October 31, "The Tractor"

Yes, I actually meant to post this yesterday...  I didn't intend there to be anything creepy about this... I liked the light and the shadows under the big tires.  And I liked the highlights here and there and thought it would be fun to paint.
Happy Halloween!

6x6 acrylic on panel, click HERE to bid starting at $35, or HERE to BUY at $75!

October 29, "The Silver Birch"

There was one tree that made me gasp as we trundled along on the haywagon.  I couldn't believe how huge it was, or how white.  It was somehow surprising to see it there, above the cornstalks, as if it were meant to be somewhere more glorious, more elegant.  But what could be better than the royal deep hues of the naked trees behind and the brilliant blue of the sky?

Yes, I rather enjoyed painting this one.  There'll be more, if I have anything to do with it!

6x6 acrylic on panel, click HERE to purchase!

Oct 28, "Max and Duane at the Minnesota River Valley"

So, I am not sure this one is finished yet, and I have some issues with it.  I started it on Saturday during my Painting Lessons as a transfer of a photo to an 8x10 panel.  What I like about it is that I feel I learned more about my mistranslations when drawing from a photo, as my instinct was to make the light areas much larger than they actually were, and the dark areas smaller.  Isn't that weird?  But at the same time it makes sense to me...  because light does expand and dark diminishes.  And I do think using the transfer helped me get Max's face sorta... though I still am not happy with that~  it feels rather pointillisitc as well.~
Hmmm....  people-  such a problem...

8x10 acrylic on panel, NFS

October 27, "Pawprint On Glass"

What a busy weekend!  NOW I have all sorts of photos of the in-laws-in-laws family farm including an incredible silver birch tree that was glowing silver in the afternoon sun...  dang!  SO much to paint, so little time!
At any rate, here is a small piece from the otter photos we took on Saturday at the MN Zoo! They were just dancing and playing and bouncing off the glass in front of us!  I do feel these may lead me into some form of abstraction as well...  I really loved the sharp shape of that paw pressed briefly against the glass wall-  it seems such a human gesture- some attempt at communication...

6x6 acrylic on panel, click here to bid starting at $35 or to buy at $75!

October 26, "I'm Waiting..."

So we went to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday, after my incredibly delightful Painting Lessons class (SUCH a great day!  Talking about Mondrian's trees, and Tom Thomson and the Canadian Seven and how they all paint trees!) which was so much more fun because two of my studio-mates came in to work as well as we all listened to the 80's station on Pandora!
At the zoo, the otters were all playing and dancing and being oh so entertaining!  So for SURE there will be otter paintings this week!
This one is a small study of a dog~  a pretty darn sweet dog~

6x6 acrylic on panel, click here to bid starting at $35, or BUY NOW for $75!

October 25th, "Minnehaha Creek, July 2014"

SO this morning in my Painting Lessons class, we used blue transfer paper to transfer an image to our panels, with the idea that this would help in figuring out value without having to worry so much about the other bits, with the understanding that this is a basic skill and you WILL of course also work on actual drawing skills.  It was really informative to me how much fun it was, and also how kinda crazy because I wasn't seeing myself put the lines down until the very end, and I am realizing I make a lot of decisions about where the lines go in relation to one another while I am sketching the initial image.
Anyway, this was an absolute delight to paint!
Hope it still looks good...

6x6 acrylic on panel, Click here to purchase~  $75

October 24, "Spy Pop Otter"!

Yay!
I've been wanting to do this one for a while, and got to it this morning and now I want to do a bigger one!  This is 8x10 and I'd like to do a really big, like 24x36 at least... the colors are so marvelous and I didn't want to futz with the whiskers as much as I would on a bigger piece, and the water movement and the rim of water against the glass, and just that quizzical whiskery face with those beady little eyes... MAN!!!!
I LOVE it!!!
No auction on this one!  Just for SALE!

8x10 acrylic on panel, Click HERE to purchase- $160!

Oct 21,"Lanesboro Pup"

This was an odd one to paint, with the pup's head tipped sideways like this... and I wasn't sure whether I should crop out my hand or not...  kinda like it now!  The whites were fun, the reflected light a bit of a challenge~ and I had to touch him to get him to calm down!  You know that kind of a dog, don't you!

6x6 acrylic on panel!  Click here to bid for $35, or you can buy NOW for $75!

October 19th, Odette!

I had the chance to meet Odette's owners today when they came to pick up their painting!  They were up from Montioc WI, which made this super fun! And what a beautiful weekend for it!

Yay! What a face!

October 18th, "Another Apple"

Another lovely morning of painting, and then we went on a Riverboat Cruise because my brother is in town and we wanted to do something as a family so during a lull in my morning painting class (delightful!!!) I checked to see what boats were on the river because have you NOTICED that the leaves are all going MAD?!  and the Jonathan Paddledford has cruises every weekend at 2:30 sat and sun!!!! for $20 adults and $12 kids!  GORGEOUS!!! stay tuned for paintings from my photos soon!
And perhaps more otters!

But I did really love painting this apple!

6x6 acrylic on panel, click here to bid for $35 or buy for $65!

YES an OTTER for OCTOBER 17th!

I DID it!  Finally!  Painted an otter for October!!! See, the photos Duane and Max took a couple weeks ago didn't feature my favs, the river otters, much because they were sleeping... and the sea otters were rolling like monsters... so this photo is from a bit ago~
I painted it on Wed night, actually, but ended up too crazy busy yesterday to get it here!
SO here it is!

This one is 7x10 inches, $140 to buy it now, OR you can bid on it for $50 here!

I was trying to introduce a few more colors on the little bugger this time too-  purples and oranges and blues... do you see them?

October 15, "Walking Dacshund"

I have to say I really love the shadows that dogs carry with them... the way you can see the subtle shapes of their dewclaws and such through the sharp contrast of the shadow on the sidewalk...  maybe  its that I just love SHADOWS!
Too fun!  This little old gal was trotting along amongst dogs many times her size with no issues whatsoever... maybe she couldn't see them~

6x6 acrylic on panel, click here to Bid starting at $35, or to buy for $75!

October 14, Fall Foliage-

I should say "Fall Foliage #1" because there will probably be more...  this was painted from a photo taken with my iphone while driving home through Theo Wirth Park-   there are SO MANY colors in the trees right now!

6x6 acrylic on panel, Bid starts HERE for $35!

Saturday, Oct 11, "October Apple"

Yes, I know it doesn't start with O either...  guess I'm kinda a fail on this month of O things... but it IS a nice apple, isn't it? I had my painting class this morning, we worked on 10 minute paintings and everyone painted their fruit so well (and onions!) that I wanted to do some too, so after class I came home and painted this apple, that Max is now eating...  It is fun how you are always learning something new!  After class we were talking about the similarity between yoga and painting, as in when you do yoga, you distract your mind by making it fully aware of your body and where you are in space so your monkey brain can't think about the million things it thinks it MUST think of!  And when you are painting (especially a timed painting where you are pushing yourself to do something quickly) you have to use all your seeing abilities to pay attention to what you are looking at, which can sometimes be something other than what you THINK you are seeing!!!  I love learning new things~  especially with my students!

6x6 acrylic on panel, Click here to bid or buy!  $35 bid, $65 buy!

Friday- Shy Woofstock Corgi

This is from a photo I took at Woofstock a month ago, where there was SO much eye-candy for a dog lover!  I love Corgi's body shapes and this one really did not want a photo taken...  poor little fella~

6x6 acrylic on panel, click to bid! Starting at $25!

...and now it is THURSDAY. And here is a goat- a kid, actually...

See, we've been down and out here at our house...  everyone is snorting and sneezing and coughing (well not now so much, me anyway...) and it was just nap time for two days nearly straight.  I'm out of that now, but still not really tracking on my Os for October... so hence, this kid, who I seriously could NOT resist painting!  I mean, LOOK at that expression, and those KNEES!  Too freaking FUN!
I really do enjoy the darks and lights, and using line to figure it out.  Teaching so helps me to keep all those thoughts present in my head,  otherwise I think I would figure I know what I'm doing by now and I wouldn't be learning anything new!

6x6 acrylic on panel, Click HERE to bid or buy!  Someone you know wants a KID!

Mondays are just asking for ORANGES.

We're a bit under the weather at my house.  I can't hear very well because my cold has taken residence in my head.  I don't usually eat fruit because it makes my lips swell up but I did eat this orange after painting it because it seems the best way to ingest the vitamins I think I need.  So, did YOU eat your orange this morning?
And we'll see what kind of O thing I can find for tomorrow... or maybe I just paint more lynxes.....

I did have fun figuring out the shine on this monster... those purpley shadows, and the strange lean...

6x6 acrylic on panel, click here to bid starting at $35!

October 5, Ocelot! No, sorry, a Lynx...

Darn- we are limited on how many animals begin with an O and also reside at the Mn Zoo....  the boys tried darn hard yesterday!  But the MN otters were resting and the sea otters were wrestling, and the lynx babies were learning to climb the trees!  SO maybe I'll have to go back out and look at the otters again... Max loved the lynx so much he wanted to paint one with me, so we sat down and each painted our version of Mama Lynx, looking up into the tree~
Guess who's is whose!

6x6 acrylic on panel, available HERE for auction at $35 or BUY NOW at $75!

October 2, 2014, "October Orange"

Last year I painted an Otter A Day for the month of October, and I meant to attempt that again, but I've already gotten to day TWO of October and don't have any new photos of otters to paint!  SO I thought I'd toss out an Orange, which also begins with "O", and maybe I'll paint one Orange a day for the month of October!  How exciting would THAT be?!?!  Of course, I can't eat the oranges because I am allergic to citric acid and my lips will swell up if I eat it, but I can still paint them, right?!

Okay!  And maybe I can talk the boys into going to the zoo this weekend for more otter shots....  though I do imagine Duane may have some photos I haven't seen yet as well...

6x6 acrylic on panel, click HERE to bid starting at $35 or to buy at $75!