Jan 31, A Commission...

Yes, I am trying to paint everyday, but as I'm sure you all know all too well, sometimes life gets in the way.  I did get some nice sketches done of my teacup, and I did also through a lovely bowl this afternoon during my after school clay class. Impressed my kids AND myself, I did! Now I just have to learn how to finish the bottoms...

And yes, I am SO lucky to have other people's pets to paint because THEY keep me painting!  I  have a pretty strong work ethic, so sometimes it's hard to do something "Fun", but if it is "Work" related, well hey!  Then I have a reason to do it! All the better if it IS actually "Fun"!

This is Lily, and she bears a very similar look to our beloved teen-year dog, Rusti... aren't her eyes amazing?

10x10 acrylic on wood

sold

 

Jan 30, Otterly Relaxed

Titles are tricky- and I do like to get the word "otter" in there somewhere so when I'm looking for the image later I can find it easier... and I'm sure someone out there knows about tagging my images somehow so that when I want to find them I can, but I don't know how to do that. There's a lot I don't know how to do. Sometimes it feels like the amount of stuff I DON'T know how to do vastly outweighs the stuff I do know.... actually, I'm sure that's true. But I suppose it's what I do with what I DO know that matters, right?

More mindfulness stuff today- my debit card was denied at Whole Food yesterday, which was embarrassing but not that terrible for me because I currently am employed and have money and a credit card I was able to pull out to cover my bill. And when I got home, I found there were several strange charges to my account and I immediately marked my card as STOLEN. And then I was able (eventually) to find a 24 hour Fraud number to call (thanks Wings...) and I had a nice chat with Samuel who patiently went through my charges up to the 15th of January, where someone had bought $750 from Coinbase, a Cryptocurrency company. Hmmm. 

I think the most awful part is just the grossness of someone being in your supposedly safe and secure places. I have my card, here in front of me. So no one stole my actual card. They got enough info somewhere somehow to use my info falsely. To about $1300 worth of large charges for cell phone and shoes and flowers...

Ah well.  Here's an otter- I'll cover shipping!

6x12. acrylic on wood

$150

tax and shipping incl!

Click HERE!

Jan 28, A Commission

It's Friday. And it's warm enough for our lower school kids to actually GO OUTSIDE. Having In-Door Recess for almost two weeks has required the kind of patience and humor that are often in short supply for teachers by this time of year...

I've got a lovely small Paint Your Pet class at my studio tomorrow from 9:30 to 12:30, and there is still room if you aren't doing anything~ you can still sign up here!  I do actually really need to paint with other people sometimes too, and I realize how much I love to teach!  It is a fantastic thing to do, honestly, and I learn so much about myself too.

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold!

Jan 27, Stationary Bun

 It's the shapes of animals that I love. I think its the inviting roundness, maybe the suggested vulnerability of the soft body, and the connection I feel to that vulnerability... it's an almost tangible attraction.  I can feel the shape as I stroke my brush. And I don't think of anything else as I'm painting, working to translate that image into something solid.

Yup. I love painting.

6x6 acrylic on wood

$83 includes TAX and SHIPPING!

Click here!

Jan 26, Pink on the Rocks

 Here's a little landscape I painted last week~ I'm missing Grand Marais! Most of the lakes near me are frozen because they are small city lakes, and I'd like to see the moving waves of Lake Superior. I'm trying to figure out what to do during my Spring Break. Should I go to Costa Rica where my youngest sister lives? Or should I go up to Grand Marais and paint the Lake?

Hmmmm. 

Feel free to offer suggestions!

8x8 acrylic on wood

$150

and I'll make sure there's no tax or shipping on that!

Click here to buy!

Jan 24, Briggs, A Commission

 And it's Monday! And it's already the last week of January- wow! Isn't it weird how time moves?And I know if you're my age, it passes even faster. Do you think that's because we are more aware of it? We have more things we're trying to fit into a day now, and my twelve year old son doesn't experience time the same way I do... he's often heard to moan, "I'm BOOOOOOOOOREEEEDDDDD" when he's told to get off his device. And then fifteen minutes later, he's in the middle of painting something or building a lego or playing in the snow. And then time passes again-

Yup.

I'm painting Pop Art Appliances with my fourth graders lately, and we're using Crayola neon colored paint. And every time I demo for them how to use the brush to stroke the paint to the edge of their sharpie line, I end up saying, " I LOVE painting!  Thanks for giving me a reason to paint today!" and they say, " We love it too!" It's one of my favorite ways to spend my time.

I hope you have a favorite way to spend time too!

This is another Christmas commission! Amazingly intent look on Brigg's face!

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Jan 23, Malaysian Tapir

 Good morning!

And darn it!  I was seriously trying to post everyday, and you know how that goes. Well, I'll begin again.

Here is a tapir for you! She lives at the Minnesota Zoo with her baby, and I have been charmed by their shapes ever since I first encountered this creature in 1977 when the Zoo first opened. They are round and unusual looking, soft edged with a short sensual trunk... and those sweet splayed toes~ just too much fun to paint!

This one is an 8x10 on wood, and the usual price would be $194 including tax, but it is SUCH a glorious Minnesota Sunday, with the sun shining on the snow, and I haven't been at any sales lately so I haven't sold much and it would be nice to do that, so this one is $160 (plus shipping) with tax included!

So there!  Happy Sunday!

8x10 acrylic on wood

$160

click here to nab this one!

Jan 20, Another Commission

 Yay!  My sweet bunny of yesterday sold!  That is such a lovely feeling- there will be more Florida Free Range bunnies coming, my friends- I need to paint them.  Tonight, I needed to sew an olive green sweater... and I think it may be a little big.  If I can get it to look decent I may post a photo.  Sewing is helpful to me in a meditative and relaxing way, and then I end up with something to wear!  Or give away!

And this is Finn. I am so pleased with how it turned out!  Especially that intent look at the tennis ball- we all know that look.

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Jan 19th, Florida Free Range

 This is a photo from Florida in 2016 when mom and I went to take an oil painting class from Dreama Tolle-Perry in February... Dad had just died that past November and we were both in shock. The bunnies were playing around the back of the studio space and they felt familiar and safe and sweet and available. They weren't a part of the class, or the pain we were feeling, and they weren't asking anything from me. They just were. 

And it feels really good to paint one again.  Like starting over. 

My friend Robin has also been studying mindfulness and meditation, and she posted a blog post this week for the first time in a really long time, and she also talked about Beginning Again. And that's what she said, " As I was getting back to place to start painting again, the idea of "begin again" just carried from my meditation practice and made it easier to open the door to that again.  Every time you are meditating and lose track of your breath because your brain is off on some wild tangent, you are supposed to just begin again and become aware of your breath again.  It's not a big deal and the idea of that made it easier to pick up a paint brush."

 I love that permission to just begin again. No strings attached. Like a free range rabbit in a Florida backyard...

Speaking of Begin Again, I do have some space left in my One Day Painting Class on Jan 29th, as well as in the Six-Week Class staring on Feb 6! More info for both Here! and Here!

6x6 acrylic on wood

$83 inc tax and shipping!

click HERE!

Jan 18, And another kitty...

 I saw the moon rising (or setting?) on 38th Ave as I drove to work this morning, and noticed a figure stumping along with a cane on the far left side of the road, but headed in my direction. My thought at first was "I hope he doesn't have far to go" and " the sidewalks must be seriously crappy for him to chose to walk in the street" and then I thought "why don't I offer him a ride?" and as I thought that, the car ahead of me slowed down with a blinker to the right and pulled to the side of 38th street, and I was surprised and paying attention so I carefully passed and thought "She's gonna give him a ride!" and in my rear view mirror, I could see the person with the cane making their way to the pulled over car. I don't know if she knew him, or was just doing what my thought was telling me, but I just about sobbed with that human recognition of spontaneous good.

We still have it, people.

Be good to one another.  And here's another view of yesterday's kitty!

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Jan 17, Another Kitty...

 

 I have such appreciation for our good representatives in our political system, and I do believe that if you aren't working for the good of other humans, then you are not a good person. It isn't easy being good. I work with kids every day, and it is hard to always be my best self with them. Some days are much easier than others- and I have such respect for Martin Luther King Jr, and all the amazing people like him, who are working hard to continue the work of such community minded generous loving souls...

And so I try to paint~

XO

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Jan 13 Another Christmas Commission!

 Wahoo people! 

Dang- I do know I am lucky to work with kids everyday- and to work with art stuff every day- and I'm lucky to have my personality and all that, and I just thought I'd share a few more of my pieces I was working my tail off on in December!  I have a few more that I'm kicking in now-  and I also have been adjusting my Pet Portrait Price List, and at this point, with how nuts the world is, I'm just going to consider Tax As Included In The Price, which means any commission already has about a 10 percent discount...

Just saying!

Isn't this an amazing face?

8x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Jan 3, Commissions!

I've been so lucky this winter to have so many holiday commissions!  It was nearly another "30 Dogs in 30 Days" kinda month!  Holy cow!

So thank you to all of you who asked me to be part of your holiday gift giving- it really means a lot to me that people find my paintings to be a comfort and a joy, and that they appreciate my representations of their beloved companions. I am so lucky!

Thank you!

9x12 acrylic on wood

framed, sold

 

Jan 2, 2022 Happy New Year!

 Wow! What a year~ thanks for being a part of it~ we've had fun and angst, joy and awful awfulness, and we've been there for each other.  I'm attaching my family Holiday Letter for you, because if you're reading this, you are a part of our family!

I'm getting some classes ready for this new year and we'll just play it by ear and see how we can do them together, aside from all of us making sure we're vaccinated and masked when together- I do want to make sure we have time to paint and a space to do that too, so let's do it together!

I've been so lucky to have dedicated painters like you all who want to keep painting and working together, and I know painting helps me keep a level heart and my mind fairly centered. That's why I call the classes Paint Love, though maybe it's time to change that...  let me know what you think.

And I'll be posting some more of my commissions done recently! Thanks for following!