I've been formulating a design for a designer creating images for a hotel in Costa Rica. Different from my thick, painterly style, these "sketches" are done in acrylics, and are more linear in design and execution. They wanted a lighter touch for the hotel on the ocean. I show you only one tonight because the triptych is 27" wide--hard to put in an email! This is the leftmost of a trio of three. Makes me want to go there---the rain is coming down tonight! It measures 5" tall by 9.25" wide. We'll have to see what the designer says tomorrow...

The paper is Stonehenge, and works really well for smooth paint application. And the stuff wears like iron!

December 15 - Revisiting an older landscape with new knowledge

How I love revisiting some quickly-done painting from "long ago and far away" (heh heh...) This one never made it in its original form to my Santa Rosa Plateau paintings page . Now this 8 x 10 oil is much better in design and value, and pleases me because of the fresh brushwork and interesting feel of evening distance. Something good is happening as I continue to paint every darned day--figuring out what's important is getting a bit easier, and I have no hesitation in revisiting older work with a certainty that hasn't been part of me prior to this regime of every-day working.
Holiday plans are crimping my planning time for some commission work coming my way, but I'll get to them by Sunday and all next week. My beloved siblings and a few friends are coming over tomorrow for dinner, so I'm chasing dust bunnies as I wish you a good day! $125 from my Daily Paintings web site via PayPal.

December 14 - Painting on Location, Riverside Mission Inn

Anyone who has been to Riverside has probably passed by the Mission Inn, famous for a thousand different things, not the least of which are the holiday light displays. I met up with another painting friend (Hi, Joan!) this afternoon for a quick session before the light disappeared. However I didn't capture the holiday lights on the building, as they clicked on two minutes after I left (and it was too dark to see my palette!) The palm tree on the right is actually much darker--the lights tonight washed out that upper right corner.
So this 10 x 8 acrylic came to a quick stage of almost finished while the sun set and the lights of the town blinked on. I like it because of the warm sunshine colors and the more somber colors found in the shadows. Fun to paint on location with the pill box setup, and using acrylics. They are still in the car, and I rest assured that they won't dry overnight, unlike the painting, which is completely dry! $200

December 13 - The Cat in the Snow, Acrylic, 8 x 10

Hmmm, texture again, and Bats the Studio Cat! Of course, Bats has never seen snow, but he will always model for me, and I can then have a wonderfully fun time making the snow and shadows behind him in this fanciful landscape, comvered in rime and icicles. Entitled, "Will You Feed Me?" Bats might play the role of a feral cat looking for a handout. I've entered this one in a national show on animals in art. Original acrylic, 8 x 10 inches $175 from the Daily Paintings web site for December 13.

December 12 - Deer in the Forest, Acrylic, 16 x 20

More snow! One of the bigger canvases! Egad... (I hear the rest of the big canvases shuffling in the racks like the owls asleep at Hogwarts--I wonder whether they are shuffling away from me, or making movement to be chosen next?) This is a 16 x 20 inch canvas, with handmade papers under the paint, completely sealed for archival quality. The acrylics make a ton of texture, and the details are always easy to pick out--a branch here, a pile of snow there, a deer... wait?!! Look what walked into an otherwise interesting textured woodland! Yes, the eye goes directly to whatever has a heartbeat. Note that the deer is in the "Golden Mean" and not poking around in a corner somewhere. Good design can be simple or complex, but it ought to follow the rules of good design! And the common blue/orange complementary color scheme is pleasant, too.
Now in the collection of Fay Bohlayer of Dawsonville, Georgia.

December 11 - Snow Country, 12 x 24 Oil

"Snow Country" Today's painting is a major change for an earlier daily painting. You can see the earlier version of this 10 x 20 inch oil on the dailypaintings.com web site, under the date of June 30 of this year. When I first painted it, the temperature outside was 90 degrees! Tonight I bring it to a different finished state, and change it tremendously--from summer to winter! Why do artists go after work they've done and change it so drastically? One reason is growth of the artist's knowledge. We learn something new, and we want to practice the new knowledge because we see what we didn't know manifest in our earlier work. Another reason is a deep dissatisfaction with the work as it stood before, and a great desire to take on the challenge to see if it is possible to produce an evolution of sorts. And then there's just my reason--having run out of small canvases, I'm painting over bigger ones! (The order is in, they'll be here any day now.)

It is fun to change the colors so drastically, and enjoy the finished result. Oh, I could work more on it if I was of a mind to, but for now, this one still remains in a new finished state! $375

December 10 - Commission Finished!

"Sara Finished" Sometimes a painting just won't rest until it pesters you to work on it. I knew even though I had signed the painting yesterday, it wasn't going to rest until I'd come in and fixed all those "little things" that kept coming into my head since leaving the studio. So if you'll take the time to look at yesterday's work, you'll see what just wouldn't sit down and keep quiet.

I like it now, and feel far better about the light and the lift in the horse. So let's put a fork in it, because it's done!

The rainy weather kept me indoors for most of the day, and I worked on the cat tower exit to the "safe zone" for the kitties outside. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow when it's light. This is in the student area/gallery, where I'll finally be able to re-open my studio for artists one day a week, planned for January. I can hardly wait, because when artists come up to the studio, I also learn a great deal. I paint with them, we share stories and hints, and it is one of the rewarding moments in my week. I hope to see returning students/artists, and add new ones in this locale.

Now in the collection of Paula Worstell of Carlsbad, California.