August 31, Tiny Moose On Green

I believe it is the season of the moose.  I'm still in the mood to paint tiny paintings, so here's another one for you!  I'm pretty happy I was able to fit all that massive rack into such a tiny little space! There will be a hook on the top for hanging- someone suggested these could make super sweet ornaments for a Christmas tree!  Time to be thinking ahead, people!

3.5x5 acrylic on wood, $45 click HERE to purchase!

yes, I know- suggesting Christmas shopping at the end of August goes against my grain too~

but what the hey?

August 28, Grama Bear on Fuschia

She looks near-sightedly up, into the cool fall breeze, her precise intelligent nose selecting the scents for her...
I really love bear's noses-  all those muscles working together... they have SUCH sensitive lips!  You'd think they'd be a bit more cautious around bees!

4.5x4.5 acrylic on wood, $45 

click here to purchase! ready to hang~

August 27, Little Bear Behind

I'm thinking I've used this title before, but I like it, and the size is probably different anyway, so there!  I just had to paint a bear...
There will be more sheep and chickens and an alpaca from the fair!
Did I make a rhyme?
Maybe next time...








6x6 acrylic on wood, $75
click HERE to purchase!
and FREE SHIPPING!!!  On this one only!!!  just because!

August 26, Tiny Otter

It's been a busy week!  I had workshops all last week and the first day of school is on Monday!  Wahoo!  I think sometimes the teachers are as excited to get back as the kids are...
And this is a Tiny Otter I managed to paint in between all the wonderful craziness~  we still need to go get some new school shirts for Max- he's in love with these red and blue synthetic shirts we bought him at Target earlier this summer, but both of those are nearly destroyed with 8 year old energy and I'd like him to not look like a ragamuffin on the first day!

I love painting these tiny things!
Oh and I AM working on this year's 30 Dogs book- it's just taking second place to too many other things!  AND I am working on scheduling Painting Lessons for this fall-  for SURE there will be a six week class starting Saturday October 14 from 9:30-noon, and I'm planning two One-Day classes for September 23 and 24th, just to keep it on your radar!

4.5x4.5 acrylic on wood, $45 

click HERE to purchase!

August 21, Charlotte

This is Charlotte, a sweet tortie commission~

8x8 acrylic on wood, sold!

August 20, A Cute Kitty...

SO, my sister has moved back to Minnesota, and has acquired a couple of adorable kittens, as well as a house, and an older cat too. Her kittens are named Max and Maddy, and of course, MY Max is in love with her Max and we go over to play with them every chance we get. We were over there this afternoon as a matter of fact.

This is Max.

6x6 acrylic on wood, $75

click here to purchase this imp!

August 19, Brown Bear on Blue

What a lovely weekend this is!  Yay for Saturdays at home, cleaning and painting, doing the laundry and hanging it out, and having time to paint too~

This is another one of my wee little tiny paintings, sweet little nuggets of color for that little wall space that wants just a bump of interest!

4.5x4.5 acrylic on wood, $45!  

click HERE to purchase~

August 18, Shotgun Seat Sharing

This is what I see when I drive to and from my studio with Teddy and Sally.  They are seriously adorable terrier-mutts, and Sally looks like a Mini-Me to Teddy- they are great friends and love wrestling and running and loving each other up.

Thank you everyone who came to Diamond's last night!  And it was so great because TWO dogs showed up!  Kong, maybe one of the biggest dogs I've painted this time, a poodle with a beard, and Louis, a Chiuahua!  It was so fun to walk in (I was late! Sorry!) and see these dogs already there!

If you haven't seen the dogs yet, do go take a look.  I'm working on the book for this project and I'll post that here when I've got it ready and you can order a copy on Blurb!

16x20 acrylic on canvas, $640 click here for purchase info!

August 17, Winnifred & Francis

This is an incredibly sweet pair of Basset pups, a commission, that I was so happy to paint! I can almost touch those heavy, velvety ears, and stroke those soft wrinkles on their little noggins...

I am so fortunate!  And so grateful~

And do come tonight if you can make it, to Diamonds (1618 Central Ave NE) from 6 to 8 pm for our 30 Dogs in 30 Days Exhibition Reception!

9x12 acrylic on wood, spoken for!

August 15, Gus Loves Laps

I've been working on this painting for a couple days now.  It's an 18x36 canvas, and of course Golden acrylic, and it's Max's favorite dog ever, Gus, sitting on my sister Kelli's lap, a couple summers ago before he went blind and too diabetic.
This one is part of a series I'm working through of dogs on people's laps.  There's a connection that we see in the gestures of the hands and the posture of the dogs that is suggestive of the psychological relationship as well as the physical.
I'm not sure if it is done yet.  I have to live with it for a few more days!
Do let me know what you think~

18x36 acrylic on canvas

August 15, Summer Basset

I believe I took this photo last year at Powderhorn Art Fair, when this dog and it's owner were visiting my booth.  That red is my rug I always bring along so my set-up feels more "homey", and somehow the rug seems to always get peed on.  So it is perfect for an outdoor festival, right?
I am just tickled with the expression on this fella's face, and the gleam in those eyes...

Painting is so much fun!

Oh and I'm working at getting my Painting Lessons schedule for this fall and winter set up.  I won't be starting 6 week classes till October, but will have a couple one-day "Paint Your House" or "Paint Your Pet" classes in September!  Do let me know if you are interested-  I'll have a link up on my blog soon!

6x6 acrylic on wood, $75 click HERE to own this sweet face!

August 14, Sunstruck Sleek

I just shipped this painting off to its new home this morning!  It is such a pleasure to have to go ship a painting off.  I shoulda taken a photo of the package- Duane wrapped it for me in some really stiff cardboard, so it ended up at 45 inches by 34-  the original painting is 24x36... at least it is light and easy to move around...
I love the face on this guy- and that light!

24x36 acrylic on canvas- sold!

August 13, the Day of Rest!

Sorry to have been so quiet this week, my friends, but it's been kinda necessary to do some home stuff and be quiet for a while, after the excitement of the summer so far.  This August is feeling more like a recuperating and regathering time for me, plus an opportunity to catch up with some commissions~

new curtains!

Some of my top favorite things that happened this past week~
-I washed most of our windows in the house (first time since they were installed in 2010!)~
-I made new curtains for our bedroom from a sari I bought in Duluth on my run up with Mina~
-I organized the bills and recycled old files!
-We went to the Renaissance Festival Guest Night and now Max wants to be a fire spinner!
-I changed out artwork at Articulture (yay!)~
-I sold a big otter painting (thanks Lisa!)!

And today I am painting WHATEVER I WANT TO!  Which will probably mean otters and bears and maybe an adorable kitten or two...  we will see!

Don't forget to come to Diamond's next Thursday to see all the wonderful dogs hanging together!  6-8pm at 1618 Central Ave NE! Wine and cheese for you, friendly dogs welcome!

August 9, Beecher!

And here is another commission I've been working on-  it's lovely to have time to catch up with these!
And this one has such an incredible smile, and that shiny coat, and that open mouth!  Oops!  I'm seeing that I didn't finish his tongue!
Stepping in to fix that~

Do come see me and all the 30 Dogs next Thursday eve at Diamond's!  6-8pm!

10x10 acrylic on wood, sold!

August 7, Daphne~

Ah, the return to some form of normalcy after a weekend at an art fair!  I had a great time at Powderhorn Park Art Fair, and I want to say thank you so much to everyone who came by!  It was a cool weekend, with some rain and windy bits to keep things exciting- and my booth was constantly visited by people with pets and kids, my favorites!
And yesterday afternoon, when I was dealing with a transaction and talking to several other people, a contingent of women showed up and said something like, " Can we take a moment of your time?" and I thought absurdly that they were trying to sell me something like a door-to-door salesperson!  And they saw that on my face immediately and laughed and said, "This is GOOD!  We want to present you with an award!"  And so I received an Invitational Award for Painting!  Yay!  That made the day!  I also got a smidgen of painting in~  not this one, though-  this is a commission!  I just thought I'd post it because I like it!

Wahoo!

8x8 acrylic on wood, Spoken for!

August 4, The Big News!

SO...
Here's the big fun news~

Well, a story first, anyway-

great friends go to the lake with you!

mina at brighton beach

So on Wednesday, my dear friend and fellow art-car and art -bike artist and art teacher Mina, was kind enough to ride along with me up to Tettegouche State Park Visitor Center to pick up my otters and bears that were hanging up there all month.  It was the only slot of time I've had available this week, and I didn't want to subject my 8 year old son (or myself) to the trial of a one-day North Shore run, as we weren't able to go up on Tuesday and stay over, and I had to teach a class early on Thursday, so the only option was a one day run.  Mina and I talked non-stop the entire way there and back, catching up as we needed to do.  And we were able to meet Jan Sivertson on time at the park!  Jan runs the Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais and the Sivvis Gallery in Duluth, and I am a huge fan of her sister Liz Sivertson's paintings.  Jan had e-mailed me a few days prior to say she'd seen my otters at Tettegouche and loved them and would love to have them be a part of Sivertson's Gallery, and I said heck yes!  And we'll be there on Wed!  And so Jan met us and ran off with 11 paintings, most pretty big, nine otters and two bears, with plans to nab a few more another time.  We haven't nailed down too much in terms of dates or anything, but I should be up at the Gallery for September 30th to do some kind of a painting demo!

two of the paintings
 that will be at Sivertson's

mom and me at the opening!

And I am proud to say I am now Officially represented by Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais! Wahoo!

This has been a dream of mine since childhood.  We spent a lot of time in Grand Marais, and still do, and I remember seeing Liz Sivertson's art at Sivertson's Gallery long ago and loving it and understanding that a woman can be an artist and paint fantastic gloriously colorful paintings of animals, and that's what I wanted to do too.  And now I am!

the LOVE TREE by Faith Lowell

I also should mention that it was at Sivertsons' where I made my first "big" art purchase.  I saw a Faith Lowell painting of a tree, a single tree, blasted by wind and storm, standing alone with a low horizon and a big sky behind it, titled "Love Tree", I thought.  It was actually "Lone Tree" but I read the handwritten label as "LOVE Tree" and I identified immediately with this tree, by itself, beat up and alone, but still full of love, representing love, and I wanted it.

It was more than I could afford, of course, $400 or something around there, but I talked to the staff at Sivertson's and they said they would hold it for me and I could make payments on it, $50 a month, and when it was paid off I could get it, no interest charged at all.  Well, that made a big difference to me!  And I have come to realize that most galleries AND artists would prefer to sell a work to you for payments, and most do not charge any kind of interest either.  SO think about that next time you see a larger, more expensive piece-  or even a small, not terribly expensive but out-of-your-range-right-now piece, and ask the artist if they'd accept payments on it.  I know I do!

Thanks for following along!  And come see me this weekend at Powderhorn Art Fair if you can!  I am around the lake at the ceremony site for Mayday!
XOXO!
SaveSave

August 2, Star Sees the Distance!

SO I've been touching up the 30 Dogs and getting some of them into frames and making labels and all that, and prepping for the Powderhorn Art Fair this weekend (come see me if you are in Minnesota!) and I'll be hanging the dogs at Diamond's tomorrow afternoon~  come on by anytime to see them, and come for sure for the Opening Party on August 17th!

 I'm heading up to Tettegouche State Park today to collect my Otters and Bears from the Visitor Center Gallery there~ my friend Mina is coming along because we haven't had a chance to talk in a while and what a perfect opportunity~  we'll be coming back tonight because we both work tomorrow- I'm teaching another Pet Portrait class at Wet Paint~  and I hope to have something fun to tell you for sure tomorrow.... hee!

And as if that isn't enough cool stuff, my painting "Star Sees the Distance" was just accepted into the Minnesota State Fair!  Another WAHOO!  This piece was a bit difficult to paint~  those are my dad's hands holding his favorite dog, Star.  We still have Star, but my dad died suddenly a year and a half ago.  My mom recognized his hands immediately~  I am very happy that it gets to be at the State Fair.  There's a brick near the Grandstand that we kids dedicated to my parents a few years ago~  I'll be finding that brick when we go see the painting!

Thank you everyone, for following and supporting this wonderful life!  I am so grateful to be able to paint what I love!