Oct 27, Smug Bear

Really, she's going after more grapes in the photo, but somehow in this painting it looks like she's kinda smirking at us at something she knows and we don't~ I like it!

And I have been liking this incredible response I've been getting on my last call for more photos for HOMEvember!  YAY!!!!!

I'm looking through and making a list even as I'm trying to post this bear!  I'll post the list on Tuesday!

3.5x5 acrylic on wood, $45

click HERE to buy NOW!

October 24, Bowing Her Head Bear

She was chomping away at a vine full of grapes twisted around the roots of a beautiful fallen tree, and I caught her just as she was leaning in to start nibbling again-
Man do I LOVE bears!!!

This is a little one, 3.5x5 inches on wood, with a little eye hook in the top so you can hang it anywhere! On a tree, in your car, in your closet, anywhere you want a little WILD!

3.5x5 acrylic on wood, 

just $45 and this is YOURS!!!

click HERE!

Oct 23, Two Harbors Creek

There are a few more paintings from that first weekend in October yet, and this was the very last one. I had painted that crazy bright tree one (see last post) because I'd needed a bit of a break from the water struggle, in which I was attempting to teach myself how to paint the illusion of moving water, flowing down Dave's creek across the rocks. After frustrating myself a whole bunch of time, I sketched one more version looking back up the creek past the sauna towards the roots of an old cedar.  Then as I turned to look at it again to paint, I said to myself, "Why the hell am I not just painting THE WATER?  That's what I want to paint!" So I ignored my sketch on the panel and didn't bother erasing it~ I just looked hard at the rocks and water and started sketching with my brush, putting in the darks and lights and not thinking about what I was doing.
Wow, is that hard! We are so used to stifling ourselves, translating our thoughts for others- its that "invisible audience" I still remember hearing about in 5th grade, those hidden observers in our soul for whom we are constantly performing.  So painting this splash of water was a revelation for me.
I am pretty happy with it.
Whew!

Sauna Creek, 8x10 acrylic on wood

$160 click here to purchase!

October 21, Otters Yes and No

Hi! SO I thought I'd show you a little glimpse into my world, because I've had people watch me paint and see how fast I can (sometimes) accomplish a good piece, and I also wanted to show you how hard it can be some times...

This piece is on its third try, and you can see from this photo that I just do not have the proportions correct! The head is too big, the neck not curved enough and the back leg too large in proportion to the tail. Frustrating and tiresome, indeed.  This is why I often just start over, because once the proportions are off, it is easier for me to start a new try than to keep banging away at one that isn't quite right.

Now this one started off with a great proportional sketch and a rapidly painted start, though it then took a few days before I was able to finish it off.  I am so much more pleased with this one than the struggle above!  The eyes are correctly placed, the ear is above the jawline, the nose flattens and flares as it should and the whiskers and bits of blue highlights pop it into a YAY factor!

Otter Whiskers

8x8 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, $155 

click HERE to purchase!

Painting "Aspen Sky"

Here's another painting from our weekend at Dave Gilsviks' place~ I needed a break from trying to figure out water, and decided to give painting on white a shot.  So to me, this one looks really feeble and without as much power as the black ground gives my work. It is so interesting...
And a photo of my knees as I lay back to view my angle of this tree-  I am not sure I really managed the darks and lights as well as I'd liked to.  Ah well, I'd rather try again than keep messing with this one!

Oh and DO please send my photos of your house or cabin or favorite Airbnb!  I want to paint houses and buildings for HOME-vember!  We'll see how it goes~  more info on that here!

 16x20 acrylic, $640 

click here to hang this on your well~

And below, you can see the trees towards the upper right of the photo~ I had to sit on the ground to paint this, though I'm not sure I quite  got it from the right perspective....

October 14, By The Sauna

Here's another one from last weekend- I guess I am not painting otters this October, but it's mostly water which is pretty close! I do want to try the "Home-vember" idea, so I'll be sending out a note about that this week to see if I can get people to send me photos of their houses...
I really enjoyed painting this one- it was tough seeing the water and the rocks and tracking where one lead into the other, and also trying to really SEE the water, like what color is it? What shape does it make?
Ack!
Oh and I had a TERRIFIC first day for our Painting Lessons!  Incredible job painting tomatoes!!

9x12 acrylic on wood, $215

click here to purchase~

October 11, pics from THIS Past Weekend! Dave Gilsvik's class!

So mom and I went up to Two Harbors, MN, this past Friday eve to take a Plein Air Painting class from David Gilsvik, a Minnesota Painter whose work we both admire (and own) and who I've been wanting to take a class from since I first saw his paintings~ and he's been teaching for a couple years now, through the Art Colony, and we were finally able to take his class this past weekend!  Yay!

Dave sets up for his first demo under the tarp- it's a bit English outside...

Dave sketching in his first demo.

My first attempt~ a river that diverts into a creek~

Here's what I ended up with...

My equipment~ love that basket!  It's amazing what you can cram into a basket~

A few sketches done by the creek...

I think this is upside down...

Working just past the awesome earth and wood bridge~

You can see it better in this- there's a wood structure holding the earth back with a short bridge across the top~  I love this creek!

And this one is up for auction! I haven't had one in a while~  a view of the creek with the incredibly brown water~  love it!

5x7 acrylic on wood

$25 auction, click here to bid!  And probably WIN!

October 10, Itty Bitty Otter Eyes~

Here's a sweet little otter face!  Bit busy at the mo-  more later about this past weekend!

3x5 acrylic on oval wood plaque

$45 and this is YOURS!  A Sweet face for any sweet little space in your sweet little house~

or for a sweet friend's little space in THEIR sweet little house!

Click HERE to purchase!

Pics from The Weekend Before LAST!

Sorry!  I've had the last couple weeks chock full of really great fun things and thought I'd better pop in a note today from two weekends ago!
My sister Beaner drove up with me to Grand Marais on Friday, September 29, so I could get to Sivertson Gallery for my Artist Talk and Painting Demo on Sat September 30th!  We had a great eve at Neil Sherman's House on Friday-  It was the Art Around the Lake art crawl, and Neil had his paintings hung on the outside of his house, and a lovely campfire going-

Neil Sherman- "6 Below on the Tombolo"

And the next day we ran around!  I had a massage and we ate at the Angry Trout (YUM!!!!) and I made it to Sivertson's for my talk and demo and we had a lovely collection of people watching and helping me out by asking great questions, and I completed two paintings and sold the second one right off the easel!  Ya gotta love it when that happens!  And I sold another two paintings off the wall of the gallery too!  And I now have PRINTS of my work!

A couple pics from the talk~

Me looking at the work, up on the wall!  Wahoo!

Setting up for the first painting- it is harder to talk and paint than you might think...

The painting in progress...

The Second Otter~  SOLD!

And a selfie with the happy family who bought this! Eric Martin and Steve are the greatest kids!

October 6, Popcorn, A Commission

Well, yes it isn't an otter, is it? But there IS water in it, back behind the lovely lounging dog...
I have to admit I am rather pleased with the grey values in this one, and the tones of purple and blue in the shadows...
It is nice when something turns out good, isn't it!

6x8 acrylic on wood, sold

October 5, Otter Diver~

I do love painting these little tiny guys- though I'm not quite sure why they aren't selling...  they are so sweet and at such a reasonable price, I thought they'd fly off the walls~
Ah well-
I can hang them all on MY wall!  If Duane lets me...

4.5x4.5 acrylic on wood, $45 

Click HERE to look at this guy everyday!

I painted this one in the hotel room last weekend up in Grand Marais- I was a little nervous about painting in public without practicing first, you know~  like I wanted to get my brain connected again~

I think it worked!

October 3, One Paw Stroke

Okay, yes, I DID say I wanted to paint an otter a day for the month of October, and I do apologize for getting off to such a slow start.  I DID have an awesome weekend up in Grand Marais with my sister, wandering around town and visiting other artists and lovely people we know- it is so much a Northern Exposure kinda feeling for me.  Really-  and my art talk was so much fun on Saturday too!  And I sold one of the demo paintings right off the easel to a lovely family who were so much fun to talk to and paint for!  I am just so pleased with the Sivertson Gallery and all the staff there who took care of me, and Jan who gave us a tour of the print shop out back.  I now have PRINTS available of my work!  I'll get some made and have them for the Seward Winter Frolic in December for sure!  SUPER excited about these- they are giclee prints, which means they are created with archival inks on archival paper, and they are numbered in a limited edition, so while they aren't as valuable as the original, they are more valuable than a simple print of my work.

Yay!
And I DID paint this one just now-  I'm thinking I want some new brushes though- these kept raking open on me, making my strokes end up fussier and dabbier than I like~

Oh and I do still have just a couple spaces open in my Painting Lessons which start a week from Saturday!  These are always a fun way to pop your creativity up a notch, and I do try to have the classes be informative of some art history as well as in touch with current art events~  it's fun!

8x10 acrylic on wood, $160

click HERE to purchase this sweetly intent face!