April 30, A Moose again~

Yup,  I've said YES again too many times- and now I'm in the middle of it, and can't get out of it for another few weeks, anyway, so here is a moose from January, while I catch my breath...
XO!

I rather like this one...  great lighting, I think!

4.5x6 acrylic on wood

this one is also available for just

$50!!!!

click here to grab him!

April 27, Sit, An AUCTION!

Listening to the radio, the Current here in Minneapolis, which I love, but not liking the song right now- too much synthetic, voice-changing, jarring noise.
And now, it's the Rolling Stones, with "Paint It Black"- which I love- it's about paint, right, and about painting black, yes, as well as a few more negative emotions like a break-up and feeling very sad...
I still prefer it to the "everybody wants to be famous" one I just heard-
Which is a lengthy beginning to why I decided to title this little black bear painting simply "Sit."

Sometimes, it is a really good thing to do.

Just sit.

Though these days, it seems the only time I really do that is when I'm behind the wheel of my car-
Ah, this modern life!

And I decided to auction this one- haven't done that in a while!  See if you can nab it for $50!

6x6 acrylic on panel

$50 AUCTION!

Click HERE to toss in your bid!

Wahoo!

April 25, A Black Bear Behind

I'm trying to clean up my photos on my laptop because I think it's making it incredibly slow, and I have to admit I probably keep WAY too many photos on it, but I just can't seem to delete some of the adorable ones of Maxie as a baby, or the videos either...
And now my computer has updated to the newest thingies and I can't get my photos tool to do what I want.  Man!
This is a black bear from a series Duane took at the Minnesota Zoo in 2013, when all three were clowning around on the snags in their enclosure, and I just love the posture of the feet in this one! And how you can tell where he's looking by the position of those ears~  I painted this one on a 9x12 panel, without gesso-ing it black first, just to see if I could get the darks I prefer using just paint-  I'll be varnishing it to seal it, and I have to say, I kinda like it!

9x12 acrylic on wood

$243

click here to have this solid fella!

April 24, More Egon...

And here is a foot from the painting of Portrait of Paris by Egon Shiele~
I loved doing this one!

It is amazing how much you can learn by looking closely at another artist's work. And attempting to copy another painting is another great lesson in really looking... hmmm...
I mean, that's part of what art really is, is LOOKING.  See how the fabric drapes across the ankle?  And the shine on the toe?

Such fun!

8x10 oil pastel on paper

$90

ONLY available at Art4Shelter!

April 23, Shiele Parts

This Saturday I was at a sketching session at the MIA with some other people as part of a fundraiser for Art4Shelter.  I was asked to pick a painting and to sit and sketch it for a couple hours, and I've been entranced by this painting since I was a guard at the Tute in the way early '90s~

It is a portrait of  Portrait of Paris von Gtersloh, and I've loved looking at those wrinkles and the gestures of the hands, and the intense expression on the young man's face. I'm sure there's all sorts of stories about Shiele, who had his faults, and I've read a biography or two, but I am still just engrossed by his handling of paint.
SO this was the painting we sat in front of, and this is my version, in oil pastel, of the left hand (on the right as you view the painting) and it will be at the MIA for Art4Shelter on May 9th!

8x10 oil pastel on black paper

$90

available ONLY at Art4Shelter!

April 22, This Is A Bear, Thinking ....

I like this one. It's fun when it works.
It's also fun to sit outside in a big sunhat, eating the rest of last night's spinach supreme salad, crouched over  my laptop so i  can see the screen, the sun shining on my back.

4.5x6 acrylic on wood

just $58 to hang this in that special spot!

click HERE!

April 18, Standing Wild

Wow!  I've been invited to participate in a Pop-Up Show at Banfille-Locke Center for the Arts in early May, so I've been painting some fun wild critters for the spring!  And here's one of them!
Wahoo!

6x10 acrylic on wood

hanging system on back!

$125

click HERE to nab this guy!

April 17th, Otter Backflip

Another sweet little one, playing with color and direction, trying to get a sense of movement with a minimum of strokes~  such fun!

4.5x6 acrylic on wood

$58

click here to nab this muscular joy!

April 16, North Shore Rocky Road

Ha!  Get it? It's a ROAD up NORTH and it's got a lot of ROCKS...  hee!  And there's just a wee bit of snow in this painting... man. There are people who can't get their cars out of the alley once they manage to get them out of their garages here, because the alley isn't plowed yet.  This is one humdinger of a spring, I'll tell ya!
And the Art Opening at Mill Yard was sweet yesterday afternoon, though there would have been a lot more people if the weather weren't so terrible.  As it was, we chatted and talked, artists and residents and some visitors, and every so often we'd fall silent, mid-sip of our wine, and look out the long plate-glass windows onto 2nd Street where the wind was picking up snow and throwing it all over~ and I'd taken the Lightrail in...  whew!
Oh I have space in this Saturday's Painting Lessons if you are interested!  Thurs Eve is FULL!

4.5x6 acrylic on wood

$58

click HERE to nab this little piece of Northern MN!

April 15th, Resident Redo

Somehow I have a number of paintings that have sold that I haven't marked SOLD, and somehow, a wonderful patron on the west coast keeps finding them, and then I get to repaint the painting which is actually a treat for me~ to look at something I painted a couple years ago and to attempt to redo it is a lesson in studying myself, if you know what I mean. Really fun!  So this is a redo of a smaller painting that I am pretty sure must've sold at an art fair or somewhere that I wasn't keeping close track of titles!  Lucky me!
I think he looks a bit sullen...

8x10 acrylic on cradled wood

$200

SOLD

April 13, Crow Says Caw!

Hmmm. I'm sitting at my dining room table while my boys and friends are outside playing a "real time" version of the video games we just made them put down and the sleet is clicking against the windows and it is chilly and dark and damp and wow I just want to hibernate all over again...
This is a crow, who probably isn't too happy right now either.  I wonder if animals get depressed like we do when it's all dark and murky like this?

8x10 acrylic on wood

$175

Click here to own this fine bright eyed bird!

April 12, British Sheep Neighbor

I have my "30 Cats & Friends in 30 Days" Opening at Diamond's tonight! If you are in town, it would be great to see you!  Diamond's is at 1618 Central Ave NE, and I'll be there from 6-8!  It would be great to see you!
This sheep was our neighbor in England last summer~ he lived across the street from our Airbnb and we'd go visit him every morning!  It will also be available at the Art4Shelter Fundraiser on May 9th at the MIA!  Go nab it!

8x10 acrylic on guerrilla board

$90

Available only at Art4Shelter on May 9th!

April 11, Lake Superior Scene

This is another painting for Art4Shelter!  It's from two weeks ago, when we were up at the East Bay Suites for Max's Birthday... the ice was in little pods, sloshing and schlurping with the waves.  I'll see if I can put the video on!

8x10 acrylic on archival card

$90

available only at the Art4Shelter Fundraiser, May 9th~!

April 10, Seattle Horseshoe Crab

This is an 8x10 acrylic on archival card that I painted in Seattle because we saw it at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in a wonderful touch tank full of beautiful rays... I should be painting some of those too!  This is going to the Art4Shelter Event at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on May 10th!  It'll be up for grabs for $90, which is less than the $180 I'd be asking for it!
I have always loved horseshoe crabs since I was a kid and first saw one in Galveston, Texas, which was also the first time I saw the ocean, I think. They are so toy-like, with the hard upper shell and those small, crinkled eyes, and the little tail that may move.  It's only if you pick them up that you see the crabby feet underneath! When I lived in Key Largo in the late 90's, I was kayaking one time and couldn't stop myself from riding right over a mating pair in the seagrass... I felt bad but I'm sure I didn't hurt them- I'm not sure I even touched their shells!  And another time in Key Largo I spent a good hour with some friends rescuing a horseshoe crab who had gotten tangled in fishing line and was stuck in some coral.  We didn't have a snorkel or anything and the tide was coming in, so we were taking breaths and diving under to saw at the fishing line with a seashell until we were able to pull him up and separate his little legs from the line...

8x10 acrylic on archival card

$90

only available at Art4Shelter!

April 9, A Commission...

Yes, I am always working on commissions!  I love them, you know~  that subtle pressure from somewhere else so I have no excuse to NOT paint!  Keep 'em coming!
Loved this one!

8x8 acrylic on cradled wood panel

Spoken For!

April 8, Into The Blue (again)

SO I have been way too nutty busy lately, and I really don't like to skip blog posts because I want to have close to 365 posts this year, darn it! and so I'm mad at myself and may not be making that much sense here!  BUT here is a painting, and Max helped me hang the "30 Cats & Friends" at Diamond's today, and everyone there was super nice and wanted to help me by moving out of the way so I could get them up, even though it was packed and they were all doing their laptop business and max only had a few super crooked ones, I'll straighten them out before the Opening Party this Thursday night from 6 to 8!  Agh!
Oh and my cell phone of four years finally gave it up, so I am learning my way around a new one.... that took some time too, wahoo.

This painting is hanging at the Show Galley in Downtown St Paul for the MAA Spring Show, and it won a Merit Award!  Yay!  I painted it of the river otters in the Minnesota Zoo, whom I absolutely love, and who are sometimes doing this for their own pleasure~

Into the Blue, 10x20 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

$450 

click here to purchase this one!

April 4, Lincoln Park Path

This is a tiny painting from our trip to Seattle last week~ Lincoln Park is in West Seattle and where you get on the ferry to head over to Vashon Island, and this path was right by the men's restrooms, which I should have taken photos of because the bathrooms are so COOL!  They are concrete formed and mostly underground with curved walls.  Hunderwasser woulda loved them!

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out!
And I'm getting all those critters ready to hang-  I'm hoping to get them up this Saturday morning or later- I'll let ya know!

4.5x6.25 acrylic on wood

$55 

click HERE to nab this little beauty!

April 3, A commission!

Here's a sweet puppy!  Hope you're having a lovely spring, wherever you are!  We're having a snowstorm here in Minneapolis!

Wahoo!

8x8 acrylic on cradled wood 

Sold!

April 2, another version of that Tree!

HERE is the 8x10 version of the birch tree outside our rooms this weekend-  I also meant to say HAPPY EASTER yesterday!  Just too much going on again~ I'm loving purple at the moment- we always hit the 1st and 2nd Street Thrift Store in Grand Marais when we're up there, and this time I found three purple tops, all of which I am in love with!  The one I'm wearing today is a 100% silk velvet button-down, and there's the short sleeve ribbed tunic with pockets, and the merino wool wrap cardigan with lilac purple inside and pockets!  WAHOO!
This week I am getting all my critters ready to hang  at Diamonds!  I hope you can come for the opening next Thursday evening!  6-8pm!
Oh and this Friday I'll have a First Friday Painting Party at the Studio from 6:30-9 so come and paint something for Art4Shelter with me!

8x10 on guerrilla board

$90

available at Art4Shelter, May 9th!

April 1, East Bay Birch Tree

Ah, home is good, isn't it?
Max's birthday was yesterday and we were a bit occupied all day, satisfying his majesty's every wish... it was a bit tough, being an only kid with three adults. He got WAY too many legos, but spent the day doing nice things, and ended it by watching "Epic" which is now his new favorite movie ("Can we order it on Amazon when we get home mom, can we please?!")- and this is a kid who prefers documentaries...
Okay enough about us!  Here is a tree~  I painted another 8x10 version for Art4Shelter!  It was the perfect tree to have outside our suite...

5x7 acrylic on wood

$70

click here for this little nugget!