February 29, "Starburst Palm"

Some palm trees look like fireworks to me-  those green explosions popping out above our heads, feathering the sky.  Such great shadows!  LOVE these things!

Whew!  And I am finishing up the OFFICIAL LIST for this year's 30 Cats & Friends Project!    I can't wait to get started on some of these little beasties-  I'll post the first painting and the list together tomorrow~
Stay tuned!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click here to add to your island collection!

February 27th, "Beaner's Kitchen View"

My sister is currently living in Brisbane, which I somehow wasn't thinking of as a tropical place, and when she saw the palm trees I've been painting for the last couple days, she sent me this photo of her view through her kitchen window and I figured I'd better paint it for her birthday, which was yesterday-
Maybe I'll get it sent off to her... we'll see!

6x6 acrylic on panel, for Beaner!

February 26, "Two Palms, Indian Rocks Beach"

More palms, as promised!  The pets will start on TUESDAY!!! With the official list!  Still working on that...
I gotta say I really do love the contrast of these!  That sun and shadow thing just rings my bell!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click here to add some more warmth to your house!

February 25, "Palm Shadow Dance"

Why would one go to Florida to paint and then not paint palm trees?!? I mean really!  There must be a law about that-  besides, they have the most incredible shadow patterns!  Look!  Don't worry, there will be more!  I do love trees~
And THEN on to just ANIMALS for March!  I was thinking of popping over to the Golden Valley Humane Society which is near me (here in Minnesota) and possibly taking some photos of some of their little beasties, seeing as I'll be donating a portion this project's profits to them because they are one of the only places that will take pet rodents and reptiles and birds!  And you'll then see some of them this month~  wahoo!  Do keep sending me photos for the 30 Cats (And Pals!) In 30 Days Project!  Starting TUESDAY!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click here to own this VISUAL VACATION!

February 24, "Bunny In The Sun"

yes, I know, another one of my deliciously creative names, yes~  this is another oil painting from the Florida bunnies, and I've included a photo of the underpainting for your viewing pleasure, and so you can see the structure of this type of painting- it is neat to see the glow coming through the ears, and the way the underlying colors do show through~
It is interesting to see how differently people paint- I still love painting on black, though I am rethinking the wisdom of the birch panels I purchased for mom and me to bring to Florida-  they really warp badly, and I must not have gessoed them enough because they absolutely suck the paint into the surface.  I may be playing with new surfaces in the coming weeks...  well, maybe after March Madness and 30 Cats is complete!  I'm not sure I have time to mess around TOO much while making sure I've painted a critter a day!
And by the way, I KNOW there are more reptiles out there!  Thanks for the birds and bunnies and fish photos, but no one has sent me any tortoise or bearded dragons or geckos or anything!  Come on! It's time for this year's "30 Cats and Pals in 30 Days" Project!

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

February 23, "White Stripe Bunny"

These just aren't RABBITS.  They are clearly BUNNIES-  too cute to be a wild, untamed, free-ranging rabbit like those I see here in Minnesota.  This is a Florida Bunny, one that lives under the Art Center, and who likes to lounge on the black top in the parking lot on a chilly 60% February morning...
That's what the white stripe is from, in case you were wondering-  the parking lot-  and I was all worried that someone would drive over the bunnies!  They seemed to know what they were doing, the swift little bundles of fluff~
I did really love painting the eye on this guy-  sometimes a critter can suggest so much in a look...

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click HERE to take this bunny home!

February 22, "Georgie"

This is a sweet faced commission~  I am so lucky!

8x8 acrylic on panel, sold

February 21, "Sunshine Bunny"

Another Florida bunny!  And thanks so much for the sweet comments you've made-  this artistic life can be a vulnerable one too~  and other creative people make it so much easier.
I painted this one yesterday as a demo for my Painting Lessons-  demos don't always work, and I had issues with this fella's eye but I think I've got it now!  And getting that white fur to look white-  whew!  I feel like I've gotten so used to oil painting from this past weekend, now my acrylics are trying to act like oil... and I'm trying to paint with them as if they ARE oil-  I find myself wiping my brushes instead of rinsing them in my water cup-  and blending colors is a bit different too-
Like riding a bike and then going roller skating... the moving through space may be similar but the mode of transportation sure ain't!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $25 starting bid, click HERE to join the auction frenzy!

February 19, "Beach Bunny Backside"

Well, the Behind-The-Indian-Rocks-Beach-Art-Center-Bunny-Backside, actually-  I didn't see any bunnies on the beach.
Isn't it funny how when you are away from home, you are always thinking of when you get back?  And when you are home and about to go away, you can't think of much but how much you have to get done before you can go?  All I can say is I am grateful for Friday!  And the Art Shanties have been cancelled for Sunday, which is terribly sad, but I'm grateful for a day to catch up on stuff!  I have really fallen behind.  And I am realizing I really haven't been taking it as easy as I think I need to, with dad being gone just three months now... I know it still hasn't sunk soul in.  That's part of the difficulty of this wonderful trip I just took with mom- it's the first time we were gone like this without him keeping the home fires (and dogs) stoked and cared for.  And I'm understanding that my mom is still going through a lot of new recognitions of new grief.  Oh those terrible spaces where the love used to be-
Yes, well meaning people will tell you the love is still there, but I am feeling how true it is that it is gone.  I understand that the further I get from dad's death, the gentler I'll feel about it all, but right now it is such a festering wound, I can't get a lot of relief from it.
Painting helps.
SO send me your critters, please!

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

February 18, "Shore Line, Indian Rocks Beach, FL"

Missed posting yesterday because of traveling, getting home, taking all the oil paintings out of their Raymar boxes to see if they'd made it okay in my checked luggage and everything else returning from a trip entails!  And yes, most of them made it just fine, though mom's of Nerstrand's waterfall was a bit schmucked up, I think from being at the back of the box and maybe on the bottom of the suitcase.  There was a nice little note from the airport guys letting me know they'd opened my bag.  I'm not surprised at all-  I was surprised it hadn't been opened on the way out of Minneapolis!  I did have the MSDS sheets for the oil paints and for the Zest-It solvent stuff, all of which is pretty harmless, but I imagine having the sheets helped.
So this is a painting of the ocean~  I was trying to capture all that movement and color at sunset, where the waves are coming in and you can see peach and orange next to azure and magenta...
a kinda new idea for me- we'll see where we go from here!
I did do a lovely pile of rabbits that I'll show you later, maybe as part of this year's "30 Cats and Friends in 30 Days" Project!  DO send me your critter photos!

9x12 oil on panel, $215 click here to make this your own!

February 15, "Golden Bear"

I painted this one yesterday, actually, the over-achiever again, painting extra paintings in the workshop while everyone else is finishing up their one.  I am not doing it on purpose, you know...  I just really really really love painting, and I do it so often I think it must come little bit easier for me.  And I'm not bragging, I'm just also not good at responding cleverly with wisecracks, which is maybe why it has become easier for me to be in the teacher's seat so I can keep going with this stuff rather than being a fellow student...

Today we painted an itailian wall... it was quite difficult-  maybe I'll show you mine someday if you ask nicely (or if mom posts it first)~

This is one of the brown bears at the Minnesota Zoo-  I really enjoyed painting him in oil, Dreama style!  the face of course took a bit of futzing.  But I can feel that nose and that lovely loose and flobbery lip~

8x8 OIL on panel (yes OIL!)  $130 Click HERE to make this your own!

February 14, "Dreama's Flowers"

Happy Valentine's Day!  I spent it with mom painting flowers and a hat in Dreama's workshop...  and so think of it as a bouquet for you!  I thought you might want to see what I've been up to~  It's been very fun- really great stretching my acrylic brain into playing with oils, and trying to not take anything too seriously~

I won't be selling this one, since I painted it with Dreama's photo and with her directions~  but there should be a couple more that are more mine tomorrow!

February 13, "Out Vicki's Window"

I was walking past the lower school office and the sun was shining and I paused to look at the glory and light, and took this photo~  I'm not sure the light quite equates what I saw at the time, much like the sunset mom and I watched tonight at Indian Rocks Beach here... you know those elusive moments in time, when things are so beautiful and you want to hold that vision somehow but a photo can't contain it at all... and you just have to look with all your senses wide open, to hold that somehow.  Like curling up in my son's bed with him, talking quietly, goofing around, and finally falling asleep... you want to keep remembering that....
Love those thoughts~

6x6 acrylic on panel, $25 auction!  Click here to give it a go!

February 12, "Two Pines, Lake Calhoun"

Lake Calhoun has a new/old name now, the Native American name, Bde Maka Ska, though  I am not sure how to pronounce it.  I did like these two little pines, leaning ever so slightly, and the great variety of blue in the snow.  Oh and the great yellow tones where the sun is catching the lumpy snow!
This is another of those photos I took without looking!
And this will be another auction~

6x6 acrylic on panel, $25 starting bid!  Click HERE to join the insanity!!!

February 11, "The Red Leash"

I think I have another painting somewhere called "The Red Leash" because this sounds so familiar, but I can't seem to locate it so we're calling this one "Red Leash"-
I'm pretty happy with all the diagonals in this~  and those strong shadows-  I really do love painting dogs, don't I?  But no dogs for March's project, please!  And keep those cats and little critters coming!  Tell your friends to take photos of their hedgehogs please!  Then send them to me!  Here is a link to the page explaining in more detail~
It was a pleasure to mix all the colors for Gus' fuzzy little head here, and his tawny browns, and that dusty grey sidewalk tone.  Paint is fun!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click here to make this your own!

February 10, Sammy

This is a commission from a high school friend who I reconnected with this early fall when I went to my 30 year reunion!  It was quite the hoot-  I think I must've mentioned it on here-  I'm getting distracted and busy with packing and gessoing panels and I need to get BETTER gesso (never skimp on materials!  SERIOUSLY!) because I hate this stuff I'm trying to use-  ack~  so I'm posting an older piece today for your perusal~
Yay~

though now that I'm posting it, it feels like I may have shown you him before... hmm...

Do let me know if I'm being redundant!

February 9, "Two Trees By The Lake"

Of course, as it is February, you'd know the lake is frozen, right?  I did have fun painting the sky through the branches- one of my favorite things about winter if the truth be known!  And I love the varying colors in the sky-  purple to blue to white...

And DO keep sending me small pets and cats!  I'm getting a nice collection now!  Wahoo!  Looking for some rodents at this point!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $25 starting bid, click HERE to join the auction!

February 8, "Afternoon Tree Light"

Hee hee!  Do you get it?  "Afternoon TREE Light"!  Instead of "Afternoon DEEElight"?!  Ha!
From a not-looking-car-photo around Cedar Lake last week~  love that golden light!  And the sky through the branches~
And I thought I'd include a shot of my little family at the Art Shanties this weekend!  Yay!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $25 starting bid for the auction!  Click HERE to join in!

Kat, Max and Duane with mom's art car at the Art Shanties on White Bear Lake, 2/7/16!

February 7, Kitty Commission!

Here's a commission I've been working on, love those giant green eyes!  Do send me more cat and small critter photos for my "30 Cats (and Frenemies) in 30 Days" Project this March!  More info can be found here!

8x8 acrylic on panel, sold!

February 5, "Snowy Drive Home"

So, yes there is snow here in Minneapolis, and yes I have all-wheel-drive, and no, that doesn't mean I don't slide through the occasional stop-sign, like the one on the King's Highway and 38th Street... twice now.  Keep thinking I'll stop and then, I just... don't.  Hmm.
I wanted to share this blogpost from Robert Genn's daughter Sara on the Painter's Keys, because I was trying to talk to my students about this last week (or maybe the week before) and it is about those things that stop us from painting, and also about the book Art And Fear (Bayles and Orland) which I highly recommend to everyone who wants to pursue any creative act!  That's your homework~  go do it!
Oh and you can bid on this painting too!  I'm having fun with the auctions because I LIKE mailing packages off!  Go figure!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $25 starting bid!  Click HERE to join the fun!

February 4, "Northern Winter Sunset"

This one is a little larger, 8x8, because I want to see how it looks bigger...  and I like it!  I want to paint some even bigger-  we'll see~

8x8 acrylic on panel, $130 click here to hang this on your wall!

February 3, "Wild Eyes, Domestic Heart"

From a photo I took one August at Wet Paint during the "Paws On Grand" event-  we set up a Sketch-A-Thon and people line up for hours to get a free sketch of their pets...  so this is one of the dogs I did  a sketch of that day!  There's something kind of German Shepard about this face too, Husky mix possibly... I love the eyes and that poise~

8x10 acrylic on panel, $160 unframed click HERE to purchase!

Groundhog's Day! My 8th Anniversary!

yes, I don't usually write about myself at ALL in this blog, but I thought I ought to mention that today is my 8th anniversary!

We had SUCH a great time that day, and have continued to ever since!  Yay!  So I'll save today's painting for later~

Thank you for all the love!  It IS what makes the world go 'round!

XOXOX

February 1, "Concentration"

It is so good to paint every day- and it is good to wake up to this little face every morning too-  even when he's throwing a fit because we want him to do his homework before turning on the tv...  wow, is it tough to be a parent!
But I'm so grateful to be one!
Happy February!

6x6 acrylic on panel, $75 click HERE to make this your own!