October 25, Backlit Doe

 I'm amazed at how busy I am, though yes, I do realize why. I'm doing too much again. But it's all so fun!  How do you stop? And it's getting to be the holiday season as well, which means lots MORE stuff going on!

Speaking of which, we will be having an Art Opening on November 6th at Corrigan Eclectic (3065 145th Street West in Rosemount MN 55068) from 11 to 4pm for the fantastic and much anticipated collaborative show we've titled "Deer Friends"!  The photos and title are by amazing photographer Gina Easley and the paintings are all by me, using Gina's photos as references.  I'm super excited about this show and have been painting these deer since 2019 and have been wanting a show of them for at least as long. But COVID and restrictions have made it difficult until now!  So if you are free and not far from us, please consider this a personal invitation!  We'd love to have you!  And this painting will be there~ though you can buy it now and I'll mark it sold but I'd still like to have it in the show~

16x12 acrylic on canvas

$385

click here!

October 20, Camp Road

 So this is a bit overlit in the photo, but this was my landscape demo last Saturday and you never can quite tell what it looks like until you get home later and look at it. So I really wasn't sure I liked it, until I looked at it today. And then I liked it!  but I don't think the photo is good... 

But anyway!  I still like it!

20x10 acrylic on linen

$400

click here!

Good lord, it's already the 19th! Ack! A commission!

 Yup! Getting lots of stuff done, including my sales taxes for the 3rd Quarter of the year! I think people often don't realize how much behind the scenes work there is for an artist who is actually trying to make enough money for it to count as a business and not just a hobby... there's a lot of paper work!  And yes, technology can make it easier, but it also always just requires time sitting and crunching numbers.

So thank you everyone who helps me keep this as a business and not just a hobby!

Here's a commission I'm working on- I'm nearly done, and I LOVE this one!

20x10 acrylic on wood

sold

October 15th, It's FRIDAY!

This time of year feels harder, in a lot of ways... I'm tired. I need naps. In the summer it wouldn't bug me at all to be up past 9:30 at night, but now, I need to be in bed if not on the way. I'm sure it's the cooler weather and the waning light, and looking into that big, black tunnel of unknowns coming at us through the winter. How hard must it have been in the past, when your life depended on one another, and the harvest, and stocking up for the winter and all that. No time for frivolity, not a lot of time to sit still, until that was all there was to do-

Hmmm. So then, in the winter, you recharge and play violin, and draw, and sew clothes for one another, and maybe paint...

Yup!  take a nap and then paint-   and I do think laughing helps a TON. Maybe I should become a comedian. 

So I have a lovely big show coming up in January at the Convergence Gallery through Artistry, and we're starting to collect images for it. These are a couple otters that may show up there!  I need to get to the zoo and take some more photos!

9x12 acrylic on wood

$275

click here!

6x12

$144

click here to buy!

October 13, Lighten Up!

I had an absolutely delightful Live Painting Demo at the White Bear Center for the Arts last night!  It's been a terribly long week after a long weekend, and I was a bit concerned about the rush hour drive and heading home in the dark, but I was thankfully not at all worried about the painting part of the demo!  And it was a total hoot!

I think I've realized a while ago, that if I know I'm good at something then I should just push that a bit and relax into it- like I know I love to paint so I can feel pretty comfortable standing up in front of people doing it. I also know I like to talk to people and have them talk to me while I'm painting, so if I can meet them ahead of time and make us all more comfortable, it will be even better. And so I got there early and was able to meet Rhana (I think- actually, I think that's wrong-  I wish I'd written her name down!  I remember best when I write it out- I know there was an R and some As....) who was setting me up with an iPad to show on the big screen behind me so the viewers could see exactly what I was doing- and that made me feel more relaxed because there was someone helping, and then people started coming in and they had name tags on because they had to register (I LOVE name tags!!!!!) and so I was able to introduce myself and call on them by name, which was just FUN!  And so we were waiting a minute at 6 for everyone to show up and I pulled out my silly tiny joke book that I got at St Mark's Scholastic Book Sale back in 1997 or something like that and told dad jokes til we were all laughing,  and then I went ahead and started.

I had wanted to paint a 16x20 but the iPad would't show that big a piece, and I wasn't sure I could get through one in an hour, so I went with this one of one of Gina's deer that I had already painted once smaller (in a 6x12 that sold FAST after posting!) and that helped- dang, and everyone was just so delightfully chatty, especially the twins, Noelle and Nanette (I think) and when I invited them to scoooch up closer to see better, they were all happy to! The only thing that could have made it any better would have been a glass or two on wine...

Anyway, this is an awfully long post- Here's the painting and I'll continue tomorrow!

8x16 acrylic on wood

$260

click here!

October 11, A Commission!

 It is the season for those commissions, people!  If you're hoping to have a special painting done for your special someones, get your info to me ASAP!  I'm working on a few now, but can squeeze in a few more!

And THANK YOU everyone who came out this Saturday for our October Corrigan Eclectic Art Market!  It was SO sweet!  Having all the bay doors open and people drop by all day was just so lovely~

Our next one is Saturday November 6th, and that one is ALSO an ART OPENING in the front gallery!  I'll be showing my best and newest Deer paintings as well as some of the amazing PHOTOS that inspired them by my friend Gina Easley, who is an artist photographer! So it's a DUO SHOW!

More info about that soon!

Meanwhile, enjoy this house~

6x9 acrylic on wood

sold

October 6, A commission

 So we are happy to invite you to come visit us at Corrigan Eclectic this Saturday, between 11 and 4pm where we will be set up with our art and many other artists' work for your holiday shopping pleasures!

And it is because I've been working on this that I've been neglecting this blog!  I am so sorry!

I spent last Saturday morning sitting at Breck for the Blessing of the Animals and our Homecoming celebration, and as usual (except for last year!), I sat and painted people's pets and stuffies for about an hour, with my delightful and talented colleague, Carol Grams and one of our incredibly skilled Upper School students, Amira!

These are some of my images- I'll post more tomorrow!  I had WAY more stuffed animals than real ones, and I also had a long line so really, these are 10 minute sketches, outside, with acrylic on black paper and not a lot of time!

Great as an exercise!