Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Aug 26, "Sunstruck Sleek" and Otter Art Statement

I thought I'd include this art statement in here, so that I can find it when I want, and so I can hear any comments from you all, my faithful followers and let me know where I've screwed it up~  below the painting...
36x24 acrylic on black gessoed canvas, $1725 click HERE to purchase or contact me for inquiries~


Otters have intrigued me since I was a child visiting the New Minnesota Zoo, watching them perform their acrobatics through the glass wall of their tank. There is an approachable connection in their joy in their physicality, a familiarity I feel and seek to explore by painting their bodies' movement through that alien element of water. Motion and response, flow and surrounding self with bubbles... seems a great way to spend a life.

Otters are my favorite animal. I was given the book “Tarka The Otter” when I was about twelve, along with a set of calligraphy pens that I used to teach myself how to draw their muscles and fur by perusing the illustrations in the book. I am enraptured by their lively, lithe, nimble aquatic acrobatics and the shapes and forms they make in their underwater playground. They entice us to join them, making the alien environment of the underwater world enchanting and joyful.

These paintings began as a childhood dream, sliding wetly off the side of the pool into the water, believing I could be as sleek and weightless as an otter, effortlessly gliding below the surface. Animals were my refuge as an introverted and bookish child and otters reflected back to me the joy I knew was in the world around me.

As a painter I am drawn to the negative space around my otters, the water supporting them as they surge and float, they themselves the active force in their liquid world. They create their underwater environment and invite us as viewers to be more aware of our own surroundings, the shapes we create in our space as we move through our lives.

I have greatly appreciated my growing sense of color and light as I attempt to paint the reflected and refracted light of the surface of the water. It is abstract and real at the same time. To reference the above water world while painting the otters below the surface has been a challenge for me. I am continuing to learn more about how I want to make my otters seen. They are themselves abstract in their rolling and twisting away from the rules of gravity that bind the rest of us. 

Monday, August 24, 2015

August 24, "Bottoms Up"

Another sweet view of an otter in action!  Doncha just love those haunches?  This one should be joining the rest up in Duluth!  Come on up and see them!

24x24 acrylic on canvas, $1150  click here to purchase, or e-mail me for more info!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

August 23, "Flynn"

Shhhhh....  I just finished this commission and wanted to show you!  Trying to get a bunch done so I'm ahead when the real Christmas rush for commissions starts!  If you were hoping for one for yourself or a family member, make sure and get rolling with me soon!
Really, I am pretty darn happy with this sweet face-
Sometimes it can be tricky painting a cat face after a bunch of dogs-  their anatomy is so different, you know!


8x8 acrylic on hardboard, sold

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Aug 22, "Dapple Cheek"

Sorta play on "apple cheeks", you know... with the sunlight filtering through the water...  I am so excited about these otters!  I am not sure how many of the thirty-plus paintings will actually be able to fit in the gallery space at the Great Lakes Aquarium, but you can bet we'll make sure the best ones are there!  And we just got rooms at the Radisson in Duluth, which allows pets and which has a rotating restaurant on top!  SUPER excited!!  Come join us!  the Opening Reception is September 19th from 3-4:30!
12x12 acrylic on hardboard, $285 click HERE to purchase!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Aug 21, Step Softly

Busy day again of tying up loose ends before school... I have to admit I am looking forward to the enforced schedule.  I am someone who appreciates external forces as a means of bounding my own artistic endeavors.  Somehow when I know I only have one hour to do something, it gets done better than if it appears that I have an entire day.... do you know what I mean?  I'm organizing Otters for the show at the Great Lakes Aquarium so here's another one!  The opening will be on Saturday Sept 19th from 3 to 4:30pm, so come on up and explore Duluth and hang out with us for the afternoon!  You'll get to come in for my opening for free, and if you want to go through the Aquarium you get half price~
Yay!

6x6 acrylic on hardboard, $75 click HERE to purchase!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Aug 19, Stan and the Tooth

A dog, I can't remember whose, with an unforgettable face-  if you know whose dog this is  please let them know!  It's a deal for them!

8x8 acrylic on panel, $130 click HERE to purchase!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

August 18, "Glance Downward"

So I wanted to kick out a few more otters because my Kat-Sense tells me there's no way I'm gonna get forty of them done by my personal deadline... unless I make some smaller...  but there's also the slight distraction of the LAST WEEK OF SUMMER BREAK!!!! Somehow we missed the fact that my son's school starts on Monday...  mine doesn't start til the following week, and I think St Paul doesn't start til the week after that!
I am so loving those reflections and highlights and all-  wow~

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click here to purchase!

Monday, August 17, 2015

August 17, "Head First!"

Yup,  that's how it feels sometimes at the start of a new school year, the end of summer, getting back into the groove... better jump in Head First because otherwise you won't get anywhere!  And then just keep swimming til you figure it all out!
I wanted to paint this one because it's a bit complicated and I would like to try a larger version too maybe for the Aquarium or wherever else I can show these monsters!  So do know that this one is just a 6x6-  Duane took the photo-  I love it!  that intense look in that huge eye!

And Painting Lessons will be commencing on Wednesday Sept 16th from 6-8:30-  I'll usually be at the studio by 5:30~  let me know if you are interested!  Limited space available!


Materials Options


acrylic on panel, 6x6, $75 click HERE to purchase!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

August 16, "Feather Light"

Home again, home again, and isn't it funny how you wish you were back on vacation again?  Max at age six has that wisdom (I hope he holds onto it!) and says he'll miss Grand Marais but be so glad to see his friend again.  We left early this morning, on the road by 7:30 and were home before 1pm which was great because the older I get, the less I like the competition on the roads and I'd rather drive at my own pace without someone looking through my back window wanting to get past me....
It was such an incredible week, with the teaching and the talking and the learning and all, I am hoping I can teach back up at the Art Colony again next summer!
And I will be listing this Sept/Oct Painting Lessons open for sign-up SOON!  hopefully tomorrow...
And here is a feather from this week~  I rather like it, myself...
6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click HERE to purchase!

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Aug 15, photos from this WEEK!

Hi all!  I haven't been exactly announcing where I am teaching at this past week, but I asked my students if they'd mind if I posted some photos of them and their work from this week so here they are!  It has been a great learning experience all around, and these people so bravely listened to just about everything I had so say!  And we tackled some tough stuff too, like EGGS, whole and broken, and shiny folding chairs (DANG they knocked my socks off with those!) and gigantic coffee mugs!
I think we were all happy and satisfied and ready to go home and paint by the end....
 Lunch at the Angry Trout!


 Working in the space-  the Art Colony's Founder's Hall-  such great space!
 Painting the gigantic mug!
 Eggs~

 Ben at work~
 Joe at work!
 Joe's cat- started~

 Painting....
 Painting....
 Painting....



 Giant mug!





























All of us!
Thanks everyone!