Nov 30, Sidewalk Sentinel

 So I painted a crow. Do you know I love to paint black animals? Do you know I used to own an umbrella cockatoo named Nemo but my ex husband took her away with him and she was like a white version of a crow in terms of intelligence and social life? And so now crows make me think of Nemo.

This one was in Portland last January when I went out to see my great friend Lori over New Year's Eve- that was a fun trip, and rather calm and restful actually. So many grays out there- different than Minnesota in many ways, especially in the winter.

And today I am grateful for my head lamp to light my way as I trot along with little Pompom in the early morning dark, following her little tush as she hops up and leaves a small "gift" on a lawn and I can see to pick it up. I also appreciate that the light shows me where the sidewalks are a bit uneven where the tree roots have pushed them up. I don't want to catch a toe and go sprawling on my chin!

16x8 acrylic on wood

$256

click here for purchase info!

Nov 29, Standing Proud

So the wolves also intrigue me at the Mn Zoo, and just in the world in general. I dreamt about one the other night...  one of those dreams about a presence near you, you can feel it but you can't quite identify it, not sure if it means well or ill... and then I read something about Fantastic Mr Fox and that part where Mr Fox meets the wolf... there's that rather interesting spiritual aspect of the wolf as representing the wild. Maybe especially here in Minnesota, the north. Hmmm....

This morning I am grateful for instant oatmeal!  Because my other breakfast attempt sadly failed.

I hope I see some of you this weekend at the Bizarre Bazaar and/or Art At Hidden River!

12x6 acrylic on wood

150

click here for purchase info!

Nov 28, Eye Level Suspense

 It is sunny and 8 degrees this morning, and my brave little pup managed the entire walk without a whimper!  I was expecting her to stop and look up at me shivering to be picked up at some point but she just sniffed and pooped and peed and sniffed more and kept on trotting!  I am grateful today to have a companion to go on my morning trots with, even if I do have to go upstairs and root her out from under the covers to drag her along!

Thanks for all the wonderful responses about yesterday's otter!  I LOVE that one so much!  I want to paint a few more larger ones too- I think it's that look on that one's face- this one has a clever face as well though it isn't as clearly defined in the reference photo so I had to make up an ear... but I think they often look like they are smiling, don't they!

12x6 acrylic on wood

$150

click here to nab!

Nov 27, Serious Play

I have to admit I really really love this one... it's from a favorite photo, and I painted a much larger version several years ago that sold to a friend (which is great because I know where it is and I can visit it! Thanks Suzanne!!) and I hadn't found the photo again til recently, and so I worked on this one and I am pretty pleased with it!

I suppose that's something to be grateful for as well, isn't it?  When it happens that you like your own work, especially the next day, and it still looks good and sometimes even better- that's pretty awesome!

I love the intense look on his face and how he's curled in the water and moving... 

Oh and those reflections!

Yes, and those paws...

It's a good one!

8x10 acrylic on wood

$170

click here to nab this one!

Nov 26, Watching the Bubbles Rise!

We have this version of the game "Life" from 1985, and we had some lovely friends come over last night for game night so we played it, and it is a bit more involved than the other more recent version we lost in the fire... this one includes a "REVENGE" space where you get to make anyone pay you $200,000 OR you send them back 10 spaces,  and it offers many more boy children than girls, and when you get more kids than there are spaces in your car, the game says to just cram them in "like we do in real life"... kinda funny, huh? So today I am grateful for friends who are willing to play through an incredibly long and involved game that requires a constant reading of the rules!

I hope you had the chance to have some fun and play some games this weekend! Here is another playful otter painting I did this week- I love the light on her face and how she's so attentively looking at the surface and the bubbles... and also the underflow of reflected light on her belly...  I'll have this one with me at Art At Hidden River this Saturday! Unless it sells here, of course!

6x12 acrylic on wood

$150

click here to buy!

Nov 25, "Tip O The Nose To Ya!"

 Well that was fun!  Almost as soon as I posted yesterday's otter it was snatched up!  I love it! So here is another one, with another nose just above the water~ and it's funny because I wasn't sure people would like these because you can't see the otter's face!  I do love the waterline and that above/below contrast that happens in these.

Thanks for loving my work!!!!

Today I am grateful for the ability to be still. Yesterday I sat for a session (well, I was lying down actually) with my older brother Patrick who lives near Seattle. It was a meditative, calm, energy healing and cleansing experience, called a Soul Retrieval in which Patrick was able to help me find two parts of myself that had gone missing. If you know me, you know I don't like to be still. For this procedure to work, I had to quiet my monkey brain and be open and let feelings and thoughts come to me, and it was pretty amazing. I'm feeling somehow more full, more calm. It's going to be all right kinda thoughts, you know? My brother is a Shamanic Cartoonist, and here is his website- personally, I love his Medicine Card readings- he is a hugely gentle and calming person and works through Zoom from his small office in Kent, Washington. Give him a try!

And I'll have this otter with me at Art At Hidden River next weekend! It's that School across the street from Wet Paint between Grand and Summit, from 9:30-4:30!  Come early for the good stuff!

Though if it sells, there will be more!

12x6 acrylic on wood

$150

click here to buy!

Nov 24, Happy Noses Up!

 Here's another otter! I am so OTTERLY fortunate, my friends! What a lovely Thanksgiving we had yesterday~ I hope you did too. Duane was in the kitchen most of the morning, and in between turkey cooking and the wild rice, we moved two loads of my mom's paintings from the shop, Corrigan Eclectic, which mom has sold. 

She's been worried about getting all her work back from the shop and where to put it and what to do with it all, which I still remember being one of the big messages I talked about in college when I first seriously claimed "ARTIST" as my career choice. Storage is a problem for all visual artists. Other arts, like theater, dance, music, don't produce physical products through practice, but a visual artist has to make things, has to move that paint brush, that pencil, study their subject, and that creates STUFF.  And that means the STUFF has to be managed.   

In college, I also painted REALLY big paintings- and I still have a lot of them. Whales mostly- lost a few in the fire, because we had them hanging in our stairwell- so THIS one I'm posting here is a LITTLE painting, just 6 inches by 12 inches, and those are not as hard to store! For you OR me!

I like these- I may have it with me next weekend at my art sales! Unless you snag it from here!

12x6 acrylic on wood

$150

click here to buy!

Nov 23, I OTTER tell you how THANKFUL I am for YOU!

 Alright!  I thought I'd paint another house today but it feels much more appropriate to post an otter instead!

So here is one~ and this morning I am thankful for Facebook posts from friends with positive messages about how to enjoy a holiday with relatives and still stay true to your own joy~

Be like an otter- live in the water and the air, and smile as you glide through both~

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!

9x12 acrylic on wood

$215

click here to snag this one!

Nov 21, The Brick House

 Hello! I've had such a lovely day today!  I ran errands all morning, and I am SO grateful that our local post office is open again! I had three boxes to send to my brother in Seattle and two smaller commissions to mail out and another larger package with two paintings (an OTTER and a KITTEN for MAGGIE!)  so my arms were full but there was no line at all and the postman was so helpful and curious about what I was sending and I said I'm an artist! They are my paintings! And now I think of it, I shoulda given him a business card!  Silly me- it's just that as a painter starting out and wanting to sell work, it was a thrill to be able to go to the post office and mail off something. I still love doing it today!

Then I returned some shoes through Fedex and hit the local Turnstyle and ran to Trader Joe's and Poppies on Grand!  It was just lovely, and I had parking spots everywhere and people seemed to be in holiday spirits~

This is a brick house! It's a smaller piece, 6x9, and I'd love you to have it if you like it!

6x9 acrylic on wood

$110

buy it now!

Nov 21, Twin Cities Bungalow

 Today I am grateful for humor. Did I mention I'm taking an Improv class at Strike Theater on Mondays right now? I started taking it because this has been a really tough year (ya think?) and I need some lines and ideas to shake me out of my head because I don't want to be snapping at my sweet (and sometimes highly energetic and frustrating) students through my own anxieties. So humor helps. It's helpful to be standing on a stage with ten sorta strangers/sorta friends now and be laughing so much the top of my head hurts.

Humor helps, people!

This is a smaller painting, 6x9, and I'm gonna auction this one off too!  I painted it a couple years ago, and I'll be posting two more houses and then I'll start posting some of the otters and wolves and pups I've been painting!  It's been a fun painting month, my friends!

6x9 acrylic on wood

$50 starting bid!

click here to join!

Nov 20, The Birch Down The Street

 Good morning!  I've only got three more days of houses to paint, people!  So if any of you were thinking of sending me one, DO IT NOW!  This year has been much more casual, and I don't have an Official Show set up, like the one we did last year at Poppies that was SO FUN! Though I may take most of the houses over to Diamonds and hang them there-

If you commissioned YOUR house, I will mail it to you before Christmas! 

This painting is from a photo I took of a house down the street that has these beautiful birch trees out front and they were just catching the setting sun and glowing in the sky. I'm hoping I caught some of that sense of light and airiness...

And this morning I am grateful for friends whose feet are the same size as mine so we can swap shoes! And I'm also grateful for 3rd Sunday Brunches and all those beautiful people we love who come by to eat and talk and laugh with us. THANK YOU you all!  You know who you are!

10x8 acrylic on wood

$175

click here to purchase!

Nov 19, Molly and Judd's Place

 It was a few years back when we house-swapped with our friends in Key West... Max was so young he fell asleep on the back of Duane's bike when we were heading back from the beach one time and I was afraid he was gonna fall off!  So lucky...

Another thing to be grateful for- the opportunities we have been gifted by generous friends!

I am also grateful to all the people I spent time with yesterday, staring the day with a private lesson at my studio with Kristi, who completely uplifted my teaching mind with the conversation about young people today and giving them hope and tools to work into the future. Then Duane my husband drove to Rosemount to pick up my mom, Rita, the artist, so we could go with our sweet and generous friends Julie and Jeff (who spent a good chunk of their Thursday helping Duane screw floorboards!!!) to see the Hazel Belvoe show at the Minnesota Museum of Art ("M") in downtown St Paul~ it is a gorgeous show and we all highly recommend it. They have some of Hazel's delicate and intimate love drawings from the 70s of couples engaged in lovemaking. Beautiful. 

10x8 acrylic on wood

perhaps...

Nov 18, Miriram's House

 What a gorgeous fall morning we have here in Minnesota! I hope you are enjoying it wherever you are! This is Miriam's house, and it looks to me like a familiar face of a local friend. I think there are a few houses that look like this around here. I like the friendly blue and that bright yellow door.

Today I am grateful for light and sunshine and long walks to lake Hiawatha with a willing little companion.

10x8 acrylic on wood

sold!

Nov 17, Oops! I forgot to POST today!

I've been working on more homes and somehow today has been slipping by! So here is one again from a past series, and it is still a beautiful available painting that you can snag!

I don't remember who sent the photo, but this is what I wrote about it when I first posted it, and it is still available!  Any profits from every painting I sell through this project up to Thanksgiving will be partially donated to the Simpson's Housing Services because we all need somewhere to call home~

Yes, a cottage on an island~ there's something about those skies...

Have I mentioned that I've been listening to Afrocelt Soundsystem lately? I have a couple of their cds, and remember dancing to their music in the basement of at least one South Minneapolis house...  there's something really soothing, moving, invigorating about their music.  We ended up using it as background music at the Boutique on Saturday, and it made the day just rock, for me!  And I'm pretty sure other people enjoyed it as well.  I've been playing it in my classroom too, and the kids like it because they don't know what it is and can't quite categorize it as "Art Teacher" music...

Check out the wikipedia page, and then order some of their music!  I'm listening to it on Amazon music, but I also have the cds~ here is a link to SEED-

6x9 acrylic on wood

$110

click here for purchase info!

Nov 16, The Winter Tree

 This is a painting of our house from 2019, I think just as word of Covid was reaching us, and my Sunday school class was worried about end times... It is a little apocalyptical with that yellow sky and no sign of any other buildings around it. Which is not the case with our actual house, which is moving along now! Not far, but at least action is happening and there is a dumpster out front again. We have had a lovely intelligent crew in there, redoing the windows that were installed wonky and refitting the doors that were also not correct. Duane has been screwing in all the underlayer floorboards to the joists so we won't have any squeaky floors in the house EVER, and he's had a wonderful crew of friends stopping by with screw guns and drills to help him out. It feels good to see lights on in the house and people moving in and out. The heat is hooked up, though the electric and water are still not running. Rumor has it that the oak floors are coming soon and will be stacked in the basement to acclimate for a bit before being installed. I think it will feel more real as the toilets and fixtures and cupboards and shelves get placed. 

Today I am grateful for friends who come around to help out and check in and just sit and chat. Sometimes I have a hard time NOT working. I feel like I have to be DOING something all the time to be valuable. But sometime it is valuable just to sit and be.

I'm going to work on that.

6x9 acrylic on wood

$80

click here for purchase info~

Nov 15, The Cabin View

Today I am grateful for those people who help me stay calm, and for the band Afrocelt Sound System whose music is one of my go-to destressors...  I listen to them all the time in my car and at school. Great stuff!

This is also a calming scene for me. This is the view we have for a month when Duane and I are up at Camp Mishawaka as the craft counselors. We know how lucky we are. We love just sitting and looking out the huge windows into the trees. The lake is just beyond.

10x8 acrylic on wood

$240

click here for purchase info

Nov 14, Tarpon Bay, Florida

 Yes, well, not quite home, but I did live in Key Largo, FL for a while, so it isn't far!  This is from a family vacation we went on in 2019... wow. That seems like a long time ago!  Max was quite a bit smaller... and it was spring break, and Max always wanted a truck so we rented a truck instead of a car and he was thrilled with it. Iguanas and manatees, swimming and fishing, hanging out on islands with friends. Great trip!

I suppose today I'm thankful for memories like that, that make me smile as I run them through my mind. We've been pretty darn lucky, getting to go places and do the things we've gotten to do!

I'm gonna put this one on auction too, but for a bit higher than the others because it's more recent- and there's an option to buy it outright if you like it!

10x8 acrylic on wood

$50 starting bid!

Click here to join the auction fun!

Nov 13, Rita's Ivy

 This was a fun and tricky one to paint, with all the darkness and speckles of light- and the little face I think of Rita herself in the window! It seems inviting and mysterious...

And my mom's name is Rita too!

Today is the 8th year anniversary of my dad's sudden death at the age of 75 in the front seat of his Odessy Van waiting in the parking lot at Nova Academy for my mom after my nephew's performance. It was awful and shocking and they said it was a "cardiac event" which doesn't explain a lot except that he is irretrievably gone. 

We really miss him. He loved dogs and talking to strangers and we got him to Ireland in 2013 which was his native land that he'd never been to and he was the best traveler of all of us, keeping us from going off the rails in personal arguments. He was impossible to buy presents for because he didn't want anything, just to be with you and talk. He loved a good campfire, and roasted marshmallows, and a rootbeer float.

10x8 acrylic on wood

spoken for

Nov 12, Molly's Sister's House in Virginia

 Whew! What a lovely day!  And we had such a great time at the studio yesterday as well!  Thank you SO much everyone who came to the Ivy!  I had hoped for more open studios, though we had a pretty steady mob walking through for the entire day, and I was fortunate enough to have to carry large art works out to people's cars not ONCE but TWICE!  Thank goodness their vehicles were big enough! Thank you Joy!  Thank you MaryLynn!

And I have to say I am extremely grateful to our son Max for being willing to sit at the front door of the Ivy Building to act as a greet and doorman, since the door was locked for the entire sale. He did it without any complaint at all! At 14 years old!  Wow!

And this house is for my friend Molly's sister in Virginia!  I love the strong light across the front... so fun to try to get that right!

8x10 acrylic on wood

sold

Nov 11, A St Paul House

 We've been prepping for a while for today so come on by and say hi! As an artist, you are always getting ready for the next event or class or exhibition, and sometimes you have to squeeze the painting part in where you can- so I'll probably be painting at the studio today! You can come see The Artist In Her Natural Environment!

From noon to 6 at the Ivy, up on the second floor and around towards the back! Get your steps in! There is an elevator too!

This house is another one from a previous year and I am reposting it at another discounted price if you're interested!

8x10 acrylic on wood

$125

click here for purchase info~

Nov 10, the Other Green House

 This morning I am grateful for Rishi Tumeric and Ginger tea! It makes me go "ummmmmmm"......

This is another green house that I painted a few years back, and it isn't quite 8x10, it is 7.5 by 8, so I'm gonna offer this one for less than usual!  Nab it if you like it!  We're a bit busy this Friday morning and we have the FANTASTIC HOLIDAY SALE at STUDIO 210 tomorrow from noon to 6pm!  Come by the Ivy and see us! 2637 27th Ave S!

7.5x10 acrylic on wood

$150 $125!

click here to grab this one!

Nov 9, The Green House

Boy, I am SO grateful for people who let me be an artist! And for people who want to join in on these Daily Painting Projects of mine... there's so much to be grateful for!

This amazing house took a bit longer because of all the details... there's a lot of filigree on this one! Isn't it something? The dramatic angle and the leaves all added to it too. I left out the houses on either side because this feels like it could stand alone.  Isn't it fine?

Here's what Michael wrote about it~

As for a story about the place, we don't have anything too exciting. The house was built in 1891. U.S. Representative James Manahan, a Saint Paul lawyer, lived in the house with his family for a time. A prior owner shared a photo of someone who looks like Mr. Manahan sitting in a very old car outside the house a very long time ago, and the photo is on the wall of our entryway along with another old photo of the house passed down from owner to owner - this photo shows that there was originally a turret on the northeast corner of the house.  

10x8 acrylic on wood

sold

Nov 8, The Old Chapel Schoolhouse

 Today I am able to bend much easier than the last few days! Yay! For that I am very thankful. I'm also thankful for the senses of humor and love that my family has for me, and for how that can carry me through a hard day. November really can be a rough month, people. I hope you have some love in yours!

This is where we stayed the last time we were in England, in 2017, in Todmorden near our sweet friends Alison and Weston. There was a stone walled field across the street and 8 year old Max LOVED feeding whatever he could to the horse and the sheep and the chickens that were living there. It was June, it was my birthday while we were there, there were green growing things all around. For some reason, when I think of England, it is of an older place where nature is growing right with the old buildings, as if they grew there together. Admittedly, I'm usually in the older parts where there isn't a lot of new construction and maybe that's why, but I do love that feel of nature being right outside your door.

Oh and I'll make this one an auction too!

8x10 acrylic on panel

$25 starting bid!

Jump on in, people!

Nov 7, Deer Stand

 I am having rather a busier week than I'd expected and so I am dredging up a HOME painting from the past!  I still really love this one, and will offer it up as an AUCTION because I was hoping to raise some money for Simpson's Housing and honestly I've been a bit ragged lately and don't have this Daily Painting Series as organized as I'd like, but what the heck!  I'm still painting!

So this one will be starting bid at $25 and we'll see how much we can raise! Share this one out and help me raise some money!

Today I'm thankful for the amazing warm beautiful wool blanket our friends Carla and Jimmy gave us last year for winter! Good sleep under that one!

8x10 acrylic on wood

$25 starting bid!

Click here to join the FUN!

Nov 6, David's Neighbor's House

 I painted this one last year, and it was unfortunately also in the fire because all my art stuff was in the dining room, which was where the fire started... so I wanted to repaint it for David and I like this one better I think! Isn't that nice?

And this morning I am thankful for my new glasses which make the world clearer and closer to me. Thanks Specs crew!

8x10 acrylic on wood

sold

Nov 5, Sunni's House

 And today I'm thankful for small blue jackets for little Pug-pomeranians to wear on their morning walks... because she looks super cute in it and it distracts me from the aches in my joints because of the PMR... which should be going away soon because I'm starting on another series of Prednisone... for which I am also thankful!

This lovely house belongs to my friend Sunni, who lived in South Minneapolis and travels a lot, and wanted this as a gift for her son because it is his childhood home and she's sold it so they can move on to their next adventure. I love the light behind it in the morning and all the greenery out front.

8x10 acrylic on wood

sold

Nov 4, The First HOME of HOMEvember is Michelle Miles!

I actually painted this one last year for the HOMEvember project, but then it was one of the first to go in the fire that took our pets Jan 8, so it seemed appropriate to repaint it today.  I'm not sure it's quite done, but I'm happy I got this far!  And I do think I'm going to keep this project to 15, if not 10 because it does take longer to paint a house than a pet... there's a lot more futzy detail in a house. Bricks, windows, gutters, you name it!

And today I am thankful for people who love otters too!!!  Dang all!  I post three otter paintings and two of them go immediately- you sure know how to warm my heart. I have loved otters since I first became aware of them through books and toys at age seven, and then somehow saw "A Ring Of Bright Water" on a Saturday afternoon movie and fell more in love, and then when the Minnesota Zoo opened in Eagan and there were not ONE, not TWO, but THREE kinds of otters there (Indian, River and Sea), well HECK!  That's where I wanted to be!

And GUESS WHAT!!!  That link to the movie will bring you to it on Youtube!!!!  The book is a good read as well~

So there is still room for a few more homes if you'd like to send me one!  Thank you!

8x10 acrylic on canvas

sold

Nov 3, Change of Direction

 So I'm dealing with some kind of auto-immune inflammation, and my Dr diagnosed it as Polymyalgia Rheumatica which means an inflammation of my joints so that I'm stiff as heck in the morning and walk around like a wind-up toy til I loosen up a bit. I'm also stiff getting out of the car, even for a ten minute drive. And it's tricky doing yoga bends as well.... That's why I am grateful for Ibuprofen and Tylenol, and I'm also thankful for Prednisone but I don't want to live on steroids.

So today I'm thankful for 40 degree mornings in the fall where it feels comfortable and just enough wet out to feel alive~

This otter painting is VERY wet, since he's all underwater- it's amazing how they bend themselves around and move in that space under the air~

11x14 acrylic on wood

$315

click here for purchase info~

Little Otter Face

 I've decided I will be thankful every day for the month of November, in the hopes that it sticks, because I'm finding myself being crabby and I'd rather not, thank you very much.

Here is another sweet little otter painting, this one is just 6x8 inches, and today I am very thankful for Ibuprofen and Tylenol~

6x8 acrylic on wood

$100

click here for purchase info!