have met~  and it just felt good!  But WOW, did that take me buckling myself up and steeling myself for some rejection!  Goodness!  and I was exhausted afterwards!

And THEN when I got home I had a text from a beautiful couple of friends who had arrived just after seven, and another friend this weekend said the same thing!  I was simply wiped out by 7 and had to leave.  I used to be able to stay up late….

And here is today's auction!  A lovely bear-  I wanted to call this one "Contemplation" as well, but since that is the title of the wolf from last Wed, I guess I have to come up with something else.  I do like how he is turned away from us, looking over his domain.  For some reason "Smokey the Bear" comes to mind…  maybe he is scoping for forest fires?

"Scouting His Domain" 6x6 acrylic on panel, click HERE to buy now or BID!

Contemplation

The funny thing about painting all these wolves is that old folk tale version of the wolf, as scary and heartless and hiding in the woods to take advantage of little girls in red capes…  And I have always preferred the wolves from "Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling,  and the ones from "Never Cry Wolf" (catch it on Netflix HERE if you never seen it!  Great scenes of Charles Martin Smith enjoying life on what wolves actually eat!) ~
I have my students illustrating "The Three Little Pigs" and a number of them are animating a part including the wolf, and it is kinda fun discussing the cultural atmosphere that produced these moral tales~
Thus, another wolf for the second auction of this week!

Contemplation, 6x6 acrylic on panel, and you can click HERE to bid now!  Or BUY for $65!

White Wolf Profile

Good morning, kids!  Hope you are having a fine sunny sharp morning like we are!  It was funny this morning- Fattoush, our Lebanese adopted tabby cat, went up behind the curtain of our bedroom window and began talking up to the tree like he sometimes does in the summer through the screen at squirrels and sparrows.  Max and I tried to figure out what he was after and then saw the murder of crows at the tip top of our walnut tree, bobbing and calling to one another.  I don't know if Fattoush heard them or saw them first but it was pretty interesting….

Anyway, here is another version of the white wolf at the Mn Zoo, looking rather alert this morning...

This is the first Auction of the week!  6x6 acrylic on panel, can be yours by bidding HERE or you can buy NOW!  Good luck!

Shasta Frolic!

We had a gas yesterday at the Shasta Building, despite the cold!  My mom, Rita and Mary Ila and I set up out front in the loading dock and spent some time figuring out how to block the cold coming in!  Whew!  I have to admit I started out crabby, the cold making setting up panels and sticking in hangers a painful task to my puny weak fingers...  thank god for Ila's good humor, and the Ceramics of Dae Dra and Luci, and their generous mimosas....

So come on over today, last chance this year to see the amazing space that created Shasta Pop!!!  And here's one of my wolves, still available, 6x6 for $65!

Autumn Stag

Here is today's auction!  Yup, there's that nifty negative space around those glorious antlers!! I just LOVE that!

He's a 6x6 acrylic on panel, with a floater hanging system on the back!  Heckuva deal!  You can click HERE to bid at $25 or if you are the first to click, you can BUY him outright for $65!

And at the Gifts in the Gallery Sale (starting TONIGHT and going through December 18th!) at the Bloomington Art Center you can find a number of original paintings BY ME of wolves, bears and moose, starting at $65!  PLus cards and prints!  Come on out and see!

And of COURSE you can also come by our studio this weekend at the Bottle Rocket Building (3530 E  28th St, Mpls)for the Seward Winter Frolic!  Sat Dec 7th 10-5pm, Sun Dec 8 noon to 5pm!  Lots of artists!

AND then there's the OPENING HAPPY HOUR at Rye Deli next Thursday the 12th from 4 to 7!  Come see me and my newest paintings!  And enjoy happy hour at the greatest deli!

Trying out a new idea...

I'm seeing if this works for a blog post…
A Slideshow of all the frogs and toads of October!  I am learning new things at school today, and think this can be a great way to show art!

Click HERE to see the slideshow!

Lowered Rack

I missed posting another auction last week, and am being engulfed by commissions (which I am LOVING!!! So don't be afraid to contact me for YOURS!) but I really will be posting two auctions a week!  Last week's wolf is still available, and worth more than the $25 I post them at, so BID on it already!
And here is a moose for this week!

It's kind of a massive image for a 6x6 acrylic painting!  Click here to BID or BUY nOW!