Mar 16 - Cats coming out to Play!

Finished and here for your pleasure, the 24 x 30 inch oil of "Bats, the Studio Cat", replacing the damaged "A Pitcher for Bats" which now is permanently retired.

In finishing this one, I was more mindful of color choices to keep the wrarmth of the painting and the freshness of the peonies and other flowers. I had no model to go on because Bats decided to ignore the studio today and stay upstairs in the sunshine! And the lemons and apple were out of my head (I aaaam, you know!) and painted from having painted a bazillion of them in earlier times.

I'll also attach the damaged painting again, so you can compare and contrast the differences.  I'd be pleased to answer any questions about this one, just click on over to my blog and post a comment.  And forward this on to your friends!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

Mar 12 - Damage and Replacement

You might remember this painting from my web site, "A Pitcher for Bats", featured on one of Hasbro's jigsaw puzzles some time ago. Well, as sometimes happens, paintings get damaged. This one fell over and had a nice puncture put in the canvas, which if you look over Bats' right ear, you'll see. I can repair it, but see no reason to do so. It's time has passed, and with all the new thinking I'm having, creating a BETTER painting seems like the way to go.

So I started another new canvas, and will be showing the progress of this one in the next few days as I am teaching my workshop. These students are very fortunate in that it is a small workshop, and so they get the full benefit of individualized instruction. We still have the great lunches and snacks, and eat out on the front patio.

Here's the first stages on this 24 x 30 inch canvas, toned in Australian Red Gold, thinned down. Unlike the upper painting, I'm using the Color System to create another painting. I'm making some changes in the design as well, most easily visible by the round table instead of the rectangle of the original painting. I'm dropping the magazine under Bats as well.

The original painting is 40 x 36 inches, and was painted well before I ever collided with the Color System. I can see how I have grown as an artist as this one unfolds. I hope you'll enjoy it, too!

The newest DVD on the Color System is HERE
You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2011 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
If you need to email me directly, please click here.

July 5 - Shelf Life, One of Four Fabricritters

The last of the Fabricritters for your pleasure and enjoyment, this one with the canning jars (just fabric collaged onto the canvas and then painted to LOOK like glass jars!!) and the box of Oat Bran reminding us to be sure to have enough fiber in our diets. I think with all our cat hair from Pesto and Bats, we get enough!

I've attached a close-up of the cat and one jar to show you how it all blends together into a painting. I especially like how "glassy" the fabric swatches are in this smaller detail view. Enjoy!


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If you need to email me directly, please click here.

July 4 - Calicoal, the First Fabricritter (Acrylic collage!)

After yesterday's carrousel horse, I received this informative email from one of East Coast friends that I thought you'd enjoy: "Oddly enough, not beyond belief and fitting to my propensity for useless detail, I know a great deal about the designing and construction of the early carousels. When I was taking care of one of the Smithsonian off site storage facilities, I had the complete carousel animal collection in one of my bays. Most of them were in open storage crates and available to me to me in making some detail drawings. A lot of the carousels were built in Philadelphia because of the furniture industry. Carousel animals were carved from the furniture off cuts, "chunks" as they were known in the trade. The "chunks" were glued and literally spiked together. The most elaborately carved horse on any carousel was known as the "lead' or "king" horse. The outside horses were the largest and the fanciest carved. Most of the carvers came from Europe with only the clothes on their back and a satchel of tools. It was a common practice that the apprentices carved the animal bodies and the heads were carved by masters. As a side line, a lot of church statuary were carved by these men."

So to follow up on the continuing saga of the Fabricritters, here is the largest of the four pieces, never shown before. This measures 30 x 40 inches, and is called "Calicoal" I hope you enjoy this one! It was the first that I created, and as it seems to be of interest to many of you who have your hands in quilting and other fabric arts, somewhat fitting. Here's a closeup of the head, where you can see the paint work, and then an image of the head and shoulder, showing the transition to the fabric. Acrylics are wonderful for applying with collage materials.


I've considered selling these four pieces... (oh, you haven't seen the fourth one! Well, that's tomorrow.) But whoever whould buy them, well it will take a very special person, is all.

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If you need to email me directly, please click here.

April 3 - The Studio Cat 5 x 7 acrylic

The result of today's painting session is a closeup study of Pesto, one of the studio cats. She is a calico, and has the most gentle nature, but in this image, she is gazing with that typical "cat intensity". I'm painting her to celebrate the cover of the American Veterinary Medical Association--I've had many nice emails from folks out there who have seen the cover. I need to put it on my web site!

On a sadder note, each time I put in the date in the title, Blogger remembers what i last typed. And last year this time began the week of ministrations to my mother as she declined and died finally on the 8th. I wonder what I will paint on that day, this year?

This acrylic for today is SOLD, but was available through my ebay store here.